Image Comics began in 1992 when the bestselling artists in the industry decided to leave Marvel and strike out on their own. From these humble beginnings, they began a creator owned renaissance, rivaling the Big Two in sales and changing the comic industry for the better.
In the late 90s, they ran out of sales steam a bit, but became more of a writer focused company as the 21st century went on. There aren't nearly as many superhero books as there used to be, but there are still heroes in Image Comics. This list is going to highlight the best new heroes of the 2010s.
10 Debbie Decay
Debbie Decay is the main character of Rick Remender and Sean Murphy's Tokyo Ghost. Set in future dystopia of high technology and corporate funded drug addiction, the world of Tokyo Ghost is a wasteland of cities and crime, as people addicted to virtual reality drugs run rampant while the rich get richer.
Debbie starts life as a bounty hunter with her lover Led Dent. She decides to take Led to the only place where technology doesn't run rampant to cure him if his addictions- Japan. Eventually, Debbie becomes part of a small village and takes her place as its protector. She overcomes her painful past to become a true hero.
9 Marcus Arguello
Deadly Class, by Rick Remender and Wes Craig, is set in 1980s San Francisco and tells the story of the students of King's Dominion, a school for assassins. The main character is Marcus Lopez Arguello, a street kid whose parents were killed by an insane man released from a mental institution because of Ronald Reagan's policies.
This drives Marcus to want revenge and he becomes a student at King's Dominion, so he can kill Ronald Reagan. While he doesn't seem like much of a hero, he looks out for other students and fights against the corrupt nature of the school, trying to find his own happiness and help his friends.
8 Old Man Prophet
Prophet was a book from the 90s that starred a soldier from the future come to past to keep his apocalyptic future from happening and was created by Rob Liefeld. It was a very cliche book for the time, but because it was an Image book it sold well.
In 2012, the book was rebooted by Brandon Graham and a host of artists. Taking place in a far flung future where humanity roved about the galaxy conquering everything in its path, the hero of the book was Old Man Prophet, who had helped end the Earth Empire before and comes out of hibernation when it reappears. Recruiting a wide variety of allies, he fights for the freedom of all people.
7 Prince Robot IV
Saga, by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples, takes place in a war torn galaxy. While it's mostly about the family of Alana, Marko, and their daughter Hazel, it has a rich supporting cast. Some start off good and go bad and others go the exact opposite way.
Prince Robot IV started off trying to apprehend Alana, Marko, and Hazel, but after a terrible attack on his wife, he changed. Wanting to raise his son away from the violence of the unending war, he would leave his royal power behind... and eventually even help those he once hunted, completing his redemption.
6 Death
East Of West is Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta's tale of the Apocalypse. Set in an America where the Civil War never ended, just expanded and fractured the country even more, it's a heady mix of sci-fi and almost Biblical prophecy. Case in point- Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Death breaks away from the other three Horsemen because of love and they punish him greatly- nearly killing him and destroying his family, seemingly killing his child. He is able to kill them, but when they return, he makes it his mission in life to stop them and try and find his fractured family.
5 Urdr/Cassandra Igarashi
The Wicked + The Divine, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, is about twelve people given the powers of the gods for two years, then they die. It's about fame and life and death and love and everything in between. The characters are wonderfully filled out and complicated, Cass is among the best of them.
A trans woman making a documentary about the gods, she becomes one of them, Urdr of the Norns and works to help them in their mysterious purpose. When that purpose is revealed to be a sham, she fights hard to right the wrongs done by the other gods, not because it will make her famous, but because it's the right thing to do.
4 Chloe Sampson
Jupiter's Legacy, by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, tells the story of a world of superheroes and their children. While the older generation were more heroic, the younger generation is all about their endorsements deals, lavish lifestyles, and drug fueled parties.
Chloe Sampson just seems like a super powered party girl until she learns she's pregnant. She changes her life, as her brother Brandon and his uncle, the hero known as Brain-Wave, stage a coup and take over the US. She embraces the heroic legacy of her parents and fights against her brother, assembling a group of like minded heroes to her side.
3 Marko
Marko is the father of the family that is at the center of Saga. Fighting on the side of Wreath, he is captured and falls in love with Alana, one of the guards at the prison camp he is at. They escape together, with Alana pregnant. Both sides hunt them down, filling their lives with danger.
Marko eventually becomes a pacifist, only using the magic powers of his people for defense and healing. Trials and tribulations haunt his family, but he never gives up on them, working to find a better life for them in a war torn galaxy before tragedy strikes.
2 Alana
Alana, the other main character of Saga, began the war on the side of Landfall Coalition, a technologically advanced race locked in war with the magical forces of Wreath. A prison guard, she falls in love with Marko, getting pregnant and going AWOL.
Alana goes through a harder road than her husband in their journey, becoming a drug addict before being separated from her family. She overcomes her addiction, joins with Marko again, and reunites her family. Alana may mess up, but she always perseveres and fights viciously for her family.
1 Laura Wilson/Persephone
Laura Wilson is the main character of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie's The Wicked + The Divine. She begins the book as a fan of the Pantheon of gods, but soon discovers she has powers herself. She becomes a 13th god, Persephone.
Laura is the first to realize that not everything about the Pantheon is the way it seems, especially as she her transformation is cemented from an attack by Ananke, the seemingly immortal gatherer of the Pantheon. She goes on to spearhead the resistance to Ananke's plans, leading many of the gods in finding out what is really going on. She sacrifices her power, setting an example to the rest of the gods. She is a complicated person, but she never gives up.