![]() ![]() Valentino called him when he and his fellow powerhouse artists - Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen and Whilce Portacio - talked about forming their own company. When he interviewed Jim Valentino, a future Image founder, while he was working on Guardians of the Galaxy at Marvel, they became friends. He broke into comics through the fan press. It has given life to a hit television show on AMC.Įric Stephenson, Image’s publisher, has had a front-row seat since the company’s earliest days. There is Chew, about a detective who gets psychic impressions from anything he ingests Saga, a science fiction fantasy romance and, oh yes, a little book called the Walking Dead, about a world overrun with zombies. It publishes series that are far removed from traditional caped-and-costumed adventures. Rounding out the top five publishers are IDW Publishing and Dark Horse Comics, both at just under 5 percent.īut Image has something that is harder to measure: buzz. ![]() Sales of single issues and collected editions totaled $640 million last year, according to Milton Griepp, publisher and founder of ICv2, an online trade publication that covers pop culture for retailers. ![]() “Suddenly the premise that you had to work for one of the two big companies took a hit because now you could become the company,” he said.Ĭomic books, of course, are big business. It was an unheard-of development, says Mark Evanier, a comic-book historian. In 1992, this publisher presented fans with Savage Dragon, Spawn, WildC.A.T.s, Youngblood and more, produced by seven artists who left Marvel in order to seize control - creative and financial - of their characters. It’s a discussion that takes a different tone at Image Comics, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. For instance, is it fair that writers and artists who dream up superheroes now starring at a multiplex near you don’t necessarily reap financial rewards from their creations? Nowadays, the big debates revolve around the ideas espoused in the Creator’s Bill of Rights - officially, a Bill of Rights for Comics Creators. THE big debates in comic-book land used to go something like this - seriously: ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |