The Life and Death of the Image Universe

In 1992, seven of Marvel's best-selling artists left to form a brand new company. Image Comics offered comic book fans a brand new shared universe, headlined by heroes such as Spawn, Youngblood, Savage Dragon, and WildC.A.T.s. Now, 30 years later, Josh from Panels to Pixels takes a look at the life and death of the Image Comics Universe.







0:00 Intro
1:31 Part One: Life
5:56 Part Two: Death
11:09 Final Thoughts
13:14 Outro

#ImageComics #Spawn #PanelstoPixels

Special thanks to Matt Draper, Doug from For Every Kind of Geek, and Evan from Luck Stat, for lending their voices to this video. Check out their channels at the links below!

[owensreviews]

NGL, this is my first video that I’ve seen from you, and it did not disappoint. You have earned yourself a new subscriber.

[loserscorner]

i love that invincible sort of became the self-contained image universe. sure other series continued like spawn, the nobles and savage dragon. but the over-arching story was contained to invincible because it appealed to the most people. so while it didn't save the image universe, it definitely ressussitated it.

[RelativelyBest]

McFarlane actually made a good point: Something I've noticed particularly with Batman comics is that even though they take place in the larger DC setting they tend to behave as if they're set in their own little independent universe. Seriously, stuff goes down in Gotham that should absolutely get the other heroes involved, with alarming frequency. You can't tell me guys like Superman or Flash wouldn't intervene if an insane clown turned an entire major city into a lawless war zone ruled over by gangsters and super villains, with just a handful of non-powered vigilantes there to do anything about it. That basically requires them to allow innocents to suffer just for the sake of staying off Batman's turf. But they _have_ to leave Gotham to Batman and his supporting heroes because that's the whole point of Batman comics.

[CooperCarani]

Amazing video!👍👏 I just began my comic book collection and found Toon Haven. They have an incredible range of digital comics for every genre, including the hard to find ones. Lifetime updates too!😁

[kevin_vincent]

Erik Larsen continues to be the only Image founder that writes, pencils, inks and consistently publishes his titular character, Savage Dragon. His ideas and artwork may not be everyone's cup of tea, but you have to respect that level of hard work and commitment to his creation.

[mainman]

I was 12 years old when Image hit and I was all in on the Image Universe. I loved that era.

[KingWolf]

I honestly think if the creators would have come back, tie up lose ends, and keep going, they would have rival DC and marvel comics and even make movies. After seeing invincible on Amazon, I strongly believe image can make a combat. Just imagine Marvel, DC, and image going at it. History would be made

[josephbarbera]

I noticed when a purchased a haul of Image comics four years ago, it was clear to me (after reading the books) that the Image universe was disjointed. Todd was doing his own thing and Spawn seemed way different to Youngblood and Wildcats as far as trying to maintain that overall universe common look. Savage Dragon also seemed like another universe altogether as well. The art was slick and storyline was interesting but all titles seemed to be in its own bubble.

[fitnessabcvideo]

Also the problem that exists with creator owned is that they lack editors to push artists and writers to put out work on time, image had infinite issues with keeping things together, they needed a Jim shooter to kick them into gear

[therealronokpayne]

With Radiant Black expanding into its own universe, part of me wonders if the creators plan on crossing over with any other Image heroes, and I’m honestly conflicted on if I want that or not.

[retsofsivartnetloc]

Spawn was the first comic I read way back in the early mid 90s. My parents never managed or cared to get them in order so I'd have issue 5 issue 10 and a bunch of other random issues and I never knew what was going on. Then the marvel x men cartoon came out and I traded all my spawn, and poggs for the x men trading cards, and loved pulling a card out whenever that character was on screen. Pre Internet was a wild time for comics. There was no online, my town didn't even have a comic shop

[LowellLucasJr.]

To me, seeing Youngblood & Spawn, Medieval Spawn & Witchblade and The Darkness& Witchblade crossovers always excited me as much as Marvel/ DC ones! Love the artwork, the action and fun they offered! It'll be an era I'll never tire from!❤

[TheZooropaBaby]

I do vaguely remember that from interview with Comic Tropes, Robert Kirkman said that Erik Larsen likes it when crossover has not much rhyme or reason and it just, happens because creators wanted to make it happen lol (it's about Battle Pope and Savage Dragon cameo, I think?). but if that's the case, I guess it's harder to manifest Image Universe as exited in 90s because probably no creators feel that close or get along anymore, or something. also they're in completely different place in the industry.

[nicksretrocorner]

Gen 13 is probably my favourite thing to come out of the Image Universe.

[SotNist]

I read a lot of them for a decade. Still collect Savage Dragon (2 long boxes, spin offs included), and went out of my way to reacquire stuff like Pitt, Wildstar, Trencher and Cyber Force. I lament my lost Spawn and Maxx collections, and the early issues of Invincible I had simply by extension of being a Savage Dragon reader. I remember digging Wetworks, Grifter, Gen-13, Weapon Zero and Prophet for awhile too.

[MattyStoked]

Absolutely loved this video, dude. This is a really complex and strange story, told so well by you. And that shirt. Unbelieveable!

[panelsandbars]

Another excellent upload. Can't wait to see the rest if this years Image-based content!

[OgundimuNinjaArts]

no wonder ive always been such an image fanboy. it was all new. it never felt like i was missing out. theyre still some of my all-time favorite characters/books.

[fernandoluna]

Great work as always Josh, the way invinsible tackled the share-universe in image was really cool, even tho didnt last that long or was very relevant in the story

[danelamoreaux]

My favorite Image books were Pitt, Darkness, Weapon Zero.