Where to start?

[plan B]

I'm pretty new in the Image universe, any recommendations? I have a few issues of Youngblood and I have almost every issue of Mara. I'm loving Mara but I'm not really digging Youngblood.

[Groo Odyssey]

Might wanna try here http://community.comicbookresources....via-comixology

196 Image first issues for free on comixology. There's got to be something there you like.

But if you're super lazy

1)Saga
2)Rat Queens
3)Sheltered
4)Starlight

to get you started

[Michael24]

If you're into "cops and robbers," Thief of Thieves is a lot of fun. I'll push that book any chance I get.

If you like spy stuff, Velvet is worth checking out. Kind of like James Bond, but with a butt-kicking female spy instead, and played a little less flashy and a little more gritty. But still fun.

[Marc Lombardi]

I'm pretty new in the Image universe, any recommendations? I have a few issues of Youngblood and I have almost every issue of Mara. I'm loving Mara but I'm not really digging Youngblood.

I think I can make some recommendations. What stuff do you read outside of Image?

[Bl00dwerK]

If you like spy stuff, Velvet is worth checking out.

Agreed. With Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting working together how can you go wrong?

[Baron Samedi]

1)Saga
2)Rat Queens

Definitely a nice, good start.

[harpier]

I'm pretty new in the Image universe, any recommendations? I have a few issues of Youngblood and I have almost every issue of Mara. I'm loving Mara but I'm not really digging Youngblood.

So, with few exceptions, the titles that date back to the early years of Image even if they've been overhauled or revived—of which Youngblood is one—are far less impressive than most of the recent series, and they're certainly of a different flavor than the titles that have comprised the Image boom in the last three or so years.

If you're digging Mara, try Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Zero by Ales Kot. (I'd also suggest now completed Vertigo series DMZ and Northlanders, both also by Brian Wood, if you haven't already read them.) If you want a superhero-styled series out of Image but were unimpressed by Youngblood, try Robert Kirkman's Invincible. I'm less enamored of any of Image's superhero offerings than I am of the rest of their catalog, but this is by far the strongest to date.

Not having much else to judge your tastes by, my other recommendations are simply my favorite titles currently being published by Image. East of West is an ambitious, apocalyptic sci-fi western featuring Death as a husband/father seeking revenge on his siblings (the other three Horsemen) and a conspiracy of zealots trying to bring about the end of the world. It's Jonathan Hickman as his juiciest and most savory, and Nick Dragotta's artwork is perhaps the best on shelves right now.

Dragotta gets some competition, however, from Matteo Scalera and Dean White, the artistic team for Rick Remender's interdimensional sci-fi thriller Black Science, which is heavily indebted to space adventures from the 1950s and '60s, like Forbidden Planet or Barbarella. It just wrapped up its first arc in stellar fashion.

If you haven't already been swept up in The Walking Dead zeitgeist, it's perhaps worth checking out, but by far the better pseudo-zombie title is Tim Seeley's Revival, which combines the eeriness of risen dead with the mystery of murder noir and small-town gothic. It's incredibly smart and layered, but it juggles so many different storylines that it takes 7 or 8 issues to get them all going, so it probably reads better (at least early in the run) in collected editions.

By far the buzziest (and, to some degree, polarizing) of Image titles is Brian K. Vaughan's Saga. It's a fully realized and complex, if simultaneously archetypal, world populated by nuanced characters. Even those who would amount to little more than wallpaper in most series are given detail and depth by Vaughan. I love it, and it's definitely worth checking out, but you'll need to catch this one in TPBs, since back issues are outrageously priced at this point.

Others I recommend: Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction, Morning Glories by Nick Spencer, Chew by John Layman, Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue Deconnick, and Prophet (2012 relaunch) by Brandon Graham. There are also a few that just started but have shown a lot of early promise, including this last week's Southern Bastards by Jason Aaron, which looks very similar in style and tone to his earlier Scalped out of Vertigo, and Shutter by Joe Keatinge.

[Billy Batson]

Most of Image's outings are creator-owned books so you can start from anywhere.

[Cythraul]

I'm pretty new in the Image universe

Key question: Image universe, or Image line of comics?

A few of their series - Youngblood, Spawn, and others - are kinda-sorta-nominally set in the same universe. But most aren't.

I will absolutely boost the recommendations for Saga and Rat Queens. Saga is a wonderful, funny, dramatic, romantic piece of space opera / fantasy.

And Rat Queens is just an absurd amount of fun. Like the creators of Bridesmaids sat down to write a D&D comic. It's awesome.

I really, really loved Invincible, The Walking Dead, and Morning Glories, though I dropped them during my latest fit of No More Comics a few years ago, and I haven't picked them up again.


I really miss Age of Bronze.

[plan B]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I think I can make some recommendations. What stuff do you read outside of Image?

I read mostly Marvel titles and a little bit of Darkhorse. From Marvel I'm currently following Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, All-new X-factor, Fantastic Four and Magneto. I love the old X-book titles and will buy almost any X-men back issue.

From Darkhorse I've been following Hellboy in Hell and anything related to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Key question: Image universe, or Image line of comics?

The Image line of comics.


I've also been hearing great things about Saga from my friends. Where would be a good jumping on point?

[Billy Batson]

I've also been hearing great things about Saga from my friends. Where would be a good jumping on point?

Issue #1 or the first trade.

[Hero]

Yes, Saga you need to start from the beginning. I bought all 18 issues on the recent Eisner related comiXology sale and blew through them in two days time. It's not hard to get caught up. As suggested, jump into the trades.

[Dark-Flux]

196 free first issues. Go nuts...

https://www.comixology.com/Image-Free-Firsts/list/2090

[driver621]

I just recently started picking up Image (and comics in general) and I've been hooked on these Image titles enough to begin acquiring them monthly:
- Saga (Amazing! Even my wife liked reading the first issue)
- Black Science (Recommended to me by the local comic book store...nice title if you're into sci-fi/multi-dimensional travel)
- East of West (Didn't think I'd like the futuristic western concept, but it has caught my interest)
- Revival (A nice twist on the zombie genre. It's great if you're into that sort of thing)

I'll have to check out Rat Queens...seems to be a lot of fans here.

[brainwasher]

I'm pretty new in the Image universe, any recommendations? I have a few issues of Youngblood and I have almost every issue of Mara. I'm loving Mara but I'm not really digging Youngblood.

My favorites are:

Saga
Chew
Sex Criminals
Zero
Velvet

Others loved by a lot of people (some I like but don't love, other are good quality comics but not my type):

Rat Queens
Black Science
East of West
Fatale
Manhattan Projects
Lazarus