Wednesday 1 April 2020

In Review - ‘X-Liefelds issue 1’ from Keenspot Comics




X-Liefelds issue 1.


Written and Edited by Rob Potchak.

Art by Rob Nikolakakis.

Inks by Eric Kent.

Colours by Michael Sanders.

Letters by Mike Rosenzweig.


Released digitally 01/04/2020 (Released physically 17/7/2019.)

28 pages - Full Colour - £2.99.

Published by Keenspot Comics



The Story - ‘Rob Liefeld is beloved for creating some of comics' most memorable characters of the last quarter-century... but he also created some forgettable ones. In this twisted tale of spoofery from the creator of Junior High Horrors, Liefeld's rejected, forgotten creations find inspiration from their creator's own stories and travel back in time to jealously stop his greatest characters from ever becoming popular. Join BludStayn, Pytbull, Treadmill, Yardwaste, and X-Tra as they attempt to prevent Livestreme, Checker and the man known as Coax from achieving pop culture immortality. This parody is so Extreme, it's Awesome!’






The Review - Listen! I’m no Rob hater. His style of art could never be called one of my favourites and I think he’s been responsible for quite a few artistic shortcuts in at least the last decade. But over the last few years I’ve enjoyed his podcast interviews and they’ve provided some nostalgic memories of a comics era that was both good and bad in equal measures. So, full disclosure, I bought this for a bit of a laugh and to cheer me up during  another lockdown week.






My expectations were not high and whilst the cover is pretty well drawn and with a sense of humour it’s some of the following comic cover homages that really do not hit the satirical or figure drawing mark. In fact most of them look amateur in the extreme and really bring down the overall quality of the issue. In fact if they had to be used they would have been better putting them at the end of the comic.





It takes a few pages to get to the actual story and thankfully it’s not too bad and certainly in keeping with those heady days of early Image Comics. It’s also done with some sharp-tongued humour that I whole-heartedly approve of straightaway. They roll through ‘Rob Jokes’ with a non-stop speed. 


It’s a little cruel and I feel a little guilty for enjoying it.


You get Liefeld centric gags about his characters suddenly changing size, having too many pouches, lazy designs, desperate to be friends with actors, interminable time travel stories, flakey and ill-matching teams, weird grimacing whilst talking and so on and on. There’s even a movie poster or ‘Rob Liefeld’s X-Blood’ looming over the teams as they fight.


‘.....bodyslide by 5!’


Much of the art isn’t perfect and backgrounds are a rarity. It is also a really short read with no proper story ...... funny that isn’t it! I can’t recommend that you buy or read it really. It’s just a comic I bought, I kind of regret spending the money and I’ll be reminded that I posted this review in six months and not remember anything about it at all.


Oh well.






You can find more of the comics published by Keenspot Comics over at their site here http://www.keenspot.com/ (I wouldn’t recommend it - the website is horrible). Or find them on Twitter @keenspot


Many thanks for reading. 


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