Summary

  • Cosplayer Robert Paul Day brings Youngblood's Diehard to life, capturing all the glory of Rob Liefeld's original design for the character.
  • Diehard, a cyborg warrior and a member of Youngblood, holds historical significance as one of the first heroes in the first Image comic.
  • Day's meeting with Diehard's creator, Rob Liefeld, was one of the highlights of NYCC for the writer, carrying on the lasting impact of Liefeld's 1990s creations.

Cosplayer Robert Paul Day (@heroes_4_hire_costumes) brought one of Rob Liefeld’s cult class Youngblood characters, the cyborg Diehard, to life for New York Comic-Con 2023 – and in the process gave the extreme '90s superhero the chance to meet his creator, as the two shared a moment that Day later shared to Instagram for fans of the original Image Comics series to enjoy.

Shared via Instagram, Robert Paul Day showed off his impressive Diehard cosplay, capturing all the four-color glory of Liefeld’s original design. Check out Day’s exemplary work below:

With its detailed muscle suit, handsomely-crafted face mask, and giant sword, Day’s Diehard looks like he stepped right out of Liefeld’s original comic. Capturing all the artist’s trademarks with style and panache, Youngblood’s cyborg answer to Captain America has never looked better.

Diehard Is Youngblood’s Resident Cyborg Warrior

The First Image Comics' Characters Legacies Are Extended By Cosplayers Like Robert Paul Day

As one of the first heroes to appear in the very first Image comic, Diehard has a historical significance few comic book characters ever achieve. Although Diehard's team, Youngblood, has faded from prominence in recent years, Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood #1 was a major step forward for creator’s rights in the comic book industry, and successfully launched a company that’s still going strong to this very day. While there is no current Youngblood series being published, and Liefeld has not owned the rights to his creations in years, the impact of the title on the comic book industry remains relevant, and the series' characters remain beloved by fans.

Cosplayer Robert Paul Day deserves special recognition for his work, and at this year’s New York Comic-Con, he got possibly the best recognition of all when he met Diehard’s creator, Rob Liefeld. The Image Comics co-founder was excited to see his creation brought to life, taking time to pose for a picture with Day at his table in Artist Alley. It was a wonderful meeting between creator and creation, something to which Day has recently become accustomed to, as the cosplayer recently got the chance to meet Walt Simonson, while dressed as one of the Thor artist’s most famous characters, Beta Ray Bill.

Diehard Got To Meet His Creator, Rob Liefeld

The Cyborg Equivalent Of Captain America Posed With An Excited Liefeld At Comic-Con

Much like Captain America, Diehard was a soldier during World War II chosen for a new experimental procedure that made him a fusion between man and machine. ing fellow heroes like Glory, Superpatriot and Supreme, Diehard formed the Allies, a super-team who fought the Axis powers for the rest of the war. Being placed into stasis for a time, Diehard eventually was assigned to the covert government super-team Youngblood, where the veteran hero acted as a mentor to newer super-agents like Shaft, Vogue, Riptide and Badrock. With a line of action figures and a proposed animated series, Youngblood was one of the hottest comic book properties of the 1990s.

The latest Youngblood comic book series lasted just eleven issues in 2017, but creator Rob Liefeld has not been associated with the title, or its characters, for many years. Nevertheless, Liefeld was thrilled to meet his creation at NYCC, posting his a picture with Day's Diehard, writing in the caption that, "to see [Diehard] brought to life was a highlight of the show." The writer also shared insight into the origin of the character, noting that the earliest version of Diehard dated back to when he was 13-years-old – and notably, pre-dating the Bruce Willis action movie. Thanks to cosplayers like Robert Paul Day, Rob Liefeld's extreme 1990s creations continue to live on.

Source: Robert Paul Day (@heroes_4_hire_costumes); Rob Liefeld (@robliefeld)