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The biggest barrier for comics entry, specifically with the direct market, seems to be actually getting people into comic shops. The first comic I ever read was a black and white reprint of the first 20 or so Spider-Man comics, in the "Essentials" phonebook-sized comics Marvel used to print. It was good, in that it was my first taste of the medium, and the silly stories and characters and larger-than-life fights and situations were a lot of fun. But it didn't make me want to get up and go find a comic shop. That changed when I discovered The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard.

There are some --- probably most, if you think about it --- comic book readers who just don't read independent comics and ten years ago, I was one of them. However, while DC Comics was reeling from its Infinite Crisis and the heroes of the Marvel Universe were embroiled in a Civil War, Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley's Invincible shone like a beacon from across a distant sea, beckoning me to for god's sake, read an indie comic.

Back in 1998, my comic hobby was fledgling at best. There was a decent local shop, but at the close of my junior year of high school, I had other priorities for where my money was being allocated. Still, when I could, I'd stop by and pick up some books just to see what had been happening since I fell out of the hobby after the conclusion of "The Phalanx Covenant." But as luck would have it, all it would take for me to get invested once again was the familiar style of Joe Madureira calling to me from the shelves. Four years away from the hobby, and his distinctive style was still burned in my brain. I'd never seen anything like Battle Chasers as a comic before, but after flipping through the pages, I was hooked. Here was one of my favorite creators and he was bringing Japanese role-playing games to comics. It was a high school gamer's dream come true.

Everyone loves comic book trivia, but with decades of comics behind, there’s always some new obscure fact to learn. That’s why ComicsAlliance is going deep into the minutiae of your favorite names in comics in our continuing video series. You think you know comics? Well, here’s a few things you might not know! This week we're celebrating Image Comics' 25th anniversary, and after taking a look at the history of cartoons based on Image-published comics, today we're looking at the comics themselves.

Over its 25 years, Image Comics has carved out a reputation as the biggest non-superhero publisher in North American comics. Sure, it launched 25 years ago with books like Spawn, Youngblood, and so on, but it evolved into a company that embraces and celebrates genre diversity. Yet it was also at Image that a new superhero universe was created that gave us many of the best superhero stories of the past twenty years; Astro City, by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, and Brent Anderson.

The year is 1995. I'm sitting in my 7th grade English class, turned around in my chair to talk to my friend Eddie. We'd become friends partially because both of us were reading comics, but to be honest, I was way more into them than he was. I mean, he didn't even read Wizard to get all the hottest news, which was probably why I was having such a hard time explaining my new favorite comic to him. "It's called Gen13," I said. "And it's totally awesome."

Everyone loves trivia about their favorite animated features and series, but with over 100 years of animation history behind us right now, there’s always some new obscure fact to learn. That’s why ComicsAlliance is going deep into the minutiae of your favorite names in cartoons in this continuing video series. You think you know cartoons? Well, here’s a few things you might not know! 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of Image Comics, so this week we're taking a look at the history of cartoons based on comics from America's largest independent comics publisher!

When Image Comics launched in 1992, I was thirteen years old. I think that might be the ideal age for that first wave of Image books. But the truth is, I didn't read most of them. Image comics were a little more expensive than the books I was used to, and my allowance could only go so far. Also they weren't always easy to find, considering I bought most of my comics at either the one grocery store that still had a spinner rack or the tiny bookstore at the mall. But there was one book I showed up for: Erik Larsen's The Savage Dragon. It launched with a three-issue miniseries, which is what I remember best.

Todd McFarlane's Spawn was one of the four core titles published by Image Comics at its foundation 25 years ago, along with Youngblood, Savage Dragon, and WildCATS. Back then, when I still thought I was a cishet white guy, Spawn hit like an atomic bomb, one where the mushroom cloud formed the visage of Eddie from an Iron Maiden album cover. Everything about the character was focused like a laser on appealing to a #teen who is sure angry at something --- the chains, the skulls, the spikes, the glowing eyes, the rubbery monsters and dark inks, all fused with the sleek lines and bright colors of the superheroic aesthetic.