Brigade #0
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBrigade #0 functions as the formal origin story for Rob Liefeld's Youngblood spin-off team, threading together the scattered continuity that preceded the 1993 ongoing series and making Battlestone's expulsion from Youngblood — and his reasons for building a rival squad — legible to readers for the first time in a single issue. It introduces Warcry into the Extreme Universe and depicts the first on-page confrontation between Brigade and Youngblood (including Shaft), cementing the inter-team rivalry that would run through the entire Extreme Studios line. The issue also marks a notable early crossover between Liefeld's Extreme Universe and Jim Lee's WildStorm corner of Image, with Lord Emp of WildC.A.T.s appearing as a mission broker — an unusual instance of cross-studio continuity mixing during Image's formative years. As a prequel zero issue published well into an ongoing line, it reflects the early-'90s trend of retroactive world-building that sought to give franchise depth to properties that had launched at full throttle without much backstory.
"In the Beginning..." kicks off Brigade #0 with a high-stakes mission in Japan that earns the team Marlowe’s attention and sets them on a new path. As Battlestone and Kayo learn of Bernard Barros’s death and his two super-powered sons, Kayo pushes Stone to reach out—potentially reshaping the Brigade’s future. Written by Rob Liefeld and Eric Stephenson, with art by Marat Mychaels and Jeff Matsuda, and colored by Byron Talman and In Color, the issue’s cover by Jeff Matsuda and Art Thibert captures the team’s growing intensity. A 1.95 USD comic from 1993, it marks a pivotal moment in the Brigade’s evolution.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Brigade originated in 1992 as a Youngblood spin-off created and plotted by Rob Liefeld, with Marat Mychaels as the primary artist on the initial mini-series. The second, ongoing volume launched in 1993 under Liefeld's Extreme Studios imprint at Image Comics, co-written with Eric Stephenson. Brigade #0 was published in September 1993 — well after the ongoing series had already begun with its 'Blood Brothers' arc — and served as a retroactive prologue designed to contextualize Battlestone's backstory and the team's formation for readers who had come in mid-stream. The issue shipped in both a Direct Edition and a Newsstand Edition, with the distinctive gatefold cover by Jeff Matsuda and Art Thibert consistent across both printings.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Warcry, who debuts as a henchman/enforcer working for Yakuza boss Tatsuo Soroyama in Agarashima, Japan.
- First appearance of Bernard Barros (seen on a TV/computer screen), the wealthy marine biologist whose death and super-powered sons — Alex (Coldsnap) and Marc (Seahawk) — provide the financial and personnel foundation for the restructured Brigade team.
- The issue chronicles the origin of Brigade as a team, showing Battlestone, Boone, Kayo, and Lethal on their earliest operations before the team's initial disbanding.
- Boone, Hacker, and Lethal all leave the group by issue's end, establishing why the roster seen in the concurrent ongoing series differs from the original lineup.
- Features the first in-continuity confrontation between Brigade and Youngblood — including Shaft, Badrock, Diehard, and Vogue — during a failed mission at a U.S. government facility in Norfolk, Virginia, commissioned by Lord Emp (Jacob Marlowe) of the Halo Corporation.
- Lord Emp's guest appearance makes this a rare early crossover between Rob Liefeld's Extreme Universe and Jim Lee's WildStorm/WildC.A.T.s continuity, with Marlowe acting as a paying client for Brigade.
- Written by Rob Liefeld and Eric Stephenson; interior art by Marat Mychaels, Jeff Matsuda, and Norm Rapmund; cover pencils and inks by Jeff Matsuda and Art Thibert. Published September 1993 by Image Comics / Extreme Studios, 36 pages, full color.
- Released in both a Direct Edition and a Newsstand Edition, both featuring a gatefold cover format.
Cast · 32 characters
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↩ Reprints Team Youngblood #1 (1993)
Key issues in Brigade
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