| Shaft | |
|---|---|
 Shaft | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Image Comics |
| First appearance | Youngblood #1 (April 1992) |
| Created by | Rob Liefeld |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Jeff Terrel |
| Team affiliations | Youngblood |
| Abilities | Expert in swordsmanship and marksmanship |
Shaft (Jeff Terrel) is a fictional superhero created by writer/artist Rob Liefeld. Liefeld created the character for his Extreme Studios as the leader of superhero team Youngblood. [1] [2]
Jeff Terrel is an undercover FBI agent dating an assistant DA when a sniper tries to kill him at a shopping mall. He slays his attacker with a thrown pen. [3] Later, he is approached by the government-sponsored team, Youngblood. He joins the team being an already accomplished archer. He adopts the name of Shaft and began the first of many adventures with the group. His first adventure involves the removal of a fictional Middle Eastern dictator named Hussain Kussein. Part of Youngblood is concerned with public relations, as seen with the media relations expert Tymer in issue three. In the same issue, he leads a holding action against a prison break. [4]
When then-leader Battlestone was accused of misleading the team and held responsible for the deaths of many members, Shaft went on to lead the team while Battlestone founded and became the leader of Brigade. One of his earliest actions was rescuing Dan Quayle from the WildC.A.T.s. Or so he thought. This had been part of a shape-shifting Daemonite plot. [5] Shaft also made an appearance in the Alan Moore-written "Judgement Day" limited series printed by Liefeld's second comic book publishing company Awesome Comics. In it, he played a part in the trial of fellow Youngblood teammate Knightsabre. Outside of Youngblood, he was featured in a crossover with the Valiant Comics heroes, notably Bloodshot. [6] Shaft and his team try to bring in California-based super-squad 'The Pact' for questioning in a legal matter. [7]
In 1995, Shaft goes through a gender reversal in the 'Babewatch' event.
Shaft has a prominent cameo in the Shattered Image limited series, attempting to help keep the Earth from splintering off into six different versions. [8]
When Shaft's teammate Riptide is found murdered and fellow hero Knightsabre is suspected, Shaft leads the political and legal chaos that follows, as such as a situation is unique for society at that time. [9]
Shaft once again led Youngblood in the Image Comics-published Youngblood series written by Joe Casey. This team was a public relations front put forth by the U.S. government. He is teamed with Badrock, Cougar, Doc Rocket, Diehard, and Johnny Panic. Each member of the team has their own action figure line; they also star in the in-universe Youngblood cartoon show. [10]
Shaft is featured in the Image United crossover that took place in November 2009.
Robert Liefeld is an American comic book creator. A prominent writer and artist in the 1990s, he is known for co-creating the character Cable with writer Louise Simonson and the character Deadpool with writer Fabian Nicieza. In the early 1990s, Liefeld gained popularity due to his work on Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and later X-Force. In 1992, he and several other popular Marvel illustrators left the company to found Image Comics, which started a wave of comic books owned by their creators rather than by publishers. The first book published by Image Comics was Liefeld's Youngblood #1.
Youngblood is a superhero team that starred in their self-titled comic book, created by writer/artist Rob Liefeld. The team made its debut as a backup feature in the 1987 RAMM #1 before the next month appearing in the one-shot Megaton Explosion #1 before later appearing in 1992 in its own ongoing series as the flagship publication for Image Comics. Youngblood was originally published by Image Comics, and later by Awesome Entertainment. Upon Rob Liefeld's return to Image Comics, it was revived in 2008, 2012, and 2017. In 2019, Liefeld revealed that he has not owned the rights to Youngblood for several years.
Supreme is a fictional superhero created by Rob Liefeld and published by Image Comics, followed by Maximum Press (1996–98), Awesome Entertainment (1999–2000), and Arcade Comics (2006). Although Supreme was originally a violent, egotistical Superman archetype, he was retooled by Alan Moore as a tribute to Mort Weisinger's Silver Age Superman.
Deathmate was a six-part comic book crossover between Valiant Comics and Image Comics published in 1993 and 1994.
Brigade is an American comic book published by Image Comics and later by Awesome Entertainment, created, plotted, and originally written by Rob Liefeld and first illustrated by Marat Mychaels as a spin-off from the then-popular series Youngblood.
Wolverine is a number of Marvel Comics comic book series starring the X-Men member Wolverine. As of April 2013, 323 issues and 11 annuals have been published. It is the original flagship title created for the character.
Todd Nauck is an American comic book artist and writer. Nauck is most notable for his work on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,Young Justice and his own creation, Wildguard.
Awesome Comics or Awesome Entertainment was an American comic book studio formed in 1997 by Rob Liefeld following his expulsion from Image Comics, a company he co-founded five years prior. Awesome Comics was the successor of Extreme Studios and Maximum Press, Liefeld's imprints at Image, and was followed by his new company Arcade Comics upon its closure in 2000.
Badrock is a fictional superhero who appears in books published by Image Comics. Created by Rob Liefeld, he was originally named Bedrock and first appeared in Youngblood #1.
Bloodpool is a superhero team and a comic book series created by Rob Liefeld. The series was published by Image Comics in 1996 under Liefeld's Extreme Studios. The team's roster includes Rubble, Task, Seoul, Psilence, Wylder, and Fusion. The underage superheroes were recruited by the government for the eventual inclusion in the prestigious Youngblood team.
New Men was a comic book series published during the 1990s by Image Comics. It was one of the many titles co-created by Rob Liefeld, and released as part of his Extreme Studios imprint. After an initial launch the series underwent a re-design and revamp by writer Eric Stephenson and Penciler Chris Sprouse with Inks by Al Gordon.
Judgment Day was a limited series published by Awesome Comics from June to October 1997 written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Rob Liefeld, with additional art by Gil Kane. This story features several characters created by Liefeld for both Awesome Comics and the Image Universe, including Supreme, Youngblood and Glory, dealing with the concept of superheroes being tried for murder. The series also features characters created by other Image Comics creators such as Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon.
Bartholemew J. Troll is a fictional character, heavily influenced by Wolverine, created by Rob Liefeld.
Bloodstrike is a fictional team of action/adventure super agents, originally published by Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios of Image Comics in the 1990s.
Chapel is a supervillain/antihero character appearing in comics published by Rob Liefeld, who created the character in 1992 as member of the government superhero group Youngblood for their series of the same name.
Image United is an incomplete comic book limited series published by Image Comics. The intent of the series was to re-unite the founders of Image Comics on a joint project, serving as a crossover between various Image Comics and Image Universe titles. However, there were delays in production, and only three of the planned six issues were published in November 2009, with artist Rob Liefeld eventually confirming that no further issues would be forthcoming.
Riptide is a fictional superhero from Image Comics created by Rob Liefeld. She first appeared in Youngblood #1.
The Image Universe (IU) is a fictional universe in which some stories published by Image Comics take place. It was introduced in the early years of the publisher, shared by the various creators who formed the Image partnership. The independent, creator-owned nature of their work led to limited interaction between their characters, and little coordination of the Image Universe as a shared setting. Instead it has mainly served as the ostensible setting of occasional crossovers between different series, including Deathmate, Image United, and The Invincible War.
Prophet is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by Image Comics. Created by Rob Liefeld, he first appeared in Youngblood #2.
X-Force is an ongoing comic book series featuring the fictional superhero team of the same name, published by Marvel Comics in various incarnations beginning in 1991.