BRIGADE/BS

An EXTREME look at the publishing history of Rob Liefeld's Image Comics titles, "BRIGADE" and "BLOODSTRIKE"

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Years and years later (IndieGoGo)

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Years and years later (Kickstarter)

And just lying about it on Twitter in 2020.

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A Kickstarter Update... I have received quite a few messages over the years for new updates on this blog so please see the multiple new posts today! Following New York Comic Con in 2019 that saw Brigade #1 released for sale to attendees (but not free to comic shops), Liefeld has tried to gain the title of longest fulfillment period while delivering nothing at all resembling the items/tiers promised during the crowdfunding. Thirty months later, the comments section is still filled with countless backers’ complaints of non-receipt, emails not being answered and being blocked when inquiring via social media. The collected edition tier continues to be MIA with Liefeld posting annual updates that never come to fruition.

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Liefeld fans going into year nine of long promised Brigade and Bloodstrike comics that were nowhere to be found were finally greeted with new art of their favorite Extreme characters! ...with variant covers of reprinted books. 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of Image Comics and saw the re-release of Prophet #1 (which ironically was released in 1993) with a recolored cover of the iconic original and two variants drawn by Liefeld. Then for the WonderCon convention in California, Liefeld repackaged Prophet yet again and offered an exclusive Bloodstrike cover with a new take on the character. Liefeld was kind enough to offer these exclusives online to his Facebook Fan Group but would literally delete comments of people asking what the actual contents were. Only once fans were able to purchase at the show was it determined that Bloodstrike was a reprint of the first issue from 1992 and the “Extreme 30 Years” comics pictured above were reprints of the “25th Anniversary Extreme Studios Yearbook” which oddly still included Youngblood which Liefeld does not legally own anymore. The brand new Prophet #50 originally teased in November 2019 has yet to be released. 

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Another project that Liefeld took on while not releasing free copies of Brigade that were promised in his 2013 Kickstarter was a reboot of Archie Comics’ Mighty Crusaders property. Announced in December 2020, the four issue miniseries was later scheduled for June 2021 until it hit an embarrassing snag by its creator. In May, Archie reveled a variant cover for the first issue that Liefeld took anger with saying that it spoiled a plot point of his comic (seen above). He then shared this image and complaint on his public Facebook page and fan group so it hit the news cycle while saying he was leaving the project. He did not point out that his own image of the same character was released with the initial press release six months prior.  He also posted that he later offered to finish the issue after Archie announced to print the pages that were turned in with a new scripter but they declined. This was a strange offer as it directly contradicted Liefeld’s quote the previous year that the entire first issue was already done. Yet another incomplete Liefeld project.

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In 2022, Marvel moved forward with plans to serialize the 2017 graphic novel, “Deadpool: Bad Blood” as a four issue miniseries. The first issue has released thus far accompanied by false advertising from its creator with Liefeld answering a fan directly that it is not the same book. Upon reviewing the first issue, the above image was added to create an artificial cliffhanger to bridge issues. Its sequel, “Badder Blood” announced for a 2018 release is still MIA.

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2021 also marked the 30th anniversary of X-Force which saw Liefeld teaming again with writer Chad Bowers for a new one-shot anniversary special. Brigade Kickstarter and IndieGoGo fulfillment would drag on with complaints of non-receipt continuing to rise.

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2021 marked the 30th anniversary of Deadpool and in December 2020, it was announced that Liefeld would be illustrating 30 variant covers throughout the year to celebrate. 

As of April 2022, only 27 such covers have been released.

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2021 marked the 30th anniversary of Deadpool and in December 2020, it was announced that Liefeld would be illustrating 30 variant covers throughout the year to celebrate. 

As of April 2022, only 27 such covers have been released.

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2021 marked the 30th anniversary of Deadpool and in December 2020, it was announced that Liefeld would be illustrating 30 variant covers throughout the year to celebrate. As of April 2022, only 27 such covers have been released.

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With Brigade Kickstarter and IndieGoGo fulfillment still nonexistent, Liefeld shifted his focus to the Snake-Eyes: Deadgame five issue series for IDW. It was released across a twelve month span in 2020 and 2021. Here are his covers for the series.

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With Brigade Kickstarter and IndieGoGo fulfillment still nonexistent, Liefeld shifted his focus to the Snake-Eyes: Deadgame five issue series for IDW. It was released across a twelve month span in 2020 and 2021. Here are his covers for the series.

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With Brigade Kickstarter and IndieGoGo fulfillment still nonexistent, Liefeld shifted his focus to the Snake-Eyes: Deadgame five issue series for IDW. It was released across a twelve month span in 2020 and 2021. Here are his covers for the series.

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A Kickstarter Update… I now have Brigade #1 and the 25th Anniversary Extreme Studios Yearbook! Woo Hoo!! The only problem is that I did not receive either of these from Mr. Liefeld as part of the Kickstarter pledge that I already paid for.  As mentioned in my previous post, I queued at the New York Comic Con to purchase the Brigade comic and the Yearbook finally popped up on eBay. Since the launch of the comic at Liefeld’s various convention appearances, he finally started sending out packages to Kickstarter backers but what was received was far different than what was promised.  Above is a picture of a Kickstarter package with several copies of Brigade but with none of the other perks that were added on throughout the campaign and after- no Deadpool/Marvel comics, no Sketchbook, no Yearbook, no art print. When asked regarding the missing items, Liefeld has repeatedly said (flying in the face of common sense, efficiency and logic) that other items will be shipped separately.....

Many Kickstarter backers have yet to receive anything and there has yet to be a single comment on the IndieGoGo campaign of anyone receiving what they paid for.

Also, I know this will be hard to believe but... -Free Digital Copy for Kickstarter Backers No digital copies have been distributed. -60,000 FREE Copies distributed to retail comic stores Leading up to and after the release of Brigade at the two conventions, numerous fans have asked Liefeld if/when it will be available in stores and he has said that it would not be (screenshots above) but then in a KS update on October 14, he stated, “I have contacted a number of stores who will receive FREE bundles of our BRIGADE comic per the campaign goal. West coast and east coast shows will be receiving this in the very near future. They will be a great surprise to their customers!” NO COPIES HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED In the face of this train wreck fulfillment, Mr. Liefeld took to Instagram to share new art of Prophet while saying it will be an upcoming release exclusively via crowdfunding...

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The works of Rob Liefeld since the successful $35,343 funding of the Brigade Kickstarter on 6/15/13 without Brigade being published.

Part 19 of 19

Variant covers for Absolute Carnage vs. Deadpool, the first issue of a new relaunch of Deadpool coming in November, a store exclusive cover and interior page for Marvel Comics #1000 and the announcement of a G.I.Joe: Snake-Eyes miniseries coming in 2020.

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BRIGADE NOW AVAILABLE!! ...As long as you you didn’t prepurchase through Kickstarter or IndieGoGO, are attending the New York Comic Con or LA Comic Con and are prepared to pay a premium price for a comic that was supposed to see 60,000 copies given away for free.

Proving that a broken clock is right twice, Liefeld actually did release Brigade at NYCC on October 4th and additional variants at LACC one week later. NOT surprising however was the fact that he did not follow through on his promise that people who already purchased the book would receive it first.  That Liefeld didn’t share cover images of the NYCC editions until September 27th dashed all hope for backers that thought it might actually happen. And Liefeld did not share the covers of the Kickstarter and IGG editions until October 10- AFTER NYCC had already concluded. The NYCC release saw four different covers available on different days priced at $40 and $60 with the LA Comic Con versions offering foil and chrome versions. Packages of these variants are for sale via Liefeld’s online shop as long as you feel like taking a chance that the order will actually be fulfilled within a calendar year.

So with this extremely limited release and backers still not receiving their copies, how can we determine if Liefeld was true to his word regarding the content of the book/reason for delays? Well, for the sake of these articles, when I attended NYCC, I queued and purchased a copy. So Let’s review. -Redrawing Youngblood characters so as not to infringe FALSE- the pages remain the same as the ones he shared in 2015 with only the speech bubbles changed so the Youngblood names are not mentioned. A character that is clearly Die Hard is now referred to as “Ion” etc.

-Special Guest Star FALSE- Earlier this year, LIefeld stated, “So, I needed an extra beat to get a super special guest star put into BRIGADE! A light bulb went off as to how to create even more excitement and I pursued this unique arrangement!” and “I’m awaiting final approval on 2 images for the Kickstarter Brigade Exclusive Cover as they feature guest characters that are now a part of this BRIGADE launch.” The KS cover can be seen above and it does not include any guest characters. The comic itself contained no additional characters separate than ones Liefeld already owns. -Corporate Logo FALSE- In 2018, Liefeld stated that, “After all the wait, my final hurdle is waiting approval for a corporate logo from a media partner to be placed on all the covers. I’ve given it a few more days because, quite frankly, it’s been this long, what’s another few days and having the logo would be a huge boon.” There is no corporate logo on the book (as expected with the Netflix deal being called off by Liefeld).

-5 page prelude  FALSE- A stretch goal from 2013 was a “5 page prelude that tells the comprehensive history of BRIGADE leading up to our explosive opening sequence!” This is not present in the book as it begins mid-battle as per the pages Liefeld posted in 2015.

-Free Digital Copy for Kickstarter Backers FALSE- No digital copies have been distributed.

-60,000 FREE Copies distributed to retail comic stores UNCLEAR- Leading up to and after the release of Brigade at the two conventions, numerous fans have asked Liefeld if/when it will be available in stores and he has said that it would not be (screenshots above) but then in a KS update on October 14, he stated, “I have contacted a number of stores who will receive FREE bundles of our BRIGADE comic per the campaign goal. West coast and east coast shows will be receiving this in the very near future. They will be a great surprise to their customers!”

I’ll believe it when I see it. After so many lies, I have zero confidence this will happen, actually, the same amount of confidence I have that i will receive the bonuses that are owed from my backer tier pictured above (the original rewards being- an oversized HC collection of Brigade 1-3 and Bloodstrike issues and a B&W lineart variant of issue #1). Even with Liefeld saying in a Kickstarter comment that, “All the add on’s will be applied. They have been set aside over time for this purpose,” again,

I’ll believe it when I see it. This blog was started to celebrate the return of Rob Liefeld’s Brigade and Bloodstrike and unfortunately it has been forced to instead track the unprofessional handling of this missing project during the six years since the successful Kickstarter funding. If you have not done so, I urge you to review previous blog posts for the farcical journey this has taken.

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A Kickstarter Update (Q3 2019)...

As summer arrived, it officially became six years since the successful funding of the Brigade Kickstarter with the book still not released. The Indie GoGo campaign remained open and continued to allow new orders with both campaigns still only receiving infrequent, vague and untruthful updates.

In July, Liefeld stated that he had, “looked over the digital files going to press.” This was at least the third time he had stated it was off to to the printers/ready to be sent to the printers/or even sharing a picture of SOMETHING being printed in December of 2017. - Frustration only increased with a bombshell dropping regarding the content of the book on August 1st. Unfortunately for fans, the Brigade comic that was sold to backers as the ultimate mash up of Liefeld’s Extreme Studios characters would no longer be possible. With a lengthy Facebook post, Liefeld stated that due to his selling the rights of some of his Extreme Studios characters to an individual to help fund his Awesome Comics company, and those rights later being sold to a third party, he was no longer in control of the published appearances of characters like Youngblood and Supreme. ”So, I currently have questionable access to Youngblood characters, characters I created and shepherded for nearly 3 decades As a result I shut down the storyline that would take Youngblood to issue #100 and beyond. A decidedly new approach is necessary, which I believe is paramount in this post Avengers:Endgame world we find ourselves in. Youngblood will no longer be published by Image Comics or with my involvement at this time, a first in the 27 years since it launched. It’s all really weird but I’ve settled into the realization that this is the way it is going to be. I held it together for 23 years since doing the deal, until now.” A Kickstarter update would arrive nine days later. “As some of you may have heard I no longer possess rights to publish Youngblood characters and as a result I’m redrawing characters in Brigade so they do not infringe.” - Let’s take a moment to recall two big perks for Kickstarter backers that became the latest empty promises in this campaign.

#1- FREE DIGITAL EDITION As far back as 2013, Liefeld had stated numerous times that free digital copies of Brigade would be sent to all backers, “When Brigade goes to press between October and November, a digital file will go out to each and every backer so that they can enjoy the work in digital form immediately following its competition. This way you can enjoy the story and variants prior to receiving the physical copy”,  “The digital issue will arrive much sooner to all the backers, well ahead of your print copies or retail.” and  “A digital PDF will ship to you prior to your physical copies being shipped so you will know that the book is on its way!”

With the many times Liefeld updated that the book was at the printer/being printed/fulfillment just weeks away, the digital edition has never been distributed.

#2- KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE RELEASE PRIOR TO RETAIL LAUNCH In 2014, Liefeld stated that, “I'm going to provide to the exact number of backers that contributed a special exclusive Brigade kickstarter cover that will not be reprinted. You guys deserve it, no more, no less. Only for you. Not a different logo, not a change in color, a whole new image. And those comics will go out to you immediately from a local printer. The rest of the world will have to wait longer as those books offered to the public will definitely be printed overseas through a new deal I brokered while I was at this years Comic-Con!” and,  “You will receive your issues and rewards before the retail community. Your reaction to the material will help promote the book prior to launch.” and in 2015, stating,  “Brigade will be out this summer first and only to you backers for an exclusive 90 day window. This is fair as you all contributed to make it happen.” and,  “Your copies and variants for Brigade #1 will be exclusive to you only for at least 7 months if not longer.”  and in 2017, stating,  “Other than some friends, no one will receive this book before you. It will be the most exclusive, exclusive for a period of time.”

- Unfortunately, Kickstarter backers had to learn that this was no longer happening, not via an update, not via an apology, but via a listing going live on Liefeld’s personal store website in early August for AN EXCLUSIVE NEW YORK COMIC CON 2019 LAUNCH EDITION OF BRIGADE.

"The premiere event arrives exclusively available at NYCC, debuting Oct. 3, 2019! The long-awaited, much-anticipated Brigade. Packed with so many secrets it remains under lock & key, away from prying eyes. Produced by the team that gave you Major X & Deadpool, Written and drawn by Rob Liefeld, colors by Rom Fajardo, your only opportunity to experience this exclusive event comic is through this NYCC exclusive signed by prolific creator Rob Liefeld! Backer copies will have been sent out prior to this, the general public can obtain BRIGADE only through this offer, available on-site at this event!”

Followed by additional exclusive versions of Brigade to be launched at the LA Comic Con the following week. - The italicized lines are important to stress again, Backer copies will have been sent out prior to this. -Will they? Will digital copies even be sent out?

The general public can obtain BRIGADE only through this offer. -What of the 60,000 free copies that were being printed to release at retail? With the New York Comic Con swiftly approaching, backers were left with many questions on what exactly they would be receiving, and when.