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Ratner to Direct Liefeld’s Youngblood
Youngblood looks like it will get a big screen adaptation. No, I am not talking about the Rob Lowe hockey flick (filmed a mere kilometer from my home) but rather the biggest blight on comic book history delivered by the antichrist of the acid free collector bag – Rob Liefeld.
And who will bring us this embarrassment? Brett Ratner.
Reliance Big Entertainment has aquired the rights to make a big screen film adaptation of Robb Liefeld’s comic book series Youngblood with Brett Ratner attached to direct. Ick. Ratner explained to Variety that “Most of the great graphic novels are gone, and ‘Youngblood’ is one of the few comicbooks left” that is available
There is no secret that I am a comic book geek. And in the comic book world there is no bigger joke than Rob Liefeld. He is the kneejerk reaction that any comic book aficionado will fall back on when saying “…that book was almost as bad as…” everytime.
Liefeld cannot draw. Now don’t get me wrong, he was part of a big movement in the 90s that brought us Image Comics, and you cannot deny the popculture contribution he gave posing for button up fly jeans ads. And at first he can capture the mind with his eyepopping pinup style images that grace every page, but once you take a better look you can see his is hopeless. He has NO concept of proportion, physics or even consistency. He draws with such disregard that to this day I wonder how he has a job. This is one scenario where I can say I could do better than “one of the pros” and most people who have seen my work will admit it’s true. He has never grown professionally, and lacks any original ideas.
And this Youngblood team that he “invented” is an ensemble of ripoffs. Starting from Shaft, the Hawkeye/Green Arrow archery master ripoff concept right down to Bedrock, a super strong man made of rock like the Fantastic Four’s Thing. Every character is as deep as the paper he poorly draws them on.
Why they want to make a movie out of this hack’s work is beyond me. And to give it to Ratner who is already on thin ice with comic book fans? I actually liked X-Men 3, but for the most part, this is one of the most attacked comics to film online, and it all falls on Ratner’s shoulders.
So now they want to make this a film because all the other books are already taken? Well its a good thing they have to admit that this is the bottom of the barrel to defend why they picked this book for adaptation!
This is gonna be hilarious! It’s like watching a train wreck unfold right before your eyes. As a comic book guy myself, you are completely spot on with Mr. Liefield. He did have an original idea, Fighting America;) (comic geeks will get that joke) He has given us some gems, Deadpool and Cable, atleast I think he created them.
Oh dear god, why? Ooh, I know let’s make a guy carry around a bow that never shows a fucking string because I’m too lazy to draw one! A long straight line, what’s that!?
This guy is a poop stain on the comic industry. Murda is right, Him and Nicieza created Deadpool and Cable, at least a couple good things came out of his career.
IMO, ratner shouldn’t be let anywhere near a movie set after the disaster of x3 and rush hour 3, but i hope this won’t be a total disaster.
Has anyone noticed how Brett Ratner can’t seem to hold down a job anymore?
Beverly Hills Cop 4, Conan, this…
1 WORD!………………..FLOP!
Ratner and Liefeld? Gah! My question would be, where will they find actors with very tiny feet yet strong enough to carry such big guns and shoulder pads?
And itty bitty waists that make Keira Knightly look obese, but still able to bench press a volvo?
Exactly, Liefeld is both admired and despised in the comic book world for his artwork, as for myself I find his artwork kinda crappy and have never been able to get past this issue when trying to read comics he is involved with.
I find it hard to believe that there’s not another better comic book movie to be made. Youngblood? I was a huge comic book geek back in the day, and I didn’t know ANYONE who read it. The poor actors are going to suffer… having to bulk up to rediculous extremes and run around baring their teeth with such ferocity all day. I’d much rather see Cyberforce…. hell, I’d even rather see Savage Dragon or Shadowhawk. As long as they don’t attempt to destroy my beloved The Maxx by turning it into a live-action movie….
savage dragon was my favorite after the first 10 issues of spawn….image was the shit back in the day….rodney u complaining about his proportion
Wow… I’m just a little floored by this statement: Most of the great graphic novels are gone, and ‘Youngblood’ is one of the few comicbooks left”. Sounds like he is dredging the bottom of the barrel.
“Gone” likely refers to them being spoken for. There are a LOT of books out there who have sold their rights to a film to one studio or another. Whether they get made is a different story.
If Youngblood is the only one “left” then I should start writing comics!
I wanna see a Spawn reboot.
AGREED.
I severely take offense at the comment that the well has run dry on comic-to-film adaptions. Anyone with a creative brain can dig through the archives and find a viable book or books to take on a journey to film. case in point, ANYTHING done by Alex Ross (i.e. The Golden Age revival he’s been connected with….).
Maybe we’ll be spared and it’ll go straight to video mediocrity….if there’s a God.
I am sure the “well” refers to books that don’t already have a deal of some sort already set up.
Marvel and DC have either existing contracts or they have dibs on all their titles now.
That leaves a lot of the smaller publisher’s stuff and independents. Most of which have options already signed even if they don’t do anything with it.
Remember that Fox had the rights to Watchmen for how long and didn’t do anything? I am sure Savage Dragon and others mentioned here already have options.
There is a reason Youngblood was still available.
LOL…youngblood? out of all the potential comics for a movie ratner picked youngblood….shit id rather see savage dragon if hes gonna do liefeld….fuck even wildc.a.t.s. would be pretty badass….but youngblood? it is the epitome of bad 90s comics….oh well should be worth a laugh or to, just to see badrock on the screen
Wildcats would be badass!
Someone needs to adapt Trans-metropolitan, a futuristic hunter s. thompson in a political sci-fi flick = win/win.
Ellis has lots of stuff that would make for great storytelling.
Personally I would love to see a Stormwatch/Authority adaptation myself.
I never knew why Rob Liefeld had a following, maybe it was his Levis’ Buttonfly ad back in the early ’90’s. I saw him once here in Philly, signing 1st Editions of the Captain America reboot, & the guy was sitting there like he invented comic books. Maybe this movie will go straight to the Sci-Fi Network.
Rodney, thank you for what you wrote.
i appreciate the fact that no where in your post did you ever refer to liefeld as “artist”.
well done sir.
I’m sure the rights to Kingdom Come are already within someone’s possession but would someone get the balls to actually making it, even if it was animated. How about some Micronauts, ROM or Devil Dinosaur movies.
rodney u complaining about his proportion…dude who cares…im not denying that i really didnt care for youngblood but u are hating big time on his art skill…..shit look at the proportions of the first 6 final fantasy video games art in the books….its was water colored and was alien like…yet to this day the artist who did the art for those is super famous in that field…..people have wierd concepts in art for the longest time….to me it sounds like some hating IMO…but hell i have hated on shit that i thought was shit b4….an i do agree that making this a movie is PETARDED….man i would do anything for a savage dragon movie made into a semi troma movie…kinda like toxic avenger but not as gorry and less goofy.
Its not just an issue of oversized weapons (a trademark of earlier FF games) it’s an issue of being completely incapable of drawing people. Its not stylized, its just a lack of ability.
He cannot draw feet. Every female has the same face, and every male has the other face he can draw. They all have the same hairstyle.
In one frame he will draw Cable twice as big as a car, and in the next frame he is half that. There is no consistency and no proportions at all. Click on the links I scattered in the post. He is a hack.
I agree with Rodney, Liefeld is a hack. He pretty much described his drawing style to the letter and all the gross errors!
sorry for the link, didnt realize you’d already thrown it up, too funny though.
Actually the spam filter shot down your link, but its a great collection of the atrocities Liefeld committed during his career in print.
Sadly it only shows a glimpse at what we have endured.
Ah Youngblood, I remember I actually had a couple of the action figures as a kid. They were pretty cheaply made. Broke if dropped.
Well said Mr. Rodney
Brett should drop it, and give it to Uwe Boll.
that way it goes along well enough to piss everyone out, anyways.