This mission fulfills a promise I made. Not to the public, not to the government...but to myself. We just saved the world. The best part...there were no cameras documenting the moment. And I'm okay with that. 
- —Shaft
Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
- Youngblood
- Badrock (Thomas John McCall)
- Chapel (Bruce Stinson)
- Acurans
- Photon
- Diehard
- Shaft (Jeff Terrell)
- Vogue (Nikola Voganova)
- Brahma (Jeff Kessler)
- Katellans
- Combat (Kh'ambt)
- Cougar (Daniel Tsuchida)
- Psi-Fire (David Waller)
- Riptide (Leanna Creel)
- Sentinel (Marcus Langston)
Supporting Characters:
- Prophet (Jonathan Prophet) (appears in both flashback and main story)
- Berzerker Squad (First Appearance)
- Battleaxe (First Appearance)
- Cross (First Appearance)
- Grey (First Appearance)
- Jackson Kirby (First Appearance)
- Psi-Storm (First Appearance)
- Wildmane (First Appearance)
- Garnet Wells (First Appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- Angela McCall (First Appearance)
- Shelly Price (First Appearance)
Villains:
- The Four
- Deadlock
- Gage
- Starbright
- Strongarm
- Darkthornn (First Appearance)
- Disciples of Doom (First Appearance) (Some Die)
- Death Squad (First Appearance) (Some Die)
- Lone Tiger (Only appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
- Michael Gibson (Single appearance)
- Timothy Harlowe (Single appearance)
- Norman Scully (Single appearance)
- Clark
- Lane
- Secretary Gregory Craig
- The President
- Alexander Graves (Mentioned)
Locations:
Synopsis for 1st story
In the dark dimension of D'khay, freedom fighters Cross, Wildmane, Psi-Storm, Battleaxe and Grey of the Berzerker Squad fight Darkthornn's Death Squad on their way to end the mad tyrant's reign. After meeting up with Jackson Kirby, the team jumps into a teleporting Crash Tunnel, but Darkthornn intercepts them mid-leap and traps them within crash limbo. The despot monologues to his whimpering underling about how he's lived his life by a deep prophecy and that he'll conquer Jackson's reality as he has so many others before it.
On Earth, a newspaper article by L. A. Nalzak reports that Jeff Terrell, codenamed Shaft, will lead the Youngblood Task Force for five initial years after its previous leader, Colonel John Stone, did non-sanctioned operations on the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border late last year. Stone is currently at large with a private "Brigade."
In Washington, D.C., Jeff tries to get used to his life of fame and public scrutiny as he dates his supermodel girlfriend Shelly Price in the one day off he was able to negotiate. As they talk about Shelly leaving to a Los Angeles Maxim shoot, they're interrupted by screams as a kid tries to steal a lady's purse. When Shaft captures him, he realizes the kid was a distraction so that a sniper could kill him off. Throwing the ballpoint his supervisor gave him as a gift on his last day at the F.B.I., Jeff kills the sniper, who was codenamed Lone Tiger and worked for G.A.T.E. International. Michael Gibson of Access Hollywood corners Jeff for questions, and asks him about the reports that Marcus Langston's Youngblood Team is on a classified mission deep inside Iraq. Jeff runs away, telling Shell that he'll call her. But she knows it's not true, and welcomes Shaft to his new life.
In Baltimore, Maryland, sixteen-year-old Thomas John McCall, also known as Badrock, tells his mother that if game developers call the house again, she should just give them his cell number. Afterwards, he leaves to work at Youngblood.
In Arlington, Virginia, Diehard receives clearance to be activated and flies away from a sub-level Delta. Meanwhile, Bruce Stinson gets ready for his fourth round of sex with a woman when he receives a call from Youngblood and suits up as Chapel.
In Washingston D.C., Vogue jumps through rooftops.
At Youngblood H.Q., Shaft bursts in, outraged that Sentinel's Iraqui OP has been leaked. Upon seeing Photon, the alien confirms he's there because Kh'mbt is on the field. On the evening news, they watch as SNN reports on the assault going on at Iraq, aiming to dismantle Hassan Kussein's Meta-human Weapons of Mass Destruction dating back to U.S. Bio-Genetic experiments Circa World War II. Even as it's going down, SNN expects the mission will be low-scale like the Tokyo Mission nine months ago; it also reports on how Secretary Gregory Craig was evasive during a White House press conference. They switch to foreign correspondent Timothy Harlowe's morning report, who mentions they've been seeing unmarked aircraft.
In the skies over Baghdad, Brahma (Jeff Kessler), Combat, Cougar (Daniel Tsuchida), Psi-Fire (David Waller), Riptide (Leanna Creel) and Sentinel (Marcus Langston) jump down the helicopters along a number of soldiers. Although Kussein's troops have been genetically enhanced, Youngblood does short work of them. Cougar mentions they expect to face the Iraqui Honor Guard, to which Combat complains he wasn't informed. When Sentinel tells Combat to follow procedure and read the briefings, Combat mutters to himself that he'll take revenge soon, full of Katellan pride. As Psi-Fire is bored at all the "human insignificance", Riptide complains that they're all trapped in the service for five years, and that it's hard enough to extract water from the sand.
Shaft turns off his TV. By that point, him and Photon are joined by Vogue, Chapel, Badrock and Diehard. They all complain that they don't want Executive Director Graves breathing down their necks with Internal Affairs due to the leak, but they're interrupted by an Alpha Channel Alert that one of their security transports, transporting Deadlock and Starbright, one half of The Four, was stopped mid-route even as an assault chopper descends on it.
Back in Iraq, Youngblood wonders why the security is so light and there's no Honor Guard, right before they hit a tripwire grid that fries their synapses on contact. Psi-Fire is the least damaged due to floating above the air, and he declares the others fell due to being overconfident right out of the Bloodpool Program. Hassan and his Honor Guard make their appearance; Cougar and Combat take care of the Honor Guard.
In the White House, the President wonders where Agent Graves is during all this, and his men tell him Graves is vacationing with his family on the north shore of Kauai. They speculate Graves just made himself a family to fix his image issue since it looked so odd that he had volunteered to be the Executive Director of Youngblood. The President says the entire superhero situation keeps him up at night; they're not normal, and he shudders to think what would happen if they didn't have them on the payroll acting under the auspices of nationalism. He talks about the entire culture emerging around them, about how terrorists are wearing masks and capes and armor plates, and he can't tell if the American public finds it all amusing, fascinating or just plain obscene. He supposes this is the world now, and they'd better get used to it.
In the streets, Gage and Strongarm descend from their helicopter to free their Four teammates. After breaking open the transport vehicle, Strongarm tells Deadlock and Starbright that he hopes their survive their experience back in the land of the free, to which Starbright comments she's glad he's kept up on his reading. As The Four discuss splitting and reassessing in their safehouse in Philadelphia, Youngblood arrives and engages with them.
Back in Iraq, Psi-Fire confides in Hassan, telling him how his parents were always afraid of him and they were the first people he killed with his psychic powers, and how reading the mind of someone in their moment of termination is better than sex. Breaking through his powers dampeners, Psi-Fire makes Hassan's head explode. The rest of Youngblood are appalled, but Sentinel pushes them to get what they came there for. Inside Hassan's base, they find the frozen body of Jonathan Prophet, a super-soldier they transport to Berlin.
A German Doctor tells Youngblood that Prophet is frozen in German technology from the late 1930s, and that this confirms the rumors and urban legends that doctor Garnet Wells was performing genetic enhancement experiments as early as the first World War. Unimpressed, Sentinel comments that Prophet looks like the Aryan ideal. The doctor explains that in Hitler's Germany there was no shortage of volunteers for human experiments, but Wells was no Nazi, simply a man obssessed with a greater ideal that reached beyond politics. While examining Prophet, Cougar accidentally triggers a release mechanism, waking the super-soldier up. Initially speaking German, Prophet's suit automatically plugs him into an automatic translator. Cougar attempts to knock Prophet unconscious before he can hurt himself, but Prophet's self-defensive measures push Cougar away. Confused, Prophet takes Youngblood to be servants of Darkthornn, the beings he was created to defeat. Before they can convince him otherwise or defeat him, a Crash Tunnel activates and Darkthornn's Disciples of Doom appear and kill the German doctor. Youngblood and Prophet brace themselves for a confrontation.
In Washington D.C., inside a Federal Meta-Containment Facility of classified location, Roland Thymer, Youngblood's media trainer, advises Shaft in how to handle an upcoming Press Conference, accompanied by Badrock. They bump into an imprisoned Strongarm, who acts macho towards Shaft. Thymer comments that it won't be long before criminals start adopting their tacticts, honing their images to better appeal to their intended demographic. As they leave, Strongarm demands seeing The Four's lawyer, a heavyweight from Los Angeles. They depart, not realizing the guard has been replaced by Showdown, a criminal.
In Berlin, Prophet is the only man left standing against the Disciples.
In Earth's orbit, a Katellan fleet led by Kh'rk comment on how their pride demands they launch a full-scale invasion against Earth, but their Peace Treaty forces them to use a stealthy approach. An Acuran Ambassador, explains they're looking for Combat, Kh'rk's war pupil, and Cadet Photon for conspiring against the Katellan Emperor, but they don't yet know if they fled together or locked in a fight with the real traitor. The Ambassador opines the real test of the Peace Treaty will be if Kh'rk will be okay with Combat being executed if he turns out to be the traitor, but Kh'rk assures her he'll kill Combat himself.
In Youngblood H.Q.'s Press Room, Shaft dodges questions about the Hassan operation from Norman Scully of the Washington Post, and reporters Clark and Lane. As Shaft, Badrock and Thymer leave from a disastrous conference, a member of the staff warns them there's a breakout going on. Twenty minutes later, Shaft, Badrock and Chapel storm the prison to find Showdown surrounded by corpses. Shaft shoots arrows at her, but she catches them mid-air and a troop of ninjas fall on the heroes. Fighting them, Badrock screams, "Yabba Dabba Doom!" introducing his catchphrase. After they're done with the ninjas, they find the Four and Showdown preparing a teleport out of the prison "for an appointment they're commited to make." Chapel shoots Gage with a flesh wound, stopping his escape. Before they can interrogate him, Diehard arrives and informs Youngblood that the Away Team is under attack in Berlin.
On their way to Berlin in a Battle Cruiser, Diehard takes temporary command due to his seniority, comparing the situation to World War II. Vogue teases him about it, prompting Chapel to tell them to just do it already. Arriving, Diehard and Badrock take point and take on some Disciples. They bump into Prophet, who explains if the Disciples gain a foothold it could be too late for all of humanity, as they're the first salvo of a much larger assault. After beating more Disciples, Shaft and Chapel arrive while Vogue and Photon establish a perimeter. Prophet warns them of the threat of Darkthornn, and Diehard and Badrock run towards a new portal opening. Before Shaft and Prophet can catch up, they find Vogue, who's dragging a barely-recovered Sentinel. He stresses the mission has the world at stake, and Shaft is actually glad not to be chasing the latest press release. In the lower levels, Diehard and Badrock pass the portal into D'khay, where Darkthornn defeats Diehard with one punch and brain-washes Badrock to his side. Darkthornn enters Earth, using Badrock to plummet Youngblood. Psi-Fire awakens just in time, as mind-control is up his alley, and he begins trying to deprogram Badrock. Meanwhile, Prophet faces Darkthornn as is his life's mission, but fails. He's rescued by Diehard, who arrives from D'khay, and the two of them manage to hurt the despot. Swearing to make Earth suffer as punishment, Darkthornn teleports away. Afterwards, Psi-Fire heals Badrock's mind. In the aftermath, Shaft tells Prophet Washington might be the safest place for him right now, and Prophet tells him that where Shaft leads, he will follow. Psi-Fire comments that a victory like this will guarantee the cover of every major rag back home, but Diehard angrily tells him that's not what this is about. Shaft agrees, saying he fulfilled a promised to himself to save the world and that he's okay with there being no cameras to document the moment.
Appearing in "YouthQuake!"
Featured Characters:
- Youngblood (First Appearance)
- Riptide (First Appearance)
- Cougar (First Appearance)
- Psi-Fire (First Appearance)
- Sentinel (First Appearance)
- Sonik (First Appearance)
- Brahma (First Appearance)
Other Characters:
- Youth Brigade (First Appearance)
- Sea-Wolf (First Appearance)
- Thumbelina (First Appearance)
- Link (Mentioned)
- Copycat (Mentioned)
- Tinker (First Appearance)
Synopsis for "YouthQuake!"
Riptide, Sonik, Cougar and Sentinel watch Tinker audition for their team, Youngblood, as they need a new member after losing Link. After Tinker bores them for 45 minutes describing his suit's utilities, Cougar proves how useless they are by scratching them and rendering them useless. Angered, Tinker leaves, swearing they haven't heard the last of him, and he thinks to himself that Cougar will regret his return. Taking a break, Sentinel comments that Sea-Wolf from the Youth Brigade shows a lot of promise, but Cougar prefers Thumbelina. The two bump into Psi-Fire and Brahma in the gym. Psi-Fire advises the guys to be careful before they decide to consider adding Tinker to the Youth Brigade, after the Copycat debacle. In the waiting room, Sea-Wolf is angry that Youngblood are considering auditioners instead of the Youth Brigade. Sonik and Riptide arrive and tell him to cool off, that the Brigade'll have a written exam in ten minutes, and in the final test they'll be up against the adults. Suddenly, an alarm rings off and Youngblood rushes to their Director for debriefing.
Notes
- This volume reprints Youngblood #1-5 with a new script by Joe Casey and a new ending drawn by Rob Liefeld.
- This issue includes pin-ups of Jake Holland (Extreme) and Troll.
- "YouthQuake!" was originally created in 1987 for an unrealized Youngblood comic that would have been published by Gary Carlson's Megaton Comics.