Replace Axes with AxesImage where relevant

skimage/io/_io.py

@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ def show():
     >>> import skimage.io as io
 
     >>> for i in range(4):
-    ...     ax = io.imshow(np.random.rand(50, 50))
+    ...     ax_im = io.imshow(np.random.rand(50, 50))
     >>> io.show() # doctest: +SKIP
 
     '''

skimage/io/_plugins/matplotlib_plugin.py

@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ def imshow(im, *args, **kwargs):
 
     Returns
     -------
-    ax : `matplotlib.pyplot.Axes`
-        The axes showing the image.
+    ax : `matplotlib.pyplot.AxesImage`
+        The `AxesImage` object returned by `plt.imshow`.
     """
     if plt.gca().has_data():
         plt.figure()