Youngblood #2
Youngblood #2 is a double debut of two characters who would go on to anchor their own ongoing Image series: Prophet, Rob Liefeld's WWII-era super-soldier, and ShadowHawk, Jim Valentino's HIV-positive vigilante whose willingness to tackle real-world illness was genuinely unusual for mainstream superhero comics of the era. The Prophet storyline launched here seeded a narrative arc that ran through issues #2–5 before spinning off into Prophet's own title in 1993, while the six-page ShadowHawk backup served as a formal preview for one of Image's founding seven titles. Together, the two debuts made this issue one of the densest first-appearance packages of the early Image era.
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Rob Liefeld had originally intended Prophet for Marvel's X-Force but withheld the character for creator-owned work when he left to co-found Image Comics. The ShadowHawk backup was entirely the work of Jim Valentino, who conceived the character as a deliberate interrogation of the Batman archetype — keeping the 'creature of the night' menace while stripping away what he saw as the character's more whimsical elements. The name 'ShadowHawk' had previously been earmarked by Valentino for Marvel's Starhawk during a darkness-powered phase, but editor Tom DeFalco encouraged him to reserve it for a new creation instead. The issue shipped in a flip-book format with two distinct cover color variants (one with a pink logo, one with a green/yellow logo) and included a bound-in Youngblood trading card insert.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Prophet (Jonathan Taylor Prophet), the WWII-era cryogenically frozen super-soldier created by Rob Liefeld; the character was originally conceived for Marvel's X-Force before Liefeld held him back for creator-owned publication at Image.
- First appearance of ShadowHawk (Paul Johnstone), a six-page backup story written and drawn by Jim Valentino; Johnstone is an African-American district attorney who, after being deliberately infected with HIV by mobsters, becomes a spine-breaking vigilante.
- ShadowHawk's debut here served as a preview for his own ongoing Image series, which launched in August 1992 and became one of the publisher's original seven founding titles.
- The issue is dedicated to Jack Kirby; the supporting character Jackson Kirby — who appears in the issue — is an in-story homage to the Fourth World creator, and several story elements in the 'Prophecy' chapter are noted to be analogous to Kirby's Fourth World franchise.
- The issue ships as a flip-book with two different cover color variants: one with a pink logo and one with a green/yellow logo.
- A Youngblood trading card is bound into the middle of the book.
- The 'Enter—ShadowHawk' backup story was later reprinted in the trade paperback ShadowHawk: Out of the Shadows (Image, 1993).
- Story and art credits are split: the main Youngblood/Prophet feature is by Rob Liefeld, while the ShadowHawk backup is created, written, and drawn entirely by Jim Valentino.
Cast · 24 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in ShadowHawk: Out of the Shadows #[nn] (1993), Shadowhawk: Out of the Shadows #[nn] (1993), Youngblood #2 (1995), The Comics Journal #192 (1996), Youngblood Deluxe #2 (2025)
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