10 Best Image Comics Series of all Time, Ranked

Image Comics was founded in 1992 when artists Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Erik Larsen, Marc Silvestri, Whilce Potracio, and Jim Valentine left Marvel over money and creators rights, starting their own company. The early years of Image were full of growing pains, many of them Rob Liefeld related to the surprise of no one, and it got pigeonholed as the company with the tremendous art, so-so stories until they started paying big name writers to help out, and delays. So many delays. However, the goal of Image was always first and foremost — let creators create what they want, own it, and make the money. Image became a launch pad for the greatest indie comics in the industry, and has become the gold standard for creators to tell the stories they want to tell, the way they want to tell them.

Image truly came into its own in the 21st century, producing comics that have changed the way many fans look at the medium. The best Image Comics are things of beauty, and some of them have become extremely popular, taking over the world outside of comics and making their creators very wealthy. These ten Image Comics series are the best of the best, amazing stories by brilliant writers and artists.

10) Spawn

Spawn is the longest running Image Comics series, having been created by Todd McFarlane in 1992. I’m not going to lie to you — Spawn is not some amazing series, even the original issues that McFarlane created. There are some cool issues in the early days of the book, basically anything that wasn’t written by McFarlane, and Greg Capullo’s art is sensational once McFarlane stops drawing the book, but Spawn is rarely anything more than a standard superhero book. However, what makes it one of the best Image series is simple — it’s 33 years old. There have been 365 issues of Spawn. It’s never been cancelled and restarted with a new number one. It’s gone on, telling the story of Al Simmons and a veritable army of characters, for decades and has become an important part of the ecosystem of the comic book industry. Spawn is a legendary comic, and it deserves its place in the pantheon of great Image titles.

9) The Savage Dragon

The Savage Dragon, by writer/artist Erik Larsen for 276 issues, is the only other original Image book still standing. It’s been continuously published since 1992, and has told the story of the Dragon, a Chicago cop, and the various superheroes of his world. It’s become its own legacy book, as Dragon has long since stopped being the main character, with his son Malcolm Dragon taking over the book. Whether you like The Savage Dragon is in the eye of the beholder, but it has been one man’s vision for over three decades, and will always be published as long as Larsen can still do it. The Savage Dragon is an entire superhero universe created by one man from the beginning and that alone is a massive accomplishment. There have been some wild moments over the years (God saying the f-word will always be a favorite of mine), and it’s definitely worth checking out if you want superhero action that is off the beaten path.

8) Invincible

Invincible, by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, is sort of like The Savage Dragon, in that it is the vision of one creative team creating their own superhero universe. By now, we all know the story of Invincible — a young hero, his secretly evil father, a whole mess of superheroes and aliens, and the bloodiest superhero fights you can imagine — and that’s the main reason it’s on this list. Invincible was Kirkman’s first book at Image, a mature readers superhero book that he couldn’t write at Marvel, and it made a huge splash. It was the little book that could, impressing everyone who picked it up and making them into fans. Invincible isn’t some deep meditation on superheroes, but it’s definitely a cool look at them. The Amazon series has made it into a cultural phenomena, and a whole new generation of fans are getting to see Walker and Ottley’s amazing fight scenes, some of the best in the entire history of comics.

7) Deadly Class

Deadly Class, by Rick Remender and Wes Craig, is a punk rock crime comic that kicks off in the ’80s and ends in the 21st century, following a group of students from Kings Dominion, a private school for assassins and criminals. Marcus’s parents are killed by a mental patient, released from a mental institution because of Reagan era budget cuts to mental health services, and he is accepted into the school and has to navigate its byzantine power structure. Sex, drugs, music, and comics abound, and readers get some amazing scenes. Deadly Class is a love letter to a certain part of Generation X — much like his Black Science, Remender uses the book to work out his generational trauma — and it’s one of the coolest crime comics ever. I’m going to level with you — when Marcus and Maria return to the school the book goes a little down hill, but the last two story arcs are amazing and redeem the whole thing, taking readers to a place they never thought they would have got to in the beginning of the book. Remender and Craig give readers a stylish crime book that is unlike anything they’ve ever experienced.

6) East of West

East of West, by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta, is a sci-fi alternate history apocalyptic Civil War story. It takes place in a United States where the Civil War became a seven way war, created fractured nations all vying for power. After a truce is enforced on them, the countdown to the Apocalypse begins, and the Four Horsemen ride again. The book focuses on Death, who killed his fellows to start a family that is taken from him, but also shows the war heating up again, as the return of the Horsemen mean that things are about to come to an end. Hickman and Dragotta put out all of their skill to create an amazingly compelling story full of amazing characters, insane ideas, and wild action. It’s an amazing work, and now that it’s finished is the perfect time to read it (by the end, like four issues a year were coming out; the wait was terrible). East of West is a work of extreme brilliance, and anyone who doesn’t like this comic is probably actually dead.

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5) The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, is a legend. While everyone knows it now as the worldwide TV phenomena that basically singlehandedly resurrected the zombie horror drama in the mainstream, most of its newest fans don’t understand that it was always something of a marvel. It was a comic that brought fans into the comic store, and basically everyone that picked up a new issue loved it. The story of Rick Grimes, Carl, and various survivors of the zombie apocalypse grabbed readers and never let go. If you like horror, you’ll like it. If you like drama, you’ll like it. If you like deep meditations about humanity at their worst, you’ll like it. It has a little something for everyone, and it’s one of those comics where even if you don’t like all of it, there is a still a lot of it you do like. Much like the show, it starts to repeat its plot structure, as the survivors find new places, make them safe, meet new human enemies, lose everything, and have to move on, but the characters and situations are so good that it’s okay. The Walking Dead has the goods.

4) Saga

Saga has seen better days, but what days they were. The book by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples is the story of Hazel, telling the story of her life with her parents Marko and Alana. Marko and Alana were on different sides of a war, meeting in a military prison, and their affair spurs both sides to hunt them and Hazel down. What follows is one of the most amazing journeys ever, as readers are dropped into this family’s life as they run from everyone, the highs and lows of love and parenthood contrasting with the insanity of their life. There’s an amazing cast of characters, big moments, emotional highs that are dizzying, and lows that will break you. It’s the kind of comic that you can hand to anyone and they will love it. Saga has been lackluster lately — it’s not finished yet and long hiatuses have hurt it a lot — but the characters are so great that it’s still fun to read. Staples’ art is amazing, and she creates an entire universe, populating it anthropomorphic animal aliens, robots, and sights that you’ve imagined. Saga is the perfect title for a book like this, as its long, twisting narrative that will be a legend when it’s finished.

3) Phonogram

Phonogram, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, follows “phonomancers”, British runic magicians who use music as the basis of their magic. There are three volumes of Phonogram — Phonogram: Rue Britannia, Phonogram: The Singles Club, and Phonogram: Immaterial Girl — with the first volume following David Kohl as he deals with his sins from the Britpop era, the second dealing with seven people at the same club on the same night, and the third following David’s friend Emily Aster as she deals with her magical chickens coming home to roost. Phonogram is a work of brilliance that feels so very real. These are people who you’ve hung out, and while some of the things they’re doing are wild, we’ve all had nights like the ones in this series. It’s a gateway to great music — each volume has a list of the songs you need to listen to in order to understand everything — and amazing characters. Gillen and McKelvie were electric together, and this book is basically perfect in every way.

2) The Nightly News

The Nightly New, by Jonathan Hickman, is amazing. There’s really no other way to talk about it. Hickman wrote and drew the six issues series, which revolved around the Voice, a terrorist organization whose target is the news media. What follows is a twisting narrative that’s as educational as it is entertaining, teaching readers about the media sphere and talking about the way it has controlled information for decades while giving them a compelling and violent conspiracy yarn. The Nightly New is something else, a prescient tale about societal control and indoctrination. Most people know Hickman as an amazing writer, but he’s actually just as great an artist; his unconventional page layouts are a thing of beauty and his style is amazing. This is peak Hickman and the fact that it’s almost twenty years old and still potent really says it all about just how perfect of a comic this is. If you like this, also check out Pax Romana, another Hickman written and drawn story that will blow your mind. However, regardless of whether you read that, you need to read The Nightly News. Everyone does.

1) The Wicked + The Divine

The Wicked + The Divine, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, is a masterpiece. The story follows Laura and Cassandra as they’re caught up in the Recurrence. Every 90 years, 12 people are made into gods. They are loved. They hated. And in two years, they are all dead. The Pantheon, as they are called, has become pop stars in the 2013 form, a group of young people doing the insane things that kids given any kind of power and fame will do. The Wicked + The Divine is something special. There’s excellent character drama, deep lore, visuals so amazing your eyes will bleed, fights that are out of the world, and so much more. It’s a deep meditation on art and artists, but it’s also just a great story about what happens when a bunch of kids are given power, enmeshed in something that they just don’t understand. This is a stylish, cool comic, but it’s also heartfelt, funny, and poignant. The ending is beautiful and perfect and heartbreaking and life-affirming all at the same time. It’s truly an experience you need to have. The Wicked + The Divine takes everything that made Phonogram great, and takes it to the next level.

What do you think the best Image Comics series are? Sound off in the comments below.