Liefeld Returns to Image; Universe Indifferent

So Rob Liefeld and Youngblood are back at Image Comics, only eleven years after the other founding Imagers told him he was no longer welcome in their Gilded Palace of Overdrawn Hardbodies. (Yes, I know Image has diversified quite a bit since then, but we are talking 1996 here.)

Can someone please explain to me how in hell he keeps finding companies to agree to publish his work? Tying back into my post on lateness from a few days ago, hasn't he demonstrated beyond all doubt a complete inability to meet his professional obligations? Has he finished any of the projects he's begun over the last few years? Most of the Image founders have experienced/created more than their fair share of delayed comics over the last fifteen years, but Liefeld's the one with the most projects which simply never saw market.

I have trouble imagining that Liefeld really still has that many fans. As far as I can tell, he seems to generate more mockery than adulation. It doesn't seem like his work sells all that well when it actually comes out [1]; unlike some of his once-and-future Image mates, he hasn't been able to keep his work Out There on the shelves and in the public eye. I've read what feels like hundred of articles about the return of Youngblood and other bits of Liefeldia over the years, but rarely have I seen the product actually out in the wild. Or heard much mention of it except when those press releases come out.

I think the answer must come from his boundless enthusiasm for his creations; he may be a truly terrible, terrible artist, but at least he's excited about his work. Borderline obnoxiously so. Making comics obviously completely jazzes him, and that's fantastic -- but it also seems as though he only has so many pieces in his Big Bucket O' Enthusiasm Legos, and to build up excitement for one project he has to take pieces away from another, and once he's lost that initial energy for a project, he lets it drop. Maybe that's not what happens; maybe legitimate reasons, creative or otherwise, pop up and derail every project he touches, but I'm betting it's that loss of enthusiasm which consistently cripples his output.

(I'm not coming down too harshly on Liefeld for that bit of flakiness. I can totally understand that particular affliction; I tend to do the exact same damn thing. But I don't have entire comics companies, and the livelihoods of all of their employees, rising and falling based on my ADD creative whims.)

I think of Rob Liefeld the same way I think of George Lucas, to some degree: he's someone who needs to be The Idea Guy. He should be The Guy Behind the Guy, almost more of an "executive producer" of comic books than one of the actual hands-on creatives. He's got some ideas which could be turned into something good when implemented by more talented, more dedicated people, and he's managed to get some big-name creators to work with him over the years (hell, Alan Friggin' Moore contributed quite a bit to the Liefeldverse). I'm hoping that's the direction he's going in with this new series from Image. That seems to be the case, as Liefeld's only providing covers and letting writer Joe Casey do the heavy creative lifting.

And hey, if he doesn't, at least we can look forward to more press releases late next year touting the return of Youngblood somewhere else.

---

[1] I'll admit I don't have any numbers to back this claim up, and I'm willing to be proven wrong if someone can do so.