In 1989, I was 9 years old. I was buying comics from
the corner store: "Ghost Rider", "Weapon X", "Deathlok"...whatever I
could get my hands on. For my 10th birthday, my friend gave me New
Mutants #100 and the artwork combined with the unbridled action and
fast-paced story jump-started something in me. When New Mutants turned
into X-Force, I stuck with it. 10-year-old me had no idea how much
bigger my comic-loving universe was about to become shortly afterwards.
Amazing Arizona Comic Con 2014 screened the world premiere of
"The Image Revolution". This documentary written and directed by Patrick
Meany ("Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods" and "Warren Ellis: Captured
Ghosts") takes us through the genesis of Image Comics through the
firsthand accounts of Todd MacFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Erik
Larsen, and Marc Silvestri.
Watching these 5 guys recount the day they quit Marvel Comics
(and walked over to DC to tell them the same thing) in order to start up
their own publishing company was like watching history being made.
Somewhere in the middle of this documentary, a wave of realization
washed over me: Everything I currently know and see from comic cons, the
battle for fairness to artists, publishing comics yourself and getting
them *seen* weighed heavily on this one short moment in time back in
1991.
Afterwards, Patrick and producer Jordan Rennert were joined by
Rob Liefeld and Marc Silvestri for a Q&A panel. Someone from the
audience asked if they (Marc or Rob) though something this iconic would
ever happen again. Marc
stated that it would never happen again because it doesn't need to: it
already did and it changed things for the better. So no upheaval like
this is necessary. Listening to two iconic artists
answer questions about the past, present, and potential future of the
comics industry was a wondrous experience. I stepped away from the whole
event feeling like anything was possible.
You can grab a copy of The Image Revolution
here and relive the story yourself.
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