Those digital inks... Is he just darkening the pencils in Photoshop?

----

I doubt it, you can see plenty of photoshop like strokes.

No. Image showed people at the time that they could work at Marvel, make a ton of money, find another company to bankroll them and take all the risks until they were sure they were going to make it on their own, and then unceremoniously dump that other company -- all the while knowing that for most of the Seven Little Shits (McFarlane's term) there was absolutely no risk, since Marvel would have welcomed them back with open arms.

What alternative was 90's Image?  Mostly a collection of solicitations that wouldn't come out, at least on time, with horrible storytelling and interiors that was mostly pin-up poses showcasing terrible anatomy.

____________________

I agree, there was some awful art back then.

"Image showed people at the time that they didn't need to work at Marvel or DC to be successful, sell comics and make money. "

Funny, I learnt that from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird a few years before Image. Only, I think their lesson was a lot better. 

QUOTE: No. Image showed people at the time that they could work at Marvel, make a ton of money, find another company to bankroll them and take all the risks until they were sure they were going to make it on their own, and then unceremoniously dump that other company -- all the while knowing that for most of the Seven Little Shits (McFarlane's term) there was absolutely no risk, since Marvel would have welcomed them back with open arms.

I don't know whether it was risky for the creators or not but they still made the decision to go out on their own even if they had a safety new. And after the dust settled and Image Comics was there standing toe to toe with Marvel and DC in sales the door was open for other creators to come and join the party. Didn't Busiek's Astro City start there? And Jeff Smith brought Bone over? It became a legitimate alternative to working for one of the big two where established and potential creators could make a living in the business and own what they created.

The formation of Image was a great set for creator's rights and I would guess it led to both Marvel and DC becoming a little bit more fair with their own.

QUOTE: Funny, I learnt that from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird a few years before Image. Only, I think their lesson was a lot better.

And there were others besides Eastman and Laird like Dave Sim too but Mirage and Aardvark Vanaheim weren't these huge companies that would publish a variety of books or have enough pull to stay in competition with the big guns. Image, IMHO, changed the rules and made for a more level playing field.

John Byrne wrote: ... Image showed people at the time that they could work at Marvel, make a ton of money, find another company to bankroll them and take all the risks until they were sure they were going to make it on their own, and then unceremoniously dump that other company -- all the while knowing that for most of the Seven Little Shits (McFarlane's term) there was absolutely no risk, since Marvel would have welcomed them back with open arms. ..

What bothered me about Image at that time was how they made a big thing about being for the creators, but dumped most of the second wave of creators's books when they weren't seen as selling as well as the first wave. Hilary Barta, Mike Grell, Larry Stroman and a few others got the axe pretty harshly as I recall.

Andrew Goletz wrote: Image Comics was there standing toe to toe with Marvel and DC in sales

They weren't really.  Early Image did sell their initial books at a high number, some on par with the best of what Marvel and DC were selling, but that was for a very short time all things considered.  It was during the height of the speculator market where books from Valiant Comics were selling big too...for a short time.  Taking all the books published in a given month during that time, say just ten books from each company, and neither Image or Valiant were "standing toe to toe with Marvel and DC in sales."

Don't kid yourselves. Some day a great History of Comics will be written, and Image will be a footnote.