The Origin Of Image Comics (Based On A True Story)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- An in-depth look at the events that culminated in a group of seven very popular artists walking away from Marvel and DC to form their own publishing company, Image Comics.
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SOURCE MATERIAL:
“No Holds Barred,” written by Patrick Daniel O’Neill. Wizard Magazine #10. June 1992.
“Spawning A New Image,” written by Gareb Shamus. Wizard Magazine 11. July 1992.
Image Comics: The Road To Independence by George Khoury. TwoMorrows Publishing. 2007.
“Bye Bye Marvel; Here Comes Image,” written by M. Clark Humphrey. The Comics Journal #148. February 1992.
“The Image Story. Part One: Forming An Image,” written by Michael Dean. The Comics Journal #222. April 2000.
“The Image Story. Part Two: The Honeymoon,” written by Michael Dean. The Comics Journal #223. May 2000.
Todd McFarlane’s Original Spider-Man #16 Artwork:
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The History Of Image Comics - So Much Damage:
• Playlist
#ImageComics #ModernAge #JimLee #ToddMcFarlane #ErikLarsen #JimValentino #RobLiefeld #MarcSilvestri #WhilcePortacio #MarvelComics
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Early Image is a good example of why you need to recruit writers as well as artists.
lol, and when you do, pay them.
Jim Lee won in the end, I thought he was crazy for leaving image, but it benefitted him the most out of anyone
Fatal Jay In the end, he was a company man.
In the end? McFarlane and Larsen are still publishing their creator-owned titles. Lee is drawing a salary and doesn't own anything.
@@dashrendar99 And McFarlane and Larsen are still sale brakers, right?
Disagree, he caved in. Now, he can't even defend and make his own creations relevant. DC won't let it happen. As a fan of Wildstorm is a damn shame.
@Fatal Jay Jim Lee is my favorite but I think you're wrong. Mcfarlane is the clear winner. Even if Spawn can only sell 10,000 copies today (not exact numbers, i'm just speculating), that's still a bigger payday than Jim's DC salary.
Can you please do a video on the DC imprint called "Milestone?"
I used to buy up all of their comics whenever I could when I was a kid
At 10 years old, I remember picking up Youngblood #1 at Kemp Mill Records near my house and wondering why this Rob Liefeld comic wasn’t being produced by Marvel Comics. Then I discovered Wizard magazine through a friend and learned the details…ah, memories.
I can say I was around when all this went down several of my friends ended up working for Image as we were all trying to get work with marvel at that time and when Image came up and the big comic cons happened everyone who was an artist went and many like Anthony Winn, and Micheal Turner and more got picked up really fast. It was a wide-open time and looked like a golden age for the artist but it would not last and a crash would come and many artists would find out how fast work came and went. Why some keep their regular job just in case a lot of artists back then are not even in the business today.
It’s pretty crazy how I remember all of those covers. That era is what grabbed my attention for a time. Liefeld Larson Macfarlane and Jim Lee.
Is there a guy named Liefeld Larson Macfarlane?
I'm getting into Image comics more than Marvel.
I hope you mean their newer stuff and not the old founders' titles. None of that is readable in my opinion.
@@atomicbarbarian7372 Yes their newer stuff.
Crossgen next please. A genuinely revolutionary publisher in terms of their content. While everyone else did superheroes, they did spies, pirates, sci-fi and everything in-between. A much underated comics label. PS - Loved the vid as always, glad you are still here. Thank you.
I love CrossGen! I buy their titles whenever I can. Their sheer variety of genres was so much fun.
Whoaaaa my eyes flashing with Jim Lee's Art💓 make me wanna draw again🥺
Beter informative than the documentary. Good job
Thank you! And thanks for watching.
Todd McFarlane's art work on spiderman was the main reason 12 year old me spent my allowance on those comics
Gotta give some credit to DeFalco and others at Marvel: these guys were patient.
Heh, I believe I remember from an interview with comics writer Scott Lobdell that supposedly back in the 1990's DeFalco was irritated about the fact that Gen 13 was outselling Marvel's Generation X and he said to the writer of that book Scott Lobdell basically,
"Find out why this is selling so well and what we can do about it!"
Lobdell had to explain to him that stripping down the Generation X characters to skin tight uniforms and near nudity ala the Gen 13 characters wasn't really an option or trying to use a J. Scott Campbell art clone so the only thing they could try to do was write good stories to compete with that comic,
Ironically a few years later Lobdell went on to write Gen 13. (Based on an old interview with Scott Lobdell in....Comics Scene Magazine or Wizard? maybe, I'm not sure of the magazine, I just remember those key parts of the interview from the late 1990's.)
@@cha5 huh, interesting, thanks for the info.
For some reason I saw your comment only today, there was no notifications about it when you wrote it, strange.
@@cha5 New Mutants and Gen13 were never on the racks at the same time
@@JDRamos213 Yes you’re quite right, the Marvel Comic was Generation X not The New Mutants. Corrected and thanks.
While the Big Two were tricky to work for at the time and I often side with creators over companies, yeah these dudes had some crazy egos. Lol
Just found your channel, absolutely loving your work
Have you considered doing something like this with dark horse? Idk if it would be as interesting of a story but it would be cool to know how that brand developed
Enjoyed this, will we see more Image related videos in the future? I know the 90s Image is vastly different than today’s Image
Yes! Originally I intended to do an origin AND history of Image. However, the origin turned out to be quite lengthy. So, the history of Image is forthcoming.
90s image was so much fun.
I really enjoyed the video! It was interesting to find out that Gareb Shamus had a hand in the founding of the company. In my opinion it always seemed like there was a lot of promoting of Image comics in Wizard magazine.
I would love a video about crossgen comics. That story seems wild
I wonder what would've happened if they had taken the deal about getting Epic.
Worth the wait. Fantastic job
As always, another great, informative episode. A question: what is the parody comic of the Image guys vs. Marvel represented here? That looks a lot more entertaining than most of the founders books.
Thank you! That parody comic was "Splitting Image" by Don Simpson. It was actually published by Image Comics via Jim Valentino's Shadowline imprint. It's quite a cutting satire, actually.
@@StrangeBrainParts Thanks! I remember that now.
Been waiting for this one.
Ironically Jim Lee sold Wildstorm to DC six years later.
Well done, indeed. Some great investigative reporting here.
Not really it’s all pretty much common knowledgep
Pitt, Witchblade , the Darkness, Cyberforce, and WILD CATS!!!
joseph ishkabibble Hulk copy! Cheesecake! Boring Ghost Rider! Xmen copy! Xmen copy!
Yeah those were the days lol
The “you’ve never done what I’ve done, so you have no right to critique” excuse creators use always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. All criticism should be welcomed to improve your craft, especially when that critic is your boss. Clearly McFarlane was the type of guy who needed to be his own boss. He simply should not have thrown a tizzy on his way to getting there.
Chris Hype Guess we shouldn’t criticize nazi internment camps either because hey, we’ve never run one..
Please, could you one day talk about the Maxx, a forgotten classic of Image, on your channel ? Sam Keith work is fascinating and seeing it getting some love would be absolutely...lovely !
Lovely video still. Always learning new facts in your videos and your work is so well presented compared to other comic channels. Thanks for the continuous content !
Thank you! Yes, The Maxx has been a comic I've been meaning to do a video on for a loooong time. I may have to get to it rather soon.
Someone needs to venture deep into the Outback, and bring the Maxx back...!
I second this - would love to see what you'd do with a Maxx episode! I'm working on a Sam Kieth retrospective right now that talks a lot about the roots and origins of The Maxx and how it eventually broke Sam Kieth and drove him out of the industry for a long while - part 1 is out right now here th-cam.com/video/23MfaAu6-SY/w-d-xo.html
The Maxx is one of those enigmatic things that happened and since Kieth is so reclusive and hates that period of his life so much we'll probably never know the details about a lot of the stuff that happened, or what some of those stories meant or were leading up to. Real shame as I happen to think it's one of the best series ever released as was the first Image title to really stop and make me take notice of what they were doing.
A really nice informative video about imagine comic creation myth
Love it, I started reading comics in 91. I cannot get enough of this story. It set the rebellious tone for us older millennials 😂
This is the second video of yours that I've watched. I really enjoy your explanations and the images you add. Thank you.
And thank you for watching! I'm glad you've enjoyed what you've seen.
Another splendid video. Very informative. Until next time indeed.
Back then the artists mattered.
It got so many people hooked and into drawing superhero’s.
Those were some good years I remember I was 13.
From 1992 - 1995 my friends and I lived and died Image and would spend all night long on weekends drawing creating our own characters and believing one day we would be working for Image.
At age 15 I had a buddy who was just an inker and we literally would schedule times to draw and ink my characters.
We were like little teenage professionals it was crazy but we were into it.
I set up a section in my parents basement like it was a real studio complete with drafting boards and art supplies.
I always wore a San Jose sharks jersey and Levy 501 jeans when I drew as homage to McFarlane and Liefeld.
Good times.
Nirvana was getting popular.
Pearl Jam.
Gosh.
What I wouldn’t do to relive that time again.
It all came to an end just before the comic speculator bubble bursted and I along with my little rag tag crew of aspiring artists got girlfriends and started getting p*s$y and beer.
Life, I guess.
@Strange Brain Parts. Thank you for your video. Ive been an Image fan since its birth even though I could not collect them as much as I wanted. I grew up in Puerto Rico and getting them there was a hassle. The ones I bought were purchased through Wizard. Anyways after so many years with out buying comics, I started up again. Hopefully I can find those issues that I need.
Editors got mad at McFarlanes Spider-Man being dark even though Spider-Man has had dark storylines in the 70’s and 80’s? Smh
As someone who's read McFarlane's Spider-Man, the comics from the 70's and 80's were much better written.
The Actual Bibleman true
@@bubbabibleman5970 that's why editors were mad.
It wasn't so much that McFarlane's stories were "dark" that was the issue from Marvel's standpoint. It was being overtly violent, and drastically changing the look of Spider-Man and the world around him that, at least from McFarlane's perspective, bothered the editors at Marvel. McFarlane changed the webbing to look more like spaghetti. McFarlane claims that was problem. He changed up MJ's look. That allegedly bugged Marvel. Then he tried injecting gory violence into Spider-Man, again an alleged problem with Marvel. And I say alleged, because I've never heard anyone come forward and backup McFarlane's claims, or fight these notions either.
I do believe Tom DeFalco backs up the claims that Spider-Man (the McFarlane written version) was too dark for Marvel's editorial tastes. As for the McFarlane's claims about his artwork being problematic...yeah, I saw nothing in print to suggest this was an issue.
If I ever want to make my own comic that’s sold in stores then I trust Image more then the management at marvel.
Great video, as always. Ey, from which comic are the “meeting between Image and Marvel editors” panels? I would like to read it in full!
You should fo a origins of ghost rider
Dude, that cut to the title card was killer.
Thank you, sir.
Great info!
Quite an amazing video.
I consider myself a well versed fan, but I always learn something from your videos. For a fan of 54 years, THAT'S ssying something. I stand in awe :)
Thank you, sir! Quite honestly, I consider myself well-versed, too. But then I start reading interviews and other related material and I see plenty of stuff I hadn't seen before. I'm very happy to share what I learn along the way.
@@StrangeBrainParts I have been catching up on your back catalogue thenlast few months...uniformly solid, well researched material...no fat, no fluff. Loving it.
@Dash Fatbastard : Thank you again. I try my best, sir. Some of the earlier stuff is a bit, um, rough. But I'll George Lucas those one day. Hah!
I love your channel
Gotta admit, I felt a twinge if disappointment when the theme didn’t play at first. Then it played. And all was right and good.
If you listen closely, I say, "Psyche!" just under the music as it kicks in. Okay, I don't. But I thought about it. :)
I heavily into Image when it first started off. I missed out on Spawn and Youngbloods firsts but was there was Wildstorm and Cyberforce. Say what you will but they proved that the two titans DC and Marvel were NOT untouchable and made them change some of their style up.
I lived the original Image comics run.
For all its warts (and warts they did have) I will always respect image comics simply for making a big publisher who pushes creator owned content and self contained intellectual properties. The founders may have had their heads up their asses and not understand the fundementals of plotting, character developement or pacing but they ievitably made something that the industry desperately needed.
Also I still adore Savage Dragon in its prime. Theres few reads I find just as fun as those initial 100 some issues.
I agree. They created something that was ultimately a very good thing. It happened by accident rather than design, but it happened nonetheless.
I liked the part of the video where it went "Hi there, im the dental implant educator."
Rob Liefeld is designer of the Image logo. It's been confirmed by fellow professionals. I know Dan Fraga said Liefeld was the creator in his IG last year.
It's supposed to be an eye.
Image comics… Where you come in with a project and you’re expected to pay $2000 a month (Years who) to put their branding bug on a title. It’s a joke. Greedy Egos. Meanwhile they used Malibu comics to get where they wanted to go.
Modern Image is 1000 superior to their early days. Their younger self would've been on the same level as both DC and Marvel .
The New Mutants was not a struggling title. It was a top 25 comic, selling better than the Avengers, possibly since it's first issue.
I love love love this channel - it's one of the best comics youtube shows BUT this felt very heavy handed and without nuance in it's criticism against the Image founders. I agree there was go, their was an excess of style over substance but there's a lot of good stuff to mention too like the flat, boring style of company comics and how Image was a lot more exciting to look at - this is something that Alan Moore has even said in an interview on youtube - comics that catered to the kids that read it instead of 30 year old men - they were the 1st to use digital colouring and good paperstock and I feel the fact that they started out making pop commercial comics then moved to the stuff they make today was vital to why Image kept going and didn't flop like Tundra which made great but arthouse comics that didn't bring in the cash that popcorn blockbuster comics would
@RAMSEY HASSAN : Other than some light criticism of Mr. McFarlane, I'm not certain what you mean by a heavy handed criticism against the Image founders in this video. Could you elaborate? I'm sincerely uncertain what could be interpreted as criticism, heavy handed and lacking in nuance or otherwise.
@@StrangeBrainParts heavy handed and without nuance as in it felt like constant shade on McFarlane and Image with no mention of the positive impact they made - ie popularising digital coloring and better paper quality, shaking the status quo and the big two being forced to change its practises a tiny bit to keep artists. Marvel & DC also tried to copy the bombastic Image style but it was so false - as Alan Moore said 'you could sense the passion in those Image comics that was missing in work-for-hire comics - he compared the bizarre OTT singular vision art to the weird heroes of golden age comics
@@StrangeBrainParts th-cam.com/video/D8Jp3q8SwiU/w-d-xo.html
@RAMSEY HASSAN : This merely covers the very, very beginning of Image. So any impact it may have had has yet to be discussed. And I would disagree that this video throws constant shade. Very little shade, in fact. It's simply a timeline of the events that motivated the Image founders to leave and try something different. I don't see how that's a criticism, as there's no judgment made one way or the other about their desire for creative freedom.
Love the ad....Sheila E. The artist formerly known as Prince.
He played his mighty Hammer. 🌈⚡️🎸⚡️🌈
10:07, What's the name of this spoof comic? I'm interest in checking it out? Also, great video!
That was called Splitting Image - also published under Image! It's a funny read
@@marcmblue Thanks!
I have two problems with image, they still have plenty of work for hire with the most successful creators behaving like a smaller version of Marvel and DC. Kirkman is the worst, he owns all the creator rights on most of his series through his company Skybound, not even the artists get any rights.
And there is no solidarity within the company, if your book sells you are rich, if not you can eat cornflakes, no income redistribution from big selling titles, everyone for himself basically...
awesome comics. been into them since i was a kid. always read them more than marvel or dc
Interesting Backstory.
One outro at a time bro
Thanks! Subbed
+1 for request for coverage of the Maxx
Thanks! And your request will be fulfilled shortly.
So maybe Marvel's move to buy Malibu was not just about the printing methods. Maybe it was a bit of retribution.
That is something I bring up in the next Image video.
So no editorial oversight and a separate studio for each creator... but most of the books took place in the same superhero universe because the creators refused to get out of their comfort zone.
Am I the only one who sees a problem with this plan?
What do you mean?
leyen A shared superhero universe is a headache to keep track of. With no overseeing editor around, there will probably be a lot of continuity errors.
Also, no head editor meant a lot of the books were late. That can be acceptable in some cases but if it happens all the time, readership will get frustrated and leave.
I can understand why they did it. “No editor can tell me what I can and can not put in my work.” But you still need editors for other reasons.
And I thought I was the only one that questioned 90's image idea to make a shared universe which heavily contrasts with their plan to completely own their characters and concepts.
I mean, what if a creator leaves with their characters? That means they can't USE them for the shared universe.
@@scifiguy9000 it happend, when Liefeld was booted, and Spawn's origin had to be tinkered since it was revealed Chapel (from Youngblood) killed Al Simmons, so for the Spawn movie they created Jessica Priest and retconned the comics to reflect the change. Then there's the Angela/Neil Gaiman ownership fight that eventually led to the character joining Marvel comics. Dont know what Todd has done to alter her involvement in the Spawn universe.
@@EHH246 they did implement editors after a couple years, when the lateness issues became rampant. But for the most part it was the studios (Homage/Wildstorm, Extreme, Top Cow) that suffered most from lateness. McFarlane, in order to keep Spawn monthly removed himself as the artist and brought in Capullo to draw. Larsen has been consistent. Valentino transitioned to a more executive role. Eventually all the books that had late artists fizzled, except for Dale Keown with Pitt. He put out 2 -3 books a year, tops, until he fell off the map and resurfaced doing The Darkness for Top Cow.
Excellent review.😅
Who's the character in the image logo supposed to be? She looks like a Red headed Domino.
That is Velocity from Cyber Force by Marc Silvestri.
Very much enjoyed hearing about this! Makes me wonder whether a more traditional union would've been better in the long term
Thanks for another informative video. Image started up long before my time as a comic book reader, so I tend to associate it with Ice Cream Man rather than with Savage Dragon.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching. Yeah, the company has gone through quite a few changes since 1992. Currently, it's probably the best place for an independent creator, like those that do Ice Cream Man.
Interesting
I think you meant Arthur adams not neip adams
Good point. Mr. Lee has a style between those two artists.
Good artists don't mean good writers. Man some of those 90s Image comics are just plain unreadable.
I do like some Image comics, but to me Image really defines what was wrong with comics in the 90s. Grossly exaggerated bodies, pages with just too much going on to make sense, and poorly thought out stories. Again, I really do like some of the comics. Stormwatch is one of my favorites, along with Cyber Force and Wet Works.
Glorified splash pages minimal story extremely late books ran me off after the first year.
I didn't make it past issue 4 of Spawn .
Yeah, I hate the 90s edgelord stuff as much as anyone, but I will say this: Image is overall the best publisher of the past two decades. Lots of good shit came from Image when they stopped strictly doing superhero stuff and brought in more artists and writers.
Well this is pretty biased
Put it on the big screen!!!! MCU kma...
The Uni-Verse ( One-Song) is a dot to dot. Connect the astral dots?. The truth is in the Ethers.
We are the watchers.
And the scribes.
Star Lord brings the tuuuuuunes.
Thor (Archangel Michael) the angel of Heaven.
Valhalla
Unite Brothers & Sisters.
The time is now.
The planets are aligned.
Be Brave Warriors.
I am the Pure Warrior of the Golden World....and our divine celestial creator walks with me.
And so it is.
🤍🖤🤍
I could not stand the Image guys. They killed comics in the 90s
Valhalla
Tony Stark IS NOT inevitable
WWG1WGA
Q.....uestion everything
🤍🖤🤍