Image Comics

[berkough]

Alright so I was a huge Image fan when they first started up. I could not get enough of Spawn, WildC.A.T.s, The MAXX, Savage Dragon, etc...

But recently I was at the comic shop I used to go to when I was younger checking out some new Image Comics and I was completely disheartened. There are a few gems I've heard people talking about... Particularly with like "Powers", or "Invincible". But does anyone feel like me, that Image has just completely dropped off the map?!? The art isn't insane like it used to be, the stories may be good, but they aren't anything new and exciting... That the label (or "Brand" if you will) is just completely mediocre now.

Or am I just getting old and Spawn wasn't as good as I remember when McFarlane was actually drawing it and writing the story.


PS> The only title I can really think of that was pretty innovative in the last few years or so coming from Image was Paradigm (great artwork, and an incredible story). Which I heard there is suppose to be a TPB coming out of it... And this is going out to the TRS crew, if and when it does come out, if it isn't out already, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. The only way I can describe it is... If Trigun is a western on acid, than Paradigm is a soap opera stoned and on mescaline. It's a f-u-cking trip! I don't think Alex or Dan will really dig it all that much, but I do think that Jeff would get into it.

[deegraww]

I'm trying to read powers as I type this. So far so good I think. But I never read any of the other stuff they published. Mostly because nothing was recommended to me. None of my friends read comics.

[geekluv]

There are two HUGE reasons I love Image...Powers and the Walking Dead. I can't attest to the "good old days" because I really wasn't into comics until the past year or two, but I think Image is putting out some excellent stuff. Image seems to publish more off-the-wall style comics, which I like personally. Same reason I really like Vertigo (Y the Last Man, Fables).

[conorkilpatrick]

Powers isn't published by Image anymore - it moved to Marvel's ICON imprint a while ago. But I still think the issues from when it was with Image are the best.

Image has definitely moved away from the bad old days when super stylized art ruled the day at the expense of good stories and on-time books. With books like The Walking Dead, Invincible, Dynamo 5, Suburban Glamor, Madman, Strange Girl, Noble Causes, Casanova, Savage Dragon, Nightly News, Godland, Mice Templar, True Story Swear To God, The Astounding Wolf-Man and Killing Girl, Image has really become a home to quality books.

[berkough]

Yeah I never enjoyed the fact the comics started running behind. But it was mostly Spawn that was missing deadlines. I don't ever remember the Top Cow stuff falling behind schedule. But I guess Marc Silvestri is kind of a work-a-holic of sorts, from what I understand he still running Top Cow, penciling a lot of his own stuff, and has since made a return to Marvel, and is penciling a lot of X-Men stuff too! Crazy.

I will have to read The Walking Dead, I checked it out on Wikipedia. I love Romero's films, I can't see why I wouldn't like a comic done by a guy who seems to have a greater passion for zombies than I.

geekluv: As you can't say you were into Image in the "golden age", can't say that I've ever really liked Vertigo...

ConorKilpatrick: You should look into the history of Madman, that comic has probably been done under more publishers than any other comic that I know of. Oni Press, Slave Labor Graphics, Darkhorse... And Mike Allred is one of those cult icons in the comics industry, an outlaw, really one of the few guys that just does whatever the hell he wants.

In recent years I've probably gotten away from American comics, and more into Japanese Manga because it suits me being able to not keep up with release dates and buy a new book every month. I can just pick up whatever vol I left off on. Not to mention there's some awesome stories that aren't getting tampered with (too many cooks spoil the pot...). It's usually one guy; he draws it, he writes it, and he's the one with full complete control over the work (which is part of the reason I was so stoked about Image back in 92-94). Don't get me wrong though. At one point in the mid-to-late nineties, I had literally thousands and thousands of comics. You would walk into my room and have to navigate through pillars of 200 count comic boxes that reached my ceiling. X-Men fan? Of course who wasn't at that time! DC, I had everything to do with the Death and Rebirth of Superman, multiple copies of everything so that I could read one and keep one in mint/NM condition.

Watched TRS a couple of weeks ago, and them reviewing Invincible, and I really want to get back into comics again, that's why I posed the question to the forums. If it was just me, or if Image had fallen off...

[magunwarrior]

The Walking Dead is what got me back into comics, it's fantastic.

[geekluv]

Powers isn't published by Image anymore - it moved to Marvel's ICON imprint a while ago. But I still think the issues from when it was with Image are the best.


Right. But hopefully the fact that it moved won't ruin it for me. I started with book one and I'm working my way through.

[conorkilpatrick]

ConorKilpatrick: You should look into the history of Madman, that comic has probably been done under more publishers than any other comic that I know of. Oni Press, Slave Labor Graphics, Darkhorse... And Mike Allred is one of those cult icons in the comics industry, an outlaw, really one of the few guys that just does whatever the hell he wants.

Correct. Right now it's coming out from Image, though.