Image Comics: The Start

In the early 90s, I remember collecting every single comic that came out of Image Comics.  The best artists from Marvel had pulled away to create their own publishing company.  It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-owned properties, in which comic creators could publish material of their own creation without giving up the copyrights of their properties.

A few friends of mine that included Les Fujimoto, Ryan Lee, and my cousin Stanley Manuel would go down to Jelly’s Hawaii across from Pearl Ridge Shopping Center to see what the latest comic releases were from Image.  We collected other things too like baseball and football collectible cards, but comics was always a section that we’d visit before exiting the store.

Image Comics:YoungbloodImage Comics: Spawn

Image Comics: WildC.A.T.S

Image Comics was also a huge source for reference of many BBS ANSI screens drawn during that time.   The Underground Scene was at it’s peak and ANSI art packs would release regularly month after month.

Twenty plus years later, I still find myself collecting comics with my kids and sharing stories of how I watched the progression of comics that stemmed from the original super hero artworks of Marvel and DC Comics.

I found this enlightening 5 part History of Image Comic on YouTube and it’s amazing how brave and brilliant these artists were to rival the companies that they were once employed.