Image Comics held its annual Image Expo on Thursday, January 8, 2015, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Fransisco, CA, where a host of top creators in the industry were on hand, including Brian K. Vaughan, Todd McFarlane, Marjorie Liu, Scott Snyder, Emi Lenox, Jeff Lemire, Emma Rios, James Robinson, and Brandon Graham.

Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson gave the keynote address and introduced the excellent line-up of writers and artists to the stage. An abundance of new (and returning) titles were announced — as well as some top-notch collaborations.

Of the Image titles announced, here are my Top 5 Anticipated Series of 2015.

Youngblood #73
Written by John McLaughlin
Art by John Malin
Colors by Ross Hughes
Letters by Russ Wooton
Editors Eric Stephenson
Cover by Rob Liefeld & Ross Hughes
Image Comics
Release Date: August 22, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Youngblood #73 reminds you why you loved Image Comics in the 90s. I have to admit, when I was about 20 years old or so, I was REALLY into Image Comics, like everyone was, for a few years they were fun. Then, the company (and its creators) really went into a different direction. Now, it seems they’ve balanced out their brand with books like this, Supreme, Bloodstrike, and things that you normally wouldn’t associate as “Image books” like Saga, Thief of Thieves, Revival, etc. But, it’s very nice that you can pick up a book off the stands and immediately say THIS is an Image Comic!”

Youngblood #71
Written by John McLaughlin
Art by John Malin & Rob Liefeld
Colors by Ross Hughes & Matt Yackey
Letters by Russ Wooton
Edits by Eric Stephenson
Covers by Rob Liefeld & Matt Yackey, Ryan Ottley & Jordie Bellaire, and Chris Giarrusso
Image Comics
Release Date: May 23, 2012
Cover Price: $2.99

Astonishingly, Youngblood #71 is something that falls into the “things I didn’t know I wanted or needed category,” like Rocky Balboa — who knew we needed an official ending to the Rocky story? Not me, but it sure was awesome. Also, the film Rambo. The last scene where John Rambo walks down the driveway to his family’s farm was, again, an ending that I didn’t know I needed. But again, I was surprised and satisfied that I got it. Truth by told, I stopped paying attention to Youngblood about a couple years after it started coming out, so why then was I excited for this issue? Some would say nostalgia (who, me?), but most of all, it’s because I have been impressed by the other Image titles that have came back for the 20th anniversary that have been fantastic! And out of all those titles, Youngblood was the only one that I cared about originally.