no mercy

The end of the year is a time of reflection in many ways, and that often means thinking about and assessing what the very best releases in any particular medium were. As we prepare to cross the threshold into 2017, we've been collecting some of the best covers of the year by publisher for your perusal, and today we're looking at fifty of the best comic book covers released from Image Comics in 2016.

Today is Black Friday across America, where the world of retail becomes a living nightmare not unlike the Hunger Games. If, however, you're holed up in a bunker waiting for things to blow over, you can still get in on some pretty great deals. Today at Comixology, Image has launched a gigantic 50% off sale with a ton of great single issues and collections that you can pick up now to read while you stand in line trying to buy a six-dollar BluRay player or make conversation with your relatives. It should be noted that it's not on everything --- there are a couple of notable absences, including Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's Velvet, for instance --- but there's more than enough there to get going, and as always, we've got some recommendations!

I took six AP classes over the course of my high school career. I was president of the Readers’ Club. I won awards for poetry and public speaking. But because I was not uniformly incredible at everything I attempted, and because I did not go to what my school considered an impressive college, I was regarded as a “problem student.” This was not atypical. Academic competition defined those four years, for me and for all 3,000 of my classmates. Yet for all the world’s media devoted to Teens Having Feelings, I rarely see this experience reflected. Jocks, nerds, burnouts, hotties — whatever. We’re all very familiar with tales of cafeteria warfare and bravery in the face of cystic acne. But where are the movies devoted to GPA mania? Clubs created for the sole purpose of claiming presidency on one’s transcript? The pitying looks a mere 4 on an AP exam elicits, rather than the vaunted 5? Nowhere, really, unless something Glee-ish decides to do a Very Special Episode on Adderall abuse. Until Alex de Campi, Carla Speed McNeil, and Jenn Manley Lee’s No Mercy.

Writer Alex de Campi and artist Carla Speed McNeil have teamed up to create the Image book No Mercy, about a group of teenagers from the U.S. who go to Central America on a school trip and things go horribly, horribly wrong. The story is brutal and unforgiving, but also at times touching and funny. With lots of psychological terror, a diverse cast, and a pair of great creators at the wheel, the book sounds right up our alley, so we spoke with de Campi and McNeil to find out what readers can expect from No Mercy.

Image held the latest in its series of one-day Image Expo events in San Francisco on Thursday, putting a spotlight on a slate of new titles for 2015, and introducing some new creators to the Image family. In concert with the expo, Image also released a new Humble Indie Bundle that includes an Image Expo Preview book containing art from the newly announced titles, plus some forthcoming books that were previously announced. Titles featured in the preview include Savior by Brian Holguin, Todd McFarlane, and Clayton Crain; Injection, by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, and Jordie Bellaire; No Mercy, by Alex De Campi, Carla Speed McNeil, and Jenn Manley Lee; Island, by Brandon Graham and a whole host of artists; RunLoveKill, by Eric Canete, Jonathan Tsuei, Leonardo Olea, and Manu Fernandez; and Starve, by Brian Wood and Danijel Zezelj; the book also includes a one-page ad for Marjorie Liu's new book with Sana Takeda, Monstress, and an ad for the second season of Pretty Deadly, by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios.