Strangers (Image)

    (Image, 2003)
™ and © Image Comics, Inc.

I’ve sometimes wondered if the reason European comics haven’t been as popular as manga in America has been due to the choice of translated stories — publishers going all highbrow, when the U.S. market obviously prefers adventure material.

But instead of Blake & Mortimer, Spirou, or Bob Moraine, what Image offers here is a mediocre facsimile of American super-heroes, and not even good ones. (It’s appropriate this is titled Strangers, since it reminds me of the Ultraverse, after Marvel got its claws into the line.)

The heroes are all generic, the heroines threaten to fall out of their outfits, the villain is a fat guy in an orange jumpsuit (who clearly is supposed to be some kind of major threat but sure doesn’t look it), and it’s all part of some major “epic” so large the reader needs footnotes and a quick history lesson to follow it. The only thing keeping it from dropping a letter grade is the promise that next issue features a guest appearance by Nexus.

— S.A. Bennett
Jump to issue:
  • 1/A
    #1 Variation A
    Mar 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Manuel García, Steve Rude
    2 copies from $1.00
  • 1/B
    #1 Variation B
    Cover B by Olivier Peru and Stephane Peru
    Mar 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Manuel García, Steve Rude
    5 copies from $0.99
  • 2/A
    #2 Variation A
    Cover A by Manuel García
    Apr 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Manuel García, Javier Piña
    5 copies from $0.99
  • 2/B
    #2 Variation B
    Cover B by Stéphane Roux
    Apr 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: Jean-Marc Laine, R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Manuel García, Javier Piña, Jay Stephens
    4 copies from $1.75
  • 3/A
    #3 Variation A
    Cover A by Manuel García
    May 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Javier Piña, Timothy Green II
    2 copies from $1.75
  • 3/B
    #3 Variation B
    Cover B by Chris Gossett
    May 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Javier Piña, Timothy Green II
    3 copies from $1.75
  • 4/A
    #4 Variation A
    Cover A by Manuel García
    Jun 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Fernando Blanco, Timothy Green II
    2 copies from $1.75
  • 4/B
    #4 Variation B
    Cover B by Stuart Immonen
    Jun 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Fernando Blanco, Timothy Green II
    3 copies from $0.99
  • 5/A
    #5 Variation A
    Cover A by Aleksi Briclot
    Jul 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: Jean-Marc Lofficier, R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Fernando Blanco, Stéphane Roux
    3 copies from $0.99
  • 5/B
    #5 Variation B
    Cover B by Manuel García
    Jul 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: Jean-Marc Lofficier, R.J.M. Lofficier  ·  A: Fernando Blanco, Stéphane Roux
    1 copy for $4.98
  • 6/A
    #6 Variation A
    Sep 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: Jean-Marc Lofficier, R.J.M. Lofficier, Jean-Marc Laine  ·  A: Fernando Blanco, Stéphane Roux
    3 copies from $1.75
  • 6/B
    #6 Variation B
    Sep 2003
    Cover: $2.95
    W: Jean-Marc Lofficier, R.J.M. Lofficier, Jean-Marc Laine  ·  A: Fernando Blanco, Stéphane Roux
    2 copies from $3.00