At the age of 12 or 13, Image Comics was the ultimate for me -- all my favorite creators under one roof, creating all-new characters and comics. Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld -- it didn't get better than that for me.

Now that I'm a bit older, my "dream team" isn't quite the same... but it gets me curious -- what would YOUR dream team be? If you could pick 6 or 7 superstar creators to form an all-new superhero universe, who would you pick? For me --

HANZO COMICS!

Alan Moore
Frank Cho
Frank Quitely
Mike Mignola
Alan Davis
Mark Schultz
Art Adams

Basically, it'd be an ABC type thing -- Alan writes all the stories, these guy draw all the books. Except Mignola, he can do whatever he wants.

(No Larsen since he's already doing Savage Dragon for Image -- why wish for what you already have, y'know?)

Alan Moore
Dave Mazzucheli
Neil Gaiman
Mike Allred
Francesco Francavilla
Brian K Vaughn
Bernie Wrightson

Teams on books:

Bob Haney and Mark Allred

Alan Moore and Bernie Wrightson

Otto Binder, Curt Swan, and Murphy Anderson

Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox, and Nick Cardy

Michael Chabon and Darwyn Cooke

Gene Rodenberry and Dave Cockrum

Ian Fleming and Jim Aparo

Jules Verne and Mike Mignola

Mathew, Mark, Luke, John and Hal Foster

Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Tony Isabella, Roger Stern, Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek and Roy Thomas with Jim Shooter overseeing everything.

J Michael Straczyinski
Adam Hughes
Len Wein
Jae Lee
Brian Azzarello
JG Jones
Andy Kubert
Joe Kubert
Darwyn Cooke
Amanda Conner
Lee Bermejo
John Higgins

Well, hell, if we can resurrect the dead, I'm going to put Oscar Wilde and Michelangelo on something just to see what happens.

I don't have anything specific in mind. Just stuff that's weird and different - possibly some done-in-one anthology stuff like Creatures On The Loose, and maybe a supernatural-style WW2 comic. Of course, a lost city would be involved somewhere along the line, and it's inevitable that there'd be apes as well. Maybe a lost city of super-apes who become involved with the allies during WW2. Or something. Or comic book adaptations of books I like a lot - such as Congo, The Third Eye or The Worms Of The Earth. There could be superheroes every so often, but they wouldn't be the focus - I'd try to actively avoid having that be the case. Just to be different for the sake of being different. Maybe I'd get people who loved a particular genre, and let them do stuff they've always wanted to do with that genre - "You've always wanted to do a romance comic set during the French Revolution? Go for it!". Or whatever.

Simon Comics would somehow involve a resurrected Steve Gerber and Gene Colan. Also John Buscema, Jack Kirby and Marie Severin. Roy Thomas and a fully healed Bill Mantlo would be getting a gig with Simon Comics, too. Not to mention Mike Ploog, Val Mayerick, Joe Orlando, Carmine Infantino, Curt Swan, Wayne Boring, Flo Steinberg, Vince Coletta, Robert Crumb, Rick Leonardi, Jean "Moebius" Giraud a young Stan Lee and Dave Gibbons. And maybe that Marcus Kelligrew guy who posts here at IMWAN.

Oh, and Len Wein. Of course.

Bump.

To form an all-new superhero universe, I'd like to see the following creators form their own company:

Writers: Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, Jonathan Hickman and Brian K. Vaughan; artists: Frank Quitely, Travis Charest, Lee Weeks and Olivier Coipel; and a wildcard 'elder-statesman' writer-artist, Howard Chaykin.

This list of names sound familiar.

Very familiar.

Hmmm....Chaykin and Ellis? Good call on those two. I'd love to see those two work together.

Well, I don't know about that. They just seem like they'd be a great group to set loose on a small, self-contained universe of interesting characters. I don't know, it just feels right.

It'd be searing.

Sticking with the original Image model, I'll go with six writer/artists working on their own properties.

Darwyn Cooke
Paul Pope
Jeff Smith
David Mack
Gabriel Ba/Fabio Moon
Dave Mazzucchelli

These are all folks that impress me as both writers and artists.

I like some of everyone's choices. I'd like to try something a little different.
Monk
Hanzo
Trevor
Robert Swanderson
Rick Hannah
James C. Taylor
Flameboy
The Judge
And If I may, myself would be my list of creators.

That would be a lot of fun.

Except for The Judge.

Don't get me wrong, his art's nice, but he would eventually screw you all over. He'd be the Todd McFarlane of the group -- the asshole that you'd all end up suing.

Mark my words.

Don't worry. We'll make him draw Youngblood.

Well, there is that.

That's a fun game - which Image comic (of the original six) would you pick to write and draw if given the chance (or if you had to)?

Spawn
Youngblood
WildC.A.T.S.
Cyberforce
Shadowhawk
The Savage Dragon?

I'd go with Spawn, though more creepy/horror/urban fantasy and less over the top grim and gritty superhero.

That's a lot of team books. Team books is hard. I'd like to try WildC.A.T.S., though.

I could be your Julius Schwartz and come up with cover concepts...