Image comics, the early years.

[SolomonGrundy9]

This doesn't have anything to do with heroclix and I appologize for that, but it is comic book related. I was just going through my comic collection today and I came across a bin box full of all my image titles from the early 90s. I can't believe the junk they produced back then and even more amazing why the hell did I buy it? Except for a very few, there was not one original idea in the whole company. Almost every character was a DC, and Marvel rip off, Bad rip off. And

I point the finger mainly at Rob Liefeld and his Extreme studios. I even re-read a few and they are even written worse then they are drawn. The only reason why I can say I bought those comics was that I was young and blind. They only oldschool image books that I still kind of like is Jim Lee's Wildcats.

If you want a good laugh read some of the letter columns in some of those early image books people were going off on how image was so much better than marvel and dc and how image was going to put those companies out of business. It's pretty funny. The only 3 original image books that are still in print today are Spawn, Savage Dragon, and Wildcats (Wildcats is not even image anymore). You know it's kind of sad, Liefeld did to comics what Winger and Warrent did to heavy metal music

On a different note, Wildcats 3.0 isn't too bad of book, but Wildstorm is too bad of a company.

[Wyldstaar]

There is an Independant Comics discussion forum available in the Forums section of this site.

[CandySuxxx]

Originally posted by Wyldstaar
There is an Independant Comics discussion forum available in the Forums section of this site.

yeah and this is it. Wildcats is IMO a great book. i like alot of Image titles now. for awhile there they were pretty hit and miss. i dig Bendis' Powers, and Kirkman's WalkingDead & Invincible, plus Mack's Kabuki and i'm even thinkin' about pickin' up the new Strikeforce? we'll see.

[Ro-gan]

I beg to differ--

WildC.A.T.s 3.0 is a great comic. It is just as good as WildC.A.T.s volume 2. WildC.A.T.s volume 1 was also pretty good, but I stopped buying volume 1 when Brandon Choi and Jim Lee left.

Also, I had bought the first 5 or so issues of Codename:Strykeforce and they weren't bad at all.

The first volume of Stormwatch was also a good read with good art.

But I definitely think everything associated with Rob "I can't write or draw" Liefeld was carp.

Just my $0.02.

PS

Jink, Powers, Fire, and AKA: Goldfish kick some serious but.

[CandySuxxx]

here's a little info on Strikeforce. I'm tryin' it out 'cause JayFaerber is writin' it and i loved his run on GenerationX and if you haven't read What If?....#114 try it its fantastic! i would of loved to see Cyberforce back, but this 4 armed Styker and crew may actually work. like i said before we'll see.

[Captain BBQ]

And due to the massive print runs, they aren't even WORTH much these days...

[CandySuxxx]

then you my friend are collectin' for all the wrong reasons!

[Wasteland]

Here's my picks of classic Image:

Weapon Zero (probably one of my favorites)
Divine Right (Very good)
Ascension (also very good)
Witchblade/Darkness (good stories)
The Tenth (pretty good)
The Maxx (Warped)
Backlash/Wild C.O.R.E. (Good series, especially at the start.)
Stormwatch (up until issue 27ish when everyone's dead)
Spawn and assorted related (of course. It started out strong, and got better)
WildCATs (Volume 1. The #### WildCATs today...ugh...I shudder when I think about it.)
Cyberforce (went well with WildCATs)
Codename: Strykeforce (was very funny, and very intense)
Gen13 (the miniseries, then it got dumb)
Union (very good series. The art is amazing!)
The Coven (unique)
Danger Girl (Sean Connery as 007 + Indiana Jones + Chicks = great book)
Warlands (Good fantasy)
Battle Chasers (before it got cancelled)
Wetworks (started out strong, then disappeared)

I am completely happy that I picked these up. They got me back into comics at a time when Marvel and DC both sucked (in my opinion). They caused both companies to smarten up, especially in quality. For that I thank Image. Although now most of the comics have gone supremely down hill, since there is no competition I guess. Sad.

[Wyldstaar]

Originally posted by CandySuxxx
yeah and this is it.

When this thread was originally started, it was in the strategy forum. One of the mods moved it here.

[malchyor]

true. they were rip offs of classic characters. but....aside from liefield's influence, they were good rip offs. Union was a great copy of green lantern. supreame was a great copy of superman. stormwatch was exactly how a UN controlled JLA would have looked like. but the refining that's gone on over the years has really done it's job both on the original image titles and on the other comic companies. without that first run on stormwatch, the later stormwatch wouldn't have been. and without them, there'd be no authority. and with no authority, both the current runs of the JLA and the Avengers (when they become their own nation) wouldn't have happened.

it's all progression and evolution. they may have been bad, but they got better.

[Wyldstaar]

The only early Image titles that I'd consider original were The Maxx, Spawn, and Wetworks. Maxx was unlike any story before or since. Spawn was original in it's characters and stories, if not the look of Spawn himself. He was a knockoff of a Spider-Man character who's name eludes me for the moment. Wetworks (when it FINALLY came out) wasn't overly innovative, but it wasn't like anything being published at the time.

All the other titles like Youngblood and Wildcats were totally dependant on artwork, because the stories were either bad or they made no sense whatsoever.

[ohcysp]

I really liked the Wetworks series, And I am very happy for DC's Wildstorm Comics picking it up as a new series. I just hope it's done as well as it was for Image.