Image Comics has canceled a comic book signing event that was scheduled to be held Tuesday evening at the I Like Comics store in downtown Vancouver. The Portland-based comics publisher was forced to push back the signing after some of the creators scheduled to appear at the event became ill.
“This cancellation was due to a few of the partners coming down with the flu, and the decision was made to ensure that the signing event be the optimum, positive experience for fans eager to meet them,” the company wrote in a statement on Monday afternoon.
The last-minute cancellation is sure to come as a disappointment for local comics fans, but the company said it intends to reschedule the event for January. The rescheduled signing will still be held at I Like Comics. A date has not yet been selected but is expected to be announced soon, the company said.
— Image Comics (@ImageComics) December 9, 2019
The signing was set to feature the six current leaders of Image Comics, all of whom are well-known comic writers and illustrators: Robert Kirkman, creator of “The Walking Dead”; Erik Larsen, creator of “Savage Dragon”; Todd McFarlane, creator of “Spawn”; Marc Silvestri, creator of “Cyberforce”; Erik Stephenson, creator of “Nowhere Men” and Jim Valentino, creator of “ShadowHawk.”
Image Comics is the third-largest publisher of comic books and graphic novels after Marvel Comics and DC Comics. The company was founded in 1992 by a collective of former Marvel and DC creators who left the two legacy publishers and formed the new company with the guiding principle that writers and illustrators, rather than the publisher, would own the rights to the characters they create.
The company relocated its headquarters from California to northwest Portland in 2016, but the leaders are spread out across three states, according to a statement from Stephenson when the event was announced. The six creators had planned to convene at the Portland office for an end-of-year meeting, and the signing event was timed to take advantage of that gathering.
The creators have made separate appearances at past comic conventions and other events, but the I Like Comics signing was described as the first time all six would appear together. I Like Comics has hosted previous signing events featuring prominent guests such as comics creator Brian Michael Bendis and author Chuck Palahniuk, but store owner Chris Simons previously said he expected the December event to be the biggest in the store’s history — and that assessment still applies.
“I Like Comics is saddened to hear of the Image Partners’ current health limitations, but we are looking forward to a January event of the same scale, and perhaps with more cheer and bandwidth as we will all be clear of the holiday hustle,” the comics store said in a statement on Monday.
