The Image Revolution (2014) (DVD Review)

The Image Revolution (2014) (DVD Review)
Directed By: Patrick Meaney
Starring: Charlie Adlard, Greg Aronowitz, Ryan Benjamin
Rated: UR/Region: 1/Widescreen/Number of disc: 1
Available From Shout! Factory

Twenty years ago, seven superstar artists left Marvel Comics to create their own company, Image Comics, a company that continues to influence mainstream comics and pop culture to this day. Image began as more than just a publisher – it was a response to years of creator mistreatment, and changed comics forever. The Image Revolution tells the story of Image Comics, from its founders’ work at Marvel, through Image’s early success, company difficulties during the comics market implosion, and ultimately the publisher’s new generation of properties like The Walking Dead. Filled with colorful characters, the film is a clarion call to artists to take control of their destiny.

We live in a pretty cool time I think. In the last few years we’ve gotten documentaries for VHS collecting, Canon Films, movies that were never made, and now we have a pretty cool one for Image Comics. Now, I am a big comic book fan and I consider myself a big fan of not only Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man run over at Marvel, but of his Spawn series as well. A comic that did a whole lot for Image in general, as it “spawned” a cartoon and even a movie among other things (one of the very first DVDs I ever bought). So I was pumped for this and I wasn’t really let-down. The doc is made-up of a lot of talking heads, from McFarlane, to Liefeld, to Larson, to Lee and so on. We have some very dated footage of things to fill in some spots, but we also have some cool new art to also fill in for the visual side of things as they tell their tale. We get the whole story as well, which I expected. From them leaving Marvel and the why, to how things were formed over at Image, how heads started to but, the more recent success with The Walking Dead, and everything else in between. If you have a love for Image Comics at all, then I don’t see how you couldn’t enjoy a film like this. It is almost worthy of a watch just for the funny Todd McFarlane impression that Rob Liefeld breaks out from time to time. I think he pretty much nails it.

Overall the story of Image is an interesting one, made even more interesting by some of the inside stuff we hear here. These sorts of things always seem to be more about the fall than the rise, but seeing as how Image seems to be doing just fine overall these days, I guess everything gets a good even balance. I might of wanted just a bit more Spawn stuff than we seem to get, maybe a bit more on the movie, but for anyone who loves The Walking Dead, I think you’ll find enough cool info about the birth of that title and how it became what it is today for you to want to give this a spin sooner rather than later. Overall, I dig documentaries in general, but I dig them more when they are about stuff that I really like, which comics fit into that. I’ve always been a Marvel fan at heart, but Image always seemed like the darker and more adult option for comic fans out there when I was growing up. Because of that I think The Image Revolution is a very interesting time and a very good little documentary overall. It may not make the all-time list for this stuff, but it is very good to its own credit.

Extras

– Extended Interviews