BERKELEY, CA -- 8 August, 2005 -- Following a long delay, Image Comics has announced the IMAGE COMICS HC will finally ship this November. All previous orders are being canceled and the book is being made available for new orders in the September issue of Diamond's PREVIEWS.

"It's DONE. Really!" said Image Comics Publisher, Erik Larsen. "The book was supposed to come out in early 2002, and believe me � we've been deluged with e-mails, phone calls and letters asking where it is ever since. When I came on board as publisher, one of my highest priorities was to get this thing finished and on shelves. It's taken a little longer than I'd have liked, but the wait is over at last. The book has been completed. We have every page on hand at this point."

Originally solicited for a March 2002 release, the IMAGE COMICS HC features four all-new stories by the four remaining Image founders: The never-before-told origin of Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, Todd McFarlane's first comics story since SPAWN #50 � published nearly 10 years ago, a chilling conclusion to the first act in Marc Silvestri's Cyberforce saga that clears the decks for a 2006 series re-launch, and an important chapter in the life of the all-new, all-different ShadowHawk that serves as an entry point to Jim Valentino's current ongoing series.

Famously, the book didn't make its original date.

"IMAGE COMICS was intended to be a celebration of our first decade as a comic book company," Larsen noted. "And it's a darned shame that it didn't come out when it was supposed to. We blew it. Parts were finished on time, to be sure, but not the entire package. It kept getting delayed and delayed and I'm sure a lot of people thought it just plain wasn't going to come out -- ever.

"But now we have the completed pages in our hands. And it's awesome to behold. Naturally, we wanted to get it into readers' hands as soon as possible but given that it's been three years and change since the book was originally offered, we've decided to do the responsible thing and re-solicit it. We're excited about this book � because it really IS darned cool � and we want to share that excitement with everyone else but we don't want to make a bad situation worse by shipping the book as soon as we could have and sticking retailers with orders they placed over three years ago."

The IMAGE COMICS HC, available as a standard hardcover for $24.99 and a special signed & numbered slipcase edition for $75.00, is available for order in the September issue of PREVIEWS and is due to reach stores in November.

Image Comics is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Since that time, Image has gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. There are currently four partners in Image Comics (Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino), and Image is currently divided into four major houses (Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline and Image Central). Image comics and graphic novels cover nearly every genre, sub-genre and style imaginable, offering science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. Visit www.imagecomics.com for more information. Image Comics - Putting the NEW back in to New Comic Book Day!(tm)