Rob Liefeld has been a figure of divisiveness virtually since he first burst onto the scene three decades ago. There are those who absolutely adore his kinetic, detailed, action-oriented style and boundless enthusiasm and others who decry what they see as his weaknesses in anatomy and perspective and his sometimes-aggressive persona. But whether you like his work or not, you have to concede that he’s remained popular and relevant for far longer than any number of other talents of his era and beyond. And in 1995, having left Marvel to found Image, Rob was given card blanche to re-invent a pair of Marvel titles, CAPTAIN AMERICA and AVENGERS. The deal and the situation was fraught, and what was intended to be a year-long arrangement at minimum self-destructed just over halfway through, with Jim Lee’s Wildstorm Studios stepping in to take the reins of both titles for the duration of the arrangement. So here’s a small look at what might have been had Rob and his team been able to carry out his vision throughout the run.
What we see here is a short two-page overview of Rob’s AVENGERS plans, the first portion of which went off without a hitch. Some of the elements laid out for the back half wound up in the front as decisions were made across the assorted titles that made up the Heroes Reborn initiative–primary among them was a crossover that ran throughout each title’s sixth issue , Industrial Revolution, and shifting the battle with the Hulk forward into the fifth issue as well.
It’s also worth pointing out that Rob’s AVENGERS #1, pictured at the start of this column, is the single best-selling issue in the title’s history. There was a huge amount of excitement in and around the industry surrounding the Heroes Reborn effort, and it definitely fulfilled its goal of re-igniting interest in a string of titles that had largely fallen out of favor with the masses; FANTASTIC FOUR, IRON MAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA and AVENGERS. That first issue was scripted by Jim Valentino, who would part ways with Rob almost immediately over differences in direction, replaced by Jeph Loeb, and it was largely illustrated by Chap Yaep, though Liefeld did a bunch of work on it, including virtually al of the character heads.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
That was a hugely interesting read. I liked some of Robs ideas but I found his Art, his musculature somewhat ridiculous.
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Rehiring Liefeld is the worst move Marvel ever made after the selling the Spider-Man and X-Men movie rights off.
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Maybe not the worst move from a sales standpoint. I don’t buy anything he does. I think his “Hawk & Dove” caught my interest, and that was, what, 35 years ago? But from what been said in these comments, Marvel enjoyed a significant temporary sales spike when he’s returned. I think his X-Force # 1 also sold a few million copies (again, ~35 years ago). I won’t defend the guy, or his work. But as a business decision, I truly doubt Marvel has any serious regrets working w/ him. When his sales dipped, or he wasn’t reliable, the ended the arrangement. But apparently the surge he brought was more than they would’ve gotten with someone else.
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Can’t imagine how he sells so well when nobody I know can stand him, and I say this not as just a comic book fan but also as a 30+ year comic store employee.
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“Can’t imagine how he sells so well when nobody I know can stand him, and I say this not as just a comic book fan but also as a 30+ year comic store employee.”
You might be in a small pocket of the enlightened. 😉 A couple 100 people that you know don’t like him or like his work? But there are billions of people out there, so there’s a wide range of varying opinions. It only takes what, between 50K & 100K customers to keep Rob successful? For an unknown, that might seem like trying to swim across the Atlantic. But he’s sitting on a mountain of past sales glories.
He strikes me as someone who may not have made the transition from learning to draw from looking at other comics, to learning by drawing actual people & objects. And his figures suffer from, uh, uninformed details. Like all those “straining lines” in the necks. Or the veins that look like dried, crusty, colorless sauce splatters. I might like his work if he omitted these. I’ favor more naturalism in drawing, but I also love some highly stylized comics art, too. Those artists know when to stop w/ their rending, playing to their strengths. Even if it’s sometimes using lighting & “shadow” to conceal any weaknesses.
I’m not trying to insult him, as I’m sure that violates Tom’s policy about bashing pros, or even just being disrespectful to anyone here. I’m trying to make an objective observation. I wish Rob good health.
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I buy comics for the writer more than an artist but there are a few artists that trump the writer for me. Colleen Doran and Greg Land can get me to buy a comic by a writer I’ve never enjoyed one single thing they’ve produced. Liefeld on the other hand could keep me from reading a Bendis or Waid comic.
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“That first issue was scripted by Jim Valentino, who would part ways with Rob almost immediately over differences in direction”
There may have been differences in direction, but when Valentino announced (via CompuServe) his quitting the book, his main reason was “non-payment by Extreme Studios”.
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“It’s also worth pointing out that Rob’s AVENGERS #1, pictured at the start of this column, is the single best-selling issue in the title’s history.”
Still? More than any of Kurt & George’s run? More than any in Bendis’s 8-year stint?
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Yep.
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Wow. That’s nuts. I guess the sales must’ve dropped Marvel might not have ended the outsourcing.
The Bendis run is still my fave. And I’ve been following the “franchise” off & on since 1977. The Stern/Buscema run is 2nd for me.
I guess Rob’s sales records set in the 90s is why he got the nod on the New 52 books he got. And when the sales on those dipped enough, he stopped working on them.
Thanks, Tom.
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From Comichron.com:
What’s the best-selling issue of the main Avengers title? The peak seller in the 1980s, according to archival records, was November 1985’s #261, a Secret Wars II crossover, with sales of 277,400 copies — including 151,900 copies in the Direct Market. As 277,000 was the average in 1967, one of the issues that year — or from an earlier year — likely trumps it. Bendis’s New Avengers #1 had Direct Market final orders of at least 241,500 copies in late 2004 and early 2005, and newsstand, subscription sales, and later reorders would likely have boosted it still higher, so it’s a contender.
But the relaunched Avengers Vol. 2 #1 — the first “Heroes Reborn” issue — had preorders through Heroes World Distribution of 276,734 copies — and that does not include newsstand or subscription sales, which would have taken it into the 300,000s. So barring some much higher issue from 1963-65, that rebooted issue is a good candidate for the top-seller.
https://comichron.com/blog/2012/05/02/avengers-comics-sales-history-five/
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Thanks, RS!
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“you have to concede that he’s remained popular and relevant”
Popular? Maybe
Relevant? That’s not even remotely true
He’s got a small rabid fan base who will follow him anywhere. I suspect a lot of them like him because he talks trash about the books they’ve been told not to like. It’s always bothered me that Marvel continues to give him work while he goes online and lobs insults at other creators.
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