Rob Liefeld’s ‘Last Blood’: It’s All Connected, Always Has Been

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

(extremeexcursus@gmail.com)

Before I get to spoiling anything, here is the spoiler-free, “tl;dr” version:

• If you enjoy Rob Liefeld’s work, you will enjoy Last Blood.
• If you are a fan of early ‘90s Image Comics, you will be a fan of Last Blood.
• The series promises lots of Liefeld’s trademark kinetic art style, covered in gallons blood (of course), using all the toys in the Liefeld toybox.
• This first issue (of a four-issue miniseries) feels like it is ramping-up to something huge, assembling many of Rob Liefeld’s creator-owned characters.
• Currently, the only way to purchase a copy is directly from Rob Liefeld via his Whatnot store. (Rob Liefeld has been announcing on social media when he has new editions for sale and when new Whatnot shows will go live.)

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

SPOILERS FOR “BRIGADE (2019)”, “HEIRBORNE (2022)”, and “LAST BLOOD (2024)”

WARNING: SPOILERS ALL THE WAY DOWN

Rob Liefeld recently released his latest title, ‘Last Blood’, exclusively* through his Whatnot store. This is a brand-new book with all-new art and story. (*Liefeld has stated that he will work with individual retail stores to produce exclusive variants in the future, but wide releases are not planned for the individual issues.)

Rob has been very protective of this story, wanting his fans to experience the comic without spoilers. Hence the delay in releasing this post. But, after asking Mr. Liefeld on Whatnot, I was told the embargo on spoilers is through Monday, February 5th, 2024.

… Where do we start?

During the launch Whatnot show, Rob said he would give one spoiler-free hint about the story. He said, “There has been a time jump.” But a jump from when/where? During that same show, Mr. Liefeld suggested that fans go back and familiarize themselves with Brigade (2019) #1. Let’s start there.

Brigade (2019) #1 was a book Rob Liefeld originally crowdsourced through Kickstarter. Delayed, the book is now available (in limited quantities) from Mr. Liefeld’s Whatnot store (alongside Last Blood and other exclusive variant covers).

[Note that the NYCC variant cover of Brigade (2019) #1 includes the text “Extreme Forces”. I believe that this is a clue to the future of the Liefeldverse. (I’ll explain in a moment.) This cover text is missing from other variants of the book.]

As Brigade (2019) #1 opens, we learn Lord Imperator has taken over the Earth’s surface world in only six weeks. Those superpowered people not aligned with (or controlled by) Lord Imperator are in the undersea kingdom of Neuport, home of the mighty Roman and this Earth’s growing resistance. (Note that Liefeld specifically uses the word “resistance” when referring to this group.) Lord Imperator is fueled by starlight, which cannot reach this deep, underwater realm.

Battlestone oversees the resistance forces trying to take down Lord Imperator, a former ally. Battlestone and Imperator’s war spans the entire Extreme Multiverse. The resistance’s base of operations is D.O.C. (Direct Orbital Command), a ship (?) capable of traveling/accessing anywhere in the Extreme Multiverse.

What is know is that “time bombs” were released and detonated. Reality was altered “across all spectrums of existence”. Battlestone’s current team is a union of old allies and newly created alters. (We are shown many references to the 2012 versions of Liefeldverse characters.)

After rescuing Roman from Lord Imperator and returning to D.O.C., Battlestone is attacked by his brother Cabbot, who used “a Bloodwulf” to track him down. They all fight.

The return of Bloodwulf brings with it the return of his snarky dialogue. In most versions of Brigade (2019) #1 Bloodwulf says to Battlestone:

• Your bro told me you’re a self-appointed time cop! Let’s right some wrongs before I finish you!
• Release the Snyder Cut! I gotta have it!
• I’d also like Jon Snow and Khaleesi to live happily ever after!
• I want Sony and Marvel to work together and make more Spider-Man films.
• Tom Holland deserves better and you know it!

An L.A. Comic Con variant of Brigade (2019) #1 contains different dialogue:

• Your bro told me you’re a self-appointed time cop! Let’s right some wrongs before I finish you!
• Gimme the Lord and Miller Solo Cut! The good stuff! They shot an entire movie!
• Disney’s Deadpool movies need to stay R rated!
• I want the blood, the violence and Stan Lee in the strip club! No censors!
• Ryan Reynolds with a potty mouth or we riot!

(I don’t think the dialogue difference is important, but I did want to call it out.)

Battlestone uses the D.O.C. to call for reinforcements. Lethal (from the traditional Extreme universe) and Duel (from “Infinite”, Liefeld’s 2011 series with Robert Kirkman) arrive.

“Next Issue – Quantum Leap!”

The final scene of Brigade (2019) #1 reminds me of the cliffhanger from Nitrogen: Extreme Forces (2006) #1. In that ending, a bunch of heroes from the Liefeld multiverse arrive to help stop the villain. We see Sword (from Warchild), Jax (from Cyberpunx), and others. Also, in both Nitrogen: Extreme Forces (2006) and Brigade (2019), the base of operations for the resistance superheroes is Neuport/Newport. (I don’t know if this means anything.) The shared subtitle of “Extreme Forces” suggests a possible connection between these books and their similar cliffhanger endings.

It appears that the original plan for Brigade (2019) #1 included using some Supreme and Youngblood characters as mind-controlled minions of Lord Imperator. The “Supreme”s are never referred to as such. A character that looks like Badrock with a metal plate on his head is called “Greylore” (a mute character from The Berzerkers). Not only can this Greylore speak, he talks like a sassy Badrock. A character that looks like a re-colored Diehard is called “the mighty Ion” (“the Mighty Ion”?). [I haven’t found an “Ion” referenced in other books yet, but it may be a new character. I have seen “EKO 92” fan art on social media that purports the gold and black character is called “Ion”, but I haven’t personally seen this from any “official” source. The colors of this “mighty Ion” don’t exactly line-up with the “EKO 92 maybe-Ion”, so who knows?]

Issues of Brigade (2019) #1 include pin-ups on the inside and outside of the back cover. These pin-ups introduce new characters and groups Liefeld plans to explore. The first of these groups is “The Defiants” and the second is “Ca$h Carter & The Sci 5”. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that these two teams share a character, a stone-creature with a red stone “V” across the forehead. (Some variant printings have a different Ca$h Carter image.) Note that the pin-up for The Defiants includes the hashtag “#resist”. (Another reference to resistance.)

On January 22nd, 2022 Rob Liefeld minted NFTs with MakersPlace.com showcasing “The Defiants” and its individual team members. From this NFT release we learned that the stone-creature character is named Red Stone. According to MakersPlace.com, Red Stone is “the Descendant of an Elemental Ancestry that has literally shaped modern society. His sheer power, left unchecked, could sway the outcome of the cataclysmic conflict ahead.”

From these same NFTs we learned about the other members of The Defiants: Argos (the leader), Astra, Golden Rage, and Vandel (a masked mystery man in red-and-black; he’ll be important shortly).

On April 17th, 2020, Rob Liefeld made social media posts explaining the current legal issues with Youngblood (and other properties). Alongside these posts Liefeld showed images of another IP he was working on, “EKO 92” (short for “EKO Squadron 92”).

Front and center was an archer character that looked suspiciously like Shaft from Youngblood. Future posts from Liefeld would show this character in action with the message “Meet Bo. Bo knows archery.” Bo even carries a gravity bow similar to Shaft’s!

Was Liefeld creating pastiches of his former characters?

Is that a Badrock pastiche behind Bo…? Wait a minute…

Bo may know archery, but it also appears he knows Red Stone!!

Liefeld is building a whole new universe of characters and they all seem to revolve around Red Stone!

Jump ahead to September 2022. Rob Liefeld released the Brigade Remastered Edition #1, a flip-book with a 5-page story on the other side called “Heirborne”.

Basically, there is a group of superpowered beings (the Heirborne), and they rule the world with an iron fist. Rich people that pledge fealty get to continue to be rich. Everyone else is not so lucky.

At the end of the story we see some members of the “global network of resistance fighters” (that word “resistance” again). Among them? Vandel, from The Defiants!

The NFT description for Vandel says he is the “scourge of the criminal underground. Operates in the shadows, identity unknown, viewed as volatile, dangerous by law enforcement and criminals alike.”

Confirmation that Heirborne takes place in the same universe as The Defiants, Ca$h Carter & The Sci 5, and EKO 92!!

That brings us to 2024 and Liefeld’s latest book: Last Blood.

(While I am spoiling the story, I don’t plan on showing much of the interior art at this time.)

In the first of a four-issue miniseries (according to ComicBook.com), we watch as Bo (of EKO 92!!) kills a bunch of guards in order to break a bearded Battlestone out of a prison cell. Three other heroes are also rescued: Kayo (an O.G. Brigade member), Atlas (who died in the very first Brigade story arc!!), and Captain Freedom (a star-spangled, patriotic hero in the vein of Captain America or The Shield). [As far as I can tell, Captain Freedom is new to the Liefeldverse, though a version has appeared in Image’s Savage Dragon comics. The character is in the public domain and here looks to be a stand-in for the Fighting American character Liefeld used in his comics of the late ’90s. This might be due to a rights issue as new Fighting American comics were printed by Titan Comics in 2017/2018.]

We learn that there is major conflict in the world. Nations have fallen. Righteous wars were lost. This Brigade will lead the revolution. (Another “resistance” group? All ONE BIG multiversal “resistance” group?!)

Immediately this new Brigade runs into Bloodstrike, including original members Cabbot, Lethal, Shogun, and Deadlock. As the fighting begins, Cabbot tries to explain that they hired Bo to find Battlestone in order to help.

As Battlestone struggles with Cabbot, a portal appears. Enter The Bezerkers: Cross, Greylore, Axe, and Wildmare (Axe is apparently and alter of the character Hatchet). They are not alone. They brought another ally, Prophet!!

“TO BE CONTINUED…”

Last Blood #1 ends with preview pages for issue #2 showing Prophet on a bloody rampage similar to the one Bo had in the beginning of issue #1.

My Takeaways:

Bo knows archery, Red Stone, and Battlestone!!!

These two panels officially connect the legacy Liefeldverse with all of the new characters and teams Liefeld has been teasing for the last couple of years! People will be talking about “the last two pages” because of The Berzerkers and Prophet, but the real shocker is Bo. Brigade, Bloodstrike, Prophet, and The Berzerkers belong together. Bo and his wider world were a complete mystery until now!

All bets are off moving forward!! Public domain characters are in-play! The return of Atlas tells us that dead characters could return! It is possible we may finally see The Defiants, Ca$h Carter & The Sci 5, and/or EKO 92 in future issues! I’m sure there is a whole multiverse of alters out there just waiting to cause problems!!

It’s entirely possible that Rob Liefeld takes this opportunity to pull all of these cliffhangers [Brigade (2019), Heirborne, Nitrogen: Extreme Forces, others?] together into an ultimate battle that spans the last 20 years of his creator-owned career!

Bring on issue #2!! (I heard possibly in March?)

#resist

That’s the content squared away, but what of the collector side? What of the comic books themselves?

There are three (technically four… SUPER technically “four plus”) different covers released as part of the first print run of Last Blood #1:

• The Regular Trade Cover (featuring Bloodstone)
• A “Bloody” Trade Variant of the Regular Cover
• The Launch Cover (blank black with blood splatter)
• A foil version of the black Launch Cover
• Liefeld auctioned-off “printer error” copies of the book on his Whatnot shows
  • Rob mentioned there were 70 of these and 25 have been released so far.

(photo from Rob Liefeld’s social media)

Days after releasing the first print run of Last Blood, Liefeld immediately released a “Manga Edition” of the book.

The “Manga Edition” is a limited edition book where the art is re-treated to give the entire book a “manga” feel to the action/shadows/etc.. (An example of the art difference, originally shared by Rob Liefeld on social media, is below.)

There are many different covers, but only two versions of the book: color & black/white/red (aka “manga”). Liefeld will continue to release new variant covers, but they will all contain either the color art or the manga art.

Rob Liefeld has been sharing the sales figures for these books and the print runs are all very small.

Liefeld stated that he has received many requests from retailors for store exclusive variants and that he is hard at work getting that program up and running.

In the meantime, if you are still trying to get a copy, Rob posts about his Whatnot releases on his social media platforms. If you are interested in the next batch of copies you should follow him on Twitter (or request to join his private group on Facebook) for updates, download the Whatnot app, and setup your payment information in advance.

POSTSCRIPT:

Do you know what’s missing from Last Blood (2024) #1? A villain. The opening is pages-and-pages of Bo killing guards, but we don’t see, or hear about, a specific “big bad” villain. I bet Prophet will fill us in during issue #2.

My Outstanding Questions:

• Now that all these worlds are connected, are we going to learn that the resistance teams are all linked as well? Is there a “Battlestone Prime” running a Brigade of Brigades?
• Could the “big bads” from other recent Liefeldverse titles be working together? (Lord Imperator from Brigade (2019), the Magistrate and the Heirborne from Heirborne (2022), Superion from Nitrogen: Extreme Forces (2006), etc.)
• Is there a “biggest bad” we have yet to see?
• Issue #1 starts with Bo’s rampage. The preview for issue #2 looks like rampage from Prophet. Will each issue feature a different character on a rampage?
• A variant cover for the 30th anniversary release of Bloodstrike included a new costume (presumably) for Cabbot, but this costume has not been seen in-story yet. Will we see this look in future issues of Last Blood?
  • 
• Will we see Ca$h Carter & the Sci 5, The Defiants, or other members of EKO 92 in future issues of Last Blood?
• Who is Lord Imperator? In Brigade (2019) Lord Imperator was said to have been an ally before turning. While he could be an entirely new creation, it is fun to speculate who he might have been.
• Other than Bo and the NFT release of The Defiants, have we been given official names for the other characters?
• Is everyone an “alter”? Are any of these characters the exact same person we met in the ’90s?
• While it might be fun to see other early Image characters appear, this feels like a “Liefeldverse only” kind of party. That said, some loving homage characters could be fun… Possible?

Did you really make it all the way to the end of this?! Let me know what you thought at
extremeexcursus@gmail.com or hit me up on Twitter at @ExcursusExtreme.

#resist