Deadlock

Deadlock is a member of Youngblood, the government-sponsored superhero strike team introduced in Image Comics' landmark 1992 launch. One of the squad's original operatives, Deadlock debuted alongside the team in their high-profile first mission.

Deadlock burst onto the scene in Youngblood #1 (1992), one of the landmark debut issues that helped define Image Comics' bold, bombastic arrival and gave the Copper/Modern Age a jolt of adrenaline it still feels today. A creation of Rob Liefeld and Hank Kanalz, this character has shown genuine staying power — 38 catalog appearances across 33 years, with three of those issues flagged as collector-significant keys, is no small feat in the crowded Image universe. Deadlock's adventures run deepest through Bloodstrike, Brigade, and Supreme, sharing pages with a vivid roster that includes Cabbot Stone, Shogun, and Fourplay — the kind of hard-edged company that defined early Image's kinetic aesthetic. For fans tracing the wild, creative explosion of '90s comics from the ground floor, Deadlock is exactly the sort of figure worth tracking down.