Rob Liefeld is a prolific artist and writer who dominated the comic scene in the 1990s, introducing the world to an energetic, avant-garde style of comic art and new kind of superhero. During his 30+ year career in the comic industry, Liefeld has worked on some of the industry’s most celebrated titles, including X-Men, Captain America, The Avengers, Spiderman and more, while making an immeasurable impact with the introduction of his own iconic characters such as Deadpool and Cable. In 1992, Liefeld co-founded Image Comics, the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher, which effectively helped change the comic industry Known to be on the cutting edge of creativity, Liefeld now ventures into the world of NFTs with the launch of The Defiants – a disparate collection of Warriors united in defense of humanity.
It all started at a comic convention in San Francisco during the late eighties, when a young Rob Liefeld made the trek from Anaheim to present his works to comic editors in hopes of securing a future in the industry. Despite initially shying away from the major comic publishers, DC and Marvel, Liefeld caught the attention of a Marvel editor, and in 1989 the self-taught artist began pencilling for Marvel’s The New Mutants.
New characters created and developed by Liefeld, like Domino, Shatterstar, Stryfe, Wildside and Warpath helped breath new life into the then ailing franchise, but it was the introduction of mouthy mercenary Deadpool that would change everything for Liefeld. Eventually Liefeld was granted total creative control of The New Mutants leading to a total transformation and the birth of X-Force in 1991. The revamped comic was met with extreme enthusiasm, with X-Force #1 remaining the second-highest selling American comic book of all time with 5 million copies sold.
Two of Liefeld’s notable original characters, Cable and his archenemy Stryfe, were introduced in The New Mutants #97. When Deadpool, the world’s favorite “Merc with a Mouth” made his first appearance in The New Mutants #98, he was an instant fan favorite. Inspired by some of Liefeld’s favorite characters, The Wolverine and Spiderman, Deadpool was actually first introduced as a super villain before evolving into the crime fighting anti-hero we know and love. Deadpool eventually transcended beyond printed comic books to the silver screen, with two major motion pictures featuring Ryan Reynolds playing the titular character. These films shattered box office records making over $1.5 billion dollars worldwide.
“Every figure that Rob draws has a certain energy to it, a certain excitement. Every character Rob drew had seven knives and six guns and shoulder pads and pouches and belts and straps and ammunition. It was an aesthetic that as a kid absolutely blew me away. I idolized the…
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