Twenty years ago, seven superstar artists left Marvel Comics to create their own company, Image Comics, a company that continues to influence mainstream comics and pop culture to this day. Image began as more than just a publisher – it was a response to years of creator mistreatment, and changed comics forever. The Image Revolution tells the story of Image Comics, from its founders’ work at Marvel, through Image’s early success, company difficulties during the comics market implosion, and ultimately the publisher’s new generation of properties like The Walking Dead. Filled with colorful characters, the film is a clarion call to artists to take control of their destiny.

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Video Quality

The Image Revolution comes to Blu-Ray from ETR Media with a decent HD master that shows the visual limitations of a documentary from 2013, but it holds up well enough. The feature is a mixture of contemporary talking head interviews along with an onslaught of archival photos, clips, and more to help round out the legacy of the company. Any older footage from the early days of the company appears to be derived from the most stable source available, with some of it looking a bit shabby as it stems from the consumer camcorder era. A lot of this footage can look somewhat rough, but most of it looks nice enough.

The more recent talking head interview segments look clear, if not just a touch soft, with natural skin tones and some detailed facial features from the stable filming locations. The colors observed in the footage have a welcome vibrancy to them. The encoding is in fine shape when it comes to compression artifacts and other such digital shortcomings. Documentary filmmaking has gotten more visually consistent and refined over the years, but this holds up just fine given when it was produced.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray disc comes with a sturdy DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that translates the film as intended. This is an interview showcase with a substantial amount of talking heads to go along with some vintage commercials, movie clips, and other odd sources. There are no serious digital anomalies, drop-outs, or other issues spotted. The music from the film comes through with commendable fidelity that saturates the room. Dialogue emerges from the center channel as you get entertaining stories shared in a calm environment. This track does exactly what it needs to. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Director Patrick Meaney provides a commentary track that delves into the production process, the decisions on how to structure the story, additional background context, the research that went into using the comics as transitions, and more.

Extended Interviews: Additional footage is provided that didn’t make the final film, including additional background details on the founders, comic book fandom from the Walking Dead cast, and more.

- Founders (45:03)

- Others (15:34)

Comic-Con 2025 Interviews

- What Happened After: A ten-minute piece in which comic book experts discuss some of the events that happened with the key players in the documentary since the movie was released.

- Todd: A new nine-minute discussion with Todd McFarlane in which he discusses his history with Comic-Con and his past comments in this documentary.

- Rob: A nearly ten-minute conversation with Rob Liefeld in which he reflects back on the impact of The Image Revolution, discusses some of the developments since the documentary, and more.

Final Thoughts

The Image Revolution is a comprehensive look back at a radical turning point in the comic book landscape. Marvel and DC are always going to be the titans of the industry, but Image Comics brought a sense of creative rejuvenation and lawlessness that proved to be very exciting for readers yearning for something different. The presentation is very straightforward, but the movie touches on most of the topics one would want to know, and most of the key players show up to help guide you through this history. It won’t dazzle newcomers to the hobby, but those with an interest in the subject should have fun. ETR Media has released a Blu-Ray featuring a solid A/V presentation and a wonderful amount of additional footage. Recommended

The Image Revolution is currently available to purchase on Standard Edition Blu-Ray or with a Limited Edition Slipcover exclusively through Vinegar Syndrome.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: ETR Media & OCN Distribution have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.