[citation needed] Valentino, a longtime fan of Guardians of the Galaxy, submitted his pitch for a new series on the group to editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco at the 1989 WonderCon.

[3] Valentino left Marvel in 1992 to co-found Image Comics with Whilce Portacio, Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane and Marc Silvestri.

Unlike at Marvel, where Valentino worked on characters owned by that company, the original Shadowline titles, like all those of Image, were creator-owned.

[citation needed] Also during this time he repackaged most of his earliest autobiographical work into a trade paperback called Vignettes, with an introduction by Dave Sim.

On one hand, Valentino's efforts led to the discovery of a number of talented creators, including Robert Kirkman and Brian Michael Bendis.

[citation needed] Still, he was able to turn the company's first profit in nearly a decade by opening new revenue streams such as sales to traditional book stores and libraries.