Comic Book Day: Happy Birthday, Image!

Next year, Image will be old enough to legally drink.

Ready to feel old? Image Comics is turning 20 this year. Yup, it’s been 20 years since you bought that copy of Spawn #1. Two decades since a bunch of upstarts left Marvel and started their own company. Hell, Image is older than Miley Cyrus.

Image is a pretty different company now than it was in 1992, and we’re not just talking about a relative dearth of giant shoulder pads and huge guns. Top Cow is still around and Spawn is still kicking, while Wildstorm left for DC and is now fully absorbed into the new DCU. But 2012’s Image is no pale reflection of its former self, with Robert Kirkman’s Skybound and a ton of great creator-owned work like The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, the recent hit Fatale and the upcoming Saga from Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

To help celebrate, next month will see the very first Image Expo, a convention devoted solely to independent, creator-owned comics. Taking place February 24-26 at the Oakland Convention Center, Image Expo will be featuring a supreme smorgasbord of huge talent. Guests include major Image players Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. That lineup alone should have you thinking about spending a weekend in Oakland, but then you add Brian K. Vaughan, Ed Brubaker, Joe Casey and John Layman… Image Expo is the picture of cool. If you’re going, consider bringing a birthday card.

Forward to a Buddy Invite a Buddy