NB of the Week

-IF YOU'RE NOT IN SPOILS, YOU'RE NOT DOING YOUR JOB-

Image Comic Edition

Remember when Image Comics stood for something new and different? Image became so big because they had amazing art. But around that art was a company willing to give you something that you weren't getting from the the Big Guns. They were dark and gritty and flashy and new and in your face. WildCATS was unlike any super-team that you were getting. Spawn was the anti-hero we all wanted. Years later, Image wasn't doing so well. Spawn and Savage Dragon were still somehow going but none of us knew why. WildCATS was cancelled and relaunched a few times and we didn't care. Top Cow had come and brought us The Darkness and Withchbade but even those lost all their vigor.

And then things became different again.

DC and Marvel have both made the transition into dark and gritty heroes. They have and the funds and means to promote and sell it all. What they don't have is the will to be different. Talk all they want, it's about sales and numbers each day. They tell some amazing stories, they really do, but they typically tell them safely. From that shadow came Different. Image Comics has opened the doors and is letting creators spread their talent wings. Different. Some of the industry's biggest names are joining Image to tell new and fresh stories that they call tell all on their own and not have to worry so much about the sales. Robert Kirkman helped start this new wave with Invincible and Walking Dead and has currently released a new book called Outcast whose first issue was ordered more than either book. Rick Remender and Jonathan Hickman both worked on Image books before becoming huge with Marvel. Now Hickman has titles like The Manhattan Projects, East of West and Secret. Remender has Deadly Class, Black Science and his newest one, Low, out today, may be one of the strongest fist issues I've read of his and from most others. And if you haven't been reading my blog, you are one of the few people who don't know just how brilliant Brian K. Vaughan's Saga is.

Marvel and DC offer a lot of titles. Some are great and some are just there. But if you're looking for better, if you're looking for Different, Image Comics is a place you should really look into.