Image Comics

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Name: Image Comics
Date(s): 1992-present
Profit/Nonprofit: Profit
Country based in: United States
Focus: media and entertainment
External Links: Image Comics
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Image Comics is the third-largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the United States. It was founded by several high-profile illustrators (Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino) as a venue for creator-owned properties, in which comics creators could publish material of their own creation without giving up the copyrights to those properties. The originating charter held two central provisions:

  • Image would not own any creator's work; the creator would. Image itself would own no intellectual property except the company trademarks: its name and its logo.
  • No Image partner would interfere—creatively or financially—with any other partner's work.[1]

Image Comics publish works in the following genres: Superhero, Horror, Dark Fantasy, Thriller, Comedy, Fantasy, Science fiction, Action/Adventure, Science Fantasy, Crime and Mystery. The focus on creator-owned works allows for less mainstream comics and storylines and many creators use the publisher as a means of maintaining ownership of pet projects important to them. The downside is that the line has had problems in the past with keeping to publishing schedules, causing problems for retailers and resulting in complaints from readers, especially during the 1990s.

The current partners are Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino, and Eric Stephenson and there are five main publishing "houses" which are independent of each other:

Image Central science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor full board of partners 1992 (see "Publications")
Robert Kirkman, LLC
  • horror and action/adventure
  • Hasbro Comic Book Universe
  • YA and Middle Grade graphic novels
  • indie games
  • mobile indie games
 Robert Kirkman
  • 2010
  • 2023
  • 2021
  • 2018
  • 2018
  • The Walking Dead, Invincible, Outcast, Super Dinosaur, Oblivion Song, Fire Power, Birthright, Manifest Destiny, Extremity, Redneck, Kill the Minotaur, Manifest Destiny and others.
  • Transformers, G.I. Joe
  • Clementine: Book One, Everyday Hero Machine Boy, Sea Serpent's Heir Book One
  • Slime Rancher, The Long Dark, The Walking Dead: The Final Season, remastered versions of Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights
Todd McFarlane Productions superheroes Todd McFarlane 1992 Spawn, Saviour
Top Cow Productions superheroes, science fiction, horror Marc Silvestri 1992 Cyberforce, Witchblade, The Darkness, Magdalena, Aphrodite IX, Fathom, Midnight Nation, Rising Stars and many others See individual Top Cow page for details.
Shadowline superheroes, horror Jim Valentino 1993 ShadowHawk, normalman, Blacklight, Task Force 1, The Intimidators, Emissary, After the Cape, Bomb Queen, Cowboy Ninja Viking, DNAgents, Eddy Current, Hiding in Time, Lazarus, The Pact and others

Publications[2]

Notable Comics

1992

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Notable Graphic Novels

Imprints

Image sponsors a number of smaller comics imprints, largely created by artists to showcase their own work, before and after Image's creation.

Current

Image Comics Imprints
Imprint Genre Founder Year Titles
12-Gauge Comics crime and action/adventure Keven Gardner circa 2004 The Ride, Body Bags, The Occult Crimes Taskforce, The Boondock Saints, Luke McBain, 25 To Life, Magus, R.P.M., Anti, Sherwood, Texas, Nick Travers, Loose Ends, The Hard Place, Matador, Skull One-Six.
Arancia Studio unknown 2010 Morgan Lost, Mirka Andolfo's Mercy, Mirka Andolfo's Un/Sacred, The Devil's Cut, Sweet Paprika (animation), Hexware
Black Market Narrative superheroes, science fiction and action/adventure Kyle Higgins 2014 The Massive-Verse: Radiant Black, Rogue Sun, The Dead Lucky, No/One, Radiant Red, Inferno Girl Red, Radiant Pink and Cowl.

Deep Cuts, Ordinary Gods, Last Flight Out.

Giant Generator superheroes, crime, science fiction and action/adventure Rick Remender 2016 Black Science, Deadly Class, Death or Glory, Fear Agent, Gigantic, Last Days of America Crime, Low, Night Mary, A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance, The Scumbag, Seven to Eternity, Strange Girl, Tokyo Ghost
Highbrow Entertainment superheroes and action/adventure Erik Larsen 1994 Savage Dragon, Freak Force, Vanguard, The Deadly Duo and Superpatriot, Star
Millarworld superheroes and action/adventure Mark Millar 2004-2017[3] Wanted, Chosen, The Unfunnies, Kick-Ass, War Heroes, Nemesis, Jupiter's Legacy, The Magic Order, Starlight, Superior.
Syzygy Publishing horror Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood 2021 Zombies v Robots, Unnamed, Onyx, Rain, The Hollows, Hitomi, 7174 Presents Haunted Universus, 7174 Annual, 3 Keys

Former

Fandom

Due to the myriad of sub-imprints and comic lines, "Image Fandom" is much like "Marvel Fandom" or "DC Fandom" - there are multiple individual fandoms for the various individual properties. However, there are archives and websites which have an Image Comics section collecting the various individual properties.

Fanworks

Awards

Archives

Resources

References

  1. ^ Image Comics - Wikipedia
  2. ^ For a full list of Image publications, see the Wikipedia page.
  3. ^ Millarworld was purchased by Netflix in 2017 (Wikipedia).
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