Top 10 Image comic series

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This week I am going to start something new ‘The List’, this week I am going to count down my top 10 Image comics series. If you haven’t checked out Image Comics, you should! They have a great range of comics, especially if you are not too bothered with superhero stories.

I have by no means read all the Image Comic range, but of the many I have read (Image is the largest of our comic collections) these are my top 10 series that I think you should check out!

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10.  I Hate Fairyland

I Hate Fairyland is a fantastic comic which follows Gertrude, a young girl who falls into fairyland. Given a quest to find the key to get herself home, she starts off with excitement. Twenty-seven years later, the quest has lost its sparkle, Gertrude has become violent, angry and uninterested. She wants to go home. Now! A great black comedy set in a vibrant, colourful world, I Hate Fairyland is brilliant from page to page.

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9.  Morning Glories

Morning Glories Academy is a prestigious prep school, one which people would kill to be admitted to. However, behind the facade is something sinister. Once you enter, you don’t leave, trapped and scared, the students must do what they can to survive. Whilst remembering that nothing is what it seems, and no-one can be trusted. Delving into the supernatural and the occult, this thriller is an absolute page-turner.

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8. Sex Criminals

Sex Criminals follows Suzie, a librarian, and Jon, an actor. They both have a problem, whenever they orgasm time literally stands still. After meeting at a party, they discover that it stops for the both of them. They can share in this frozen pocket of time, where they are the only living things not affected. What would you do if you could freeze time? Rob a bank of course.

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7. Wayward

Meet Rori Lane, she is on her way to Tokyo to live with her mum and start a new life. Worrying about starting a new school, and her level of Japanese quickly fall by the wayside when she discovers the darker side of Tokyo. The ancient creatures hiding in the underbelly, she is delving into the supernatural as she never imagined. Zub and Cummings manage to bring the mythical elements into the story in a very natural way, blending real world and the Japanese myths easily.

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6. Trees

Ten years ago they landed. Standing over the world like trees. They did nothing, except wait. Following a handful of very different characters around the globe, we see the aftermath of the ‘invasion’, on the world and its people. A fantastic piece of science fiction, Trees delves into feminism, trans identity and wealth gaps seamlessly. Beautifully drawn by Jason Howard, the story flows wonderfully from frame to frame, leaving you wanting more.

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5. Revival

The first of our ‘zombie’ series on this list. Revival is set in rural Wisconsin, where one day the dead comes back to life. This isn’t a world or country-wide issue, they have only risen in one town, and it falls to Officer Dana Cypress to maintain peace. Dealing with the outside media, religious nuts, and a townwide quarantine, Dana has got her job cut out. That’s not including the strange glowing ‘ghost’ creatures which have appeared in the woods. Trying to solve a murder just got a lot harder.

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4. The Walking Dead

Now an award-winning TV series, The Walking Dead is still going strong in its comic form. Rick Grimes has awoken from a coma to find the world gone as he knew it. A zombie apocalypse has happened! Following Rick, creators Kirkman and Moore ask how do the living survive in a world ruled by the dead? The Walking Dead sets out to tell the stories of those trying to survive and the decisions they need to make, regardless of morals. This isn’t a case of cheap jump scares, but a great commentary on who humans are, and how far we will go.

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3. Saga

Firstly, how can you not pick up this comic when seeing it on a shelf? Is there anything more badass than a Landfallian breastfeeding?

Saga follows a young family made up of Alana, Marko, and the new baby Hazel. We enter the story to Hazel’s birth, in the middle of a long-raging war between the two races. Born with both her mother’s wings and her father’s horns, Hazel is not something that should have ever been.

Beautifully drawn, and an engaging story from the first panel, Saga should be picked up by everyone!

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2. Nailbiter

Buckaroo, Oregon could be mistaken for a boring small town in America. That is if it were not for the sixteen serial killers which call Buckaroo their birthplace. After the disappearance of an FBI profiler who is looking into why the town produces serial killers, NSA agent Nicholas Finch must now enter Buckaroo and get to the bottom of Carroll’s fate.

At the same time, one of the most notorious killers has returned home, the ‘Nailbiter’, Edward Warren. He is working his own quest, to find out why Buckaroo births so many serial killers.

Nailbiter is a fantastic horror, which doesn’t skimp on the gore. Williamson writes a compelling story in which the town is also a character, wonderfully complemented by Henderson’s artwork. A short run of 30 issues, Nailbiter can be read in an afternoon.

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1. Chew

Set in an alternative world where chicken and all other bird meats are illegal, Chew picks up after a bird flu outbreak killed 23 million Americans.

Tony Chu is a detective, a Cibopath, which means he can get psychic impressions from whatever he eats. Working as a vice cop, he finds having a little nibble of those who have been murdered help in finding the culprit. Whilst working a case, Tony comes across a black market chicken smuggling ring. In order to battle it, he is taken on by the FDA, leading to some of the most bizarre cases to be penned.

Chew has a nice run of 60 issues, which builds its world panel by panel, gripping you from the very start to the bitter end. Layman and Guillory create a gorgeous looking world which you don’t want to leave.

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Bonus 

Huck

Violent Love

Wytches

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What are your favourite Image comics? What would be your top 10?

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Images from here and here