| Growler's
State Of The Superhero Comic Book Publishing Industry |
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INDEX
<Enter
the New Challenger!...|DC
Comics: A Sleeping Giant Awakes...>
This
is where I let loose my views on the current direction of the business
of superhero fiction found in comic books and graphic novels.
Taking
you behind the scenes of this exciting industry!
Rawle
Austin presents...
Witness
the Birth of Image Comics!
Picture
this.
It
was 1992, Marvel Comics was going from strength to strength.
They
had the best comic books artists at the time and sales were sky
high.
A
small number of fan favourite artists were at the pinnacle of the
industry.
Commanding
a loyal following they brought soaring sales whatever comic book
titles they were working on.
Todd
McFarlane had breathed new life into the Amazing Spider-Man title
with his artwork (pencils) by giving Spider-Man's costume a new
look by adding much larger eyes to his face mask. This
was the first major change to the classic red and blue costume in
decades and the fans loved it.
Click
here to check out Spawn Origins Volume 1 TPB (Image Comics) by Todd
McFarlane
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That
costume change is still being used to this day.
McFarlane
also revamped all the supporting characters in his unique style.
He
co-created and designed Venom, one of the most popular Spider-Man villains.
A
spin off title, Spider-Man, was launched with McFarlane writing
and drawing it.
Erik
Larsen took over art duties on the Amazing Spider-Man when McFarlane
started the new Spider-Man title.
He
kept many aspects of McFarlane’s design but put his own stamp
and style on the book.
He
also followed McFarlane to draw the new Spider-Man title when McFarlane
left to do new projects and work on his own character.
Jim
Lee was pencilling the Uncanny X-Men, further enhancing their popularity.
He also changed the character’s costumes, which were later
used in the X-Men animated series and was widely loved by the fans.
Click
here to check out Savage Dragon Archives: v. 1 (Savage Dragon Archives)
(Image Comics) by Erik Larsen
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A
spin off title just called X-Men, was launched with Lee on artistic duties.
His
artistry for me was definitely the pick of the bunch.
Rob
Liefeld had taken over the artwork of the long running New Mutants (young
mutants training to be future X-Men) title and this was relaunched as
a new title called X-Force.
Mark
Silvestri had been drawing (or pencilling) the Uncanny X-Men prior
to Jim Lee and was now on the solo Wolverine title.
And
finally, artist Jim Valentino was making waves drawing the newest
version of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
This
was a revamp about a handful of super powered characters, originating
from different planets, in our solar system banding together to
save the galaxy from constant threats.
This
is a recurring theme in comic books! Also, these titles, especially
the new title relaunches, set sales records with some of the first
issues selling 8 million copies each!
Today's top selling comic book title sells just over 150 thousand
copies each in mid-2003.
Click
here to check out James Robinson: The Complete WildCATs TPB (Image
Comics/Wildstorm Comics) 
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1992
was the height of the speculator era and I will expand upon this and it’s
effect on the comic book industry at a later date.
Despite
these sales booms, the artists had no creator’s rights to the characters
they had revamped and invented.
These
six creators banded together and left Marvel Comics in a blaze of glory
at the height of their fame to create Image Comics, a brand new company!
Championing
the rights of artists and creating new individual art studios to
attract and develop new talent the ‘sensational six’
each created new characters which soared to the top of the charts.
The
fans (myself included) flocked to see what their favourite artists
could do.
Todd
McFarlane created Todd McFarlane Productions.
He
wrote and drew the number one best selling comic book title Spawn
about a former government hitman turned unwilling servant of darkness.
This
book regularly outsold the previous sales titan, X-Men. Spawn was
later made into a movie and animated series.
The
comic is still going strong today though McFarlane no longer writes
or draws the title.
Click
here to check out Invincible: The Ultimate Collection Volume 1 (Image
Comics) by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker
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He
went on to create McFarlane Toys, which is one of the largest selling
toy manufacturers for action figures in the business.
Jim
Lee formed Wildstorm Productions within Image and launched his written
and drawn title WildC.A.T.S.
Basically
it's about a group of aliens battling to stop their sworn enemies, a rival
alien species, from destroying the world.
This
was another sales smash hit. Another title, Stormwatch about a super
powered armed wing of the United Nations followed soon after.
Rob
Liefeld created Extreme Productions and brought out Youngblood again
self-written, drawn and again, snapped up by the fans. Many spin-offs
followed.
Erik
Larsen produced, wrote and drew The Savage Dragon which is about
a super powered cop, which he is still publishing today. He
is also the Publisher of Image Comics.
Mark
Silvestri formed Top Cow Productions and released Cyberforce, his
own creation. He later created Witchblade drawn by Michael Turner
and The Darkness written by Garth Ennis.
Click
here to check out Ultra: Seven Days (Image Comics) by the Luna Brothers
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Jim
Valentino created and drew his own character Shadowhawk.
A
rapid expansion of titles followed by these and other creators and the
fans couldn’t wait to pick them up.
Image
Comics quickly became the third largest publisher of comic books behind
Marvel and DC Comics despite numerous people saying they would go bust
and would soon be crawling back to Marvel.
Many
of these artists had little or no experience in writing so as a
result the comic books looked great but the stories lacked a certain
depth.
After
the initial flurry, fan interest began to wane under the glut of
new titles.
Then
the cracks began to show.
One.
Rob
Liefeld left Image Comics due to differences with the other seven
founders.
There
had been rumours that he had poached artists from Marc Silvestri's
Top Cow Productions.
This
resulted in Silvestri leaving Image with his company, Top Cow. He
returned soon after Liefeld left.
Click
here to check out Top Cow/Marvel: The Crossover Collection Volume
1 TPB (Marvel Comics/Image Comics)
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Round
about the same time Liefeld, together with Jim Lee, took on a project
for Marvel Comics to revamp some of their flagship characters.
The
project was called Heroes Reborn and both creators did two titles each.
Lee
produced Fantastic Four and Iron Man while Liefield produced The Avengers
and Captain America.
He
left this project when sales fell below the level necessary to maintain
the contract and Jim Lee took over production of all four titles.
He
formed two publishing companies in quick succession to each other,
Maximum Press and Awesome Publishing, and had the talent of writer
Alan Moore behind some of his creations.
This
was not enough however and both companies folded due to cash flow
problems.
He
recently relaunched his original title Youngblood with the help
of fan favourite British writer Mark Millar. Still
a force in the industry and not afraid of taking risks, I feel the
best is yet to come from Rob Liefeld.
Click
here to check out Youngblood Volume 1 TPB (Image Comics) by Rob
Liefeld
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Two.
Jim Lee had great success with Wildstorm Productions which produced Gen
13, Astro City and created a sales storm with his Cliffhanger imprint
titles.
Danger
Girl, a James Bond spoof created and drawn by Jeff Scott Campbell, Battle
Chasers a sword and sorcery fantasy tale created and drawn by Joe Madureira.
Both
these titles were later dogged by chronic lateness which affected their
popularity.
Also,
Crimson, a story about a boy who was attacked by vampires and found
himself a part of their world.
Crimson
was created and drawn by Humberto Ramos and he gained a large fan
following due to his ability to keep a deadline and produce regular,
stunning manga-esque artwork.
Jim
Lee himself is back on art duties recently drawing Batman and pencilling
Superman.
With
all this talent in his stable, Jim Lee later sold his Wildstorm
Productions company to DC Comics for business reasons.
It
is now a separate imprint there with many great titles including,
the renamed Wildcats written by Joe Casey. Planetary
was written by Warren Ellis and a revamped Stormwatch: Team Achilles
written by Micah Ian Wright.
Click
here to check out Godland Volume 2: Another Sunny Delight TPB (Image
Comics) by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli
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During and
after these events the whole Image Comics line, which was now also notorious
for shipping late books, was cut back.
Image began
recruiting top-notch writers like Alan Moore, Warren Ellis to help bolster
the line.
Greater
emphasis was placed on the publishing aspect of the business.
Later,
through Jim Valentino, Image began recruiting talent promising more
creative freedoms and full ownership of characters devised.
This
strategy worked and Image is still today, after over 11 years, the
third largest publisher of comic books after Marvel and DC Comics.
With
titles such as Powers written by Brian Michael Bendis which is about
a cop who solves crimes committed by and against super powered people.
Witchblade,
a policewoman who finds a super powered gauntlet (glove) that only
women can wear and survive, also a popular TV series. A Tomb Raider
comic book based on the global smash hit computer/console game character
Lara Croft was created to popular acclaim.
And
Rising Stars, a title about a community of people who received their
superpowers while still in the womb. A
meteor struck a neighbourhood and they were changed forever.
Click
here to check out The Witchblade Compendium Vol. 1 TPB (Image Comics)
by David Wohl and Michael Turner
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The
story details what happened in their lives afterwards.
This
concept was created and written by J. Michael Straczynski who wrote
the massive sci-fi TV show Babylon 5.
Image
Comics has survived through some hard times but has shown a remarkable
resilience.
I predict they will be around for a long time to come.
Robert
Kirkman's Invincible and The Walking Dead are two of the newest
smash hits from Image.
Joe
Casey and Tom Scoli's Godland is also turning heads for it's fresh
retro vibe.
The
recent Ultra by the Luna Brothers was also a great book. Look
out for all these titles!
Click
here to check out Rising Stars Compendium TPB (Image Comics) by
J Michael Stracynzski
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Next,
on our whistle stop tour of comic book publishers is the giant, DC Comics!
Join
me then!
<Enter
the New Challenger!...|DC
Comics: A Sleeping Giant Awakes...>
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