Image 20th Anniversary - Which were your favorites?

Zhurrie

I have been going back and re-reading a bunch of the original Image titles from my collection and some have held up really well, others not so much. What were your favorites and which do you think still hold up well?

For me back in the day I was all about:

Savage Dragon
Spawn
Pitt
The Maxx
Shadowhawk
Deathblow
Also some Youngbloods and Wildcats tossed in as well.

Going back now I still really love Spawn, The Maxx, Pitt, and Deathblow. I am still surprised how good these were and how they are every bit as enjoyable (maybe more now that I'm older). Youngbloods, Shadowhawk, and WildCats were way less readable and enjoyable. The Savage Dragon just didn't hold up for me overall, I lost interest in the story and concept way back in the day and it just never came back for me. I haven't really read much Spawn because I fell too far behind but I have picked up a mini-story run here and there or some separate stories/trades and always like it but I'd be entirely lost if I tried to jump back into the main book.

How about you?

John_Steed

For many years SPAWN was the only Image book I read.

20 years ago most of their books were a total failure on the German speaking market (which was covered by 4 different publishing houses....)

In the last few years the Image output grew in quality. A quality that also meets the European taste more and more.

Today series like WITCHBLADE, THE DARKNESS, ANGELUS, BROKEN TRINITY, CHEW, DARKNESS, ELEPHANTMEN, HACK/SLASH, INVINCIBLE, MORNING GLORIES, and of course THE WALKING DEAD are H.U.G.E. over here.
And I read all of them.

I absolutely LOVE Image and its many imprints

SolitaireRose

I loved The Maxx and 1963 a LOT. The main line of Image books, however, were just not my cup of tea and I was very happy when Jim Valentino took the reins and brought in a bunch of indy creators who did non-super-hero stuff.

DesertHermit

The only series I remember (and still own the full run of) was 'Ascension'. I really enjoyed that book a lot.
'Kore' was really good as well. I think I have all 5 issues of that somewhere.
It's a shame some fine work was submerged and lost in the overall miasma of goofballery that image turned into.

Murray

I jumped on board Savage Dragon when he went all Kamandi in the mid-seventies, I think. I stuck with it for a couple of years but dropped it eventually due to its wildly irregular publishing schedule. I think this was around the time that Larsen was also acting as publisher and it seemed like he just had too uh in his plate. I still pull the run out every now and then and enjoy the read through. Enough that I keep meaning to look in the cheapie bins to see if I can find any of the later issues.

Greg

In no paticular order

The Maxx
Wetworks
WildCAT's
Cyber Force
Deathblow
Pitt
Spawn

batlaw

I bought tons of the original Image books out of the gate but never really liked much of it. I liked Spawn briefly... for about 20 issues and I liked Deathblow and Shadowhawk ok. I got probably the first 2-3 issues of most everything. I seriously doubt any of it actually "holds up"

Zhurrie

@batlaw I am currently reading through all of the Deathblows and I am loving every minute of it including the art. I read my full runs of The Maxx and Pitt and Pitt was a bit less interesting but The Maxx is still great. Shadowhawk didn't do much for me, The Cybernary feature in Deathblow is terrible, and Wildcats is so poorly written and trying to sound intelligent and deep at times that it just made me laugh. Spawn still takes me right back to being young again and in amazement of the art and I genuinely love the story.

DarthKramer

I loved The Maxx and 1963 a LOT. The main line of Image books, however, were just not my cup of tea and I was very happy when Jim Valentino took the reins and brought in a bunch of indy creators who did non-super-hero stuff.

1963 was such a great book. I was hoping against hope that they'd finally finish the story with the 20th Anniversary, considering that they're finally finishing Moore's run on Supreme.

Dan_Cap

Savage dragon I followed for awhile it was alot of fun. Wildcats, youngblood (yes)and cyber force where cheesy fun. I really liked Newmen too. I think I got dragon the longest though.

mguy1977

The Walking Dead is my favorite Image title. Invincible I read a HC every now & then but it doesn't have the same excitement as Walking Dead does. Fatale is too early to tell at this point. I am sure there are other short run comics from Image that I liked but escape my mind at the moment. I read Kody Cambelain's Sweets but it had a lackluster ending in my opinion. I never read Savage Dragon on a regular basis except the crossover w/ Superman.
Matthew

batlaw

the pit and maxx were two i dont think i read? I think I got the first Pitt maybe but I remember the Maxx from the cartoon (which I remember being pretty cool). I loved the art in deathblow as well... think thats what I liked about it.

SolitaireRose

1963 was such a great book. I was hoping against hope that they'd finally finish the story with the 20th Anniversary, considering that they're finally finishing Moore's run on Supreme.

Sadly it's completely dead. Moore never did write the final issue, and he's informed some of the artists involved he won't work with them again.

LibraryBoy

With those early Image books, I'd pick up the first issues and then rarely pick up the ones that followed. I read Spawn for about the first 20 issues or so and then lost interest. Savage Dragon was one that I liked but never got very far with even though I meant to keep picking them up. I bought about the first 12 issues or so of The Maxx, but that was from the back issue bins after the animated version showed up on MTV's Oddities.

1963 is one of those books that I feel like I should like a lot better than I ever do. Read one or two at the time, never really got into them. Found just about the whole run really cheaply a few years back and maybe got a little further, but they still don't strike a chord with me. Which is weird, because I like the creators, I like the era of Marvel they're tributing, and I liked it when Moore similarly tributed Silver Age Superman (and DC in general) in Supreme. But 1963, yeah, it just doesn't do it for me.

mwhitt80

The Maxx
This is the one Image book from the early years that is still awesome; it's also the only Image book that I want an Absolute of. Surely Jim Lee, Sam Kieth and DC can come to some kind deal. Can you imagine how incredible a 2 volume Absolute Maxx would look?

Zhurrie

@mwhitt80, I would buy this instantly. I just recently finished my Maxx run (including all of the extras and crossovers, including the #1/2 with the signed certificate in a $0.50 sale!) and reading it now was every single bit, if not more, as enjoyable as the day they came out. My DC pulls have dwindled to almost none but if someone were to drop a Deathblow with some great art I still think that could give them the War book they are so desperately trying for and it can even be integrated with a supernatural/superhero slant with no problem.

KyleMoyer

I'll admit that I was a big Image fanboy in the early 90s. I keep wanting to re-read some of those old books, but haven't recently. From my memories, which ones do I think would stand up to the test of time?

The first... I dunno... 10-20 issues of Spawn. There was some good stuff there.
I remember liking Jim Lee's art style in Deathblow. Don't remember anything about the story, and don't know if I still would now.
The Maxx
Two lesser talked about early Image titles that I remember liking were Shaman's Tears and Hellshock, but again - haven't read them recently.
This just made me want to re-read some of those early books all the more. Even if they turn out to have aged poorly, I can be a sucker for nostalgia.

Zhurrie

Shaman's Tears is still good and readable, in fact IDW is putting out an Omnibus I believe (if the project is still on). It is very much a 90's view on animals/environment but overall a decent read with solid art and writing.

KyleMoyer

Shaman's Tears is still good and readable, in fact IDW is putting out an Omnibus I believe (if the project is still on). It is very much a 90's view on animals/environment but overall a decent read with solid art and writing.

I just looked up the series at comicbookdb. I saw a huge gap of over a year between 2 and 3. During that gap there was an "ashcan edition" of issue 3 printed with a tagline "the comic Image refused to print" even though they did eventually print it a year later. What was that all about?

DoctorDoom

I liked Spawn back in the day. Now?

All about The Walking Dead, baby.

dubbat138

1963-Still the best thing to come outta Image

Shaman's Tears-cheap and easy to find now. Plus the wait between issues was horrible back then.

The Maxx-A nice all in one collection of this would be fun.

mwhitt80

Ok I know Liefeld is the punching bag for comics fandom, but he just got a giant +1 for making me genuinely laugh. Commenting on his covers for DC in the July solicits

“The Hipsters don’t know what to do when I draw feet. It confuses them.”
– Rob Liefeld

Zhurrie

I kind of give him credit for being able to laugh at himself, but honestly he has essentially made zero progress as an artist and I can't really respect him. Plus he was a world-class asshat in his dealings with Image as a person and professionally. Huge Thing-like big guy in the back with clenched fists and grimmace, scantily clad female up front also with grimmace, and possibly one or two more additional people in the mid-ground. Every Liefeld cover, ever.

LibraryBoy

Rob's art is generally not to my tastes, but a.) I'd be lying if I said there was a time when that wasn't the case; and b.) I've seen the dude at cons being super-nice to his fans, so he's alright in my book.

And Shaman's Tears! I forgot about that book. I read an issue or two of that, but I don't remember if it was because I liked the story or that I liked the way Mike Grell would draw as-close-to-naked-as-a-non-mature-readers-book-would-allow women in it.

DoctorDoom

Ok I know Liefeld is the punching bag for comics fandom, but he just got a giant +1 for making me genuinely laugh. Commenting on his covers for DC in the July solicits

“The Hipsters don’t know what to do when I draw feet. It confuses them.”
– Rob Liefeld

That's hilarious.

ChrisBeckett

Yeah, I was on the bandwagon back in the day. I got Spawn, Wildcats, Shadowhawk, Pitt, and others (including issues of Youngblood: Strikefile that were solicited with George Perez art, which never materialized).

I really enjoyed Spawn - loved the concept and I was still enjoying McFarlane's art, at the time - but that faded quickly and I jumped off just after Grant Morrison's three-issue arc. And for those other initial series, I didn't hang on very long after the first minis.

I have to agree with @SolitaireRose above, when Jim Valentino took over, I found myself picking up a lot more books from them - like Scott Morse's Soulwind, James Owen's Starchild and more "indy" books. And I must add my own love for 1963. I really enjoyed that book. Too bad it won't get finished.

chris