Didja Know... Rob Liefeld's Hallowed History at the House of Ideas

Didja Know digs into the fun facts, strange stories, and divine details that helped build the heroic halls of the House of Ideas!

Okay, you Didja Know Diehards—you smacked us in the face with a gauntlet and challenged us to do something really different this week, so here it is! It’s not a character, it’s not a comic book...it’s an actual, real live person we’re talkin’ about this time, and he goes by the marvelous moniker of Riotous Rob Liefeld!

Our buddy Rob’s really kickin’ butt on his new book, MAJOR X, and we’re looking forward to absorbing all the action and adventure he’s loaded into issue #4...

So let’s dive into some dazzling, delightful, death-defying details of his time at merry ol’ Marvel!

Didja Know… Rob’s first full Marvel work was not an X-Men book?

Sure, we know it’s hard to believe, Clyde, what with our little Liefeld’s penchant for all things mutant, but bear with us here and we’ll clue you in on how it all shook out way back in ’89.

After some dynamic dishwashing for our Distinguished Competitors—they used to be right across town—Rob poked his lovely locks in the door of the House of Ideas and inquired about illustrating some of those ideas. Now, he did some cool covers at first, many of them featuring X-Men, natch, but he of course wanted to pencil a full story all his own. Who wouldn’t? Really, who!?

Then, as Fate would have it, opportunity knocked and Mrs. Liefeld’s blushing, bouncing boy found himself assigned artistically to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #23, which just happened to be part of a little saga we modestly called “Atlantis Attacks”…and the rest is comic book history.

Didja Know… Rob’s first Marvel writing introduced two superstar characters?

'Round about 1991, Rob was energetically ensconced in the X-verse of merry mutants and was enjoying a pulse-pounding partnership with writer Louise Simonson on a series called NEW MUTANTS when that fearless friend of ours named Fate paid a call on the young lad once again. With NEW MUTANTS #98, he took over plotting as well as penciling the book, along with Frenetic Fabian Nicieza providing dynamite dialogue.

What happened then, you ask? And well you should, because in that very issue none other than Deadpool and Domino debuted, along with the lesser-known Gideon and Genesis. It’s a wonder the entire issue didn’t simply explode in readers’ hands, being so packed with creative characters and cool concepts!

Whew—we better catch our collective breath before going onto the next bombastic bullet point or we’re liable to snap a garter or something…

Didja Know… Rob’s MAJOR X draws from 30 years of his Marvel masterpieces?

That’s right, bunky—this year marks three decades since Rob Liefeld first wondrously wielded a pencil on both page and pad here in the hallowed halls of the House. Pardon us while we wipe away a tear or two of joy…sniff!

So, by now you’ve heard that the Major’s been revealed—SPOILER!—as the son of another of his creations, Cable, and the wild and wooly world he’s entering will be populated by many other notables from Rob’s lengthy Liefeld-ing, such as S.U.R.F.!

Yes, S.U.R.F.! Look it up! You’ll be glad you did.

And from there, well, check MAJOR X out as it unfolds. Rob’s back on art in issue #6, and we’re to understand even more major moments are on the horizon. It’s a good time to be an X-fan!

Peruse these eye-poppin' publications with Marvel Unlimited right now! Then visit your local comic shop to read MAJOR X #4 next Wednesday, May 29!