Is "Image" dead?

[Dr. Skeleton]

Yeah, I miss the old days too when it's superhero universe were the dominant force. Then some creators started leaving, especially Jim Lee and Wildstorm that left a large gaping hole. I also found out a few years ago that the Savage Dragon and supporting cast age normally which made it difficult for crossovers IMO for those creators who don't want their characters aging normally and eventually dying. The original Dragon has died for those who don't know. Spawn and characters have aged and died too now that Cyan is a grown woman. Ugh. I think Cyberforce now reside in an alternate universe now? Yeah, I did love it when they crossover and shared a universe to some extent. Not really fond of the Image titles outside of the superhero world with the exceptions of Walking Dead, Bitch Planet, etc. I'd love to see the Image superhero universe return in a big way at some point.

[sven]

Yeah, I miss the old days too when it's superhero universe were the dominant force. Then some creators started leaving, especially Jim Lee and Wildstorm that left a large gaping hole. I also found out a few years ago that the Savage Dragon and supporting cast age normally which made it difficult for crossovers IMO for those creators who don't want their characters aging normally and eventually dying. The original Dragon has died for those who don't know. Spawn and characters have aged and died too now that Cyan is a grown woman. Ugh. I think Cyberforce now reside in an alternate universe now? Yeah, I did love it when they crossover and shared a universe to some extent. Not really fond of the Image titles outside of the superhero world with the exceptions of Walking Dead, Bitch Planet, etc. I'd love to see the Image superhero universe return in a big way at some point.

Old Image was garbage. I don't miss it at all.

[seismic-2]

I did not buy Image comics in the 1990s. That's when I was a fan of Vertigo's offerings, where what was "shared" wasn't an actual universe but more nearly an overall atmosphere and a sense of unbounded imagination. That is the status of Image now, and those are in fact the main comics I follow.

[Adset]

Anyone remember when they tried to bring it back in 2009 with IMAGE UNITED? The planned 6-issue miniseries, where they managed to get issues 1 and 2 done in two months, and then #3 came out eight months after #2, and that was a wrap?

It was certainly an ambitious project, with Robert Kirkman writing a story featuring the main characters of 6 of the original Image founders, minus Jim Lee, but the plan to have each creator draw their own characters in each book was doomed to failure. They should have just got some other dependable artist to draw the whole series and maybe have each creator draw a cover, and some pin-ups.

honestly i'm surprised they even got 3 issues out. i never understood why each founder didn't just draw an individual issue.

[iblogalot]

On one hand I agree, it sounds tempting and I recall the Spawn/Chapel and WildC.A.T.s/Youngblood bits fondly, but it can cause problems regarding the creator-owned philosophy of Image. If, for instance, Grifter (of WildC.A.T.s) had been set as Al's killer (instead of Chapel), he would have never been able to mentioned again once Jim Lee left for DC and took his properties with him. That being said, I'm not sure if Chapel has ever been mentioned either ever since that single appearance.

Yes, that is what essentially happened with Spawn after Rob left the company. Since Todd could no longer use Chapel, Todd introduced a new character, Jessica Priest, who appeared in the live-action movie and then was introduced in the comic as the real killer of Al Simmons. With the previous history being explained as a result of Spawn's then-fragmented memories of his past life, due to the Devil deliberately messing with him. And then Chapel was just never mentioned or referred to again (I do recall back when Rob first returned to publish Youngblood at Image again someone asked them at a comicon panel if Rob's returned meant that Chapel was back to being Spawn's killer, but Rob and Todd just laughed it off and didn't reply).

Even early on there were other glitches in the shared Universe. Erik Larsen's character Super-Patriot was revealed to have served on a super-team back in WWII alongside Rob Liefeld's characters Glory and Die-Hard, and was also an ally of Supreme at the time, and it was pointed out to Erik that whenever the character appeared in Rob's books he was often shown to be flying, which wasn't one of Super-Patriot's powers. Erik acknowledged that was an error on those other artists part and then explained it away in a letter column by saying Super-Patriot temporarily experimented with a special serum or pill back then that gave him the ability to fly, but then stopped doing that after the war because of bad side-effects.

So, yeah, mistake could and did happen, but to me a few glitches like that were worth it. Shoot, it happens in corporately-owned shared universes too, like Marvel and DC. Character's histories change and get retconned, without thinking of how that effects the histories of other characters, and sometimes there are contradictions in different titles. I mean, going back to the Chapel/Spawn connection, I could compare that to the changes in Batman's history. Whether or not it was Joe Chill who killed the Waynes, including whether it was just a simple random mugging gone wrong, or actually a professional assassination for some reason, and whether or not Batman ever caught or confronted Chill has been retconned several times. I don't even know what the current continuity is, but in the end it doesn't really matter. The basics are that his parents murder when he was a young boy is what inspired Bruce Wayne to train to eventually become Batman. Just like for Spawn it's that he was murdered and went to Hell, where he made a deal with a Devil to return.

[iblogalot]

honestly i'm surprised they even got 3 issues out. i never understood why each founder didn't just draw an individual issue.

Even if they tried that, it would have likely lead to delays, as most of them had trouble with deadlines, even for just one issue. Remember they couldn't even get the single "Image Comics 10th Anniversary" book finished on time (I think it actually came out on the 14th anniversary of Image), and that was just a short story by each of the remaining founders. That's why I think some other artist, who could focus just on that series, would have been a better bet.

[Dr. Skeleton]

Old Image was garbage. I don't miss it at all.

Your POV. The things Marvel and DC's been putting out lately left me really cold.

[numberthirty]

Old Image was garbage. I don't miss it at all.

For the most part, agreed.

It's no great loss that the current company replaced that company.

[Cmbmool]

I've loved when they did crossovers of a sort.

REALLY LOVED the Invincible War with the Image heroes uniting to take down the evil doppelgangers of Invincible. or when Dynamo 5 had Supreme and Omniman teamup with Captain Dynamo in a flashback.

The lack of a real shared universe has made it hard to like too many of the books though, but in fairness yeah Image isn't and doesn't really NEED a shared universe.

Plus as a publisher they're clearly still very viable and a great place to get your book published.

I enjoy crossover too even flashbacks ones. I mean I would have love to see Savage Dragon’s kids and Grandkids make cameo in Invincible’s world or vice versa.

[Tayne Japal]

Old Image is my Golden Age. Yeah, I got into comics with early 90s X-Men, but the art of Image's titles drew me towards them. Wildstorm and Top Cow will always have a special place in my collection. I only wish the entire Wildstorm catalog was available on digital.

[MajorHoy]

. . . Yeah, I got into comics with early 90s X-Men, but the art of Image's titles drew me towards them...

"Image" was truly an appropriate name for the company; art was a main selling point.
But as to actual writing skills in the early days, . . .

[dimo1]

Old Image is my Golden Age. Yeah, I got into comics with early 90s X-Men, but the art of Image's titles drew me towards them. Wildstorm and Top Cow will always have a special place in my collection. I only wish the entire Wildstorm catalog was available on digital.

Amen to that.
Those were the times, in your face art, all founders were competing, current Image is now nothing much than a melting pot of often c or d list stories and art.
On top of that, I have stopped buying any Image books since the poor decision to get overly political.

[seismic-2]

current Image is now nothing much than a melting pot of often c or d list stories and art.

That's probably why Image comics received so many Eisner nominations this year. Those awards committees are really heavily into c- and d-list stories and art!

On top of that, I have stopped buying any Image books

And yet you know so much about the quality of their current offerings.

[Erik Larsen]

Old Image is my Golden Age.

I think that is an apt comparison as both were created with a lot of enthusiasm by people who didn't necessarily know what they were doing. Both were exiting times and both produced work that was at times brilliant and at times dreck. I do love the energy of both periods but I acknowledge that neither period produced uniform greatness. And, like the Golden Age, there were a few survivors and a lot of books which fell by the wayside.

It's fair to say our books are better now--but a lot of that initial energy isn't as easy to find as it once was.

[Smoking Gun]

I did not buy Image comics in the 1990s. That's when I was a fan of Vertigo's offerings, where what was "shared" wasn't an actual universe but more nearly an overall atmosphere and a sense of unbounded imagination. That is the status of Image now, and those are in fact the main comics I follow.

I believe you mean Valiant not Vertigo.

One of the things I enjoy most about Image is that there are minimal crossovers. The crossovers from the big 2 can get convoluted and often force story lines in the individual titles. With Image having titles that exist independently the continuity of those titles are never altered by crossover events. Plus I feel that crossovers work in the world of superheroes, but for titles that are not superheroes crossovers and events would feel out of place.