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1%% Image Pickin' conversation: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=7geuk31sqiu6w5dtwz8beflr
2[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Robliefeldpic_4678.jpg]]
3%%MOD NOTE: Please refrain from creator bashing and overly negative edits.
4
5Robert Liefeld (born October 3, 1967) is an American comic-book artist. His unique style ([[HeroicBuild exaggerated anatomy]], pouches, excessive hatching, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment pouches]], panel-bursting splash compositions, and [[RuleOfThree pouches]]) is widely recognized.
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7He is also credited as a pioneer of the NinetiesAntiHero. Many stylistic advents in superhero comics of the 1990s are inaccurately attributed to Liefeld, such as the sharp, thin-lined Crowquill inking style that he (and others) cribbed from contemporaries such as Dale Keown, Creator/ToddMcfarlane, Art Adams, and Creator/JimLee.
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9As with the confrontational splash pages, Liefeld's approach to character and costume design was shocking excess in the wake of a fairly conventional period in superhero comics. This initially impressed comic-book readers as a powerful creative energy many likened to that of Creator/JackKirby ([[RebelliousRebel some]] still do, infuriating others).
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11Unfortunately, efforts to quickly develop numerous properties for Creator/ImageComics to compete for shelf-space with the established mainstream publishers resulted in a glut of Liefeld-style designs and many artists suddenly working in the Liefeld/Lee/Silvestri "Image Comics" style. It was too much. Contrasting Liefeld's own crude work to that of so many (often more polished) artists working in similar styles stripped the wunderkind of his mystique.
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13That most Creator/ImageComics titles also eschewed using dedicated writers didn't help matters. Though there were exceptions, and writing quality varied, the rottenest apples are best remembered.
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15Massive HypeBacklash followed, which [[OnceOriginalNowCommon gave Liefeld the distinction of being one of the most influential and successful comic artists,]] [[CondemnedByHistory and one of the most broadly disparaged]]. Suffice to say that in recent years he is heavily [[http://cdn.bleedingcool.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/watchmen2.jpg parodied]] and [[https://www.progressiveboink.com/2012/4/21/2960508/worst-rob-liefeld-drawings mocked]].
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17Despite this notoriety, several of the characters he created have gone on to become long-running mainstream A-list properties (most notably {{Comicbook/Cable}} and ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}), and he continues to find (or create) regular work in the comic-book industry. In 2018, [[http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news/netflix-aquires-extreme-universe/ there were also reports]] that Creator/{{Netflix}} had acquired the rights to a number of Liefeld's creations, including Brigade and Bloodstrike, and hired Akiva Goldsman (''Film/ABeautifulMind'', ''Series/{{Titans|2018}}'', ''Film/IAmLegend'') to develop a cinematic universe for them on the streaming service. However, the next year, [[https://www.cbr.com/rob-liefeld-extreme-universe-not-netflix/ Liefeld said the deal was no more]] and that he had taken the rights elsewhere.
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19----
20!!Tropes exhibited by Liefeld and his works:
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22* AuthorAppeal: Aside from his love of drawing highly deformed women, this also extends to male characters. For example, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LiefeldPackage.jpg this]] picture includes a rather prominent bulge in the main character's pants.
23* {{BFG}}: Another hallmark of his artwork involves characters wielding a [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/x-force-9-underground-and-over-the-top/4000-35587/ large]] [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/x-force-4-sabotage-x-over-part-2/4000-34899/ futuristic]] [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/youngblood-1/4000-98999/ gun]].
24* BoobsAndButtPose: As usual for the period, his female characters fall into the Main/{{BadGirlComic}} trope: sexy (anti-)heroines that pose provocatively for the "camera". Examples include [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/avengelyne-5-the-hand-of-god-part-2-of-3/4000-304656/ Avengelyne]], Glory, [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/re-gex-special-preview/4050-45750/ Genie]] (from ''Re:Gex''), [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_large/9/99045/5451668-9955884430-17410.jpg Vogue]] (from ''Youngblood''; shown here in an alternate cover for her mini-series).
25* CaptainErsatz:
26** ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}: Co-created with Fabian Nicieza, the character began as one for Creator/DCComics' ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} the Terminator for the Marvel Universe, both being mercenaries with similar designs (though Deadpool had more of a sense of humor than Deathstroke). Liefeld himself states that the similarities to Deathstroke were initially an unintentional coincidence and were pointed out by Nicieza during the plotting phase, so they gave Deadpool the name "Wade Wilson" to reference Slade, as a joke. However, Deadpool changed substantially when he was handed to other writers, notably Joe Kelly, and grew into [[HeroicComedicSociopath the loon we know and love]].
27** At one point, Liefeld made two of these in some way inspired by ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, using unpublished art from the ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'' [[ComicBook/HeroesRebornCaptainAmerica Captain America book]] after he was taken off the initiative. At first, he planned to buy the rights for Fighting American and use him as the main character. A creator-owned character, Fighting American was created by Joe Simon and Creator/JackKirby, the original creators of Captain America, for a different company when they got unhappy that Atlas Comics (the company that would later become Marvel) had started a new Captain America book without them. The character started out as a pretty straight pastiche of their original version of Captain America, but went satirical after a couple of issues when they started giving the otherwise-interchangeable Communist spies names like Hotsky Trotsky.\
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29When Kirby's widow and Simon wanted more for the rights to Fighting American than Liefeld was willing to pay, he created a new character, Agent America, as a stand-in while negotiating to bring the price down. Liefeld eventually got the rights to Fighting American, but the new book resulted in a lawsuit from Marvel, in part because the artwork had been made for one of their projects. The lawsuit also concerned the changes Liefeld made to the character's design that made him look too much like Captain America, such as giving him a helmet with an eagle on the forehead. The character's shield was especially emblematic of this since Fighting American never had a shield. This was resolved by the court ordering that Liefeld change the costume and forbidding him from having Fighting American throw his shield.
30** Newmen: Similar to original X-Men squad. Here we have an austere mentor, Proctor (a Professor X[=/=]ComicBook/DoomPatrol's Niles Caulder expy), and his five teenager students: Kodiak, a large furred monster; Byrd, a youth with bird wings under his arms; Exit, the resident teleporter; Dash, the only female and speedster, and Reign, who can shoot pink beams of energy from the horn/jewel stuck on his forehead. Among their enemies - Proctor recalls in a thought balloon - are "Quantum" and "The Brotherhood of Man".
31** Doom's IV: This four-member supergroup has been argued to resemble ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', from Marvel Comics. Drawn similarities would include the powers of Brick (the BigGuy of the team, made of "sand and silicate" and looking like The Thing) and Burn (a woman with fire-manipulating powers, but does not become WreathedInFlames, unlike her proposed "source of inspiration", the Human Torch).
32** While he was illustrating and writing the story for ''ComicBook/XForce'' at Marvel, Liefeld started working on [[https://www.tumblr.com/seanhowe/64691989355/excerpted-from-marvel-comics-the-untold a creator-owned comic]] that would be published by Malibu Comics (the company that published ComicBook/TheUltraverse) titled ''The Executioners'' (stylized with the 'X' highlighted). Described as being about a group of "rebel mutants from the future come to destroy their past", it caught Marvel's attention when a press release came out. Seeing the obvious similarities to the characters Liefeld had created for ''X-Force'', both in concept and character designs, they threatened to sue if the title was made, so the project was cancelled.
33%%** [[http://hulkcollection.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/919noz.jpg Smash]].
34%%** ComicBook/YoungbloodImageComics: ComicBook/TeenTitans, began as a related project for DC, became more Expy under the writing direction of Alan Moore (along with Moore's Supreme, an Expy of DC's Superman).
35* CListFodder: He created so many characters during his early ComicBook/NewMutants and ComicBook/XForce run that it was inevitable. One-note characters like Sumo were killed quickly, while most of the Mutant Liberation Front were either depowered or killed over the years.
36* DarkAgeOfSupernames: Liefeld's character names and book titles often have some form of "blood," "death" or "kill" incorporated.
37* DarkerAndEdgier: While not the first to push the envelope when it comes to comics, he did not shy away from some darker and edgier content in his work (YMMV if it was a success or not):
38** In ''Youngblood'''s debut issue, in the flipbook story, one of their members telekinectically pops the head of a Saddam Hussein stand-in on the page, and the panel only shows blood gushing from his head.
39** A more drastic example occurs in ''Youngblood'' #10: Chapel confronts Spawn (the man he killed) about the latter's pact with devil-like Malebolgia. Then, in the next pages, Chapel [[spoiler:shoots himself in the head, blood, brain matter and bone fragments exploding forth from his head.]]
40%%* EyesAlwaysShut: Nine times out of ten anyway. When they're open they quite often have no detail and are pure white. The technical term for this is "Youngblood's Disease", as coined by [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]].
41* GunsAkimbo: As a comic book artist, in many action scenes he drew, there is always one dual-wielding character either [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/x-force-8-flashed-before-my-eyes/4000-35484/ firing one gun]] or [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/prophet-2/4000-106509/ both at the same time]].
42%%* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Even on the "[[DesignatedHero good guys]]."
43%%* HandsInPockets: Seems to have an aversion to drawing feet.
44* HeroicBuild: Liefeld has the noted tendency to just throw muscles everywhere, even by the standards of superhero comics.
45%%* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Pads, plates, mullets and pouches. Cooler than parachute pants or flannel shirts... maybe.
46%%* MaleGaze: Oh so much.
47%%* MostCommonSuperpower
48%%* MsFanservice: Practically every female character. For most people they are Ms. FanDisservice - unless wondering where someone keeps her internal organs and how she makes her knees bend backward is your thing.
49* NinetiesAntihero: His output as a creator included characters developed during the early 90s that fit the mold of non-classical, Silver Age heroes.
50%%* OurWeaponsWillBeBoxyInTheFuture
51* PunnyName: Some of his creations have names like this:
52** Psilence, a play on "silence" and referencing her psionic powers and the fact that she never speaks.
53** Warwolf, a play on "werewolf".
54** Heavy Mettle, a super-team that includes Supreme.
55* ShouldersOfDoom: As part of the heroes and villains' ensemble, they [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/extreme-sacrifice-1-extreme-sacrifice-part-1-of-8-/4000-106496/ often wear two]] [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/youngblood-1/4000-98999/ shoulderpads]] (sometimes, only one).
56%%* SignatureStyle
57* {{Stripperiffic}}: The female characters he drew and/or created wear what basically amounts to a bikini. Some examples include [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/avengelyne-glory/4050-20285/ Glory and Avengelyne]]. A more explicit case could be made for [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/violator-vs-badrock-2-where-angels-fear-to-tread/4000-119545/ Celestine]], who wears a very fetish-y purple outfit.
58* SuperHeroPackingHeat: One of his signature elements, which he helped popularize for the NinetiesAntiHero. Many of his creations ''do'' have superpowers which they use, but they became associated with heavy artillery. One particularly egregious example comes from ''ComicBook/YoungbloodImageComics'': [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/youngblood-10-the-death-of-chapel/4000-99009/ Chapel]], [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/a/uploads/scale_large/1/11307/406629-11099-97387-4-chapel.jpg mercenary]] extraordinaire. Even when he was the artist for ''X-Force'' in the early-1990s, its members were [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/x-force-9-underground-and-over-the-top/4000-35587/ drawn with guns]] (on this cover, Cable, Domino and Shatterstar - granted, Cable is a soldier from the future, and Domino is a mercenary, but Shatterstar's characteristic weapons are a pair of swords).
59* TooManyBelts: Many of the characters he designed have a large amount of belts and [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/x-force-8-flashed-before-my-eyes/4000-35484/ pouches]] [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/x-force-7-under-the-knife/4000-35378/ on them]].
60%%* WhiteHairBlackHeart
61%%* XtremeKoolLetterz

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