This December, to cap off both Spawn and Image Comics’ 30th anniversaries, the publisher will release variant covers uniting Todd McFarlane’s epic creation with some of Image’s biggest properties. The covers, to be illustrated by many of today’s top artists, will reach across nearly every Image title releasing in December, including The Walking Dead, Radiant Black and The Department of Truth. These covers come on the heels of DC’s variant covers featuring Spawn, which will be released in November.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of Image Comics. In 1991, seven high-profile Marvel artists left the company, dissatisfied with how the industry was treating its top talent; Image’s founders sought greater creative control and more just compensation. Image debuted a year later, as an imprint of the now-defunct Malibu Comics; it would spin off from Malibu less than a year later. Among Image’s first two offerings were Youngblood by Rob Liefeld and Spawn by Todd McFarlane. Both books were instant smash hits, selling millions of copies and directly challenging Marvel and DC’s stranglehold on the market. Over the years, Image Comics transitioned from superheroes only to publishing some of the most innovative and challenging creator-owned material on the stands; while titles have come and gone, Spawn continues on, and will be getting nearly 50 variant covers across the entire Image line this December.
Image unveiled 20 of December’s variant covers, shared below, on Comic Book Resources. The article revealed the 50 titles that will be getting exciting Spawn-related variants. Among the titles include: The Walking Dead Deluxe, whose cover will be illustrated by David Finch and Dave McGaig, What’s the Furthest Place from Here? by Tyler Boss and Eight Billion Genies by Ryan Browne. The covers all feature Spawn in some capacity, be it interacting with a character, as he does on Will Sliney’s Hell to Pay cover; alternately, That Texas Blood’s cover by Jacob Phillips features a character reading a Spawn comic.
Without Spawn, Image Would Not Have Survived
Although Image Comics no longer predominately publishes superhero comics, the genre was the rock upon which the company was founded–and these variant covers acknowledge the character’s place in the publisher’s history. Without Spawn, Image may not have survived the early years, and these covers pay homage to that fact. What is truly great about the variants is they respect the integrity of the books; that is, the crossovers do not feel forced, or out of character. This keeps with Image’s creator-first focus. The covers are a fun and unobtrusive call-out to Image’s history.
Image Comics' arrival 30 years ago gave the comics industry a much-needed shot in the arm, shifting the focus onto the creators who made the books. It helped lead to a more equitable industry, and without Todd McFarlane's Spawn, Image Comics would not be the company it is today, and these new variant covers are a celebration of both the character and the publisher.
Source: Comic Book Resources