Yesterday, David and Brian responded to two Paste magazine articles declaring the best Marvel and DC articles. They thought it was over; they thought they’d responded to everything — but they were wrong! Paste also cover Image Comics. So Brian and David called in the big guns.
I kid. We’re riffing off Paste and doing our own thing. Here’s what I think the ten best Image books are right now.
As a note, for those curious: to count for the list, a full arc needs to have been completed and the book needs to be an ongoing of sorts. This is why you won’t find books like “Mara” or “Sex” here, because while they’re good they don’t meet the ongoing requirements to accurately assess the title within the confines of this criteria.
10. Mind the Gap
Writer: Jim McCann
Artist: Rodin Esquejo and guests
Why It Made The List: I love mysteries. Stories that don’t take the reader’s involvement for granted and actively engage them in the process of the story? It leads to some of the most engrossing and entertaining fiction around. “Mind the Gap” is certainly no exception, with a sci-fi mystery that brings us into the mind of its heroine and she tries to solve the mystery of who attacked her and why. It’s pretty dense and twisted so far, and with art by Rodin Esquejo and colors by Sonia Oback, plus guest appearances by the ridiculously talented Dan McDaid and Adrian Alphona as well as an upcoming arc with Sam Basri, this series is perhaps one of the more underrated gems at Image in terms of creative output.
9. Nowhere Men
Writer: Eric Stephenson
Artist: Nate Bellegarde
Why It Made The List: Science is the new rock n’ roll, and this series proves it. Told across multiple eras with the Beatles of science and a group of scientists making Fringe look like children’s theater, “Nowhere Men” is the brain child of King of Cool Eric Stephenson and the wonderfully talented Nate Bellegarde. It’s also the first of two books on this list colored by Multiversity favorite Jordie Bellaire, so that’s just all the more reason to love it. While it doesn’t come out as often as I may like, every issue is a treat of story and content, creating an immersive world experience through fake advertisements and worlds.
8. Luther Strode
Writer: Justin Jordan
Artist: Tradd Moore
Why It Made The List: When has a debut caught everyone so off guard like this? Starting ostensibly as a teen superhero comedy and morphing into a blood stained horror story practically in a genre of its own, the one and a half “Luther Strode” books we’ve been given so far are creative spins off of a very simple concept (Charles Atlas) with clever writing by Justin Jordan and impeccably violent art by Tradd Moore. Add to that the visceral colors of Felipe Sobriero that somehow always finds new ways to color blood and the recent back-ups by Kate Leth and Yale Stewart and “Luther Strode” has become one of Image’s most entertaining series. The worst part about it is that it has to end.
7. Fatale
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Philips
Why It Made The List: First came “Criminal.” Then came “Incognito.” Now? “Fatale,” a Lovecraftian noir mystery series by the super talented crime duo of Sean Philips and Ed Brubaker. Completely different from their previous collaborations, “Fatale” is the dark and intriguing tale of one femme fatales adventures across time against an ancient nemesis that comes to her in different forms and times. The current arc is perhaps the best yet, full of one-shots starring lead character Jo throughout history in an exciting and genre-breaking form. Brubaker and Philips are one of those teams that have worked together so much that in their creator-owned work the line between collaborators is beautifully blurred, and they are a talent not to be missed on a monthly basis.
6. Skullkickers
Writer: Jim Zubkavich
Continued below
Artist: Edwin Huang
Why It Made The List: Perhaps one of the most underrated gems at Image, “Skullkickers” is brilliant, pure and simple. A tremendous DnD riff, it’s a book full of humor and heart wrapped up in sleek and shiny artwork that matches the tone of the stories being told in the same way that jam meshes so well with peanut butter. Zubkavich, Huang and colorist Misty Coats are putting together one of the zaniest books on the market, and it’s important to note how consistent the title is: it’s always funny, it’s almost always accessible, it’s completely unpredictable and it’s always subtly disarming in the way that it draws you into the story and makes you care about every little damn thing about it. To not be reading “Skullkickers” is to miss out on the one book that really looks comics in the eye and says “Make my day, punks.”
5. Prophet
Writer: Brandon Graham
Artist: Simon Roy, Farel Dalrymple, Giannis Milonogiannis, Brandon Graham, Jason Wordie, Emma Rios and more
Why It Made The List: Perhaps one of the most elaborate and sprawling books at Image, “Prophet” is the sci-fi book of our generation of readers. Influenced by European comics and introducing them to an unexpecting American audience, “Prophet” is a beautiful series with a bevy of talented artists alternating throughout different portions of this grandiose story. It’s a complete re-imagning of Rob Liefeld’s original series, and is easily the single most successful title of the Extreme relaunch. That alone should be enough of a convincing point as to why one should pick up the book.
4. The Manhattan Projects
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Pitarra
Why It Made The List: Funny, sardonic revisionist history, “Manhattan Projects” came out of the gate swinging with Darrow-esque artwork and a devilish wit. Hickman and Pitarra are surely madmen, with Jordie Bellaire on tap to help cage their insanity in a delightful bit of 4 color bliss. It’s hard to really say anything about “Manhattan Projects” that hasn’t been said extensively already, but it’s certainly a book that makes history a ton of fun. With strong characters and bad science, it’s definitely one of Image’s biggest books in term of scope and execution, and it’s easily a can’t miss title every month.
3. Saga
Writer: Brian K Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Why It Made The List: Ah, “Saga.” One of the most popular books right now, and for good reason. Brian K Vaughan’s scripts are humorous and often poignant, often times pulling the rug out from under the reader through a series of verbal misdirects. Fiona Staples art is all-encompassing and epic in scope, yet always human enough despite the alien setting, truly capturing and bringing to life a wide variety of cast of ages, races and species. Staples and Vaughan have proven to be such a talented collaboration with this series that blends science fiction with melodrama in a way so smooth you’d hardly even notice you’re watching the space version of Parenthood. And that’s a great thing.
2. Chew
Writer: Jonathan Layman
Artist: Rob Guillory
Why It Made The List: If you’re not reading “Chew,” you hate comics. There’s no two ways about it. “Chew” was the marking point for Image’s resurgence, a creator-owned comic like nothing else on the stands that’s still going strong to this day. Impossibly funny with humor hidden in between even the tiniest of lines, “Chew” is a blast and a half every new issue it comes out. It never ceases to amaze the amount of jokes that Layman and Guillory manage to jam pack into the issue, and yet the series never loses its focus as one-part buddy cop comedy and one-part dark exploration of a post-outbreak America. That’s what makes “Chew” so ultimately brilliant, really; you never realize how dark the series is because the team has brightened it up with such a friendly facade the horror of it all is lost in an insane wave of creativity.
Also, there’s a secret agent chicken. That’s the best.
Continued below
1. Morning Glories
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Joe Eisma
Why It Made The List: When we started this list, I made a mention of loving mysteries, and sci-fi ones at that. I think it’s then rather appropriate that each side of the list is bookended with a sci-fi mystery, with the #1 spot being taken by the always great “Morning Glories.”
Pure and simple, this is one of my favorite comics around. It’s definitely my favorite from Image (obviously), and one of the few books that, if someone held a gun to my head and told me I had to drop my entire pull but one title (why they would do that, I don’t know), this would most likely be the one title I save. It’s an epic of a book, and each issue is engrossing in a way that I find very few other books to be. This is a book that reads you as you read it, and it forces you to take the time to work with it to uncover the secrets contained within. If comics are a collectors hobby and each book you buy is an investment, this book is arguably the strongest one as it is one of the few books around that does not allow you to just read it, bag it and board it — you have to sit with it, study it and embrace it in its entirety, because with a book that seeks to run 100 issues, anything less just doesn’t seem right.
But, you know, huge surprise that the guy who extensively covers the book picks it as the best title Image publishes, right? To that I say: you’re right. It’s still the best.
