Misplaced Pages

#15984

96-458: The team first appeared in August 1992 in the first issue of their eponymous comic book WildC.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams , published by Image Comics . It was Image founding partner Jim Lee's first work published by the newly launched company, and his first creator-owned project. The Wildcats were the starting point for Lee's menagerie of interconnected superhero creations which became the foundation of

192-400: A Comics Retailer interview, McFarlane blamed the industry downturn on greed, saying he hoped that retailers who over-ordered popular titles, including Spawn, went bankrupt. Based on public orders and shipping data, The Comics Journal and Thompson concluded that because Image titles accounted for such a large percentage of both late books and dollars spent, the company was more culpable for

288-811: A 12-part comic book miniseries that followed the Kyle Rayner character after the One Year Later event, and Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Parallax and Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Ion , two one-shot tie-ins to the Green Lantern crossover, The Sinestro Corps War . Marz wrote Moonstone Books ' 2006 annual featuring The Phantom , and was responsible for getting writers Chuck Dixon , Mike Bullock , Tony Bedard , and Rafael Nieves to participate with chapters for

384-632: A Daemonite warlord, had taken control over Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle . Rob Liefeld 's Youngblood co-starred in the closing chapters of the arc. WildC.A.T.s ' story continued in a three-part mini-series, penciled by Jae Lee, that introduced the Daemonite Lord Hightower. Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri proceeded to publish a 'Killer Instinct' crossover detailing Warblade's connection to Marc Silvestri's Cyber Force . Jim Lee devoted his time to coming up with

480-446: A French Metabarons graphic novel called Dreamshifters and Lobdell exiting a couple of issues later. As Joe Casey and Sean Phillips took over Wildcats, they quickly dealt away with Kenyan, while Void and Emp ended up having Spartan absorb their assets and powers; thus the book began a long spell featuring him aided by Ladytron and Grifter with Maul and Voodoo guest-starring, as well as new characters Noir, and Agents Wax and Mohr of

576-421: A Grifter one-shot, the crossover gave birth to a short-lived Steven Seagle-written Grifter series that centered on his super-spy/superhero adventures while linking to an obscure Team One character Regiment at one point. Alan Moore then took over writing duties, and proceeded to tell a tale split between Savant and Majestic's replacement team on Earth and the original team journeying to Khera. The Kherubim had won

672-497: A Wildcats 3.0: Coup D'État one-shot was released. After guest-starring in Superman books, in 2004 DC published a Mr. Majestic mini-series to test waters for an ongoing series that ran for 17 issues. Wildcats starred in a limited series by Robbie Morrison and Talent Caldwell entitled Wildcats: Nemesis , focusing on Zealot, Majestic, and the Coda continuity, while heavily spotlighting

768-453: A botched mission during which team member Zealot apparently died. Scott Lobdell provided the writing for the initial seven issues as well as a Mosaic one-shot detailing the change in Lord Emp, with Travis Charest penciling most of them. New villains like Kenyan and CC Rendozzo were featured as antagonists, but it was all dropped very quickly, with Charest leaving the monthly comic format to work on

864-461: A brief run on X-O Manowar for Valiant Comics . The following year, Marz wrote the DC/Marvel: All Access limited series which was an intercompany crossover between DC and Marvel characters. While writing Green Lantern , Marz wrote the " Emerald Twilight " storyline, in which the character of Hal Jordan , stricken with grief, became a mass murderer , leading to the destruction of

960-592: A coda to that series and a prequel to his Authority run, having very little to do with the Wildcats themselves. The third series, Wildcats Version 3.0 , was a part of the mature readers' Eye of the Storm imprint, dealing with Spartan's (now Jack Marlowe) agenda to better the world by proliferating advanced technology and power sources throughout the world via the HALO Corporation. Grifter was his troubleshooter and Agent Wax

1056-773: A corporation. Many Image series quickly fell behind their intended publishing schedule (See " Controversies " below). In response, retailers cut orders to reduce their risk. In August 1993, Image cut back its line, citing lateness and a desire to focus on books by the founders. The company announced it had canceled Shaman's Tears , Stupid , Trencher , and Tribe and that several mini-series including 1963 and Pitt would not become ongoing series. Moore's Enemies of Mankind and Frank Miller's Big Guy were "indefinitely postponed." In late 1993, Image hired Larry Marder , an independent cartoonist and former marketer for Chicago comics retail chain Moondog, to act as "executive director" for

SECTION 10

#1732869799016

1152-433: A flat fee of $ 2,000 to Image and $ 500 to Shadowline for administrative costs and kept all other proceeds from their sales, as well as all intellectual property rights. After Marder left Image in 1999 to help run McFarlane Toys , Valentino was named the company's publisher. He later said he saw his time as publisher as an extension of what he had been doing with Shadowline. He is often credited for making Image Comics into

1248-467: A four-issue mini-series that dealt with voodoo magic, while Moore also wrote a time-traveling WildC.A.T.s/ Spawn crossover mini-series drawn by Scott Clark and inked by Sal Regla. At the time, Grifter had another turn at an ongoing series, this time written by Steven Grant and drawn by Mel Rubi and Michael Ryan , while Zealot was featured in a Backlash spinoff, Wildcore . Barbara Randall Kesel, Pasqual Ferry , Rich Johnson and Carlos D'Anda crafted

1344-636: A handful of issues as well as a Team One Stormwatch/WildC.A.T.s mini-series detailing the past of the Wildstorm universe and would go on to write the Wildcats' first annual. The title also participated in the WildC.A.T.s-oriented " Wildstorm Rising " crossover that saw the heroes try to gain control of the Daemonite battleship, which turned out to be the Kheran ship instead, with WildC.A.T.s eventually leaving for Khera. Following

1440-499: A month: two for Marc Silvestri 's Top Cow universe, and a creator-owned project. In 2011, Marz was the writer on Voodoo , which was part of DC Comics' company-wide title relaunch, The New 52 . In 2020 Marz collaborated with Andy Lanning on the nine-issue DC Comics crossover storyline " Endless Winter ", which would debut that December. In 1999, Gail Simone introduced the term Women in Refrigerators to highlight

1536-432: A nearly immortal, human-looking alien race with exceptional powers and skills, traveled to Earth and, by breeding with humans, populated the planet with "Half-Breeds". Daemonites, besides having a fearsome appearance, also possessed various superhuman abilities, including body possession and mental control over human beings. The initial arc brought Voodoo over to the team as the readers' point-of-view character as Helspont ,

1632-687: A new Masters of the Universe series in 2002, Udon Entertainment began publishing a series based on the Street Fighter video game franchise in 2003, and the imprint DB Productions began publishing an adaptation of George R. R. Martin 's The Hedge Knight , also in 2003. Image Comics hired Eric Stephenson , who had worked as an editor and writer for Liefeld's Extreme Studios in the early days of Image, as marketing director in 2002. In 2003, Image published Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore 's zombie comic The Walking Dead , which went on to become one of

1728-707: A new sub-imprint called Homage Comics under his WildStorm Studios label. Described as a "home for creator-owned material as well as a safe haven from an increasingly challenging comic book market," the initial line-up consisted of Astro City , Terry Moore's previously self-published Strangers in Paradise , and a new title called Leave it to Chance by James Robinson and Paul Smith . The Image founders also continued to produce new top-selling series, such as Gen from WildStorm Studios in 1994, and Witchblade and The Darkness from Silvestri's Top Cow Productions in 1995 and 1996 respectively. In 1998, WildStorm launched

1824-407: A non-returnable basis. Late books create cash flow issues for retailers, and in many cases, fans lost interest in late books by the time they shipped. Retailers estimated that late shipping could affect sales by as much as 60%, according to The Comics Journal . Late books also make it harder for retailers to plan purchases, because they have to order the next issues in a series before they see how well

1920-417: A refrigerator. Simone's critique aimed to shed light on the broader issue of gender bias and the disposability of female characters within the genre. In response, Marz stated: "To me the real difference is less male-female than main character-supporting character. In most cases, main characters, 'title' characters who support their own books, are male. ... the supporting characters are the ones who suffer

2016-517: A series by Ron Marz and Terry Shoemaker, Spartan in one by Kurt Busiek and Mike McKone , Warblade sharing another with Cyberforce 's Ripclaw , Grifter co-starred in The Kindred 's limited series with Stormwatch's Backlash by Brett Booth that led to the latter's ongoing title, as well as another with Youngblood's Badrock , Billy Tucci's Shi , and even Dark Horse's the Mask . James Robinson wrote

SECTION 20

#1732869799016

2112-751: A star system." McFarlane and Lee, on the other hand, felt undervalued at Marvel, where they were not paid when their art was reused for merchandise such as t-shirts. Malibu Comics agreed to publish a creator-owned title by Liefeld in 1991. In July that year he announced plans to publish an independent comic called Youngblood and in September advertised a title called The Executioners to be published by "Image Comics." Although Liefeld shelved plans for The Executioners after Marvel threatened to both sue him and fire him from X-Force (the characters later appeared in Youngblood and their own title as "The Berzerkers"),

2208-503: A team consisting of Majestros, Zannah, Cole Cash and Kenesha. A team which would later be adjourned by former WildC.A.T.s mainstays such as Jeremy, Reno and Priscilla while battling the mutated human forces of the Brotherhood of the Sword. With the "World's End" crossover, original Wildcats Spartan, Zealot, Voodoo, Grifter, Maul, Nemesis and Warblade were brought together again to help save what

2304-467: A troubling trend in comic narratives: the use of female characters' suffering—through death, injury, or assault—as mere plot devices to advance male protagonists' stories. This concept was sparked by an event in a 1994 Green Lantern issue written by Ron Marz, where Kyle Rayner discovers his girlfriend Alexandra DeWitt's fate at the hands of the villain Major Force , who had murdered her and left her body in

2400-520: A two-part storyline that, in effect, wrote Majestic, Savant and Ladytron out of the team, and set up the spin-off Savant Garde , written by Randall Kesel. Original scripter Brandon Choi returned alongside Johnathan Peterson and artists Mat Broome and Ed Benes for a storyline with an organization called Puritans as the main villains. The Puritans' goal was to eradicate the Kherubim and Daemonites on Earth by traveling back in time and erasing killing them before

2496-837: Is an American comic book writer , known for his work on titles such as Batman/Aliens , DC vs. Marvel , Green Lantern , Silver Surfer , and Witchblade . Marz is known for his work on Silver Surfer and Green Lantern , as well as the DC vs. Marvel crossover and Batman/Aliens . He co-created Genis-Vell in Silver Surfer Annual #6 (1993). Marz worked on the CrossGen Comics series Scion , Mystic , Sojourn , and The Path . At Dark Horse Comics he created Samurai: Heaven and Earth and various Star Wars comics. He has written for Devil's Due Publishing 's Aftermath line including Blade of Kumori . In 1995, he had

2592-534: Is collected in the JLA: Ultramarine Corps trade. Both WildC.A.T.S Covert Action Teams: Compendium and A Gathering of Eagles are out of print. New printings of the trade paperbacks WildC.A.T.s: Homecoming and WildC.A.T.s: Gang War were published in 1999 after the late 1998 acquisition of WildStorm Productions by DC Comics ; as of 2009, both volumes have now sold out and are currently out of print. In August 2007 Alan Moore's Complete WildC.A.T.S TPB

2688-644: Is on a secret mission, and Maul has retired to his civilian identity. Kaizen Gamorra returned as the villain, aided by the WildCats' first enemy, Helspont. However, the title was permanently put on hold after only three issues. In July 2008 Wildstorm debuted a new ongoing WildCats series written by Christos Gage and pencilled by Neil Googe following on from the imprint's Number of the Beast mini-series. Adam Beechen took over writing duties from Gage in late 2009, with he and artist Tim Seeley starting with issue #19 until

2784-599: The Green Lantern Corps , and Kyle Rayner being chosen at random as the last Green Lantern. Marz's 2000s work includes a number of Top Cow Productions comic books, including Witchblade , which he wrote from issue #80 (Nov. 2004) to issue #150, plus a number of specials and crossover stories featuring the character, such as Witchblade/The Punisher in 2007 and Witchblade/Devi in 2008. His other Top Cow work includes Cyberforce #1–6 in 2006 and Cyberforce/ X-Men in 2007. For DC Comics , he has written Ion ,

2880-563: The Luna Brothers . In 2007, Liefeld returned to Image as a creator, as opposed to partner, to publish a new Youngblood series written by Joe Casey with art by Derec Donovan and Val Staples. Liefeld credited Kirkman for bringing him back to Image. Larsen stepped down as publisher to focus more on The Savage Dragon in July 2008 and Stephenson was promoted to the position. In 2008, shortly after Stephenson's appointment, Image added Kirkman as

2976-450: The copyrights to those properties. Normally this is not the case in the work-for-hire -dominated American comics industry, where the legal author is a publisher, such as Marvel Comics or DC Comics , and the creator is an employee of that publisher. Its output was originally dominated by superhero and fantasy titles from the studios of the founding Image partners, but now includes comics in many genres by numerous independent creators. In

Wildcats (comics) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3072-635: The Comics Industry Person of the Year in 2012 for what editor-in-chief Heidi MacDonald described as Stephenson's "creative revitalization" of Image. MacDonald cited the publication of Saga and other new titles from popular creators like Grant Morrison, Jonathan Hickman and Ed Brubaker, along with "homegrown hits" from Image like Chew , Mornings Glories , and Thief of Thieves and Stephenson's own Nowhere Men among his accomplishments. Saga creator Brian K. Vaughan explained that while he loved

3168-542: The Daemonite-Kherubim war and were living in prosperity. Appearances were deceiving, however, and it was apparent the planet was run by power-hungry politicians who had ruthlessly subjugated the Daemonites as second-class citizens. Voodoo, with her Daemonite blood, experienced this firsthand. Maul's race was also treated unjustly and though Emp and Zealot were seduced by promises of power and recognition, Spartan discovered

3264-594: The Eisner Awards, Hugo Awards, Russ Manning Awards, The Edgar Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, Young Adult Library Association's Great Graphic Novels for Teens and more. Image Comics' title list includes domestic and international bestsellers with regular appearances on The New York Times bestseller list, The Washington Post ' s bestseller list, USA Today ' s bestseller list, the Amazon.com bestseller list and more. Ron Marz Ron Marz (born November 17, 1965 )

3360-523: The Image Universe, such as Black Razor, Mr. Majestic, and Slag. In 1995, Playmates Interactive Entertainment published a WildC.A.T.s video game exclusively for the Super NES . A WildC.A.T.s game for Sega Genesis was planned but never released. Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in

3456-620: The Ladytron one shot, a farsic rendition of her past, as well as a Mister Majestic ongoing series which ran for nine issues. Wild Times: Wildcats and Wild Times: Grifter were published as one-shots as a part of the crossover series Wild Times that spotlighted the characters in Elseworlds -like alternate reality scenarios that blended genres. Wildcats also participated in the WildC.A.T.s/Aliens crossover written by Stormwatch's Warren Ellis that served as

3552-545: The Marvel/DC crossover The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans was published in 1982. Some of the founders' studios came to resemble separate publishers, each with several ongoing series set in a shared universe . The use of freelancers to write or illustrate series that were owned by the Image partners led to criticism that some of them had reproduced the very system they had rebelled against, but with them in charge instead of

3648-558: The National Park Service. Warblade was featured very briefly, last seen in the Wildcats 2000 annual that brought back the dead version Condition Red killing Olympia. Casey and Phillips signaled the new Wildstorm, critically acclaimed but low on readers' radar. The heroes fought Samuel Smith (a superhuman serial killer whose grandfather had appeared in Team One: WildC.A.T.s) after which eventually Zealot returned. Casey also wrote

3744-472: The North American comics market share thanks to Image, briefly exceeding that of industry giant DC Comics . In early 1993 Image left Malibu and established itself as an independent company, hiring Tony Lobito as full-time publisher. Image became the first publishing company to challenge Marvel and DC's dominance since the establishment of the direct market . Portacio was the only founder not to deliver

3840-479: The Wildstorm Universe. The Wildcats launched at the apex of a speculator-fueled comics sales boom and was wildly popular at its inception, with wholesale sales to comic book stores above one million copies for early issues. This first series ran for 50 issues, and in addition to Lee, featured work by comics creators such as Travis Charest , Chris Claremont , James Robinson and Alan Moore . This popularity saw

3936-542: The Wildstorm universe altogether. Wildcats: Nemesis was a 9-issue miniseries, published from November 2005 to July 2006. Written by Robbie Morrison and illustrated by various artists, it featured Nemesis and Wildcats. In 2006 it was collected into a trade paperback ( ISBN   978-1-4012-1105-9 ). In 2006, as part of the "Worldstorm" line-wide event, the title was restarted, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Jim Lee . The team consisted of Spartan, Mr. Majestic , Zealot, Grifter, Voodoo, Savant, and Ladytron. Warblade

Wildcats (comics) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4032-461: The Year three years in a row between 2013 and 2015. By the company's 25th anniversary in 2017, the majority of titles Image published in a given month were not affiliated with the founding partners. Meanwhile, McFarlane's Spawn and related titles, his McFarlane Toys line, Silvestri's Top Cow imprint and Kirkman's various series remained a substantial segment of Image's total sales. As of 2020 , McFarlane's Spawn and Larsen's Savage Dragon were

4128-450: The aliens could influence global events. A new line-up of WildC.A.T.s traveled in time to stop the Puritans, and had various adventures throughout different time periods. After the first series' cancellation, WildStorm, now an imprint of DC Comics , resurrected the Wildcats under a whole different premise—Wildcats dealt with the lives of the original members after the team's breakup following

4224-453: The book's cancellation in December 2010 with #30. In November 2022 ( cover date January 2023), DC debuted WildC.A.T.s the second volume to feature the same abbreviated stylization in the title as the first series in 1992. Written by Matthew Rosenberg and illustrated by Stephen Segovia, it sees Grifter working for the HALO Corporation to assemble a group of operatives to embark upon missions in

4320-658: The book. Marz became an editor of three of Virgin Comics ' Shakti Line titles in 2007 and oversaw Devi , Ramayan 3392 A.D. and The Sadhu . He wrote the Beyond series, based on a story created by Deepak Chopra . In 2008 Marz wrote Broken Trinity , which featured the characters Witchblade , The Darkness , and Angelus , as well as the tie-in series, Broken Trinity: Witchblade , Broken Trinity: Angelus (2008), and Broken Trinity: Aftermath (2009). He signed an exclusive contract with Top Cow , which saw him write three comics

4416-430: The commercially successful Cliffhanger sub-imprint to showcase created owned titles from a new generation of popular artists, starting with Humberto Ramos , J. Scott Campbell , Joe Madureira . After a peak in early 1993, the comics market experienced a steep downturn as the speculative bubble burst . Around 20% of all comic book stores went out of business in 1993, industry analyst Mel Thompson estimated, compared to

4512-674: The company as a creator, as opposed to partner, in 2007. Jim Lee sold WildStorm and its characters to DC Comics in 1998, citing a desire to exchange his responsibilities as a publisher for the opportunity to do more creative work. Image continued to diversify, adding titles such as Brian Michael Bendis 's Jinx and Matt Wagner 's Mage to the company's line-up in 1997, while Valentino's Shadowline imprint published more than 12 black and white titles, including his own A Touch of Silver , James A. Owen 's Starchild , Zander Cannon 's The Replacement God , Mike Baron 's The Badger , and Michael Avon Oeming 's Ship of Fools . Creators paid

4608-536: The company's first new partner since its founding. Stephenson cited Kirkman's commitment to publishing through Image and his strong vision as reasons for the decision. In 2010, Kirkman founded his own imprint called Skybound . Under Stephenson, Image began to greatly expand both the types of comics it publishes and the types of creators drawn to the publisher, beginning a period of critical acclaim. An influx of Marvel- and DC-associated creators began publishing creator-owned work with them. The Beat named Stephenson

4704-402: The diverse publisher that it is seen as today. Sacks wrote that by the end of 1999, Image had bolstered its reputation "as the place to find the highest quality creator-owned material." In the early 2000s, a number of imprints not owned by the Image partners began publishing licensed material through Image. Devil's Due launched a new G.I. Joe series via Image in 2001, MVCreations launched

4800-553: The earlier issues sold. "When books start shipping late, you end up ordering four, five, six issues before you see sales, and that's where the greater danger is," Hanley's Universe owner Jim Hanley told The Comics Journal in 1994. Todd McFarlane told The Comics Journal that the blame for the market collapse should not be pinned entirely on Image. He argued that the company shared responsibility with other publishers, distributors, and retailers alike, saying that Image shipping books on time wouldn't "stop retailers from being stupid." In

4896-405: The early 1990s, artists Todd McFarlane , Rob Liefeld , and Jim Lee broke successive modern sales records at Marvel Comics with Spider-Man #1, X-Force #1, and X-Men #1 respectively. However, the creators became discontented. Liefeld worried that their success actually made their positions at Marvel precarious. "We had become too big for the system," he said in 2000. "Marvel didn't want

SECTION 50

#1732869799016

4992-501: The editorial, production, sales and accounting staff formed Comic Book Workers United (CBWU), a trade union affiliated with the Communications Workers of America . The union published nine goals, including salary and workload transparency, improving staff morale, and improving career mobility. Image did not voluntarily recognize the union. The unionization drive was met with praise from many industry professionals. However,

5088-504: The first issue of Liefeld's on-going  Brigade series shipped before the concluding issue of the Brigade limited series, and Spawn #21 shipped before issues #19 and #20. Deathmate Red , Liefeld's portion of the inter-company crossover with Valiant Comics, became emblematic of Image's problems. The book shipped four months late, well after the release of the series epilogue. Retailers typically order comics two months in advance, on

5184-568: The first issue of his own series in 1992. Initially, Portacio was reported to be working on a title called Huntsman with Chris Claremont , but opted instead to create his own title called Wetworks (the Huntsman character later appeared in issues of WildC.A.T.S and CyberForce written by Claremont). However, work on the series was significantly delayed due to the death of Portacio's sister and he decided to resign as an Image partner. In 2022, former Incredible Hulk artist Dale Keown said that he

5280-421: The former members of the now-disbanded team and emphasizing a grittier tone during its 28-issue run. The third series, Wildcats Version 3.0 , revolved around the HALO Corporation, its CEO Jack Marlowe (an amalgamation of original team members Spartan and Void), Grifter , and a gallery of new characters subverting corporate politics to their cause of creating a better world. This incarnation lasted 24 issues and

5376-713: The incident only further motivated him to pursue independent publishing. Liefeld soon invited Amazing Spider-Man artist Erik Larsen , Guardians of the Galaxy artist Jim Valentino , and McFarlane to join Image Comics. McFarlane then recruited Jim Lee at the Sotheby's auction in New York in December 1991. Wolverine artist Marc Silvestri, who was also in town for the event, was also invited. Lee invited Uncanny X-Men artist Whilce Portacio shortly after. These seven creators became

5472-451: The industry by market share. Its best-known publications include Spawn , The Walking Dead , Kick-Ass , Invincible , Jupiter's Legacy , Witchblade , The Maxx , Savage Dragon , Bone , Saga , Radiant Black and Stray Dogs . It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-owned properties, in which comics creators could publish material of their own creation without giving up

5568-414: The largest-selling African-American-created comic, with more than one million copies sold to comic shops. Moore went on to work on several Image series, including Spawn , WildC.A.T.S , The Maxx , and Supreme . Also in 1993, Image and Valiant Comics began publishing the inter-company crossover Deathmate , which comics historian Jason Sacks described it as the first major comic universe crossover since

5664-543: The longest-running creator-owned titles published by Image, with over 300 and 250 issues, respectively. The company's headquarters moved from Berkeley, California to Portland, Oregon in 2017. The following year, Stephenson became an Image partner, board member, and chief creative officer. Prior to Berkeley, its headquarters was located first in Anaheim, California and then in Oakland, California . In November 2021, members of

5760-501: The main characters were: While not specifically part of any WildC.A.T.s group, Mister Majestic would work with his own covert action team for a time when the Shapers Guild would attempt seize earth's Kherubim terraforming engine to make a new Khera. Members would include mainstays like Spartan, Zealot and Savant while also including: The introduction of rogue Kherubum warrior Lady Charis would be first adversarial too, then join up with

5856-661: The mid-2000s as the imprints Devil's Due, Dreamwave Productions , MVCreations, Udon Entertainment, and DB Productions departed the company and Dark Horse Comics surpassed Image to become the third largest comic book publisher. Larsen took over as publisher in 2004, intending to publish more mainstream comics. Valentino returned to running the Shadowline imprint. Titles launched during Larsen's tenure include Ellis and Ben Templesmith 's Fell ; Casey and Tom Scioli 's Godland ; Richard Starkings 's Elephantmen ; Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie 's Phonogram ; and The Sword by

SECTION 60

#1732869799016

5952-400: The more permanent and shattering tragedies. And a lot of supporting characters are female." He also further explained: I created her [Alexandra DeWitt] with the intention of having her be murdered at the hands of Major Force. I took a lot of care in building her as a character, because I wanted her to be liked and her death to mean something to the readers. I wanted readers to be horrified at

6048-528: The new Wildstorm universe anti-hero character of Nemesis. At the same time, Wildstorm published the Captain Atom: Armageddon maxi-series, heavily featuring the Wildcats as they tried to help DC character Captain Atom return to his universe and stop him from accidentally destroying their reality. Nikola, a female medic, became the new Void with Captain Atom sharing a part of the power that eventually remade

6144-514: The new concepts of Gen13 , Deathblow , and Stormwatch . Before he left the book, he did the four-issue Gathering of Eagles storyline written by his Uncanny X-Men writer, Chris Claremont . It featured a new villain Tapestry and added the characters of Mister Majestic , Savant, and Soldier, and featured Claremont's creator-owned character, Huntsman. Almost all of the characters were spun off into their own mini-series, with Zealot featured in

6240-473: The original founding partners of Image Comics. Image's organizing charter had two key provisions: The founders' initial titles were produced under the Image name, but published through Malibu Comics , which provided administrative, production, distribution and marketing support. The first Image comic published was Liefeld's Youngblood #1 in April 1992. Pre-orders for the book reached 930,000 copies, beating

6336-417: The original team, rumored to be dead, had left for Khera, the Kherubim homeworld. This unlikely group broke from the WildC.A.T.s usual anti-Daemonite agenda and conducted a proactive war on criminals. This alienated them from many other characters in the Wildstorm universe. For a time Kenesha would drop out of the hero circuit and return to a life of Indiana Jones-lite spelunking for the hidden reliquary, along

6432-403: The other companies he had worked with, he wanted to maintain 100% control over the series to ensure there would be no content restrictions or interference and Image may have been the only publisher that still offered a fully creator-owned contract. Image's sales grew significantly during this period to a market share of around 10% in 2015. Image was voted Diamond Comic Distributors' Publisher of

6528-501: The outskirts of the DC Universe. Its first task is to round up an elite group of scientists, which puts the group into conflict with the scientists' mysterious leader, Void. The team also comes into conflict with a shadowy organization called the Court of Owls. The original WildC.A.T.s (Covert Action Team) consisted of: A second team was introduced later in the series. They were formed after

6624-478: The previous record for both the top selling creator-owned comic and top selling independent comic of all time. The second Image title, McFarlane's Spawn #1, debuted with a print run of 1.7 million copies in May 1992. Larsen's The Savage Dragon , Lee's WildC.A.T.S , Valentino's ShadowHawk , and Silvestri's CyberForce followed, all with strong sales to comic shops. Within a few months, Malibu had almost 10% of

6720-430: The property expand into other media, with an animated adaptation of the comic debuting on CBS in 1994 and a toyline from Playmates Toys . In 1998, ownership of the Wildcats concepts and characters were sold to DC Comics , a subsidiary of Time Warner , as part of DC's acquisition of Lee's company Wildstorm Productions . A new incarnation of the team was soon launched under the simplified title Wildcats , focusing on

6816-500: The publisher, ranking above Lobito and reporting directly to the partners. McFarlane told The Comics Journal that the founders had ignored Lobito's advice in the past, even when he was correct, because they didn't have confidence in his guidance due to his age and relative inexperience. Despite the scaleback in 1993, Image continued to publish creator-owned comics by a variety of creators. Though many Image titles sold more than 500,000 copies per issue in 1992 and 1993, by mid-1994 only

6912-509: The request was not an effort to dictate the content of Image publications, but to create a process to ensure a safe working environment. The union was certified by a vote in January 2022, becoming the first of its kind in the American comics industry. Prior to the vote, most Image comics, apart from those published by Todd McFarlane Studios, included the names of Image staffers in the credits. After

7008-583: The return of Superman less than six months after the Death of Superman , as the moment the speculative bubble burst. Khoury concluded that everyone in the industry was to blame for the comics market crash, including publishers, speculators, readers, retailers, creators, and editors. "Many consider Deathmate the comic book that singlehandedly put an end to the industry's prosperous times and the biggest reason why so many comic book stores closed its doors for good," comics historian Jason Sacks wrote in 2018. "In truth, there

7104-484: The situation than the Image partners were willing to admit. In 2007, comics journalist George Khoury wrote that Marvel's decision to distribute its product exclusively through its own distribution subsidiary beginning in 1995 had a bigger long-term impact on the comics industry than Image's business practices. Diamond Distributors founder Steve Gepp told Khoury that Image helped expand the market for comic books, and Mile High Comics proprietor Chuck Rozanski pointed to

7200-486: The source material, such as Voodoo being an adolescent rather than an ex-stripper and Lord Emp being an ordinary human. The group was composed of all the original 'C.A.T.s. The major villain was Helspont, but the Troika and the Coda were featured. A parody of the series, MadD.O.G.s, was seen during Alan Moore's run in the comics. The series was produced by Nelvana Limited and WildStorm Productions. A toyline from Playmates Toys

7296-406: The start, he is at least capable of stringing a story together. As long as you concentrate (a lot of characters and factions are introduced very quickly), it's an enjoyable if fairly linear tale. And of course, the art is simply stunning." A Wild C.A.T.s TV series was created in 1994. It had only thirteen episodes and a more family-friendly storyline. As a result, there were numerous changes from

7392-538: The summer of 1996, shortly after the incident with Turner and Hawkins, Silvestri announced that he would leave Image Comics, citing irreconcilable differences with a then-unnamed Image partner. Liefeld resigned from Image Comics in September 1996 shortly before a vote to force him out of the company. Silvestri reversed his plans to leave Image shortly after. Liefeld filed suit against Image in October 1997 for wrongful termination and breach of contract for money he claimed

7488-685: The top-selling comics on the market. Valentino originally rejected the title, fearing the premise was too familiar. Kirkman lied and said he planned to reveal that the aliens were behind the zombies, a premise Stephenson found interesting enough to encourage Valentino to accept. Kirkman later admitted that he never planned to include aliens in the comic. Other titles published during Valentino's tenure include Kirkman and Cory Walker 's Invincible ; Bendis's Powers ; Garth Ennis , Jimmy Palmiotti , and Amanda Conner 's The Pro ; Jay Faerber 's Noble Causes , and Warren Ellis and Chris Weston 's Ministry of Space . Image's market share declined in

7584-535: The top-selling titles reached 250,000 in sales. Marder determined that Image needed to publish at least 30 comic books per month to stay in business. "And if the partners did not provide those books, I had to get those books wherever I could find them," Marder explained in 2007. Titles added in the mid-1990s included Hellshock by Jae Lee , Groo by Sergio Aragonés , Bone by Jeff Smith, A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran , and Astro City by Kurt Busiek , Brent Anderson and Alex Ross . In 1996, Lee founded

7680-505: The truth about Khera's corrupt leaders. It took the death of one of Maul's race for the WildC.A.T.s to leave and head back for Earth. Voodoo and Emp both left the team, while the remainder joined with Savant and Majestic's new team. Moore also participated in Fire From Heaven , a fairly continuity-heavy crossover that resolved plotlines regarding Team One , Team 7 , and Kaizen Gamorra. Alan Moore, Mike Lopez and Al Rio spun Voodoo off in

7776-537: The typical attrition rate of around 10% in prior years. Many comics industry professionals blamed speculators for the market downturn, but many retailers cited Image's erratic publishing record as a key cause of fiscal strain for stores. Every single Image comic scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 1993 shipped late. In April 1993, only 15.3% of the company's titles shipped on time, compared with 90.1% shipped on time by DC, 79.2% by Marvel, and 100% by Valiant. Some titles ended up shipping out of sequence. For example,

7872-472: The union's ninth goal of establishing "a collective voting option to immediately cancel publication of any title whose creator(s) have been found to have engaged in abuse, sexual assault, racism and xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, ableism, etc.” proved controversial. Vice reported that this goal was "read as a demand for a censorious panel to ensure that upcoming comics adhere to diktats of political correctness." CBWU told Vice that

7968-905: The vote, those names were removed from titles published under Valentino's Shadowline imprint. CBWU filed suit against Image Comics in February 2022, alleging retaliation against union members and interference with bargaining efforts. CBWU ratified their first union contract with Image Comics in March 2023. The union filed an additional lawsuit against Image Comics in May 2023, alleging further "anti-union discrimination." This list also includes studios and partners. Image considers these studios as separate publishing companies that operate in concert with Image and each studio as fully autonomous from Image Central . Image Comics titles have garnered both comics and mainstream critical acclaim. Image Comics titles boast multiple award nominations and wins across all categories in

8064-554: The way she would assemble her own team of adventurers with Majestros at her side. The team consisted of Grifter, Max Cash, Void, and an old Spartan unit activated by Grifter, possessing Hadrian's original personality, as well as new members: After a disastrous mission wherein Zealot faked her death to hunt down the earth Coda chapter. The Cat's, whittled down to Jacob and Spartan, would go on to recruit both old faces and new blood after Lord Emp had ascended. Besides Grifter and Jack Marlowe,

8160-453: Was also released in 1994. The basic series included figures of Grifter, Helspont, Maul, Spartan, Warblade and Zealot, along with a generic Daemonite figure. In 1995, new versions of Helspont, Maul, Spartan, Warblade, and Zealot were released, along with figures of Pike, Void, and Voodoo, and a WildC.A.T.S. Bullet Bike accessory. In addition, Playmates also produced "giant" versions of Grifter, Maul, and Spartan, plus figures for other characters in

8256-426: Was announced, he had described it as an imprint for non-superhero titles, such as the science fantasy Warchild . Liefeld proposed a merger between his Extreme Studios imprint and Silvestri's Top Cow imprint in 1996, according to Matt Hawkins, who worked for Liefeld's studios from 1993 until 1998 and has been president of Silvestri's Top Cow Productions since 1998. Hawkins said that when Liefeld realized that Silvestri

8352-785: Was approached in 1992 about taking Portacio's place, but declined because his criminal record made it difficult to travel outside his home country of Canada. Keown still became the first non-founder to publish a creator-owned title with Image. The first issue of his series Pitt sold more than one million copies to comic shops. It was originally scheduled for November 1992 but shipped several months late. Image continued to expand in 1993 with new titles from both founders, such as Liefeld's Bloodstrike and Lee's StormWatch , and non-founders, including Sam Kieth 's The Maxx , Larry Stroman 's Tribe , Keith Giffen 's Trencher , and Mike Grell 's Shaman's Tears , and 1963 by Alan Moore , Steve Bissette , and Rick Vietch . Tribe became

8448-447: Was ever published, with future issues placed on hold. In mid-2008, the fifth volume of Wildcats was launched, tying into the World's End crossover event. Launched as an original Image comic book title by popular X-Men penciler Jim Lee and his friend writer Brandon Choi, the comic book's premise revolved around the centuries-long war between aliens called Kherubim and Daemonites. Kherubim,

8544-466: Was followed by a nine-issue limited series titled Wildcats: Nemesis , which returned to a more superheroic style reminiscent of the first series. In late 2006, a fourth ongoing series was launched as a part of the Worldstorm publishing initiative. The series saw the return of Jim Lee as regular penciller for the first time since its first volume while Grant Morrison took over writing duties. Only one issue

8640-411: Was going to reject his offer, he decided instead to try to recruit some of Top Cow's artists, including Witchblade artist Mike Turner. At one point Hawkins called Turner about working on an Avengelyne project for Maximum Press, but Silvestri took the phone and yelled at Hawkins. Meanwhile, Liefeld moved some of his titles from Image Comics to Maximum Press, escalating tensions within the company. In

8736-568: Was left of the human race. Their membership also included Ladytron as well as a few new members: Nemesis subsequently went missing following the teams battle with Majestic, while Savant rejoined the team. Trade paperback collections: Vol. 1 #14 is collected in Savage Dragon Vol. 4: Possessed as it was done by Erik Larsen as part of Image X Month; #20 is also collected in the Wildstorm Rising trade paperback, while JLA/WildC.A.T.s

8832-459: Was one of his first associates. The stories added a motley group to this proactive organization including the power broker C.C. Rendozzo and her organization, Agent Orange, and Grifter's unlikely pupil Edwin Dolby, one of HALO's accountants. The series ended with a thunderous finale where Zealot, Marlowe, and a team assembled by Grifter destroyed the Coda chapter that Zealot had created on Earth. The series

8928-413: Was owed to him. Image countersued, claiming Liefeld had misused Image funds and staff resources for his Maximum Press titles and failed to repay an overpayment made by the company. The suits were settled in February 1997. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but Marder and Valentino claimed Liefeld repaid the company the money he owed. Liefeld later reconciled with the Image partners and returned to

9024-421: Was plenty of blame to go around." There were tensions between the Image Comics founders from the very beginning, according to Liefeld, as the founders competed with each other for sales and talent. Liefeld founded his own separate company, Maximum Press , in late 1994 largely in response to those tensions and a realization that he wouldn't always be a part of Image, he told CBR in 2001. At the time Maximum Press

9120-420: Was released, containing the contents of both Gang War and Homecoming TPBs, as well as the short story from WildC.A.T.S #50. Andy Butcher reviewed the first graphic novel compendium of WildC.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams for Arcane magazine, rating it a 6 out of 10 overall. Butcher comments that "of all the artists who've tried to write, Lee is one of the more successful. Despite some confusing flashbacks at

9216-514: Was written by Joe Casey and drawn by Dustin Nguyen , Duncan Rouleau , Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Pascual Ferry and Sean Phillips. Concurrent with Wildcats Version 3.0 , Wildstorm also published a critically acclaimed noir-superhero series Sleeper starring Alan Moore's Wildcats villain Tao, which also featured Grifter. As part of the crossover Coup D'État, centering on the Wildstorm Universe's United States,

#15984