Alright folks, I hope you rested up, refilled your pouches, practiced your anguished scowls and prepared yourselves, because it is time for part 3 of the deep dive on canceled and lost Image comics from the 90s.
It's time.. to get AWESOME.
It's time.. to get AWESOME.
First off, to everyone joining tonight, welcome. Previous two threads chronicling the years 1992-1997 can be found here, give 'em a look if you didn't already:
https://twitter.com/Comrade_Bullski/status/1408862090190786562
https://twitter.com/Comrade_Bullski/status/1408893253353721856
First we need to backtrack a little to explain what Awesome Entertainment was.
In 1996, Marvel successfully negotiated with Liefeld's Extreme Studios and Jim Lee's Wildstorm to have creators from those studios come revamp many of Marvel's "failing" properties.
In 1996, Marvel successfully negotiated with Liefeld's Extreme Studios and Jim Lee's Wildstorm to have creators from those studios come revamp many of Marvel's "failing" properties.
These included the entire Avengers family of titles (Cap, Iron Man) and the Fantastic Four. Rob and Jim were given free reign to reinvent these in any way possible and were contracted for at least 12 issues of each series.
Liefeld and his crew were working on these books as Liefeld quit Image, and in his resignation notice in Maximum Press titles he told his readers that he would keep working on the Marvel titles as well as Maximum Press. However this was not to be.
Only six months in, Marvel annulled the contract with Liefeld and gave his books over to Wildstorm. There's many conflicting accounts as to why, but suffice to say Liefeld was now stuck in between chairs with no solid gig and no capital.
While none of the Maximum Press books were huge sellers yet (Avengelyne did okay), Liefeld held one trump card to stay in the game: Alan Moore.
Moore had come on board for the last 2 issues of the long-running Supreme series while Rob was still with Image and had by now..
Moore had come on board for the last 2 issues of the long-running Supreme series while Rob was still with Image and had by now..
...attained a solid reader base and voluminous critical acclaim. A loving nostalgia-based tribute to Superman and comics in general, Supreme was something to build a company on.
And so Liefeld did.
That company was Awesome Entertainment.
And so Liefeld did.
That company was Awesome Entertainment.
There are very thorough and much more detailed accounts of the business side of this venture, but suffice to say Liefeld went into a financial partnership with first one, then two investors, putting his characters at stake in order to get Awesome going.
And thus, before 1997 had even ended, Liefeld dismantled Maximum Press, moved Supreme over to the Awesome banner (retaining the numbering) and launching a number of new titles.
Liefeld essentially gave Moore free reign to reinvent and reintroduce any character from the old Extreme "universe" as he saw fit, a challenge which Moore took to with fervor, planning a large event and a new Youngblood book.
Another property Liefeld was banking hard on was Fighting American, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby as a creator-owned sort of homage-spoof of Cap way back in the 1950s. Despite some hiccups acquiring the license, Fighting American became an Awesome staple.
Perhaps Rob just wanted Fighting American so he could reuse that Captain America material he had already made for Marvel, since FA had never had a shield before this and his costume became even more Cap-like.
In addition, Liefeld was trying to ride the surging interest in manga and"alternative" comics to superheroes, promoting Jeff Matsuda's Kaboom heavily. Kaboom took heavy inspiration from anime like Dragonball Z as well as western superheroes.
"But Comrade this hasn't been about canceled comics at all"
Yeah I just need you to understand the context of why Awesome would have almost as many canceled and abandoned projects as Extreme and Maximum combined first.
Yeah I just need you to understand the context of why Awesome would have almost as many canceled and abandoned projects as Extreme and Maximum combined first.
Awesome was stumbling out the gate, and even with Moore's supreme getting acclaim after acclaim, publication ground to a halt in early 1998. Liefeld then took on a SECOND investor to save the operation, resuming publishing in 1999, but this caused even more problems.
Let's talk about the casualties of the 1997/98 financial straits of the company first:
Alan Moore's entire relaunch of the "Awesome Universe" was terminated and never resumed again. The main casualty of this was his new version of Youngblood which he did together with artist Steve Skroce. 2 issues of the ongoing made it out...
...as well as an "Issue 0" in the Awesome Holiday Special 97.
Other properties considered to be relaunched like the New Men never manifested, despite Moore writing advanced treatments for each spinning out of the Judgment Day crossover.
Other properties considered to be relaunched like the New Men never manifested, despite Moore writing advanced treatments for each spinning out of the Judgment Day crossover.
Some of this behind-the-scenes material was later printed in Alan Moore's Awesome Universe Handbook special issue. They serve as a kind of memorial for the enormously ambitious plans Moore had.
Fighting American (who existed as a series of minis) also saw his "Dogs of War" mini ended prematurely at issue 3 (out of 4) despite Jim Starlin at the writing helm.
It also seems the Allies name is cursed, because a much-advertised series by Moore, Stephenson and Liefeld never made it, despite the ads returning in 1999 and a (totally story-less) preview issue seeing print. This one fascinates me enormously.
No Awesome series was safe from the financial woes. Jonathan Stinsman's sci-fi comic Scarlet Crush got two measly issues out, dying quietly at the same time as Supreme and Youngblood ceased publication.
Other series barely even made that.
Re:Gex was a comic you could not miss the massive ad campaign for if you picked up a Supreme issue in 97, but as this was supposed to be Liefeld's grand return to full-time penciling and writing, it predictably got a single issue out...
Re:Gex was a comic you could not miss the massive ad campaign for if you picked up a Supreme issue in 97, but as this was supposed to be Liefeld's grand return to full-time penciling and writing, it predictably got a single issue out...
...as well as a tiny preview, and that was it. Despite advertising for this series to return, it never did.
Other titles announced for 97/98 about which we have FAR less information include:
"Menace" by actress Jada Pinkett-Smith & Dan Fraga.
Six-String Samurai, based on the movie.
Awesome Adventures with work from Chris Sprouse and Brandon Peterson (not the same as the later title)
"Menace" by actress Jada Pinkett-Smith & Dan Fraga.
Six-String Samurai, based on the movie.
Awesome Adventures with work from Chris Sprouse and Brandon Peterson (not the same as the later title)
Also consumed by the financial collapse was a proposed ongoing of Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill's Coven, a comic about a bunch of supernatural beings fighting evil (and set in the same universe as Supreme, amazingly enough)
The 98 publication hiatus also terminated the aforementioned Kaboom (which never returned).
So basically, Awesome Entertainment had no titles on shelves at all for most of 1998 while Liefeld tried to get a new backer, and when he did, the return of the company stumbled.
In late spring of 1999, with the aid of his second financier, Liefeld resumed publishing, starting off with Supreme: The Return, a book continuing the Alan Moore Supreme saga. However many titles from the first year never returned, and others were announced but never manifested
Supreme lasted for 6 issues, with many having extremely dubious art quality as Chris Sprouse had departed in the interim year. Rick Veitch still did the flashbacks, and the title still had magic, but it left the narrative hanging with a touching Kirby tribute in #6
The final half-completed issue of Youngblood came out as Awesome Adventures #1 (and only) with Marat Mychaels stepping in to finish up the art as Skroce was also gone. Despite a promise of more, nothing ever came out.
Alan Moore's much-touted Glory got a preview issue (#0) but that was it. The title would be revived later...
Why did Awesome stop publishing again? Well, to put it bluntly, the two financers Liefeld had recruited to keep Awesome going didn't get along, and eventually one of them left entirely, causing the company to collapse and the rights to their IPs divided up three ways.
Non-Moore titles from the 1999/2000 period which perished in this second, final collapse included Ian Churchill's Lionheart (spinning out of Coven), which lasted all of two issues
A Loeb-written crossover called Extreme Forces that would have returned many of the Extreme Studios characters to the forefront (with the diligent Churchill on art)
A reimagined Brigade as a Young Justice-style superteam (featuring Kaboom, Badrock and Kid Supreme) which only got a single preview as a flip book on an issue of Supreme the Return and with another book...
...namely Century, a crossover by Eric Stephenson, Liefeld, Keron Grant and (who else) Churhill, exploring the Awesome universe 100 years into the future. Not even one full preview issue exists of this despite heavy advertising.
Warchild: Merlyn, another Warchild sequel by Liefeld and Robert Napton with art by fan Thomas Hong who submitted some fan art that Liefeld really liked. Some art from this exists online, but nothing was ever published.
Deity: Darkness and Light was a non-superhero book from Karl Altstaetter, Napton and Brian Buccellato which was to be published by Awesome but actually did make it.. albeit from another publisher called Hyperwerks.
Of other titles we just have scraps, like a proposed Re:Gex vs Coven crossover (the blurb in the advertisement near the top is all we have for this) and Dan Fraga's Black Seed (which later did get published I believe).
As you can see, Awesome literally has more titles that were never published than they have actually published comics.
And as the new millennium approached, Awesome Entertainment was no more and Liefeld's characters were scattered to the winds.
And as the new millennium approached, Awesome Entertainment was no more and Liefeld's characters were scattered to the winds.
I'm taking a little break now. When I return we finish up the Liefeld publishing saga with Arcade Comics and Avatar comics and segue to the modern day, as well as a small trip back to 1993 for the greatest story NEVER told. oooh...
In the meantime, thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments and questions at your leisure.
See you in 2004!
See you in 2004!
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