Twenty-five years ago, a group of talented comic book rebels took a bold stand for creators’ rights, turning their back on the major publishers to start their own independent publishing company. They had big ideas and bold plans, but I doubt they realized just how influential and successful Image Comics would be.

Today is Image Comics Day, and we celebrate some of the best creator-owned comic books being published today. Two of our favorite titles have new issues out this week, and a number of others have had new storylines debut recently. Today you can also pick up the new The Walking Dead for only a quarter, an issue that promises a good jumping-on point for new (or lapsed) readers. And, as always, Image offers first volumes of many of their collected trade paperbacks for only ten bucks!

For decades, Image comics has created opportunities for veteran artists and writers to flex their creative muscles, but they’ve also provided an outlet for aspiring new cartoonists to grow in the industry, taking chances on projects like Ken Garing’s Planetoid, the story of a space smuggler who crash-lands on a planet overrun by menacing robots. In the original 2012 series, Silas, with the help of a stolen energy weapon, rallies the human nomads struggling to survive on the planetoid, and stages an uprising against the malevolent A.I. and its alien progenitors.

This week, Image debuts Garing’s long-awaited follow-up with Planetoid Praxis #1. This time the fate of the settlement is in the hands of Onica, and she faces a difficult decision when the planetoid is visited by a solitary Ono Mao traveler. While Garing’s artwork continues to improve, and the scrapheap civilization seemingly comes to life both under the direction of the characters as well the development of his skills, the storyline takes on a much more prescient theme. What happens when fear and distrust are the foremost emotions fueling the populace? Where is the voice of reason and, more importantly, how do these reactions serve to inform the younger generation?

East of West
East of West hooked me from the first pages. Several colossal spires tower ominously over a stone altar, accompanied by the words “the dream is over.” The four horsemen of the apocalypse rise from a primordial ooze, War, Famine, Conquest, but where is Death? Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta have crafted one of the most unique and interesting reimaginings of America in comic book history in this series. If you love westerns, science fiction, or the bizarre horror of the Book of Revelations, look no further. – IP Continue reading Image Comics Day →