Writers: Rob Liefeld, Eric Stephenson
Artist: Cedric Nocon
Publisher: Image Comics

This issue has two main stories. One is that Cougar has traveled back to his homeland, a hidden city of cat-people deep in the jungles of Africa. He’s there with Sentinal, Riptide, and Masada, but then tells them that they can’t come inside with him because it’s forbidden and he has to face it alone.

So…why did he even bring them to Africa with him?!?

Whatever.  The background is that these cat-people are called the Jakarra. Cougar’s father Khylund was their king, thus making Cougar heir to the throne, but many of the tribe want him dead. That’s why his mother was kidnapped to draw him there, so he could be killed and never take the throne. Cougar tries to argue that he has no interest in ruling the Jakarra and just wants his mother back so they can leave. But he’s not given the choice and instead finds himself in a fight to the death to see who has the right to lead the tribe.

Yes, this story is giving “Black Panther 1” vibes.

Cougar’s challenger is a cat-woman named Lynx, who has the advantage that she’s stronger and faster than Cougar due to the fact that she’s a full-Jakarran while Cougar is half-human. But Cougar also has his training and experience with Youngblood to rely on. After a brutal fight in front of the whole tribe,  Cougar wins (although it’s unclear if he actually kills Lynx or just knocks her out), and he declares his intention to remain and take his place as their new king, which the members reluctantly accept.

But then Sentinel shows up and tells them they just got a call from Youngblood HQ about an emergency and when Cougar says he can’t come, his mother tells him to go. She says she’ll stay and watch over the Jakarra for him, making the argument that sooner or later they’re going to have to begin to interact with the rest of the world and as an outsider who has lived there before, she can help prepare them. But for now, she says Cougar must fulfill his obligation to Youngblood. So Cougar leaves with the rest of the team but promises that he’ll return to take his rightful place as ruler of the Jakarra.

It was a decent story overall, a nice look into Cougar’s background, but that ending was weird. It doesn’t make any sense Cougar would want to stay, and then be so easily talked out of it, but also makes even less sense that his mother would want to stay.

The other main story is back in Washington D.C., Psi-Fire, in his new female body, has started killing people at the Pentagon, making their heads explode. And only Photon and Dutch are on hand to confront him, with Photon getting taken out early. This is the emergency that the rest have been called from Africa to return to.

Cedric Nocon replaces Chap Yaep as the artist for this series here. It’s somewhat of a shame as I felt he was getting slightly better with each issue, but I do like Nocon’s art better.

This issue includes another 7-page short story. Part 2 of The Coming of Cougar, once again drawn by Mark Pacella and Anthony Winn. Back in 1967 we see Khylund helping Meg and their baby escape from a group of Jakarrans who are hunting them. Khylund is killed, but Meg eventually makes it back to America, where she raises her son, Daniel, who is said to spend most of his life in hiding because of his features. Then one day a representative from the U.S. government shows up and recruits him to join Youngblood, where he eventually becomes the hero known as Cougar.

This was a great issue in terms of fleshing out the character of Cougar who, superficially, just appeared to be the “Wolverine” of Youngblood when the first series began (seriously, almost every new superteam in the 1990s had to have a “badass with claws” in it), but this showed him to be somewhat unique.

TEAM YOUNGBLOOD