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:
  NotesWriterArtist
#1 Variation A

March, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
2 copies available from $1.00 		R.J.M. LofficierManuel García, Steve Rude
#1 Variation B (Cover B by Olivier Peru and Stephane Peru)

March, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
5 copies available from $0.99 		R.J.M. LofficierManuel García, Steve Rude
#2 Variation A (Cover A by Manuel García)

April, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
5 copies available from $0.99 		R.J.M. LofficierManuel García, Javier Piña
#2 Variation B (Cover B by Stéphane Roux)

April, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
4 copies available from $1.75 		Jean-Marc Laine, R.J.M. LofficierManuel García, Javier Piña, Jay Stephens
#3 Variation A (Cover A by Manuel García)

May, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
3 copies available from $0.99 		R.J.M. LofficierJavier Piña, Timothy Green II
#3 Variation B (Cover B by Chris Gossett)

May, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
3 copies available from $1.75 		R.J.M. LofficierJavier Piña, Timothy Green II
#4 Variation A (Cover A by Manuel García)

June, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
2 copies available from $1.75 		R.J.M. LofficierFernando Blanco, Timothy Green II
#4 Variation B (Cover B by Stuart Immonen)

June, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
3 copies available from $0.99 		R.J.M. LofficierFernando Blanco, Timothy Green II
#5 Variation A (Cover A by Aleksi Briclot)

July, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
3 copies available from $0.99 		Jean-Marc Lofficier, R.J.M. LofficierFernando Blanco, Stéphane Roux
#5 Variation B (Cover B by Manuel García)

July, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
1 copy available for $4.98 		Jean-Marc Lofficier, R.J.M. LofficierFernando Blanco, Stéphane Roux
#6 Variation A

September, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
3 copies available from $1.75 		Jean-Marc Lofficier, R.J.M. Lofficier, Jean-Marc LaineFernando Blanco, Stéphane Roux
#6 Variation B

September, 2003
Cover Price: $2.95
2 copies available from $3.00 		Jean-Marc Lofficier, R.J.M. Lofficier, Jean-Marc LaineFernando Blanco, Stéphane Roux