Youngblood Strikefile #1

History

Youngblood Strikefile was launched in April 1993 by Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios as an anthology spin-off of the Youngblood ongoing, with each issue spotlighting individual team members in solo stories. The flip-book format — featuring two covers and two self-contained narratives — was a deliberate creative choice that revived a gimmick from the original Youngblood #1 and tied each story directly into the broader Image shared universe being constructed at the time. Issue #1's Chapel story was co-written by Liefeld and Eric Stephenson (who would later become Publisher of Image Comics) and drawn by Jae Lee, while the Die Hard/Glory story was written and penciled by Liefeld himself, with inks by Danny Miki; Rob Liefeld also provided a standalone Glory pin-up. A Gold Edition variant was produced as a trade-incentive for Diamond and Image Comics distributors.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Glory (Gloriana Demeter), a half-Amazonian, half-demon warrior created by Rob Liefeld as an explicit homage to Wonder Woman; she went on to her own ongoing series in 1995 and a celebrated 2012 relaunch.
• First appearance of the Allies, a WWII-era super-team consisting of Die Hard, SuperPatriot, and Glory, who are depicted fighting alongside the Allied forces against Nazi Germany.
• First appearance of Giger, the cybernetic villain and leader of Cybernet/Cyberdata, who becomes an antagonist in the ongoing Chapel story arc throughout the Strikefile series.
• The Chapel story (plotted by Rob Liefeld, scripted by Eric Stephenson, art by Jae Lee) depicts a flashback CIA mission involving Chapel, Al Simmons (the future Spawn), and Jason Wynn, directly expanding the cross-publisher backstory already established in McFarlane's Spawn series.
• The Die Hard story (written and penciled by Liefeld, inks by Danny Miki) launches a three-part arc in which Glory asks Die Hard and Shaft to rescue SuperPatriot from the Cyberdata corporation, which has transformed him into a cyborg.
• Published in April 1993 as a flip-book with two distinct covers: Die Hard on the front (Liefeld/Miki cover) and Chapel on the back (Jae Lee cover), reviving the dual-cover format from the original Youngblood #1.
• A Gold Edition variant was produced as a retailer/distributor incentive through Diamond and Image Comics.
• Chapel's appearance here — and his role as Al Simmons' killer under Jason Wynn's orders — was part of an active creative collaboration between Rob Liefeld and Todd McFarlane; rights disputes over Chapel later led McFarlane to replace him with Jessica Priest in Spawn continuity and in the 1997 live-action Spawn film.

Cast · 17 characters

Full credits

Variants (1)

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