PRESS RELEASE - THE NEW ERA OF YOUNGBLOOD BEGINS TOMORROW COURTESY OF SERIES CREATOR ROB LIEFELD AND PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA!The future of Youngblood starts now as Rob Liefeld returns!

24 February 2009 (Berkeley, CA) - The bold new era of YOUNGBLOOD begins tomorrow as series creator Rob Liefeld takes the reins and reveals President Barack Obama's shocking lineup of the long-running superhero team!

"Since YOUNGBLOOD's very first issue back in 1992, the series has always had a real world, political connection by taking on such issues as the first Iraq war and really exploring just what it would mean to be a government sanctioned superteam," Liefeld said. "Bringing Obama into the picture is a necessary extension of YOUNGBLOOD's history and I couldn't imagine a better way to start my full-time return to the series."

YOUNGBLOOD began the Image revolution in early 1992 and was the first creator-owned comic book to sell over a million copies right out of the gate by bringing a whole new perspective to what superhero comics were capable of. Rob's creations took the medium by storm by influencing an entire generation of creators and, most recently, Brett Ratner as the famed director behind such blockbuster films as Rush Hour and X3 announced he will be taking the property to new heights by kick-starting the YOUNGBLOOD film franchise. Tomorrow's issue not only features a six-page back up story setting up Rob Liefeld's full-time return to the series with May's YOUNGBLOOD #9, but also an already much coveted variant cover featuring our nation's 44th President.

YOUNGBLOOD #8, a 32-page full color comic book for $2.99, will be in-stores tomorrow.

Image Comics is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Since that time, Image has gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. There are currently five partners in Image Comics (Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino), and Image is currently divided into four major houses (Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, and Image Central). Image comics and graphic novels cover nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable, offering science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor, and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. Visit www.imagecomics.com.