I remember when Image comics first came out with their comic books in 1992. It was first time I saw a successful creator owned company advocating for creators rights! It was a very magical time for comic books and there was something new to focus on!
100% on the money. The artwork of Image was excellent, but the stories were so atrocious in addition to constantly being late, it wasn't worth keeping up with. Multiple panels of huge artwork, but nothing to say.@@mikeg4490
Despite all the deciteful, cringe 90s legacy of early IMAGE, I’m glad it happened. Modern IMAGE is a trailblazer in term of the type of stories being made now, and basically revitalised the medium for the western market.
Good of you to acknowledge Jim Valentino's new direction was good for Image, it's usually forgotten. While very few of those experimental comics were a sales success, it established Image as a place creators could go to. And it was good enough as a calling card to allow Image to pick and choose the quality products that they wanted to publish.
I miss Ultraverse SO much. It had interesting titles and stories. It had a lot of potential. Malibu published SO many comics. And then Marvel bought it out and flushed it. R.I.P.
I never paid attention to the creator names on comics until Image came out. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being oblivious. I remember when the first Image books came out, I left the store and sat in my car thumbing through them and just being blown away. Looking back, I think that was mainly because Image used much better paper than what was typical at the time (the industry has since caught up) and they were also early adopters of computer coloring. I remember marveling at Youngblood #1's visuals, although when I revisit these days it's hard to understand why it seemed so visually attractive unless I put it in the proper context of what the big two were doing at the time, with the cheap newsprint and comparatively lifeless colors. But while Youngblood hasn't aged well with me at all, I am still impressed by what Jim Lee and Mark Silvestri were doing at the same time, and also Todd McFarlane. Erik Larson was also knocking it out of the park, in his own quirky way. The real star of those first 5 years, though, was Wildstorm. They developed their own deep, shared universe and had continuity well beyond what anybody else at Image was doing. The lateness of every issue is what made me cancel everything within the first year or so. But then around 1998 I found a comic shop going out of business and I bought a ton of the stuff I'd missed for pennies on the dollar, and spent the next couple years catching up with that big stack plus a bunch of super-cheap Ebay deals.
For me it was Deathmate Red. I've never seen a comic with such a quality paper and vibrant digital colors. It still looks better than stuff published today. I was floored and knew I wanted to draw comics
This channel is great for comics historians and for filling in the blanks of Events I was too bored with to read. I'd love to see histories of Virgin and Lion's Forge comics.
Man even til this day the way Jim lee did his lines and art still takes my breath away the details the minute little pieces of action on the figures and all around still just blows my mind
What comics display artwork indicative of the 'extreme' 90s style of artwork yet still feature strong writing? You've mentioned The Maxx and Moore's Supreme, but what else comes to mind?
Id say Warren Ellis 8 issue run on DV8, comes to mind. Neil Gaimon wrote an issue of Spawn, (but that turned into a huge fiasco). Alan Moore did a few issues of Youngblood, it ended abruptly were from what I remember I liked them and planned to keep following. Alan Moore also did a run on Wildcats, they are really good and worth reading. James Robinson did Leave it to Chance which is a bit different but i liked it and thought it was underrated.
Some of my favorite titles the ones I can remember were: Gen13, NewMen, Pitt, Crimson, StormWatch...there were so many titles I always go for the best artists.
What happened to Liefield after he was kicked out? I know he came back, wrote some comics and now they are "friends" again, but can you summarize that period once he left and nowadays?
A great overview, as always. I've watched many Image doc's and one thing that's never gotten a solid answer is why were all the books late all the time? You could guess that they were enjoying new found wealth and dealing with the company's start up, but it's odd that other than Spawn, EVERYTHING was late. These guys were pro's that had held down monthly books, so what happened?? Also, I'd recommend the Cartoonists Kayfabe interview with Jim Valentino for more BTS stuff that's way more in depth than you'll get from the other founders.
From what I read, what happened was a variety of things. As you mentioned, the new wealth made some a touch lazy. For most it was establishing a studio and a new business, and that required a lot of attention. For some, movie and TV executives came calling. There was also licensing deals and all that jazz. All of which was time consuming and none of them had any experience dealing with any of these elements. Also, McFarlane had at least six months lead time on the rest of the founders. Everyone else had to finish up their work with Marvel before being able to focus on their own properties. So, that's my understanding for all the lateness in the beginning.
@@StrangeBrainParts Thanks for that! You'd think that at least some of the founders would've shown some professionalism and actually do the job that made them rich. The only one with any true dedication was Larson, who after 28 years is still writing and drawing Savage Dragon, the only title from that crew and the only founder who holds any interest for me. McFarlane, Lee, Liefeld? Hard pass.
Ahhh good times back in the day. Loved the art and stories, hated the inconsistent shipping of titles. I remember waiting forever for issues of U-Men and Kid Supreme to show up. 😆
I own the wildstorm comics with Marvel that must have been when they had two Heroes Reborn before Jim Lee went to work with DC Comics I think it was 2003 or 2004
What's missing out is Cliffhanger imprint(although it featured in this video for few seconds). Madureira, Campbell, Ramos, Bachalo among the few. Ramos manage to remain consistent in his work till the end of Crimson series. I'm also obsessed with Travis Charest's work despite his lateness.
With DC axing jobs I wonder if any of them might ask Image if there's work available? That being said getting off the ground with nothing and especially in this current situation who would buy these days, even if they take the chance to pitch something with their feet already in the door from working at DC?
Great doc. Very pertinent issue. With Mcfarlane releasing new figures of his character and overall becoming a fresh new success the world has never seen before in the action figure collectors market. This character and much of what he is doing now is becoming the rage.
It took me a few yrs to collect all the PITT comics. And it was 1 issue tht took me tht long. I could not find issue 17 to save my life. Then randomly found it for like 5.00 at a comic shop across the nation.
I've had that issue before except for me it was a Manga and I never found it for a good price. The Manga in question was a series called Ultimo, created by Stan Lee and the writer of Shaman King. I remembered this series as a kid when I saw a preview of it in Shonen Jump and the idea of Stan Lee, the comic book dude working on an anime was cool to me and as an adult and seeing that it finished, I decided to collect it. I collected every issue but vol 10 with a seller on Amazon wanting like $80 for it and another online store had it for cheap but every time I tried to buy it, after an hour they'd cancel the order. I just lost patience and just read vol 10 online so I could finish the rest of the story because I also just wanted to see how the series went. Cool ideas, kinda dumb ending but maybe I just didn't understand it but MY god was it annoying to collect with the later volumes...
I can't tell you how much I've been enjoying your uploads... They tie into the exact same titles that were effecting me back when they were released and I was collecting! Any chance of something focused about Arthur Suydam's, Cholley and Flytrap coming anytime soon? Given your tastes I'm guessing you've flicked through them at some point? Thanks again for the sterling work!
Kinda sound like they left the mainstream because they didn't like the rules and wanted more money. Created there own company and realized they needed some rules. Failed,turned on each other when it looked like it wasn't going to work out. Then finally made it by actually following the creators rights mantra they talked about in the first place.
Image is the best publishing company in US comics. When I see marvel and dc i think of limited potential, the same kind of stories with the same corporate owned characters. With Image I see infinite potential. Reading the big two is like exploring one solar system, reading Image is like exploring an entire galaxy.
Very good summery of a lot of big changes in a short span of a young publishing company. Perhaps in your next installment you may want to try tackling each IMAGE founder's trials and tribulations within the lifespan of the company. There's plenty of fertile stories to examine for sure. KEEP UP THE EXCELLENT WORK!!👍👍
Image has had a really bizarre and twisting history, involving a lot of egotistical jerks and uneven business dealings, and I think you captured a lot of that. It's weird to think that a company that publishes stuff like Saga and Monstress had such snotty roots.
Nice to see how Image got to where it is now. Kind of glad it played out this way, loved East of West and I feel that it wouldn't have turned out the way it did if it were under Vertigo
Image had to happen at some point. An industry can't maintain a tight grip on it's talent forever. Looking back at the early Image titles now, most of it is really cringe, and can't exist outside that early 90s bubble. However, I'm glad it exists; it was such a cool time to be into comics. Its funny, to me, that Jim Lee is now President of DC, and his entire label and catalog being owned by them.
Randomly was thinking of WetWorks the other day. Image was notorious for their delayed issues. I still have a lot of love for them. A lot of them were pretty cheesy though.
LOL. McFarlane making a crossover with Batman using his Image studio and Spawn character is not the same as going back to Marvel and producing titles the Marvel way.
Image founders should have created the first 12 issues of their titles before they began releasing them....that would have made books hit regularly on time in that first year to build some trust with the consumer and some legs in the industry plus it would have given them some cushion and time to maintain a regular monthly schedule going into the second year. They should have hired Jim Shooter...he has a history of maintaining a monthly schedule and keeping people in line.
Thanks for summarizing that complicated history. I'm not a fan of the... gnarly?... early Image styles, but some of the art used in the video, isolated from the awful writing, attains a real pop art gorgeousness. The spreads at 3:10 and 5:41, for instance.
The spread at 3:10 is from the Deathmate crossover and I do believe it was produced on Valiant's end. 5:41 is also from Valiant. It's Barry Windsor Smith on Rune.
From what I read, they can't do anything with Ultraverse because all of the creators own at least partial rights to the characters. So, Marvel would have to pay those creators for every usage and that doesn't seem like something they're willing to do.
It's an unspoken rumor within the industry that the deal made with Malibu in 1996 stipulates that the use of any Malibu character after the year 2001 has to have final approval from Scott Rosenberg, and ultimately, a publishing credit and commiserate salary along with that approval, which Marvel is unwilling to do. When you factor in the vast majority of Malibu characters being owned fully or partially by their creators, and the dismal previous attempt to integrate the Ultraverse into Marvel continuity, it just doesn't make much financial sense for Marvel to stage a Malibu resurrection.
@@StrangeBrainParts Thanks! I believe I have that entire run. It could merit its own video if you think the time would be worth covering the entire run. I think it was marketed as the "anti-GEN13" team book of non-team player characters.😊
@Nichole Koch : You're welcome! I very briefly considered a DV8 video. But any videos about the work of Warren Ellis are better off left unmade at this point.
It’s kind of impressive how Image turned from a Marvel/DC knock off (just nicer to creators) into the new Vertigo, or at least to me. Probably should have gotten some good writers on board in the early days instead of alienating them with bad business acumen and their faux punk, take no prisoners stick.
Reptilians as in 'David Icke illuminati shapeshifters' reptilians, or just lizardmen type humanoids? I'd honestly be very interested in reading a series based on the former now that you've brought it to mind
@Kulturkriget : It appears this was the case so I have reinstated Black Phoenix comments that TH-cam flagged. I hadn't noticed that had occurred. Also, I've found that trying to post comments back to back gets those comments flagged as spam, too. So, that may have also occurred.
Having problems distributing comics to their fans. Might consider corporate sabotage. There's one company in my mind that would consider a thing. It's like they have a network of bad people outside their comic company
@@ravager48 Probably rights issues with the creators, but who knows. During the time when Marvel was accepting pitches for their short lived Epic Comics revival, I asked Joe Quesada (via email) if I could pitch some Ultraverse stuff and he said no. Looks like they're going to squat on the property and do nothing with it.
@Black Phoenix : From what I understand it is a rights issue with Ultraverse. The individual creators own or partially own their characters. So, Marvel has to pay a licensing fee of some sort in order to use, say, Prime. For the time being, I do believe the Ultraverse is going to remain shuttered.
Seriously, does Rob Liefeld have any redeeming qualities? Horrible excuse of an artist and a backstabber throughout his career. How does this guy continue to get work?
I feel the same way, its like every other story I hear about this guy is him doing something shitty. Making bad business decisions, pissing off his business partners, screwing over his employees, ripping off characters, attacking people to try to use characters they have the rights to, probably the major factor of Deathmate failing because Bob Layton had to literally go to his house to make him do his job. I think I have seen some people champion Rob Liefield because he doesn't seem to cave to SJW bullshit but its just like...he's such a worthless piece of shit, this is not the person you should be turning to when he almost seems too dumb to breath with some of the stories I hear.
They should have right off the bat hired a large number of just regular pencillers to pencil and draw the boring stuff the non action stuff as long as all the art is credited it's not fraudulent, so let the main artists Liefied and Jim Lee and Silvestri and I want to say Mcfarlane but he didn't have due date issues, let them do the huge action splash pages, that way the books would get out on time
I have every image coming of that first 3 years....everyone of them worthless now...maybe I can get $20 for a spawn #1 but besides that the entire original line of all titles are useless, worthless and forgetful and have ZERO re-reading appeal. Pretty much EVERY character besides a handful have vanished never to be seen again and no one cares or misses them.
Surely you have missed the most important change to Image Comics: about 2 years ago Image changed its delivery model. You can't buy a downloadable PDF from Image Comics anymore. They only sell hard copies or a website subscription/rental. I hate this. I was coming back to Comics as an adult after having left comics in the Tintin era of the 80's. I was enjoying Image pdf titles like Black Magick and Birthright. My only interest was original titles; superhero brands are not my thing. Then Image did this weird outsourcing of its sales to someone else. They closed user accounts. They announced that once your account closed you would no longer have access to what you had bought. I emailed them and asked wtf is going on? They sent me a boilerplate response of PR drivel. I tried their rental website and paid 2 dollars for access. But it was a joke. A 6 year old could have designed it better. I gave up on them. I have not found any alternative original pdf downloadable comic publisher. I have left comics altogether. Thanks Image. It was good while it lasted. I feel sorry for the genius talent behind Birthright; it's not their fault. That was such a Quixotic series with a brilliant use of anti-hero farcical humor. I came back to comics. I saw. I enjoyed. I bought. Then Image said you have to buy it our way. I left for good.
This is a kinda shit video.it is kinda shit because it fixates on the early 90s soap opera stuff we all already know. How the heck image become the wonderful diverse machine it currently is, is left to a few stray comments towards the very end.
I remember when Image comics first came out with their comic books in 1992. It was first time I saw a successful creator owned company advocating for creators rights! It was a very magical time for comic books and there was something new to focus on!
I was excited at first. And then the comics came out. They were horrible
Cybernary was rad.
@John Ramos they should have hired writers lol
100% on the money. The artwork of Image was excellent, but the stories were so atrocious in addition to constantly being late, it wasn't worth keeping up with. Multiple panels of huge artwork, but nothing to say.@@mikeg4490
The first two years of Image with Spawn, WildCATS, The Maxx and Gen 13 where awesome
Despite all the deciteful, cringe 90s legacy of early IMAGE, I’m glad it happened. Modern IMAGE is a trailblazer in term of the type of stories being made now, and basically revitalised the medium for the western market.
So funny that Invincible and The Walking Dead revitalized Image, and that was in the early 2000s. Like less than a decade after the speculation crash.
Awhhh I have such a soft spot for all that cringe 90's dollar bin stuff ❤️
18:40 Robert Kirkman s battle pope a true oddity
I maintain my belief that the rise of Image was the punk movement of comics. Every Medium needs to go through one at some point in its existence.
I'm only reading the Wildstorm universe comics, there were comics that were good, decent, and bad, but I enjoyed it.
Read Invincible you'll like that book much better.
Wildstorm kicks shit in the dick, Warren ellis just did a rework of the wild storm team and it's great
Good of you to acknowledge Jim Valentino's new direction was good for Image, it's usually forgotten. While very few of those experimental comics were a sales success, it established Image as a place creators could go to. And it was good enough as a calling card to allow Image to pick and choose the quality products that they wanted to publish.
I miss Ultraverse SO much. It had interesting titles and stories. It had a lot of potential. Malibu published SO many comics. And then Marvel bought it out and flushed it. R.I.P.
Loved mantra
@@monstergonads11 Lol, me too.
Technically, Malibu sold it. Whoever bought it was going to "flush it".
@@markbalaam9542 As in "down the toilet."
I love these deep dives. Especially those on Image or Vertigo. Maybe we could get a follow-up series of videos on the founder titles..?
I never paid attention to the creator names on comics until Image came out. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being oblivious. I remember when the first Image books came out, I left the store and sat in my car thumbing through them and just being blown away. Looking back, I think that was mainly because Image used much better paper than what was typical at the time (the industry has since caught up) and they were also early adopters of computer coloring. I remember marveling at Youngblood #1's visuals, although when I revisit these days it's hard to understand why it seemed so visually attractive unless I put it in the proper context of what the big two were doing at the time, with the cheap newsprint and comparatively lifeless colors. But while Youngblood hasn't aged well with me at all, I am still impressed by what Jim Lee and Mark Silvestri were doing at the same time, and also Todd McFarlane. Erik Larson was also knocking it out of the park, in his own quirky way. The real star of those first 5 years, though, was Wildstorm. They developed their own deep, shared universe and had continuity well beyond what anybody else at Image was doing.
The lateness of every issue is what made me cancel everything within the first year or so. But then around 1998 I found a comic shop going out of business and I bought a ton of the stuff I'd missed for pennies on the dollar, and spent the next couple years catching up with that big stack plus a bunch of super-cheap Ebay deals.
For me it was Deathmate Red. I've never seen a comic with such a quality paper and vibrant digital colors. It still looks better than stuff published today. I was floored and knew I wanted to draw comics
This channel is great for comics historians and for filling in the blanks of Events I was too bored with to read. I'd love to see histories of Virgin and Lion's Forge comics.
Wonderful look at the drama behind the scenes! Perfect timing as well as I'm going through my old CyberForce and Savage Dragon issues
Windstorm and ABC were doing very interesting things at this time. Those books have been fun to track down.
Man even til this day the way Jim lee did his lines and art still takes my breath away the details the minute little pieces of action on the figures and all around still just blows my mind
What comics display artwork indicative of the 'extreme' 90s style of artwork yet still feature strong writing?
You've mentioned The Maxx and Moore's Supreme, but what else comes to mind?
Cry for Dawn. Ez
Id say Warren Ellis 8 issue run on DV8, comes to mind. Neil Gaimon wrote an issue of Spawn, (but that turned into a huge fiasco). Alan Moore did a few issues of Youngblood, it ended abruptly were from what I remember I liked them and planned to keep following. Alan Moore also did a run on Wildcats, they are really good and worth reading. James Robinson did Leave it to Chance which is a bit different but i liked it and thought it was underrated.
Some of my favorite titles the ones I can remember were:
Gen13, NewMen, Pitt, Crimson, StormWatch...there were so many titles I always go for the best artists.
What happened to Liefield after he was kicked out? I know he came back, wrote some comics and now they are "friends" again, but can you summarize that period once he left and nowadays?
A great overview, as always. I've watched many Image doc's and one thing that's never gotten a solid answer is why were all the books late all the time? You could guess that they were enjoying new found wealth and dealing with the company's start up, but it's odd that other than Spawn, EVERYTHING was late. These guys were pro's that had held down monthly books, so what happened?? Also, I'd recommend the Cartoonists Kayfabe interview with Jim Valentino for more BTS stuff that's way more in depth than you'll get from the other founders.
From what I read, what happened was a variety of things. As you mentioned, the new wealth made some a touch lazy. For most it was establishing a studio and a new business, and that required a lot of attention. For some, movie and TV executives came calling. There was also licensing deals and all that jazz. All of which was time consuming and none of them had any experience dealing with any of these elements. Also, McFarlane had at least six months lead time on the rest of the founders. Everyone else had to finish up their work with Marvel before being able to focus on their own properties. So, that's my understanding for all the lateness in the beginning.
@@StrangeBrainParts Thanks for that! You'd think that at least some of the founders would've shown some professionalism and actually do the job that made them rich. The only one with any true dedication was Larson, who after 28 years is still writing and drawing Savage Dragon, the only title from that crew and the only founder who holds any interest for me. McFarlane, Lee, Liefeld? Hard pass.
Ahhh good times back in the day. Loved the art and stories, hated the inconsistent shipping of titles. I remember waiting forever for issues of U-Men and Kid Supreme to show up. 😆
I'm already reading The Maxx, Spawn and Savage Dragon.
Noobie
@@marcustmachado Image comics is better than shitty DC rebirth and the awful Doomsday clock lol
Try read invincible too
@@hahahahaha288 That's my next one. Oh gonna read Walking Dead too.
@@hahahahaha288 I will get to it eventually
I own the wildstorm comics with Marvel that must have been when they had two Heroes Reborn before Jim Lee went to work with DC Comics I think it was 2003 or 2004
What's missing out is Cliffhanger imprint(although it featured in this video for few seconds). Madureira, Campbell, Ramos, Bachalo among the few. Ramos manage to remain consistent in his work till the end of Crimson series. I'm also obsessed with Travis Charest's work despite his lateness.
With DC axing jobs I wonder if any of them might ask Image if there's work available? That being said getting off the ground with nothing and especially in this current situation who would buy these days, even if they take the chance to pitch something with their feet already in the door from working at DC?
Great doc. Very pertinent issue. With Mcfarlane releasing new figures of his character and overall becoming a fresh new success the world has never seen before in the action figure collectors market. This character and much of what he is doing now is becoming the rage.
Retcon Doomsday clock
Beanworld needs so much more love.
Retcon Doomsday clock and DC rebirth
Great video :). on a side note I am still waiting for Image United #4. The founders really dont like working together.
It took me a few yrs to collect all the PITT comics. And it was 1 issue tht took me tht long.
I could not find issue 17 to save my life. Then randomly found it for like 5.00 at a comic shop across the nation.
I've had that issue before except for me it was a Manga and I never found it for a good price. The Manga in question was a series called Ultimo, created by Stan Lee and the writer of Shaman King. I remembered this series as a kid when I saw a preview of it in Shonen Jump and the idea of Stan Lee, the comic book dude working on an anime was cool to me and as an adult and seeing that it finished, I decided to collect it. I collected every issue but vol 10 with a seller on Amazon wanting like $80 for it and another online store had it for cheap but every time I tried to buy it, after an hour they'd cancel the order. I just lost patience and just read vol 10 online so I could finish the rest of the story because I also just wanted to see how the series went. Cool ideas, kinda dumb ending but maybe I just didn't understand it but MY god was it annoying to collect with the later volumes...
I love your channel man would you ever in the future do a video on Paul Chadwick's concrete or dark horse during the dark horse presents era?
Concrete is forthcoming.
@@StrangeBrainParts 😀
Loved your editing.
I can't tell you how much I've been enjoying your uploads... They tie into the exact same titles that were effecting me back when they were released and I was collecting!
Any chance of something focused about Arthur Suydam's, Cholley and Flytrap coming anytime soon? Given your tastes I'm guessing you've flicked through them at some point?
Thanks again for the sterling work!
Retcon Doomsday clock
I'll second the Suydam profile.
I still got some Youngblood comics from those days
There were some amazing books coming out of Image in the early days, I have most of them. ( Liefeld excluded) was never a huge fan.
Kinda sound like they left the mainstream because they didn't like the rules and wanted more money. Created there own company and realized they needed some rules. Failed,turned on each other when it looked like it wasn't going to work out. Then finally made it by actually following the creators rights mantra they talked about in the first place.
I gotta check out ice cream man when shops open back up
20:07 Actually, Eric Stephenson became an Image Partner as well a few years ago.
Image is the best publishing company in US comics. When I see marvel and dc i think of limited potential, the same kind of stories with the same corporate owned characters. With Image I see infinite potential. Reading the big two is like exploring one solar system, reading Image is like exploring an entire galaxy.
Noise summary, thanks!
Lobe PROPHET, I HAVE all the issues .d the variants. Stephen Platt is my favorite artist.
He actually made MOON LIGHT look cool
Ah, Jim Lee. I´ve learned by guys who work on the comics industry that Jim Lee´s not the nice guy he seems to be. And Liefield, well... no comment...
It seems as a second part of the history but having the same thumbnail and the same title as the first one can be misleading, just saying :)
That is a good point! I may have to make some quick changes so they look different.
Thanks to your suggestion I've changed the thumbnail and the title. Thank you for pointing out something I should have realized myself. :)
@@StrangeBrainParts Thanks to you for doing incredible content
@Miguel Angel Lopez Gutierrez : And thank you for watching!
Very good summery of a lot of big changes in a short span of a young publishing company.
Perhaps in your next installment you may want to try tackling each IMAGE founder's trials and tribulations within the lifespan of the company. There's plenty of fertile stories to examine for sure. KEEP UP THE EXCELLENT WORK!!👍👍
Thank you! And thanks for the suggestion. I think I may do a few of these in the near future since it's a topic still fresh in my memory.
I hope to one day publish a comic with Image. If not them then Dark Horse or Dynamite would do.
Great History! Love the video!
Image has had a really bizarre and twisting history, involving a lot of egotistical jerks and uneven business dealings, and I think you captured a lot of that.
It's weird to think that a company that publishes stuff like Saga and Monstress had such snotty roots.
It doesn't matter to me if they were late I like image great characters great artwork gave marvel a run for the money
Nice to see how Image got to where it is now. Kind of glad it played out this way, loved East of West and I feel that it wouldn't have turned out the way it did if it were under Vertigo
This should be awesome!
Image had to happen at some point. An industry can't maintain a tight grip on it's talent forever. Looking back at the early Image titles now, most of it is really cringe, and can't exist outside that early 90s bubble. However, I'm glad it exists; it was such a cool time to be into comics.
Its funny, to me, that Jim Lee is now President of DC, and his entire label and catalog being owned by them.
This and valiant were so sick when I was a kid; used to find them at cheap little swap meet style spots. Youngblood covers stand out
Randomly was thinking of WetWorks the other day. Image was notorious for their delayed issues. I still have a lot of love for them. A lot of them were pretty cheesy though.
LOL. McFarlane making a crossover with Batman using his Image studio and Spawn character is not the same as going back to Marvel and producing titles the Marvel way.
so what was image's first comic?
Awesome.
Image comics is better than DC comics and the shitty Doomsday clock LOL
I’d love a review of the Bravura line - some of those comics weren’t bad, even Prime. Really enjoyed Rune and Sludge. Thanks for the content!
Bravura and Ultraverse are two lines I want to get to...soon.
@@StrangeBrainParts DC rebirth and Doomsday clock sucks
Image founders should have created the first 12 issues of their titles before they began releasing them....that would have made books hit regularly on time in that first year to build some trust with the consumer and some legs in the industry plus it would have given them some cushion and time to maintain a regular monthly schedule going into the second year. They should have hired Jim Shooter...he has a history of maintaining a monthly schedule and keeping people in line.
Thanks for summarizing that complicated history.
I'm not a fan of the... gnarly?... early Image styles, but some of the art used in the video, isolated from the awful writing, attains a real pop art gorgeousness. The spreads at 3:10 and 5:41, for instance.
I think those are Valiant art from the crossover, might be wrong
The spread at 3:10 is from the Deathmate crossover and I do believe it was produced on Valiant's end. 5:41 is also from Valiant. It's Barry Windsor Smith on Rune.
Nice!
Image Comics isn't as cool as it once was, IMO. Also, it sucks that Marvel brought Ultraverse but refuses to do anything with it.
From what I read, they can't do anything with Ultraverse because all of the creators own at least partial rights to the characters. So, Marvel would have to pay those creators for every usage and that doesn't seem like something they're willing to do.
I don't agree, because a lot of great comics have ended up at Image over the years.
Yeah, I remember reading that Donny Cates really wanted to use the Ultraverse but they wouldn't let him.
It's an unspoken rumor within the industry that the deal made with Malibu in 1996 stipulates that the use of any Malibu character after the year 2001 has to have final approval from Scott Rosenberg, and ultimately, a publishing credit and commiserate salary along with that approval, which Marvel is unwilling to do. When you factor in the vast majority of Malibu characters being owned fully or partially by their creators, and the dismal previous attempt to integrate the Ultraverse into Marvel continuity, it just doesn't make much financial sense for Marvel to stage a Malibu resurrection.
Wait you miss the days where image characters didn’t have feet?
Cool Cool !
18:57 Jim’s Shadow Hawk didn’t look great from those mediocre panels you chose! Always saw it hyped up in Wizard as a kid but never bought it.
What's the comic with the girl hugging her knees and saying she's dead?
That is from "DV8" by Jim Lee's WILDSTORM UNIVERSE corner of Image Comics.
@@nicolekoch1332 Thanks.
Yup, Ms. Koch nailed it. Issue #5, to be specific.
@@StrangeBrainParts Thanks! I believe I have that entire run. It could merit its own video if you think the time would be worth covering the entire run. I think it was marketed as the "anti-GEN13" team book of non-team player characters.😊
@Nichole Koch : You're welcome! I very briefly considered a DV8 video. But any videos about the work of Warren Ellis are better off left unmade at this point.
It’s kind of impressive how Image turned from a Marvel/DC knock off (just nicer to creators) into the new Vertigo, or at least to me.
Probably should have gotten some good writers on board in the early days instead of alienating them with bad business acumen and their faux punk, take no prisoners stick.
Problem was that they were so disconnected everyone was doing there own thing under one business which just doesn't work
i loved the ULTRAVERSE
That was awesome. Image has some of the better looking titles on the rack. They are just more interesting than the same old crap from the "universes".
Does anyone remember a series involving reptillians warring against humankind? Really awesome artwork.
Wildcats?
@@TheXipeTotek No. Damn, I'm trying to remember. I can't remember if it was through TOP COW PRODUCTIONS.
Reptilians as in 'David Icke illuminati shapeshifters' reptilians, or just lizardmen type humanoids? I'd honestly be very interested in reading a series based on the former now that you've brought it to mind
@@earlpipe9713 I can't remember. I just remember loving the art work.
Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman dont like Image. I imagine why? Lol.
Alan Moore doesn't like Image because Jim Lee screwed him. Neil Gaiman doesn't like Image because Todd McFarlane screwed him.
@@RockandrollNegro I thought Liefeld screwed Alan.
We need one for dark horse comics
14k subscribers? What a travesty. Meanwhile Jake Paul has millions. This guy is fantastic at analysis, simultaneously intelligent and self effacing.
A very humble, "Thank you," to you!
Wasn't this already uploaded?
Nope. You're thinking of the origin video. This is a continuation...the history.
@@StrangeBrainParts Now I see it, once I actually started watching the video. My bad.
No problem. As someone pointed out, the title and thumbnail were confusing. So I changed both to make them more distinct. The fault lies with me. :)
@@StrangeBrainParts It's all good, don't worry about it.
Strange Brain Parts An Image Comics series I would highly recommend would be East of West.
Thank you! I am familiar with the series. :)
@@StrangeBrainParts Its written by Johnathan Hickman so expect something deep.
Good gods, I miss wildstorm
Who's here to take a break from Marvel and DC?
I do. And I hope this time forever.
My comments keep disappearing.....😑
I don't know why that is. I know I've not deleted any of your posts, if you're wondering.
It took me two tries to post the comment about Image and Ultraverse that I made below; maybe it was due to connectivity issues. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@Kulturkriget : It appears this was the case so I have reinstated Black Phoenix comments that TH-cam flagged. I hadn't noticed that had occurred. Also, I've found that trying to post comments back to back gets those comments flagged as spam, too. So, that may have also occurred.
Having problems distributing comics to their fans. Might consider corporate sabotage. There's one company in my mind that would consider a thing. It's like they have a network of bad people outside their comic company
Image Comics isn't as cool as it used to be, IMO. Also, it sucks that Marvel doesn't do anything with the Ultraverse and that Jim Lee sold out to DC.
Right! I liked Ultraforce, Prime, Hardcase, Rune, The Nightman, Prototype etc. At least make them part of the Marvelverse. I mean, why not?
@@ravager48 Probably rights issues with the creators, but who knows. During the time when Marvel was accepting pitches for their short lived Epic Comics revival, I asked Joe Quesada (via email) if I could pitch some Ultraverse stuff and he said no. Looks like they're going to squat on the property and do nothing with it.
@@blackphoenix77 Retcon Doomsday clock
Jim Lee sold Alan Moore's work to DC. That was a fuckin sin...a crime...a betrayal...fuck him.
@Black Phoenix : From what I understand it is a rights issue with Ultraverse. The individual creators own or partially own their characters. So, Marvel has to pay a licensing fee of some sort in order to use, say, Prime. For the time being, I do believe the Ultraverse is going to remain shuttered.
Really only read wildstorm most where really good or just decent *cough* most of wildcats
So we can thank Jim Valentino for the Image Comics we have today.
In my biased opinion...yes.
It's like everything is just a big mess.
Seriously, does Rob Liefeld have any redeeming qualities? Horrible excuse of an artist and a backstabber throughout his career. How does this guy continue to get work?
From what ive heard its because Rob is a very friendly and enthusiastic guy who manages to make as many friends in the industry as he does enemies.
I feel the same way, its like every other story I hear about this guy is him doing something shitty. Making bad business decisions, pissing off his business partners, screwing over his employees, ripping off characters, attacking people to try to use characters they have the rights to, probably the major factor of Deathmate failing because Bob Layton had to literally go to his house to make him do his job. I think I have seen some people champion Rob Liefield because he doesn't seem to cave to SJW bullshit but its just like...he's such a worthless piece of shit, this is not the person you should be turning to when he almost seems too dumb to breath with some of the stories I hear.
They should have right off the bat hired a large number of just regular pencillers to pencil and draw the boring stuff the non action stuff as long as all the art is credited it's not fraudulent, so let the main artists Liefied and Jim Lee and Silvestri and I want to say Mcfarlane but he didn't have due date issues, let them do the huge action splash pages, that way the books would get out on time
😃👍
I have every image coming of that first 3 years....everyone of them worthless now...maybe I can get $20 for a spawn #1 but besides that the entire original line of all titles are useless, worthless and forgetful and have ZERO re-reading appeal. Pretty much EVERY character besides a handful have vanished never to be seen again and no one cares or misses them.
Surely you have missed the most important change to Image Comics: about 2 years ago Image changed its delivery model. You can't buy a downloadable PDF from Image Comics anymore. They only sell hard copies or a website subscription/rental. I hate this. I was coming back to Comics as an adult after having left comics in the Tintin era of the 80's. I was enjoying Image pdf titles like Black Magick and Birthright. My only interest was original titles; superhero brands are not my thing. Then Image did this weird outsourcing of its sales to someone else. They closed user accounts. They announced that once your account closed you would no longer have access to what you had bought. I emailed them and asked wtf is going on? They sent me a boilerplate response of PR drivel. I tried their rental website and paid 2 dollars for access. But it was a joke. A 6 year old could have designed it better. I gave up on them. I have not found any alternative original pdf downloadable comic publisher. I have left comics altogether. Thanks Image. It was good while it lasted. I feel sorry for the genius talent behind Birthright; it's not their fault. That was such a Quixotic series with a brilliant use of anti-hero farcical humor.
I came back to comics. I saw. I enjoyed. I bought. Then Image said you have to buy it our way. I left for good.
Such horrible art and charchter designs
Nearly everything Image did is garbage honestly.
DC rebirth sucks
@thaal sinestro No it wanted it retcond because it ruined Watchmen
This is a kinda shit video.it is kinda shit because it fixates on the early 90s soap opera stuff we all already know. How the heck image become the wonderful diverse machine it currently is, is left to a few stray comments towards the very end.