Image Comics

Image Comics was founded in 1992 by artists who wanted ownership of the characters and stories they created, rather than the work-for-hire arrangements common at Marvel and DC. Its founding group included Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino, and Whilce Portacio. Several had become prominent drawing Marvel titles: McFarlane on Spider-Man, Lee on X-Men, and Liefeld on New Mutants and X-Force. Their departure made Image’s launch a conspicuous event in the American comics industry.

The company’s early releases reflected its founders’ individual studios and characters. Liefeld’s *Youngblood* debuted in 1992, followed by McFarlane’s *Spawn* and Larsen’s *The Savage Dragon*. Jim Lee developed the WildStorm imprint, home to *WildC.A.T.s* and *Gen¹³*, while Silvestri’s Top Cow produced *Cyberforce* and, later, *Witchblade*. Image functioned as an umbrella publisher, allowing the creators and their studios to retain control of their properties. That structure distinguished it from a single shared superhero universe, even though several early books crossed over. In 2019, *Spawn* reached issue 301, surpassing *Cerebus* as the longest-running creator-owned comic series.

Image’s history also includes major changes among its original partners. Liefeld left the partnership in the 1990s. Lee sold WildStorm to DC Comics in 1998, taking that studio’s titles out of Image. Meanwhile, Image increasingly published work by creators beyond the founding group. Robert Kirkman joined as a partner in 2008, after establishing two long-running Image series: *The Walking Dead*, launched in 2003 with artist Tony Moore, and *Invincible*, also launched in 2003 with artist Cory Walker. Charlie Adlard became the principal artist on *The Walking Dead* after its initial issues. The series ended with issue 193 in 2019; its television adaptation began on AMC in 2010.

Later Image books helped establish the publisher as a home for acclaimed work across genres. Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples began the space-fantasy series *Saga* in 2012. Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky launched *Sex Criminals* in 2013, while Vaughan and Cliff Chiang launched *Paper Girls* in 2015. Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s *Monstress*, also introduced in 2015, won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story in 2017 and 2018. These titles differ sharply from Image’s original superhero launches, but share a defining feature of its publishing model: their creators, rather than Image, own the work. Image’s catalog thus traces a shift from the star-artist superhero boom of the early 1990s to a broad, creator-owned comics program.