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Image Comics - Rebirth or Crash & Burn?

25 posts in this topic

Image Comics is launching 18 new #1 issues in the first four months of 2003, including a hyped "Image Universe" line of superhero comics.

 

What do you people think about this? Personally, I just can't see people getting interested in more superhero fare if it's not from Marvel or DC. Is anyone excited by this Image rejuvenation? Or is it going to be the company's Waterloo???

 

Gene

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I'm still waiting for the WildCATs cartoon. Jim Lee was in Vancouver, BC at least twice negotiating w/ Mainframe Entertainment. They do the cgi for ReBoot, Action Man, Beasties/Beast Wars (USA) & Jill Thompson's Scary Godmother. smile.gif

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Gene - the initial success of IMAGE back in the early 90's was due to the superstar talent of 5 hot artists controversially leaving the bib daddy of comic publishers to set up their own universe". There is no such event fuelling this 2003 revamp of the Image universe so probably not much will come of it. I look at Image as a good place to put the retro licenses to work, but aside from Top Cow's Rising Stars - I haven't seen much by way of great must read creative writing come out of an Image line. (I may be forgetting some others...) As for art, if you like T&A, Top Cow is the waty to go...the best artists who implement this style are practically all bred at Top Cow studios and then jump all over Image central titles and eventually branch out...

 

Long story short...new Image Universe = nothing to get excited about, IMO.

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I agree with Darth.... Personally, Image didn't do much for me back in the 90's either. They contributed some great art, but otherwise helped put the Comic biz in the toilet!!! Lotta Style, little substance.... And selling way,WAY too many copies of the stuff too.

 

As you can see by todays market, the only ones to live out of the early 90's Image universe were the descent storytellers (Lee, and McF to an extent). They got some of todays artists a foot in the door.

 

New Image...... Crash and Burn Baby!!!

 

D-

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"Personally, I just can't see people getting interested in more superhero fare if it's not from Marvel or DC"

 

For Image to have any chance to eat into the big two's share of the superhero pie, they are going to have to pull in the best creative talent out there. Who are the creative teams on the new projects?

As Darth has pointed out the reason for Image's initial success was the talent line up and when most of the 'hot' creators either left or made too much money to bother working, Image's sales dropped.

Unless they can bring aboard come big name writers and artists, I can't see Image gaining market share.

It also seems that Marvel and DC have all the big guns locked into exclusive contracts at the moment.

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Speaking as a fan of Marvel comics (and at one point a buyer of tons of Image comics too), I cannot find people getting interested in new "superhero" books period, regardless of who publishes the title.

 

I suspect that Images superhero line will serve it's purpose if a handful of titles get optioned by Hollywood. Marvel has proven that that is where the real money lies for Image and its creators. Image wants the fat Hollywood bucks, and the only way to get them is if a few people a month buy these concepts in comic form. Just buying these concepts from the creator(s) outright---without the concept ever becoming a bonafide comic, would be no fun for Hollywood.

 

They want to feel like they are buying the next cool/big thing, the item that is only bought by the fringe of society (freaks and geeks, and to be fair, I am not bothered if people think comic buyers like myself are a bit wierd)...but will become huge if the right movie director creates his/her vision of this comic concept.

 

Christopher H.

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I suspect that Images superhero line will serve it's purpose if a handful of titles get optioned by Hollywood.

 

Ah...you probably hit the nail on the head there. I just can't see the Image top brass sitting around a table analyzing the Diamond Top 100 chart and saying, "You know what? There aren't enough superhero books out there!"

 

You're right, they must be looking for a piece of the Hollywood action.

 

Gene

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One of the biggest problems with Image books has been consistency.

 

They start a new book, it does well and becomes very popular, then they start slipping. First, artists fail to meet their deadlines causing months of delays between issues. As if this wasn't enough to put off readers, the artists tend to take other offers or opportunites too quickly, and leave this new book after 9 issues(released over 3 years tongue.gif ), basically signaling the end of the title. This happens to 90% of the titles that Image puts out.

 

There has been a few(not many, but they're there!) titles that hit the ground running, and were actually not bad reads, but the above sequence, or some form of it would inevitably happen.

 

If Image is going to have any success with their properties(superhero or other), they're going to have to be consistent across the board. But they've been around for 10 + years, and that dosen't look like it'll be happening anytime soon.

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I am not in the least bit interested. Maybe a few of the new titles will have some short term interest but I can't see myself buying 18 new comics to find out which ones will last. I already buy about 20 titles a month between DC and Marvel and just don't have the time.

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Only 20? wow, and I thought when I cut back to 50 titles, I would lose sleep over missing stories.

 

As for Image, I don't have a strong opinion about their new line of books because I haven't seen any of them. It goes without say that if the stories are good, then the people will buy them. Put out a quality product and you will sell. There are crazies out there (like me) who try just about every new, shiny book they see and if the stories are strong, those people keep buying after the initial fervor has died down.

 

I'll be more than happy to post my opinions here when they start coming.

 

Rui

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AndrewKnight- One of the few intelligent posts I've read on this forum. You hit the problem with Image right on the head. INCONSISTENCY. I won't repeat what you said, but because of Image I don't automatically buy a new companys books right away. I sometimes miss some good material (Y- The Last Man for example) because of it, but If it's really worth reading I'll pay the premium down the road.

Image can learn a lesson from CrossGen. Focus on solid writing, develop some drop dead art and teach the style in house, publish your books on time. The marketplace is too crowded for Image to do another half-a55 effort.

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I couldn't care less. I will look at the titles as they appear and if they appeal to me I'll pick them up. The last thing this industry needs is 15 more mediocre superhero titles.

 

image comics ceased to be a real player in the industry years ago, but they have carved out a niche for themselves as an organizer of indie books that don't quite fit anywhere else. It is there that they should concentrate their efforts, image has the potential to be what Dark Horse once was before Star Wars, Buffy and misc. Manga took over.

 

Kev

 

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There's news that Marvel is going to be introducing more titles on the market as well. For some reason, I am more excited about those that I am of Image. Could be because they are going to be re-launching some old titles that I have been awaiting a long time to be re-launced. Should be interesting how the handle Namor again. I'm sure going to try several of these. Anybody else?

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I read it on one of these threads, but can't seem to find it. I did remember specifically that one title was called Namor, another was a re-launch of Wolverine, another X-Force, Galactic Guardians? (Something to do with Avengers 85 maybe becoming hot?) - not sure on that one. I do not remember Silver Surfer being mentioned. I do believe they are also launching some new titles. Anyone else no any more?

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Here's a list of what is rumored to be in development at the House of Ideas for the new year, and some of the tag lines and images can be applied to these new/old titles.

 

Mystique (CLEARLY "Change is Good")

Namor (CLEARLY "His Power is Unfathomable")

New Mutants (perhaps "Who are the runaways... and what are they running from?")

Nimrod (perhaps "Marvel's Newest Hero...has a very BIG secret")

B-Sides II

Inhumans

Eternals

Cloak and Dagger

 

"...4...3...2...1...Ignition" ??? (looks like a bit like Speedball or Turbo)

"Who is Gus Beezer?" (looks like a dumb new concept)

 

Kev

 

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I predict that I will be picking up...

 

...NONE of these new titles. I wonder if they will price these at $2.25 or $2.99? If the latter, I am quite sure that I will not be picking up any of them.

 

Gene

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