Image 0 [Image Zero] #0
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeImage Zero #0 is one of the most structurally unusual promotional items to emerge from the early Image era: a mail-away anthology assembled from the combined output of six of Image's founding studios, delivered only to readers who clipped and mailed in coupons from seven different ongoing series. That distribution model made it a snapshot of the entire fledgling publisher in a single pamphlet — Youngblood, StormWatch, Spawn, Savage Dragon, Cyberforce, and ShadowHawk all sharing pages for the first and only time under one cover. It carries the confirmed first appearance of Troll (Bartholomew J. Troll), the diminutive Youngblood bruiser created by Rob Liefeld, who would go on to be a recurring presence in the Extreme Studios corner of the Image universe. Todd McFarlane's four pin-up pages also served as an early public preview of Spawn characters — including a prototype figure later known as Tremor, here labelled 'Bludd' — making the issue a legitimate design document for the Spawn mythology.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was conceived as a reader-loyalty promotion tied to the earliest wave of Image direct-market titles: to receive a copy, a reader had to mail in one coupon each from Brigade #2, Savage Dragon #3, Spawn #4, Youngblood #0, Cyberforce #1, ShadowHawk #1, and WildC.A.T.s #2, with the redemption window closing February 27, 1993, and books shipped by March 2, 1993. Each segment was produced by the creator who owned the corresponding property — Rob Liefeld wrote and drew the Troll/Youngblood story, Jim Lee and Brandon Choi handled StormWatch, Erik Larsen wrote and drew the Savage Dragon chapter, Marc Silvestri contributed the Morgan Stryker/Cyberforce origin segment, and Jim Valentino produced the ShadowHawk short titled 'Prey.' Pipeline Comics has noted that several of the stories were originally connected to an unrealized anthology project internally referred to as 'Operation: Urban Storm,' meaning Image Zero may represent the only surviving fragment of that planned book.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Distribution method: exclusively available via mail-away redemption using one coupon each from seven early Image titles (Brigade #2, Savage Dragon #3, Spawn #4, Youngblood #0, Cyberforce #1, ShadowHawk #1, WildC.A.T.s #2); offer expired February 27, 1993.
- First appearance of Troll (Bartholomew J. Troll), the superhuman Youngblood member created by Rob Liefeld, in a short story set in the Pentagon training room.
- Todd McFarlane contributed four full-page pin-ups previewing then-upcoming Spawn characters, including an early version of The Freak and the figure labeled 'Bludd' — the Grand Comics Database notes the 'Bludd' character was subsequently renamed Tremor in the Spawn series.
- Six of the seven Image founding studios are represented: Rob Liefeld (Youngblood/Troll), Jim Lee and Brandon Choi (StormWatch), Todd McFarlane (Spawn pin-ups), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Marc Silvestri (Cyberforce/Morgan Stryker origin), and Jim Valentino (ShadowHawk 'Prey').
- The Savage Dragon segment fits chronologically between the conclusion of Erik Larsen's original Dragon mini-series (December 1992) and the start of the ongoing series (June 1993), depicting Dragon's life with girlfriend Debbie Harris and featuring a supporting role for Peter Klaptin.
- The StormWatch segment, titled 'Deadly Tidings,' depicts Deathtrap holding captive members of StormWatch Prime and served as a lead-in to the StormWatch ongoing series; it was reprinted in Wildstorm Rarities #1 (December 1994).
- Multiple stories were subsequently reprinted in contemporary trade paperbacks: the Troll story in Youngblood: Baptism of Fire (1996); the ShadowHawk story in ShadowHawk: Out of the Shadows (1993); the Morgan Stryker/Cyberforce story in the Cyberforce: Tin Men of War trade paperback (1993); the Savage Dragon story in the Savage Dragon: Baptism of Fire trade paperback (2002).
- The issue includes characters spanning the early Image shared universe across at least four studios: Youngblood (Troll, Shaft, Sunburst, Flashpoint, Nautika), StormWatch (Battalion/Jackson King, Christine Trelane/Synergy, Deathtrap), Cyberforce (Morgan Stryker, Velocity/Carin Taylor, Claymore), and ShadowHawk, with Spawn/Al Simmons present via pin-up.
Cast · 32 characters
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