Mind's Eye Comics Pick! -- Image! #1

Image! #1, Image Comics

Writers: Geoff Johns, Declan Shalvey, Wyatt Kennedy, Wes Craig, Skottie Young, Mirka Andolfo, Brenden Fletcher, Kyle Higgins, Patrick Kindlon, and Dean Haspiel.

Artists: Andrea Mutti, Declan Shalvey, Luana Vecchio, Wes Craig, Skottie Young, Mirka Andolfo, Erica Henderson, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Maurizio Rosenzweig, and Dean Haspiel. 

In the first issue of a year long, twelve issue anthology series celebration of the 30th anniversary of Image Comics, top writers and artists come together for a wide range of stories, featuring both new and old characters. Most of the stories begin multi-part tales, to be continued in upcoming issues of the anthology series, while others are one and done short stories. With ten short stories in total, this $5.99 first issue is a phenomenal bargain, giving a great selection of different stories and art styles that I honestly can’t recommend highly enough. 

Among my favorite tales was a tale introducing a new villain into the Radiant Black universe, by creator Kyle Higgins and artist Daniele Di Nicuolo. The story written and drawn by Declan Shalvey was also extremely fun, and violent. The opening tale, called “The Blizzard,” by writer Geoff Johns and artist Andrea Mutti definitely has my attention, and was just hauntingly beautiful, with a great cliffhanger. But my absolute favorite of the tales, with the most pleasant surprise being the art by Luana Vecchio, was entitled “Gospel for a New Century,” which will also continue into future issues.