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Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld announces imminent retirement from comics: "I'm not sure how much longer I'm doing this"

Rob Liefeld says that his upcoming Image Comics relaunch of Youngblood is likely to be his last comics project. "I figure I have five years left doing comic books before the eyes go," he said at NYCC 2025

News by Graeme McMillan, Editor

Published on Sat Oct 11 2025

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November sees the return of Youngblood to Image Comics, as creator Rob Liefeld returns to the series that launched the publisher back in 1992 — but as Liefeld revealed at New York Comic Con 2025, it’s a return that’s already a limited arrangement due to how long he believes he can keep making comics altogether.

“Guys, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be doing this,” Liefeld confessed during an appearance at Wednesday’s retailer day programming in the Javits Center. “I saw Todd [McFarlane, fellow Image Comics founder] beat me to it. I saw Todd put up a video lately, a couple weeks back, 'I'm not gonna be doing this for long,' I'm like, ‘Damn, he beat me to it!’ I can't say that I'm older than Todd. Todd is — in fact, they're all older. I was the kid. Here's the sad thing, I was the kid in Image Comics, and now I'm 58, old, graying. But this is the way I'm gonna go out.”

Liefeld’s original Youngblood #1 was released in April 1992, as the first Image Comics release, selling more than one million copies and launching the publisher that would go on to become the third largest in the U.S. marketplace. Although the creator has worked on a number of different series in the decades since — including a number of Cable and Deadpool series for Marvel Comics, featuring his creations as they appeared on the big screen — he’s periodically returned to Youngblood, relaunching the series in 2008, 2012, and 2017. This latest series, which has already raised more than $500,000 as a direct-to-customer edition sold by Liefeld online, will be his final time with the characters… and, it seems, may be likely to be his final comic book series as a whole.

Speaking at the Javits Center, Liefeld announced, “I figure I have five years left doing comic books before the eyes go. I've already I have to upgrade my glasses all the time, and I'm not doing that Lazic shit — I'd be the guy that the laser blinds me so, so that's not going to happen. But I've got five years left. I am committed to doing all of this stuff with Image Comics. Having a blast. I feel that we are giving you some fun comics.”

Youngblood #1 — written and drawn by Liefeld — will be released November 5. We should consider it to be the start of the end of an era, all things considered.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.