Image Universe

The Image Universe (IU) is a fictional universe in which some stories published by Image Comics take place. It was introduced in the early years of the publisher, shared by the various creators who formed the Image partnership. The independent, creator-owned nature of their work led to limited interaction between their characters, and little coordination of the Image Universe as a shared setting. Instead it has mainly served as the ostensible setting of occasional crossovers between different series, including ''Deathmate'', ''Image United'', and '' The Invincible War''.

Publication history

The Image Universe began with the founding of Image Comics in 1992, launching with series such as '' The Savage Dragon'', ''Spawn'', '' Youngblood,'' and ''WildC.A.T.s''.

Image Comics' nature of allowing comic creators to retain the rights to the characters they publish with Image has led to many characters entering or exiting the Image Universe as the creators move from or to other publishers. Image co-founder and ''Savage Dragon'' creator Erik Larsen generally treats the Image Universe continuity as though each title exists in its own universe, and any crossovers between different creators' characters are events that occur simultaneously in each respective characters' universes.

When Jim Lee was an Image partner, his WildStorm properties such as ''WildC.A.T.s'', '' Stormwatch'', ''Gen¹³'', ''Union'', '' Deathblow'', ''Wetworks'', and ''Backlash'' regularly crossed over with other Image characters, but when he sold his studio to DC Comics, this ceased.

In June 1996, Erik Larsen relaunched the original ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' series by Mirage Studios with a third volume under the Image Comics banner, featuring supporting characters from other series and various crossovers with ''The Savage Dragon'' and ''Spawn''. The series ceased publication on a cliffhanger in 1999. After its cancellation, the series remained in publication limbo for nearly two decades, with no reprints or collected volumes. In 2018, IDW Publishing, which publishes their own ''TMNT'' comic series, began to reproduce the existing 23 issues in a colored version, as well as officially conclude the Image series with a final three-issue story arc, with Carlson and Fosco again taking part in this project.

There were several Image crossover mini-series in the 1990s, such as ''Shattered Image'', ''Altered Image'', ''Big Bruisers'', ''Badrock & Company'', ''Deathmate'', ''Darker Image,'' and ''Splitting Image'', along with the Eclipse Comics satire ''Spittin' Image''. But only ''Mars Attacks Image'' had any direct impact on the titles represented, as the Martians' attack was also shown and referenced many times in the ''Savage Dragon'' series.

In 2009, the Image Universe had its first major crossover in several years with ''Image United''. However, it was canceled, with ''Youngblood'' being sold to Terrific Productions. ''The Pact'', a crossover between ''Invincible'', ''ShadowHawk'', '' Noble Causes'', and '' Firebreather'', was also produced.

In 2021, Todd McFarlane announced the mainline ''Spawn'' series to be expanded into its own shared universe, with ''King Spawn'', ''Gunslinger Spawn'' and ''The Scorched''. He would also like 12 more titles for Spawn's expanded universe.

Later on in 2021, following the success of Kyle Higgins' '' Radiant Black'', it was announced that it would expand into its own universe of books dubbed " The Massive-Verse". It all started with a one-shot crossover entitled ''Supermassive'', written by Higgins, Ryan Parrott, and Mat Groom with art by Francesco Manna and Simone Ragazzoni. The comic served as a crossover between Radiant Black, Inferno Girl Red, and Rogue Sun, with the comic marking the first appearances of the latter two. ''Rogue Sun'' would later launch as an ongoing in March 2022 written by Parrott and drawn by Abel, while ''Inferno Girl Red'' would launch as an original graphic novel, with Groom as writer and Erica D'Urso as artist in late 2022. Radiant Black would later get a spin-off of its own with ''Radiant Red'', a 5 issue miniseries written by Cherish Chen and art by David Lafuente''
* ''Invincible'' universe (Skybound Entertainment)
* Massive-Verse ( Black Market Narrative)
* ''Spawn's Universe'' (Todd McFarlane Productions)
* Top Cow Universe (Top Cow Productions)
* Wildstorm Universe (WildStorm, currently owned by DC Comics)
* Highbrow universe (owned by Erik Lareson)

References

External links

Erik Larsen's explanation of how the Image Universe works




Fictional universes
Canons (fiction)
Continuity (fiction)

{{Image Comics