Liefeld Media along with the family of Dave Cockrum family and his Estate represented by Clifford Meth had some exciting news about Cockrum’s Futurians.
Meth on behalf of the Cockrums announced that “Paty Cockrum and I are delighted that Rob Liefeld is taking on The Futurians. Dave Cockrum was best known as the creator of Nightcrawler and the designer of Marvel’s X-Men icons Storm, Colossus, Thunderbird and Mystique. But The Futurians were by far Dave’s favorite characters that he created. His graphic novels for Marvel and other companies that featured The Futurians were beloved by Dave’s fans. Decades later, they are still sought after by collectors.”
“Rob Liefeld is the perfect creator to take on this project. Rob is a fan-favorite storyteller whose personality, like Dave’s, is comics incarnate. He loves the medium, grew up on Dave’s work, and developed a number of his own extremely popular characters such as Deadpool and Cable. Rob will know exactly what to do with The Futurians and we can’t wait to see it.”
Rob Liefeld, Image Comics founder and creator of Marvel icons like Deadpool and Cable, among others, and Image Comics stalwarts like Youngblood, added that “I just want to tell people about Dave Cockrum. He’s so talented, and his stuff is so cool.”
“My midlife crisis was being obsessed with my Bronze Age upbringing in comics and my belief that those were the best comics that were ever made. And I always wanted more of The Futurians.”
“Dave was one of my earliest and biggest influences, and so in probably the mid-90s I reached out to him, to see if we could make a deal for The Futurians. Dave had not had the best of experiences prior to that. In reading one of his Forewords in the last Futurians book, he alluded to such. So, I didn’t hold it against him. I just hoped and waited for the day that this would come again.”
“I contacted the Cockrum estate months ago, saying that I would be interested in discussing if there was a possibility, if they weren’t already tied up. I have known Cliff for a while, and he was quick to engage me. We just had to loop Paty in, and she was very amicable, and then it was just about putting the right parameters together, but all I wanted was to be able to get a greenlight to make more Futurians stories.”
The Futurians debuted in Marvel Graphic Novel #9 which requires both Marvel and the Cockrum Estate’s consent for reprinting.
“I would think that the new stuff will come first.” It is being reported that the characters will introduced in Liefeld’s corner of Image Comics before a Futurians limited series.
That said, Liefeld indicate that he “…will definitely be pursuing Marvel now, because the original graphic novel is wonderful. If this suddenly puts people on buying those, great, they should be read. They should be seen. They’re fantastic.”
“It’s just exciting, man, and part of the timing of this is the opportunity to take Futurians in the direction of cartoons, toys, and film and television.”
Liefeld concluded that “I believe this is some of his best work, so to be the caretaker for that at this time, I take it extremely seriously; it’s an honor. It’s an absolute honor.”
It is likely the Futurians as individual characters or as a team will debut in the Fall of 2017.
