I do not read Image books. Never have. The only two mini-series I have gotten were Olympus and Turf and neither left much of an impact. But I'm growing more and more dissatisfied with DC and Marvel. I do get several Dark Horse, IDW, Dynamite and Archie titles but perhaps I should expand my horizons.
So I ask you, my friends, which three Image titles would you recommend?
My only stipulation is that they have to something I can get into without having to read multiple trade paperbacks first.
Thank you in advance!
Replies
Saga. Everyone will say Saga. You should definitely read Saga. It's one of the absolute best books being published right now, and one of the books this era of publishing will be remembered for.
The other two I'd recommend right now would be Revival and Five Ghosts. Revival is a rural noir with a supernatural aspect. Five Ghosts is an adventure story whose lead character can take on the aspects of five "literary ghosts" -- Sherlock Holmes, Merlin, Robin Hood, Dracula, and a samurai who I can't quite ID. It's like a more grounded Ben 10.
Are you sitting down? Because I'm going to recommend some Liefield books.
Prophet. It takes Liefield's naff hero and projects him into the far future, long after an Earth Empire has risen and fallen, and there is a huge host of characters and clones of the main character. Everything is really weird and far-out and alien. Liefield gets a lot of knocks - often from me - but he seems to have given a bunch of indie artists and creators carte blanche to go anywhere with his concepts. So its really fresh, cutting edge sci-fi comics. And then some other Image heroes turn up along the way, like Die Hard, so there are 'residual superheroics' along the way.
Only the first book - 6 issues - has been collected, but I think there are only about 8 or so issues in the rest of the series so far. It looks like it will be a fairly long run of comics. Bizarrely this new wonderful run just takes up the numbering with issue 21 of Vol 1.
Glory Wonder Woman done right, to some extent. Again Liefield has allowed an Indie team to go anywhere they want. This is a slightly more conventional superhero comic, but because it isn't bound by any continuity, the creators can go a bit further than a big two comic. They were originally going to do a long multi-year run, but the writer decided that what he was writing was a 12 issue run that concentrated on the main characters. It's really good. The first book is collected, and there is only one or two issues left to go of the 12 issue run.
I think you'd like these especially, since they are superheroes, but gone a bit wild.
From what I hear, I wouldn't touch Jonathan Hickman's Marvel work with a barge-pole. Long-winded, continuity laden, snooze-fests from the sound of them.
However, I recently read 3 of his punchy, short Image series. The Red Wing, Pax Romana and Nightly News. The Nightly News is a hard-hitting attack on much of our current Western culture. Wonderful stuff. Pax Romana is a thought-provoking time-travelling alternative history, and Red Wing is a very short, concise, beautifully illustrated time-war story, that goes into some interesting philosophical territory. I can't imagine that Hickman's Marvel comics are this imaginaitive, original and passionate. Marvel should have a think about that!
SInce you asked for 3 suggestions, I'll nominate Red Wing as the little gem to start with.
Congratulations on eying the gates of the pen, Philip! There's a big world of fantastic stuff out here!
I won't recommend Saga since everyone else will. I will recommend:
Thief of Thieves: Created by Robert Kirkman, but with different writers on each arc. It is the story of the best burglar trying to retire, but still not being able to. An age old story, but done really well. With the best art in Shawn Martinbrough's career, IMO.
Bedlam: The best way I can describe this is, what if the Joker was rehabilitated and now helps the cops solve crazy ass murders? Still not 100% accurate as to what it is, as there are number of flashbacks to fill in what is going on.
Mind the Gap: A mystery comic as we try to learn who tried to kill Elle Petersen. She remains in a coma, but can now inhabit the bodies of others who are comatose to help them with their problems. Although once she leaves them, that person invariably dies. She can't help with her own mystery since she has lost most of her mystery. Trust me there is a lot going on here, and I haven't touched most of it. Really good.
If you want affirmation to any of the above I would give the nod to: Red Wing, Revivial, and Saga.
I thought about Saga when I saw it in Previews. I've heard the buzz about and you all seem to agree with it.
Five Ghosts seems interesting but I'm a sucker for Holmes, Robin Hood, etc, anyway.
Not quite sure about a third one yet. :-(
Preview of Glory.
Preview of Prophet.
I'm a fan of Glory (now over) and Prophet, Manhattan Projects, and of course Saga. There are more that I don't necessarily follow, but I have read and they are of great quality: Bedlam, Savage Dragon, Mudman... I just don't have time to read these things. Maybe in collected form.
As a recent convert to Hickman's Image work, I wonder can anyone tell me how Manhatten Projects is shaping up?
Worth geting caught up on? Where does it fall betwen his previous Image work, and his snoresville Marvel work?
When Batman Inc winds up, I will think about adding a few new comics to my pull list, but like Philip, I'm looking 'outside the box'.
Segrio Aragones' GROO
BIG BANG COMICS
GO GIRL!
LIBERTY MEADOWS
No one has mentioned Fatale so far, and it's right on the site's front page at the moment. The latest crime series from Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips, but with a significant supernatural element: I've seen it described as "supernatural noir." It's really creepy, with an interesting, apparently ageless femme fatale. I'm only reading it in collected form, but they're on issue 13, and the second collection just came out, so there's not a lot to catch up with.
The library finally got the first Manhattan Projects trade recently, so I'm looking forward to checking it out soon.
I know a ton of people love MP, so I am definitely in the minority. For me it was just spinning its wheels, and I stuck around for 6-8 issues? I really had high hopes for it as it was the same creative team as Red Wing which I loved.
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