Those Image Moments: Weapon Zero's shiny spiky bits.

Here's another aspect of a '90's Image comic book that I really liked when I was a teenager: the techno-organic designs of Joe Benitez in Weapon Zero (written by Benitez and Walter Simonson).

Here are a few examples from issues T-4 and T-2:

(click to enlarge)

Other Image Moments:

• Rob Liefeld's Youngblood #1
• Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon #1
• Whilce Portacio's Wetworks #6
• Erik Larsen, Keith Giffen, and Dave Johnson's Super Patriot #1
  

Those Image Moments: Super Patriot goes klik klak klik klak.

Continuing our tour of early '90s Image comic book moments that have stayed with me all these years, that's Super Patriot up there, from 1993's Super Patriot #1, written by Erik Larsen and Keith Giffen and drawn by Dave Johnson.

Johnson's art was fantastic in this mini-series, and he came up with some very creative ways to show off Super Patriot's super power, which was that his arms could change into guns. (Gotta love those '90s comics.)

Below is a three-page action sequence that I still think is just terrifically executed. All you need to know is that Super Patriot has been sent to an island to investigate some bad guys:

(click to enlarge)

Other Image Moments:

• Rob Liefeld's Youngblood #1
• Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon #1
• Whilce Portacio's Wetworks #6
  

It's a doggie seance!

Dark Horse has posted the short story "Beasts of Burden: Stray" from 2003's The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings. It's written by Evan Dorkin and drawn by Jill Thompson. Check it out here.

Those Image Moments: Wetworks strikes a pose.

Let's take a look at another Image comic book moment that struck my fancy back in the day, this time from Whilce Portacio's Wetworks #6:

(click to enlarge)

I'm not sure why this image has stuck with me since I first saw it; I think it has something to do with the dude with the battle axe.

I preferred Portacio's art to that of Jim Lee or Eric Silvestri (two other Image founders who drew books about superhero teams), and I stuck with Wetworks for the first fifteen issues. Wetworks appeared to be building a nifty universe of supernatural creatures, which I thought was cool back then. Plus, that gold skin looked great with the computer coloring (not pictured above).

I seem to remember the plot moving forward about an inch, and after Portacio stopped drawing it I quickly lost interest.

Other Image Moments:

• Rob Liefeld's Youngblood #1
• Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon #1

Those Image Moments: the Savage Dragon has serious hops.

I've written before about a specific moment from an early 90's Image comic book, and I thought I'd share another one from that period. Like that Youngblood panel, I thought this was awesome when I first read it, and I never forgot it.

This is from Savage Dragon #1, by Erik Larsen:

(click to enlarge)

Looking at it now, it's still pretty awesome. You can probably guess what happens on the next page, and I just wanted to focus your attention on this one. Part of what makes this great is that Larsen didn't show the Dragon crouching, pushing off the ground, or on his way up -- the cop is in the middle of a sentence and by the time she can say another word, he is already several stories in the air and flipped.

That's pretty sweet, and a nice use of the comic book form.

Adrian Tomine should loosen up.

Adrian Tomine printed some letters on the back cover of his comic book Optic Nerve #2, published in 1995 by Drawn & Quarterly.

I thought one in particular was kind of neat, so I thought I'd share it.

Kochalka!

Jog smurfs Belgium.

This is from a few months back, but I thought I'd link to it in case anybody missed it. It's my favorite work of comic book criticism this year.

Jog on the politics of smurfing.

The Metabolists are falling apart.

This is fascinating.

Not Awesomed By Liefeld.

This is hilarious.

Marvel's 1993 Annual Report, Part 3

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

Although there isn't as much awesomeness in this section, the financial data and discussion should be enough to keep all you amateur comic book historians happy. Make sure you check out the last page, for the extra-special surprise!

(my scanner automatically captured the text-only pagesin lower resolution and black and white, for some reason)

(inside rear cover)

And what's this attached to the rear cover? Is it.... TRADING CARDS? A limited set of four trading cards? YES I'LL HAVE THOSE.

And what's this on the back of the cards? Highlights of the history and future prospects of four of Marvel's top properties, including discussion of James Cameron's upcoming Spider-Man movie? And the upcoming X-Men movie featuring Wolverine? YESSSSSSS.

I hope you all enjoyed this peek into the high-flying past of comic books, a time when Marvel counted on both comic book speculators AND trading card speculators. (And why oh why would they choose Fleer? Even Donruss would have been better.)

As for me, I hung on to my four shares through the wild ride of 1993 - 1994, when they shot up from the purchase price of $16 to at least twice that amount, then split into eight shares, and then tumbled downward to something bad.

I also got Marvel's 1994 Annual Report, which I may one day share with everyone (trust me, it's not half as interesting), and then sold my shares for a small loss. I can't remember what I ultimately sold them for; a nickle and some lint from Stan Lee's pocket, probably.

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3