Weekly Image poll #12 - Circuit Breaker & Rattler release!

[TotalSnorefest]

Welcome back to the weekly Image poll, where we discuss our weekly reading & vote for our favourite comics!

Last week proved (surprisingly?) rather light on votes and discussion, but did end up with an interesting result! Low #12 tied for the win with Monstress #4! So unless someone goes back now to vote and make my life harder, that makes 2 tied victories for Low already this year!

This week stuff is going down: Birthright ends its story arc (and has a cool alternate cover by Stokoe) as does Ringside (no cool alt cover here though), Dream Police shows up after a long wait, Nowhere Men continues to suddenly be back on schedule, and Sons of the Devil starts a new storyline.

That's not all though, new things:
1.) McNamara & Hinkle launch their graphic novel The Rattler with a seemingly real-life inspired story about a missing person's case becoming relevant again. But is it a trap...?

2.) Circuit Breaker looks like a great option for fans of Astro Boy, with a little Mega Man (or is it Mighty No. 9 now?) sprinkled in. When the robots that saved Japan in the 4th World War get outlawed, they turn against humanity... Can Chiren stop them in time, or is she one of the robots herself?

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[Anduinel]

Mirror #2 and Cry Havoc #3 for me this week.

I think this will be my last issue of Mirror. The art was just too sparse and hard to follow and I'm not any more attached to the story or cast.

Cry Havoc was fantastic, though. Spurrier's not messing about when it comes to the chaos side of this -- no heroes, just raw, primal forces. I'm not convinced that the time jumps are the best narrative choice, but they're not distracting from the story either, and the art is fab.

[Ragdoll]

Dream Police is back? Sorry JMS, but it has been too long for me too still care about any of those books you launched 2 years ago and then forgot about. I came back when Sidekick ended but I don;t care about Dream Police or Ten Grand anymore.

Another lame week. Stray Bullets gets my vote as the only truly good book out this week. Nowhere Men, Birthright, and Outcast are still decent reads, but they're never the ones I really look forward to, they just fill the void that is the current Image slump.

Anyways, Stray Bullets was hilarious, and that final page was perfect. This arc has been slow, but the last couple issues have been all payoff.

[TotalSnorefest]

Dream Police is back? Sorry JMS, but it has been too long for me too still care about any of those books you launched 2 years ago and then forgot about. I came back when Sidekick ended but I don;t care about Dream Police or Ten Grand anymore.

So according to wikipedia he's currently working on season 2 of Sense8 on Netflix and he's writer/producer/showrunner for something called Red Mars for SpikeTV. That probably explains the delays. I remember well over a decade ago when Marvel hired him to write Spider-Man to replace Howard Mackie, think he came straight off Babylon 5 at that point. Props to him that he's still working in both fields, I guess, but comics are probably not his priority.

[matt levin]

Well...
I haven't read but one title from Image so far this week. I'd like to vote for Circuit Breaker, but then, that's not the one I've read.
But what could compete with that last page of Stray Bullets? (Pretty much--nothing could.)
Already a relatively tense, exciting climax to the build-up of the will they/won't they heist, and a remarkable conclusion to that question, this issue of Sunshine and Roses was 'just' another in a long, long string of excellent story-telling words'n'pictures style,
and then,
that final page--
what an incredible re-rev of tension-- how can one wait for the next issue!?
How-- how-- how--do Orson and Beth get away with this!? I know we know they do (at least so far), given the time-jumping nature of Stray Bullets' story-telling, but right now? HOW!?? Which is why Stray Bullets gets my vote this week. Oh yeah.

[Ragdoll]

Image, what are you doing with yourself?
These threads get sadder and sadder every week.

[Anduinel]

So according to wikipedia he's currently working on season 2 of Sense8 on Netflix and he's writer/producer/showrunner for something called Red Mars for SpikeTV. That probably explains the delays. I remember well over a decade ago when Marvel hired him to write Spider-Man to replace Howard Mackie, think he came straight off Babylon 5 at that point. Props to him that he's still working in both fields, I guess, but comics are probably not his priority.

I think he did Midnight Nation and Rising Stars before he was on board with Marvel. Frankly, I've never been a big fan of writers treating comics like the bastard child compared to higher profile projects. If they want to wrap a book because of more lucrative work, that's one thing, and best of luck. But if the comics project isn't important enough for a writer to make time for, it's probably not worth saving a slot on my pull, imo.

And I'd 100% rather see more Sense8 and some forward progress on the B5 reboot than more Dream Police anyway.

[matt levin]

just curious: notice that Cry Havok is WAY out in the lead this week, and yet, only one's talked about it... why is that? And, more to the point, what's making it so good in voters' opinions? the solicitations haven't spoken to me much at all, so what am I missing!? thanks!

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

And, more to the point, what's making it so good in voters' opinions?

Its surprising, conceptually-pregnant story. Its artwork, and its novel use of coloring.

Also: the back matter is your friend, very much like Moore & Campbell's From Hell.

[cc008]

Image, what are you doing with yourself?
These threads get sadder and sadder every week.

Yeah it's been really slow lately. Especially for me. Waiting for Lazarus, Southern Bastards, and Deadly Class to come back from breaks will do that.

[caramon]

Low got my vote. But I really enjoy Cry Havoc. Interesting concept. I also appreciate the extra background info in the back.

[sven]

Glad to see people enjoyed Cry Havoc. I'm letting my new releases build up as I slowly make my way through Age of Apocalypse.

[wwise03]

Yeah it's been really slow lately. Especially for me. Waiting for Lazarus, Southern Bastards, and Deadly Class to come back from breaks will do that.

This.

Any thought of Image maintaining momentum and grabbing bigger market share may as well be thrown out the window.

Oh, and I did not vote for anything because I did not buy anything from Image...again. At least we get Saga next week, though I'm planning on selling my first print single issue set, and reading in hardcover format from this point on.

[TotalSnorefest]

This.

Any thought of Image maintaining momentum and grabbing bigger market share may as well be thrown out the window.

It doesn't seem like the past two 'light' months necessarily translate into a lower market share though... Both January and February have Image around 9% of the market in dollar share and 10% in units. January was slightly higher, and so was the year-end chart of 2015, but fluctuations seem to be within 1% on both categories mostly. Only September of last year really spiked upwards, sitting around 12% in units. So sure Image isn't climbing very fast, but they've been steadily holding this position for a while now.

Found these figures here: http://www.diamondcomics.com/Home/1/...ticleID=100122

[Joker]

Yeah it's been really slow lately. Especially for me. Waiting for Lazarus, Southern Bastards, and Deadly Class to come back from breaks will do that.

Deadly Class isn't on a break, it's just between issues. March 2nd was the last issue.

This.

Any thought of Image maintaining momentum and grabbing bigger market share may as well be thrown out the window.

Oh, and I did not vote for anything because I did not buy anything from Image...again.

This is ridiculous. I'm sorry man, but you've been doomsaying for a while now, and it's all based on Image not releasing books you're specifically interested in.

First of all, the start of the year is slow for most comic companies, with things ramping up in spring and going big in the summer. I'm not sure why they do this, but they do. Ever notice how the event books are usually in the summer?

Second, Image releasing a diverse line of books (aka, things you're not interested in, but others are) is good. That's a good move for gaining market share. I'm not interested in Sex Criminals, but it's done very well for all involved. A week where that comes out, but nothing I want does isn't another bad week for Image, just a bad week for my pull list.

Catering to your taste or my taste alone is worse for Image as a company looking to gain market share.

Say what you will, but in a week where Image released nothing you wanted, they put out a healthy list of diverse books. I'm not sure how you can look at that and start talking about the demise of a company. I mean, I can, but it involves ignoring the basic idea of what that company is trying to do, how they measure market share and the notion that other people like things you don't.