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Heroes Reborn (1996 comic)
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Heroes Reborn (1996 comic)
"Heroes Reborn" is a 1996–97 crossover story arc among comic book series published by the American company Marvel Comics. During this one-year, multi-title story arc, Marvel temporarily outsourced the production of several of its best-known comic books to the studios of artists Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, who had been among Marvel's most popular artists before leaving to form independent companies.
"Heroes Reborn" was an attempt by Marvel to address low sales on some of its titles. While Spider-Man and X-Men-related titles sold well, as did some titles under the horror-themed "Midnight Sons" imprint like Ghost Rider, reader interest was comparatively poor on Avengers and Fantastic Four. Marvel conceived of an experiment to outsource production for titles with lagging sales to two former Marvel artists, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, who had left the publisher four years earlier to form Image Comics, and who still enjoyed great popularity among the comics-buying public. The two creators would launch four new titles, with Jim Lee's WildStorm Productions producing Fantastic Four and Iron Man, and Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios handling Captain America and The Avengers. These books would be set in a new continuity. In-story, it would be explained that these characters had been accidentally transported into a "pocket universe" separate from the main Marvel universe by Franklin Richards, during a battle with the supervillain Onslaught.
While the rest of the world believed these characters had died, they in fact were now in a new universe, essentially "reborn", without any memory of their past universe, which allowed Lee and Liefeld to establish new, revised origin stories for modern readers. For example, Ben Grimm fought as a pilot in the Gulf War instead of World War II, with Susan Storm and Johnny Storm being explained to have been financial backers for Reed Richards' rocket, hence their presence on the mission. In addition, while Richards' goal of becoming the first man to get to Mars remained, it was revealed that he secretly aimed to explore the interstellar anomalies of that area.[citation needed]
Marvel ended Liefeld's contract early after six issues, citing low sales on his two titles, which were reassigned to Lee. Walt Simonson took over Avengers when it moved to WildStorm. Although the four titles in "Heroes Reborn" were slated for a 12-issue run, James Robinson wrote a thirteenth and final issue for each book. The storyline, entitled "World War III", was a crossover between the Marvel and WildStorm characters.[citation needed]
At the end of the storyline, which lasted one year, WildStorm's agreement with Marvel ended, at which point the Fantastic Four and Avengers were returned to the mainstream Marvel Universe, again through the intervention of Franklin Richards, in the storyline "Heroes Return", which included a central miniseries Heroes Reborn: The Return, by writer Peter David and artist Salvador Larroca.
To promote the Captain America series, Liefeld produced a piece of promo art depicting that character, which became one of the most famous and mocked illustrations from that period of Liefeld's career. The artwork depicted Captain America with "cartoonish proportions", in particular his stomach, arms, and "gaping barrel chest", as Comic Book Resources (CBR) put it. Referred to by Comics Beat as "the most infamous piece of art in comics history,"
Timothy Donohoo of CBR observed that the artwork "showcases the extreme and many times highly unrealistic anatomy seen in the comics of the era", and came to be viewed as emblematic of Liefeld's artwork as a whole. The image went on to become an internet meme, and was included in critical articles such as "The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings", "A Gallery of Rob Liefeld's Anatomical Abominations" and "Worst Rob Liefeld Covers", earning Liefeld his status as one of the industry's most controversial comics artists.
Liefeld poked fun at the matter in 2016, posting, "Of course I'm #teamcap. I didn't give him those big tits for nuthin..." He revisited the illustration in September 2023, with a New York Comic Con variant cover for Captain America (vol. 10) #1, depicting the Sam Wilson incarnation of the character in the same pose. Posting the image on Twitter, Liefeld commented, "Had to get something off my chest." In October 2023 the original 1996 artwork was put up for auction with Heritage Auctions, the second time it had been made so available. On November 17, the final piece was auctioned for $132,000 USD.
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Heroes Reborn (1996 comic)
"Heroes Reborn" is a 1996–97 crossover story arc among comic book series published by the American company Marvel Comics. During this one-year, multi-title story arc, Marvel temporarily outsourced the production of several of its best-known comic books to the studios of artists Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, who had been among Marvel's most popular artists before leaving to form independent companies.
"Heroes Reborn" was an attempt by Marvel to address low sales on some of its titles. While Spider-Man and X-Men-related titles sold well, as did some titles under the horror-themed "Midnight Sons" imprint like Ghost Rider, reader interest was comparatively poor on Avengers and Fantastic Four. Marvel conceived of an experiment to outsource production for titles with lagging sales to two former Marvel artists, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, who had left the publisher four years earlier to form Image Comics, and who still enjoyed great popularity among the comics-buying public. The two creators would launch four new titles, with Jim Lee's WildStorm Productions producing Fantastic Four and Iron Man, and Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios handling Captain America and The Avengers. These books would be set in a new continuity. In-story, it would be explained that these characters had been accidentally transported into a "pocket universe" separate from the main Marvel universe by Franklin Richards, during a battle with the supervillain Onslaught.
While the rest of the world believed these characters had died, they in fact were now in a new universe, essentially "reborn", without any memory of their past universe, which allowed Lee and Liefeld to establish new, revised origin stories for modern readers. For example, Ben Grimm fought as a pilot in the Gulf War instead of World War II, with Susan Storm and Johnny Storm being explained to have been financial backers for Reed Richards' rocket, hence their presence on the mission. In addition, while Richards' goal of becoming the first man to get to Mars remained, it was revealed that he secretly aimed to explore the interstellar anomalies of that area.[citation needed]
Marvel ended Liefeld's contract early after six issues, citing low sales on his two titles, which were reassigned to Lee. Walt Simonson took over Avengers when it moved to WildStorm. Although the four titles in "Heroes Reborn" were slated for a 12-issue run, James Robinson wrote a thirteenth and final issue for each book. The storyline, entitled "World War III", was a crossover between the Marvel and WildStorm characters.[citation needed]
At the end of the storyline, which lasted one year, WildStorm's agreement with Marvel ended, at which point the Fantastic Four and Avengers were returned to the mainstream Marvel Universe, again through the intervention of Franklin Richards, in the storyline "Heroes Return", which included a central miniseries Heroes Reborn: The Return, by writer Peter David and artist Salvador Larroca.
To promote the Captain America series, Liefeld produced a piece of promo art depicting that character, which became one of the most famous and mocked illustrations from that period of Liefeld's career. The artwork depicted Captain America with "cartoonish proportions", in particular his stomach, arms, and "gaping barrel chest", as Comic Book Resources (CBR) put it. Referred to by Comics Beat as "the most infamous piece of art in comics history,"
Timothy Donohoo of CBR observed that the artwork "showcases the extreme and many times highly unrealistic anatomy seen in the comics of the era", and came to be viewed as emblematic of Liefeld's artwork as a whole. The image went on to become an internet meme, and was included in critical articles such as "The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings", "A Gallery of Rob Liefeld's Anatomical Abominations" and "Worst Rob Liefeld Covers", earning Liefeld his status as one of the industry's most controversial comics artists.
Liefeld poked fun at the matter in 2016, posting, "Of course I'm #teamcap. I didn't give him those big tits for nuthin..." He revisited the illustration in September 2023, with a New York Comic Con variant cover for Captain America (vol. 10) #1, depicting the Sam Wilson incarnation of the character in the same pose. Posting the image on Twitter, Liefeld commented, "Had to get something off my chest." In October 2023 the original 1996 artwork was put up for auction with Heritage Auctions, the second time it had been made so available. On November 17, the final piece was auctioned for $132,000 USD.