|
Image Universe
| |
|
| |
|
Publisher
|
Image Comics
|
|
Notable Characters
|
|
|
First Appearance
|
Youngblood (vol. 1) #1 (April, 1992)
|
The Image Universe is the continuity present in Image Comics superhero comic books.
History
Though many of the super-humans of the Image Universe began long ago, the first notable appearance of super-humans to the public eye first occured during the Second World War, where heroes like Supreme battled the Axis forces, as well as spies and fifth columnists within America. Soon after World War II, Supreme, the world's most famous hero, left the Earth, disappearing until the late 20th Century.
Heroes continued to fight evil well into the 20th century with several signifigant teams appearing in the last decade including the celebrity superheroes of Youngblood, the WildC.A.T.s (who battled a shadow war against alien forces) and the technologically enhanced Cyber Force. In Chicago, a city that contained a large number of mutant creatures called freaks, the Chicago PD gets a super-human recruit in an officer named Dragon.
Soft Continuity
It is worth noting that the continuity of Image super-hero books are a lot looser, particularly due to the fact that all of Image's comics are creator-owned. In fact, it is not uncommon for super-heroes from other continuities are brought in and treated as a regular part of the universe (such as Dark Horse's Hellboy or Mike Allred's Madman), as opposed to Marvel or DC Comics, where it is usually either out of regular continuity and/or involves dimensional travel. It is also common for some characters to move in and out of continuity. For example, characters from the Wildstorm imprint was originally part of the Image Universe, before moving into it's own continuity (called the Wildstorm Universe) and most recently joining the DC Universe.
Though the nature of events within the books themselves remain consistent, events that happen in some books would not necessarily effect the others.