Image Comics Founders and Key Architects Announce Rare Reunion Panel for San Diego Comic-Con 2026

Thirty-four years after a group of superstar artists walked out of Marvel Comics to launch a creator-rights revolution, the architects of that rebellion are gathering to reflect on the shockwaves they sent through the industry. Image Comics has announced a rare reunion panel for San Diego Comic-Con 2026, bringing together the company's original founders and its modern visionaries.[3][4]

The highly anticipated session, titled "Kirkman, McFarlane, Liefeld, Silvestri, Stephenson: Image Comic Legends Together on One Stage," is scheduled for Friday, July 24, in the convention center's massive Ballroom 20. The lineup features original 1992 founders Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, and Marc Silvestri, alongside Chief Operating Officer Robert Kirkman and Publisher Eric Stephenson.[1][2][5]

The panel promises an unfiltered conversation about the risks the founders took to revolutionize comic book publishing and how those decisions forever altered the entertainment landscape. By blending the fiery personalities who launched the company with the executives who guided its 21st-century renaissance, the event offers a comprehensive look at the industry's most successful independent publisher.[1][3][4]

To understand the gravity of the reunion, one must look back to the winter of 1991. At the time, Marvel Comics was enjoying unprecedented sales, driven largely by a stable of superstar illustrators. However, these artists grew increasingly frustrated that the characters they designed were generating millions in merchandise and media revenue while they received only standard page rates and modest royalties.[6][7]

In early 1992, seven of these top creators—including McFarlane, Liefeld, and Silvestri—formally defected to launch Image Comics. The move was dubbed the "X-odus," as several of the departing artists were the creative engines behind Marvel's lucrative X-Men franchise. Their departure was so sudden and significant that it caused a noticeable drop in Marvel's publicly traded stock price.[6][7]

The foundational mechanism of Image Comics was a radical departure from the industry standard. Under the traditional "work-for-hire" model, the publisher retains all copyrights and trademarks to any characters created by its freelancers. Image flipped this dynamic: the company would own no intellectual property other than its own logo. Creators would retain 100 percent ownership of their characters, stories, and subsequent media rights.[6][7]

The gamble paid off immediately. The initial wave of Image titles broke industry records, propelled by the sheer star power of the founders and a rabid collector market. Liefeld's Youngblood and McFarlane's Spawn sold in massive quantities, with Spawn #1 moving an astonishing 1.7 million copies in the spring of 1992. Almost overnight, Image established itself as a legitimate rival to the "Big Two" publishers, Marvel and DC.[6][7]

However, the company's early years were famously turbulent. Because each founder operated an autonomous studio under the Image umbrella, the company lacked centralized editorial control. This led to chronic shipping delays, internal clashes over talent poaching, and a reliance on the 1990s speculative bubble, where fans bought multiple copies of issues as financial investments rather than reading material.[6][7]

When the comic book speculation bubble burst in the late 1990s, Image was forced to evolve. The publisher survived by pivoting away from the superhero-dominated output of its founders and opening its doors to a wider array of independent creators. This shift laid the groundwork for the company's second golden age.[6]

The turning point arrived in the early 2000s with the debut of Robert Kirkman. Kirkman launched two creator-owned series, The Walking Dead and Invincible, which became massive critical and commercial successes. His ability to build sprawling, long-running narratives outside the superhero genre proved that the Image model could sustain long-term storytelling. In 2008, Kirkman was invited to become an official Image partner, the first addition to the core leadership since the company's founding.[6][7]

Alongside Kirkman, Eric Stephenson played a crucial role in shaping the modern iteration of the publisher. As Publisher and Chief Creative Officer, Stephenson aggressively courted top-tier talent from Marvel and DC, offering them the creative freedom and financial upside of the Image model. Under his guidance, Image became the premier destination for critically acclaimed, genre-defying series like Saga, Monstress, and The Department of Truth.[6][7]

Today, Image Comics comfortably holds its position as the third-largest comic book publisher in the United States. While Marvel and DC remain dominant, largely functioning as research and development arms for their parent companies' cinematic universes, Image stands apart as a haven where creators can build their own multimedia empires without surrendering their rights.[6][7]

The 2026 reunion panel is just one piece of Image's massive footprint at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. The publisher is taking over Booth #1915 with a sprawling slate of convention exclusives, including limited-edition "ashcan" previews of upcoming series like Hammerfist and Crowbound. The booth will also host a relentless schedule of creator signings, featuring industry heavyweights like Daniel Warren Johnson, Skottie Young, and Geoff Johns.[3][4]

Beyond the nostalgia of the 1992 founders sharing a stage, the panel serves as a timely reminder of the power of independent publishing. In an era where entertainment conglomerates are aggressively consolidating intellectual property and tightening budgets, the creator-owned model championed by Image remains a vital alternative for artists seeking control over their financial destinies.[6][7]

When McFarlane, Liefeld, Silvestri, Kirkman, and Stephenson take the stage in Ballroom 20, they will be reflecting on more than just a successful business venture. They will be celebrating a labor rebellion that actually worked—a rare instance in the entertainment industry where the talent seized the means of production and permanently rewrote the rules of the game.[1][2][4][6]