I know my way around Comic Books. I've had a Comic Book Store since 1992 and I've read since then around 15-20 issues per week, mostly to be able to sell those titles to my customers and to make them fall in love with the stories so they become avid readers and thus, avid buyers.
This is a new section of my blog where I'll make some comic book reviews and recommend some titles to anyone reading my entries.
It happens in Football, it happens in TV, in soda companies and obviously, it also happens in comic books... there are two major publishing houses in the comic world and, when they allow it, there are a few small houses that manage to survive. Marvel and DC Comics have dominated the Comic book industry for decades, crushing or absorbing their editorial competitors that have tried to make a name for themselves at different moments of the comic book era.
During the 90's, stories like the one from IMAGE were unthinkable and for them to be successful it was beyond posible. In 1998 one of the many attempts to make a real name for themselves and to become a fan favorite within the masses, by offering a great diverse selection of stories, from cartoons to samurais, from the wild west to far away galaxies, wether inspired by Sherlock Holmes or magic, Science Fiction or Historic novels.
IMAGE comics had among their ranks names like Ron Marz, George Perez, Barbara Kesel, Mark Waid, Claudio Castellini, George Pérez, Bart Sears... all of them with previous experience and a name for their own, as well as the talents that were starting such as Jim Cheung, Josh Middleton, Aaron Lopresti and Steve Mcniven, all of them right now with a great name in the modern comic book world.
In 2004, IMAGE comics was acquired by the DISNEY monster to try and get into the Comic Book business but, it was only a few years later that, as we all know, Disney didn't want to fight the good fight and decided to just buy one of the two giants in the industry. Disney bought Marvel and the Comic book world became a much, much darker place.
Still, it's worth it (and a lot) to immerse yourself into the 90's and early 2000's IMAGE stories and read the original titles, such as: Meridian, Mystic, Sigil, The Path and Chronicles... and also into some stories that found on IMAGE a temporary home such as Dragon's Lair, Lady Death, etc.
ESPAÑOL
Conozco mucho acerca del mundo de los comics. He tenido una tienda de historietas en formato Comic Book desde 1992 y desde entonces he leído cerca de 15 a 20 revistas por semana, principalmente para tener el acervo para poder vender dichos títulos a mis clientes y hacer que se enamoren de la historia, para que así se vuelvan ávidos lectores y por consecuencia, avidos compradores.
Esta sección de mi blog la inicié para escribir mis críticas de ciertos comics y recomendarles a ustedes lectores algunos títulos que valen la pena ser leídos.
Pasa en el fútbol, en la TV mexicana, en los refrescos de cola y también en los comics... existen 2 casas grandes y, si hay suerte y oportunidad algunas casas pequeñas. En el medio del comic Marvel y DC han dominado por décadas, llegando a aplastar o absorber a otras editoriales más pequeñas que han intentado ganarse un lugar en diferentes momentos.
En los 90s casos como el de IMAGE eran impensables y considerar que tuvieran existo mucho más lejos de lo posible. Uno de esos intentos llegó en 1998 con esta compañía que hizo un extraordinario esfuerzo por ganarse el gusto del lector ofreciendo un abanico de opciones que iba desde la caricatura hasta los samurais, cruzaba el viejo oeste e iba hasta galaxias lejanas, lo mismo eran historias inspiradas en Sherlock Holmes o de magia, sci fi o historicas.
Contando entre sus filas con nombres como Ron Marz, George Perez, Barbara Kesel, Mark Waid, Claudio Castellini, George Pérez, Bart Sears... todos ellos ya con experiencia y nombre así como talentos que de alguna manera empezaban a cimentar carreras solidas que hoy ya están consolidadas como Jim Cheung, Josh Middleton, Aaron Lopresti i Steve Mcniven.
En 2004 la compañía fue adquirida por Disney con la intención de competir en este mercado pero al final, unos años después, optó por adquirir MARVEL y el resto es historia.
Vale la pena echarse un clavado en los títulos originales: Mystic, Meridian, Sigil... o en alguna de las franquicias que encontraron corto hogar como: Dragon's Lair, Lady Death, etc.
En lo personal, Meridian, Mystic, The Path y Chronicles... eran mis favoritos.
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