SDCC 2017 Debut Image Comics “Image Icon” 25th Anniversary T-Shirt

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Image Comics will be releasing this fantastic “Image Icon” t-shirt that will be debuting next week at San Diego Comic-Con 2017! This awesome black and white tee features 20 different comic book icons from some of the publisher’s groundbreaking series. This shirt has an amazing mix of icons from Image founding series to some of the hottest new books from today. Can you name them all?!?!

This San Diego Comic-Con 2017 Debut Image Icon T-Shirt will be available at the Image Comics SDCC booth #2729 for $25.

Savage Dragon Skateboard by Freak Show & Erik Larsen

As you may or may not know, The Blot is a gigantic Savage Dragon fan! I’ve been reading Erik Larsen’s long running comic book since the very first issue was released back in 1992, which means I’ve now been reading the Image comic for well over half of my life. So when Illinois skateboard company Freak Show (Facebook) announced earlier this week that it was launching its new line of comic book themed Longbox skateboards with a Savage Dragon skate deck I got really excited! While I’ve never been much of a skateboarder, I am seriously tempted to pick up one of these beautiful decks to add to my Dragon collection. Wouldn’t it look sick with a Savage Dragon doodle on it by Larsen!?!

While I haven’t been able to find out too much information on the company itself, I did learn the Savage Dragon skateboard is now available for pre-order through Freak Show's online store in three different options: there’s the basic Savage Dragon deck for $54.99, a signed Savage Dragon deck signed by the character’s creator Erik Larsen for $74.99, and a complete working Savage Dragon deck for $149.99. All decks are scheduled to ship the first week of July, and can be purchased at the Freak Show online store or by emailing them at freakshowskateboards@gmail.com.

Image Comics 20th Anniversary Variant Covers by Ghris Giarrusso

On April Fool’s Day at Emerald City Comiccon, Robert Kirkman and Chris Giarrusso tried to pull a fast on the ECCC fans in attendance for the Skybound/The Walking Dead panel. They announced a new project entitled The Walking Dead for Kids, which would be a panel-by-panel recreation of early Walking Dead issues drawn in Giarrusso’s trademark, kid friendly art style. While the new comic series was a hoax, the image would actually be used as part of a new series of variant covers in honor of Image Comics’ 20th Anniversary.

Since then Image has announced that in honor of its 20th anniversary, Giarrusso will recreate twelve classic first issue covers as variants. First to get the “too-cute” treatment is Youngblood #17, which is especially appropriate because Youngblood was the very first Image title. Thanks to iFanboy, we now have pics of the Giarrusso’s first six Image 20th Anniversary variant covers: The Walking Dead, Spawn, The Savage Dragon, Youngblood, Shadowhawk and Morning Glories. My only question is which book will feature the Shadowhawk cover?

To be honest, The Blot’s a huge fan of Giarrusso’s work. I’ve been reading his Mini Marvels and G-Man Comic Bits strips for years, and my copy of G-Man: Learning to Fly (featuring a sketch by Giarrusso) is my favorite comic purchase from my one and only trip to San Diego Comic-Con back in 2009. Honestly, we need more quality all ages material like Giarrusso’s published by the comic book industry!

The first six Image Comics 20th Anniversary variant covers by Chris Giarrusso will be released sporadically over the next four months (May, June, July and August 2012) and The Blot wants them all! Be sure to keep your eyes peeled to The Blot Says… for more details on these awesome variant covers, and hopefully pictures of the second batch of tribute covers.

[Source: iFanboy]

Savage Dragon #150 - The Return of Overlord

Today sees the release of a huge anniversary issue in the world of comics, the 150th issue of Savage Dragon. Now technically Savage Dragon has been around for over 150 issues, but for the sake of this post let’s just ignore the first three issue mini-series. It’s hard to comprehend that I’ve been reading this book since 1992, which is more than half my life! What’s even more surprising is that after all this time the book is still being written and illustrated by the character’s creator, Erik Larsen.


Since the founding of Image Comics way back in 1992, only two books have been continuously produced by the publisher, Savage Dragon and Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. Honestly, if you had asked me back in ’92 which books would have survived the comic book explosion of the 1990s I’m not so sure I would have picked The Savage Dragon. I think it is a testament to the book’s creator and Larsen’s dedication to both the world he has created and his fans. It is also refreshing to read a comic book that takes place in real time and actually ages its characters. I mean seriously, how long can Peter Parker stay in his 20’s?


The main reason I’m so excited for Savage Dragon 150 is that it marks the return of one of Dragon’s greatest foes, Overlord. Why is this such a big deal you might ask? Well for one, Overlord has been dead for many years and in the world of Savage Dragon dead really means dead. So while other companies may bring back their previously deceased characters all the time (cough, cough The Blot’s looking at you Marvel and DC), Larsen sticks with his decisions to kill off characters. That means either there is a new person assuming the Overlord persona or this is possibly an Overlord from another dimension. Either way I’m very excited to see how the return of Overlord plays out over the next few months.



Now that Larsen has hit the 150 issue milestone, I’m interested in see if he can sustain his creative juices for long enough to break the record of longest comic book series with the same artist and writer (a record currently held by Dave Sim for writing and drawing 300 issues of the black and white indie comic Cerebus). Savage Dragon issue #150 hits comic book shops around the world today, Wednesday, July 1, 2009. It is 64 pages long and retails for $5.99.