Youngblood #10 Review

Test Run

Written by: Chad Bowers
Art by: Jim Towe
Colors: Juan Manuel Rodríguez
Letters: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image
Reviewed by: Andrew McAvoy


The latest series of Youngblood got off to a great start. The issues collected in Volume 1 of the trade form a great arc, and a really interesting story. The stories that will comprise the forthcoming second Volume has been a bit inconsistent. It's taking quite a while to put the elements in place for the story to take off properly. Let's see if this issue sees things start to fly.

Well, my perspective on this issue is that it doesn't course correct the direction of the series as an issue, but it does complete the shift towards what will obviously be the storyline of the book in forthcoming issues. So while this book mainly involves a major battle on Japanese soil, the real purpose of it is to reveal the Japanese government's interest in the reformed crew.

That for me made this issue worthwhile because it is the culmination of a series of developments over the last couple of issues with a view to rebasing the story. The future potential has me excited as we see the Japanese Prime Minister express an interest in sponsoring the Youngblood program (they even have the copyright for Team Youngblood filed), which we know from the first arc isn't likely to please the US government.

Elsewhere I feel that I should mention the art. I always find this title extremely pleasing to the eye. The colors, in particular, are very well selected and the panels themselves don't overcrowd the book. The character depiction is so clean and free of lines, and it results in a book that I find myself able to glide through; it is a nice light read.

Bits and Pieces

As an issue, this book was just okay, but it does a lot of spade work to lay a solid foundation for what should be a pretty exciting storyline coming up. The closing pages suggest that the territory of this book may switch to US soil next issue, which should be interesting. Sadly though I can't score this on the potential of future issues, and this is mostly set up. If you've been following the series and want to keep reading it is probably required reading. If you are wanting to jump on to this series then I'd tend to hold off until next issue.

6.4/10