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Voros

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Ironically, Image Comics back in the 90s played a big part in driving me away from mainstream comics due to Liefield and Spawn, etc. but these days they release some of the better series out there I think.

For instance I really dig Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip's Criminal anthology series of crime comics.

criminal-vol-6-the-last-of-the-innocent-tp_bb9c9623cc.jpg

Each one is a intabuy for me.

They also publish Simon Roy's terrific sf comic Prophet. Read the first volume, need to get the rest.

prophet-volume-1-remission-3_b922e4540a.jpg

Anything else y'all recommend?

Also feel free to discuss the bad old days of pouches and bad anatomy although if there are any gems from back then too I'd be interested.
 
Right now, I'm enjoying the sci-fi Western Copperhead. I've started on Dynamo 5, which isn't bad either. It's tied to Invincible (or was). Godland was pretty good; I need to finish that series. I read the first mini for The Old Guard, which the movie follows closely. The Roche Limit minis were some good sci-fi/horror. For a superhero with a horror based origin, there's Astounding Wolfman, which was another Kirkman title. Tech Jacket was a high tech teen hero in the Invincible setting, with his suit coming from an alien race.

I know I've bought some other Image titles, but those are ones I've read or are reading
 
It's funny I realize I often buy books without noticing who publishes them these days.

There is an Image sale on Comixology right now and I didn't realize the very good DIE comic or Fraction's Sex Criminals were from Image.



For this sale I picked up the first volumes of Lemire's Descender, Ascender and Gideon Falls.
 
I actually bought the first trade for Undiscovered Country. I've been on a sci-fi kick of late, and it seemed interesting.
 
Ironically, Image Comics back in the 90s played a big part in driving me away from mainstream comics due to Liefield and Spawn, etc. but these days they release some of the better series out there I think.

For instance I really dig Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip's Criminal anthology series of crime comics.

View attachment 26995

Each one is a intabuy for me.

They also publish Simon Roy's terrific sf comic Prophet. Read the first volume, need to get the rest.

View attachment 26997

Anything else y'all recommend?

Also feel free to discuss the bad old days of pouches and bad anatomy although if there are any gems from back then too I'd be interested.

Criminal is one of the best comics ever. The same team just started a series of graphic novels called “Reckless”. The first was excellent and the next one comes out next month, I believe. “Friend of the Devil: A Reckless Story.”

Prophet is, if you didn’t know, a continuation of a very shitty Liefield book of the same name from the 90s. In one issue, the new version eclipsed the old one. Check this out:
1614064385654.jpeg

Saga is one of the best comics going today, although it’s been on hiatus for a couple years now. Hopefully it will be back soon.

East of West just wrapped this past year, so that’s available in its entirety now. A kinf od weird western with the horsemen of the apocalypse and an America divided up into different countries. It’s very good.

Same writer, Jonathan Hickman, wrote a series called Manhattan Projects which is a dark comedy about a group of scientists pushing the boundaries of science. It stars real life scientists in a kind of whacky alternate history take...it’s totally bonkers in the best way.

Adventureman by Fraction and the Dodsons is another solid one. The first trade just recently came out. It’s a kind of modern-retro pulp story. Just imaginative and fun.

Those are the ones that most immediately spring to mind. I’m sure I’m overlooking lots of good ones.
 
I actually bought the first trade for Undiscovered Country. I've been on a sci-fi kick of late, and it seemed interesting.

I read this on Hoopla back in the fall. It was interesting enough that I'll read more, when and if it makes it to that platform.
 
Criminal is one of the best comics ever. The same team just started a series of graphic novels called “Reckless”. The first was excellent and the next one comes out next month, I believe. “Friend of the Devil: A Reckless Story.”

Prophet is, if you didn’t know, a continuation of a very shitty Liefield book of the same name from the 90s. In one issue, the new version eclipsed the old one. Check this out:
View attachment 27133

Saga is one of the best comics going today, although it’s been on hiatus for a couple years now. Hopefully it will be back soon.

East of West just wrapped this past year, so that’s available in its entirety now. A kinf od weird western with the horsemen of the apocalypse and an America divided up into different countries. It’s very good.

Same writer, Jonathan Hickman, wrote a series called Manhattan Projects which is a dark comedy about a group of scientists pushing the boundaries of science. It stars real life scientists in a kind of whacky alternate history take...it’s totally bonkers in the best way.

Adventureman by Fraction and the Dodsons is another solid one. The first trade just recently came out. It’s a kind of modern-retro pulp story. Just imaginative and fun.

Those are the ones that most immediately spring to mind. I’m sure I’m overlooking lots of good ones.

Yeah from the looks of it Roy and Graham's book has little to do with the original but I have no frame of reference. Prophet is a strange, New Wavey sf comic with elements of Mobieus and Dune in terms of the look.
 
I know a high percentage of the comics I've read in the past decade or so were from Image, but I can't think of any specific titles right now that haven't already been mentioned. Will report back later.

And I'm also in the "ironic that Image now publishes a lot of what I'm interested in, considering their output drove me away in the '90s" camp. I quit reading comics from April '91 to December '99, other than an occasional 80s indie-B&W quarter-bin book, and an occasional issue of Sandman or something similar.
 
Some Image publications that I've enjoyed, in alphabetical order, a few of which are still ongoing:

Bitch Planet
Black Science
Copperhead
Elephantmen
The Fade Out
Fatale
Fell
Lazarus
Low
Monstress
Rat Queens
Revival
Rex Mundi
Saga
Viking
Wytches
 
Yeah from the looks of it Roy and Graham's book has little to do with the original but I have no frame of reference. Prophet is a strange, New Wavey sf comic with elements of Mobieus and Dune in terms of the look.
It has little to do with it but as the series progresses more and more of the original characters crop up, either as flashbacks or as very changed versions of themselves thousands of years since the Rob Liefeld days.
 
But best of all, one of my all time favorite comics, Hack/Slash , came out largely from Image.

It features Cassie Hack, whose mother was a horror movie-style slasher, going around the country with her buddy Vlad and killing off other horror movie-style slashers. The series ended in a manner I found surprisingly poignant, considering the premise.
 
Prophet is, if you didn’t know, a continuation of a very shitty Liefield book of the same name from the 90s. In one issue, the new version eclipsed the old one.
I pulled this from the wikipedia article about it: "[The first issue takes place in a] city...in a living spaceship that died after it landed and is slowly rotting. The aliens that live in it are a fermentation-based caste society."
That's already got me hooked.
 
Some Image publications that I've enjoyed, in alphabetical order, a few of which are still ongoing:

Bitch Planet
Black Science
Copperhead
Elephantmen
The Fade Out
Fatale
Fell
Lazarus
Low
Monstress
Rat Queens
Revival
Rex Mundi
Saga
Viking
Wytches

See I didn't realize Saga and Fell were Image. I'm really clueless sometimes.
 
In truth, I didn't recall which of these were Image titles until I looked up a list of Image titles on the internet.
 
I read this on Hoopla back in the fall. It was interesting enough that I'll read more, when and if it makes it to that platform.

The second arc looks interesting (more so to me than the first), so if I like the first arc, I'll probably pick it up eventually
 
The art in Monstress is gorgeous. The story is good as well, but I can't get over the art.

I just started reading Monstress this week, lured in by the fact that it's available in a collection with issues 1-18 all together (you get limited monthly borrows on Hoopla, so it makes sense to look for the big compilations.) I'm about 4-5 issues in and am very impressed.

I pulled this from the wikipedia article about it: "[The first issue takes place in a] city...in a living spaceship that died after it landed and is slowly rotting. The aliens that live in it are a fermentation-based caste society."
That's already got me hooked.

That does sound very cool. Hoopla only carries Prophet beginning with issue 21, which is apparently the start of volume 1. I assume this is where the new run begins?
 
I just started reading Monstress this week, lured in by the fact that it's available in a collection with issues 1-18 all together (you get limited monthly borrows on Hoopla, so it makes sense to look for the big compilations.) I'm about 4-5 issues in and am very impressed.



That does sound very cool. Hoopla only carries Prophet beginning with issue 21, which is apparently the start of volume 1. I assume this is where the new run begins?

Yes, there were 20 issues in the 90s and early 00s that are utterly forgettable, and not required in any way to enjoy the stuff that starts in issue 21. Some of that earlier stuff does come up a bit, but not in any way that you will need to actually have read those earlier issues.

Honestly, the only good thing that I can say about the early Prophet stuff is that it led to the reimagining that Graham and Roy and their team did starting in issue 21.
 
So, over the last couple of days I've read the first Prophet compilation, Remission.

It is profoundly weird and interesting. It definitely throws you in to the deep end and expects you to swim without much in the way of explanation. I'll admit I'm not entirely sure of what is going on or what the setup is. Perhaps that will become clearer in future or with some re-readings.

I enjoyed most the initial issues, set on the very changed future Earth. A lot of outstanding world-building there, just tossed in as though it was nothing special. In an odd way, it reminded me of Burroughs and Vance, though with a different aesthetic, I'd like to see more of that setting, but it's not clear if the story arc will return to it.

After I've read the other compilations available on Hoopla, I might try to do a 'where I read' thread to make more sense of the story. It would be full of spoilers, though, so perhaps not a good idea.
 
After I've read the other compilations available on Hoopla, I might try to do a 'where I read' thread to make more sense of the story. It would be full of spoilers, though, so perhaps not a good idea.

I think it's a perfectly fine idea, as long as you mention the fact that there will be spoilers in the thread title and/or first post.
 
For the last couple of months I've been reading Manifest Destiny, by Chris Dingess, via Hoopla. I'm up through the fifth collection, Mnemophobia and Chronophobia, which collects issues 25-30.

The basic idea is that the Lewis and Clark expedition was dispatched not just to survey the Louisiana Purchase, but to find and eliminate otherworldly menaces there. These are associated with large arches (which tickled me, as a Missouri native) that act as gateways into other realms, through which strange creatures pass. Each arch is associated with a different form of 'monster.' Lewis and Clark were both aware of this threat (in general terms, at least) in advance, but the other members of the Corps of Discovery were not. And there is more weirdness involving a demonic figure and the ghost (apparently) of a conquistador from the Cabeza de Vaca expedition. Sacagawea also plays a significant role, but she is re-imagined as a kind of Native American monster-slayer (despite the fact that she is increasingly pregnant).

It's an enjoyable read, with a nice mix of horror, adventure, comedy, and character development. Clark and especially Lewis are interesting, though rather far from their historical models--I doubt Meriwether Lewis ever had a three-way with Albert Gallatin and his wife in the White House, as he does (in passing) in the comic. The drawing is clean, though the fact that so many of the characters are men in uniform can make them hard to distinguish sometimes.
 
I'm not a huge Alan Moore fan, but I love how he re-tooled Liefeld's Supreme.

It's funny that there was such a huge competition betwee the Image founders to get Moore to write for them, that they then kicked out Leifed and Moore followed with him and did the Supreme revamp and a bunch of other stuff for Awesome comics, until Liefeld's shitty business practices killed that company, and Moore took all his plans for revamped Glory and Prophet and Youngblood over to Wildstorm to do ABC, until Wildstorm got sold to DC and Moore took off again.

So, Marvel, DC, Image, and Awesome each got their chances to screw over Moore. lol, no wonder he hates comics now
 
So, Marvel, DC, Image, and Awesome each got their chances to screw over Moore. lol, no wonder he hates comics now

His daughter Leah posted via a series of tweets an explanation of Alan Moore that is both enlightening and heartbreaking.

Leah Moore describes her Dad

Her closing tweet kills me. Imagine what might have been.
 
His daughter Leah posted via a series of tweets an explanation of Alan Moore that is both enlightening and heartbreaking.

Leah Moore describes her Dad

Her closing tweet kills me. Imagine what might have been.

It is such a shame. He's always been among the best creative minds in the industry, and he has been screwed over repeatedly.

I remember DC's desperate attempts to get him to say one single, solitary complimentary thing about their Before Watchmen books, as if they couldn't understand that they had burned down every bridge with the guy.

Back on topic, I know people are mostly discussing Image's newer output, but I've recently been re-collecting the Image-era Wildstorm titles from '92 to '98, it's quite good fun. I've probably got more now than I collected back them. The excesses of the nineties are in full effect, but there is still a lot to enjoy in WildC.A.T.s, Stormwatch and so on.

I just received issues #1-6 of Backlash, which I'd never read before. Looking forward to finishing my night shifts so I can lounge around and read 'em.
 
Back on topic, I know people are mostly discussing Image's newer output, but I've recently been re-collecting the Image-era Wildstorm titles from '92 to '98, it's quite good fun. I've probably got more now than I collected back them. The excesses of the nineties are in full effect, but there is still a lot to enjoy in WildC.A.T.s, Stormwatch and so on.

I just received issues #1-6 of Backlash, which I'd never read before. Looking forward to finishing my night shifts so I can lounge around and read 'em.

I’d argue that some of the Wildstorm stuff is the only worthwhile stuff to read from Image in that era.

I sympathize, but even with that context, the shit he says in interviews is kind of crazy.

Well sure, but he’s earned some craziness. Also a lot of it is tongue in cheek, or said specifically to be provocative.
 
The biggest annoyance I've found collecting the Wildstorm books is just how much they crossed over with the rest of the Image titles those first few years. WildC.A.T.s first story arc has two issues (out of 4) co-starring Youngblood and the second story arc is a crossover with Cyberforce, Gen13's first arc involves Pitt. Bloody annoying, because I really don't want to invest in these books.

It also seems a bit counterproductive, since the core Wildstorm Universe is really, really coherent. The books aren't always great, because '90s, but the universe's foundation book (Team 7) connects well with those set later, and if you can work out the chronology, there is some fun seeing characters appear, go solo, join other teams, etc. The crossovers with random characters from other universes doesn't help here.

And no, I haven't dared look at the Image/Valiant "Deathmate" crossover yet. Since it has no further impact on the WS titles, I might save my sanity and skip it entirely.
 
I sympathize, but even with that context, the shit he says in interviews is kind of crazy.

I have trouble with the stuff he says and does in comics. In his first issue of WildCATS he takes a cheap shot at the previous writing team for the set-up they left for him to take over, not to mention his big plot involved totally ignoring the first story arc WildCATS ever had.

The only time I’ve enjoyed Moore’s work has been some non-fiction of his in the 80s. I’ve never understood how he became popular in comics, and I’ve sampled a lot of his work. Ironically, I understand Before Watchmen addressed the main plot point that makes the original series bleh to me, but I don’t have enough interest to track it down and read it.
 
Ironically, I understand Before Watchmen addressed the main plot point that makes the original series bleh to me, but I don’t have enough interest to track it down and read it.
What point was that?

(I haven't read Before Watchmen. IMO the series tells us just enough about what happened before in order to see the tragedies.)
 
Before Watchmen was a ridiculous concept, like trying to write a Hamlet sequel (which I'm sure someone has done, and it is just as pointless).

Moore was an absolute genius. He's not the only genius to ever work in comics, but he transformed the genre, so that we are still feeling his effects today (granted some of the effects weren't what he intended and ended up bad, but that's what happens when lesser writers try to ape something without understanding the thing they're trying to ape).

I think Marvel and DC were both ridicuously shortsighted to screw him over just for a quick buck, when they could have made much more just by keeping him happy and having him continue to work for them.

As for Moore's personal life....couldn't care less. Him being a polyamorous new age wizard that worships a tiny snake god doesn't affect me in the sightest.
 
I mean, without Moore, we wouldn’t have Geoff Johns trying to write like Moore! So at least there’s a silver lining!



Absolutely agree, TristramEvans TristramEvans , both Marvel and DC (but especially DC) pretty much screwed him over for smaller potatoes than what they likely could have made if they just compromised a bit, and found some way to maintain a working relationship.

To bring it back to Image, other than the Wildstorm stuff and then the Youngblood/Supreme stuff he did (I forget if that was actually at image still or if it was at Awesome), what else did Moore do for Image? All I can think of is 1963. Was there anything else?
 
he did some issues of the Maxx as well, basically provided the set up for the second story arc
 
I think if Image had been smart, they would have assigned Moore an artist of his choice and just told him "do whatever you want to do", instead of having him bounce around the other creators' worlds.

But enough about Moore, my favourite 90s Image ttle (besides The Maxx) was Gen 13. I think it had one very solid first year, it was an interesting premise that felt current and less of another "not-quite X-Men" (though it was still kinda "not quite Xmen", just more early 80s Xmen and less Jim Lee era Xmen), had some good characters with an interesting team dynamic, and J. Scott Campbell was the only "Image new talent" artist I ever liked. But...it fell apart around issue 12? I think and never recovered from the loss of the original creative team.

I waskinda psyched for Wetworks as well, but I think we got, what, 4 issues in 3 years?
 
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I think if Image had been smart, they would have assigned Moore an artit of his choice and just told him "do whatever you want to do", instead of having him bounce around the other creators' worlds.

But enough about Moore, my favourite 90s Image ttle (besides The Maxx) was Gen 13. I think it had one very solid first year, it was an interesting premise that felt current and less of another "not-quite X-Men" (though it was still kinda "not quite Xmen", just more early 80s Xmen and less Jim Lee era Xmen), had some good characters with an interesting team dynamic, and J. Scott Campbell was the only "Image new talent" artist I ever liked. But...it fell apart around issue 12? I think and never recovered from the loss of the original creative team.

I waskinda psyched for Wetworks as well, but I think we got, what, 4 issues in 3 years?

Gen13's quality was really all over the place, but it was a highlight nonetheless. I was always a bigger fan of Dv8, the screw-ups were fun. I think the biggest issue was the huge shifts in style and tone between creative teams. It seemed to find it's groove again late into it's run, when Ed Benes took over art duties, but the whole WSU was heading for the reboot by then...

Wetworks... Well, it was late starting, and slow coming out to begin with, but consistent after Whilce stopped doing the art. Sad to say, since it was his baby, but he didn't get the hang of monthly titles until the second Wetworks volume, years later. He'd changed his style somewhat, which seemed to allow him a better pace. Either that or his art assistants did more of it for him.

Moore's WSU work was actually really good, even if he just regarded it as easy bill-paying work-for-hire. His WildC.A.T.s years are good, Majestic at the End of Time is excellent, Voodoo was solid and Deathblow: by Blows too. I know the latter annoyed some fans by making the new Deathblow a black woman... But, I still thought it was solid.
 
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