Image Announced ‘Image Firsts’ - Reprinting the First Issues of Their Most Popular Titles

Following in the footsteps of DC and Marvel, who both launched similar lines recently, Image Comics have announced a special line of discounted versions of the first issues of some of their most popular titles.

For only $1 dollar, readers will have the chance to pick up reprints of comics like The Walking Dead #1, Invincible #1, Spawn #1, Youngblood #1, Proof #1, and many many more.

The ‘Image Firsts’ line will launch on March 31^st, with Youngblood #1 and The Walking Dead #1, with more issues rolling out in the following weeks.

See the below press release for the full schedule:

GET IN ON THE GROUND FLOOR WITH IMAGE FIRSTS THIS APRIL
Line of $1 Image Firsts Coincides with Free Comic Book Day 2010

BERKELEY, CA — 12 January, 2010 — Just in time for the ninth annual Free Comic Book Day, Image Comics is releasing Image Firsts: a line of titles re-presenting ten key first issues as an introduction to Image’s most acclaimed titles. Priced at only a dollar, each first issue serves as the perfect primer to their ongoing series and collected editions, including THE WALKING DEAD, SPAWN, CHEW, INVINCIBLE, AGE OF BRONZE and many more.

“As discussions for Free Comic Book Day began, many of our retail partners brought up how helpful it would be to have additional, inexpensive supplements to our featured title, Silverline’s FRACTURED FABLES, as a way of bringing in an even wider range of fans,” explained Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson. “We developed the ‘Image Firsts’ program to showcase the great variety of titles we have to offer. Between the superheroics of SPAWN, INVINCIBLE, WITCHBLADE, SAVAGE DRAGON and YOUNGBLOOD to the science fiction of GIRLS and PROOF to Eric Shanower’s historical epic, AGE OF BRONZE, and the horror of THE WALKING DEAD and CHEW, there’s something for every reader, old and new.”

All the Image Firsts will reprint the first issues of each series in its entirety, acting as the perfect primer to the ongoing series and their corresponding backlists. Available in the weeks leading up to Free Comic Book Day, the 10 Image Firsts titles will give retailers an opportunity to expose their incoming new readers to a broad range of Image material. Two titles will be released every week beginning March 31 and continuing through April 28.

All Image Firsts will be 32-page comic books priced at $1.00 and will be available for order in the February issue of Diamond Previews. The full schedule of Image Firsts follow the press release.

Image Comics is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists.  Since that time, Image has gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. There are currently five partners in Image Comics (Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino), and Image is currently divided into four major houses (Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, and Image Central). Image comics and graphic novels cover nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable, offering science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor, and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com

IMAGE FIRSTS SCHEDULE

IMAGE FIRSTS: YOUNGBLOOD #1
story ROB LIEFELD & JOE CASEY
art & cover ROB LIEFELD
MARCH 31
32 PAGES / FC
$1.00
The original celebrity superheroes make their debut in this remastered tale by Rob Liefeld and Joe Casey.

IMAGE FIRSTS: THE WALKING DEAD #1
story ROBERT KIRKMAN
art & cover TONY MOORE
MARCH 31
32 PAGES / BW
$1.00
A continuing tale of survival horror in a post-apocalyptic world.

IMAGE FIRSTS: SPAWN #1
story TODD McFARLANE
art & cover TODD McFARLANE
APRIL 7
32 PAGES / FC
$1.00
Todd McFarlane’s arcane superhero discovers the truth behind his unholy resurrection.

IMAGE FIRSTS: CHEW #1
story JOHN LAYMAN
art & cover ROB GUILLORY
APRIL 7
32 PAGES / FC
$1.00
Bizarre culinary crimes investigated by the FDA’s premier psychic detective.

IMAGE FIRSTS: SAVAGE DRAGON #1
story ERIK LARSEN
art & cover ERIK LARSEN
APRIL 14
32 PAGES / FC
$1.00
A lone supercop fights against a city of organized supercrime.

IMAGE FIRSTS: AGE OF BRONZE #1
story ERIC SHANOWER
art & cover ERIC SHANOWER
APRIL 14
32 PAGES / BW
$1.00
Eric Shanower’s epic retelling of the Trojan War.

IMAGE FIRSTS: WITCHBLADE #1
story DAVID WOHL & CHRISTINA Z
art & cover MICHAEL TURNER
APRIL 21
32 PAGES / FC
$1.00
The only weapon powerful enough to keep the forces of Darkness and Light at bay is in the hands of a New York cop.

IMAGE FIRSTS: GIRLS #1
story JOSHUA LUNA
art & cover JONATHAN LUNA
APRIL 21
32 PAGES / FC
$1.00
A small town trapped in an invisible dome becomes the epicenter of an alien invasion unlike any other.

IMAGE FIRSTS: INVINCIBLE #1
story ROBERT KIRKMAN
art & cover CORY WALKER
APRIL 28
32 PAGES / FC
$1.00
When a teenager inherits his father’s superpowers, he learns there’s much more to being a superhero than he ever anticipated.

IMAGE FIRSTS: PROOF #1
story ALEX GRECIAN
art & cover RILEY ROSSMO
APRIL 28
32 PAGES / FC
$1.00
Crypto-zoological horror as investigated by Agent Ginger Brown and her partner, Bigfoot.

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