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  1. #1
    Incredible Member SuperCrab's Avatar
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    Default Is Image an Independent?

    I guess in my mind, I tend to think of all comic publishers except DC Comics and Marvel as being independents, but that's just an assumption I've been making. I don't really know what the definition is of a major publisher versus an independent.

    I noticed that there is this separate Image/Top Cow forum rather than just having those publishers put in there with the independent comics. I'm curious about what the thinking is. Are Image and Top Cow owned by one of the big two publishers and just imprints rather than being independently owned? Are they bigger than what we think of as independents? Or are they independents that just happen to have their own forum because more people want to talk about them and they can get enough traffic to justify their own forum?

    Also, what's the connection between Image and Top Cow, if any? Are they owned by the same person or persons? Are they the same corporate entity? Is there some stylistic similarity?

  2. #2
    Fantastic Member sven's Avatar
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    Default

    The Big 2 pay writers/artists to come up with stories for characters owned by the company. Anything they create for Marvel, Marvel owns. Image pays creative teams to come up with their own stories and characters. The creative teams retain the rights to their creations. So if something like The Walking Dead hits big the creator makes BANK! Image gives creators a lot more room to do what they want.

    As for Image/Top Cow it looks like Top Cow was once a part of Image but they are now basically partners. Top Cow is a studio started by Image co-founder Marc Silverstri.

    I'm sure someone will have better answers than me but that is the gist of it I think.

  3. #3
    Mighty Member Ragdoll's Avatar
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    Default

    I believe it counts as Indie in the grand scheme of things, but has a separate forum solely due to popularity.

  4. #4
    Non-fanboy Member Cel's Avatar
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    "Image" is pretty much an umbrella company for several studios (Top Cow, Skybound, Highbrow, Todd McFarlane Productions, etc.) as well as a ton of non-studio creator-owned properties. These days, it puts out far more of the latter than the former by numbers.
    "Ignore them. They're nothing but a bunch of basement dwellers who spend all day whining on the 'net. Not a single open-minded one in the bunch."
    --Andre Briggs, Justice League International #1

  5. #5
    Astonishing Member Dark-Flux's Avatar
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    Image is an independant. Theyre just more popular so have their own forum.

    Top Cow (as well as the other imprints: Skybound, Shadowline, TMP, Extreme, Joes Comics etc) are imprints of Image, some of which are owned and operated by Image partners. However they too are independant and not owned by Image.
    Marc Silvestri could for example, take Top Cow and leave Image if he wanted. Theres just not much incentive for him to do that. Especially with him being CEO of Image.

  6. #6
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    Image is one of the best if not the best publisher at the moment.

  7. #7
    Mighty Member Ragdoll's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DebkoX View Post
    Image is one of the best if not the best publisher at the moment.
    Yeah, they have more quality books than anyone else. DC/Marvel always manage to have 3-5 decent books every relaunch, but there's always 10-15 Image books I'm heavily invested in at any given time.

  8. #8
    Savior of the Universe Flash Gordon's Avatar
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    IMAGE is hopefully the future of American funny books.

  9. #9
    Extraordinary Member MRP's Avatar
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    Image is a publisher, but not a content creator. Creators who own their own properties come to Image to have them published. Image does not "pay" the creators to create content, they share revenues that the books generate. Image takes a cut of the revenue for producing/publishing the books, working with Diamond and the book trade to get the books distributed, etc.

    It started as an umbrella for the publishing houses of several creators (the Image boys) in the 90s, but has evolved. It is much more like a book publishing company that contracts with creators to put out books the creators make rather than a publishing house with its own IP like Marvel or DC, who hires creators to work on the properties Marvel/DC owns.

    An independent is any book that is not the big 2-Diamond actually has a big 5-Marvel, DC, Image, IDW and Dark Horse each get their own separate section of the Previews catalog, all other publishers are lumped together in an independent section.

    Some might argue that the "real" independent comics are those outside the Diamond distribution network, i.e. the books too small for even Diamond to carry self-published and/or underground books that the creators make and sell themselves (at conventions, via crowdfunding, contracting with comic shops themselves, etc. . Anyone carried by Diamond would thus be considered mainstream in that world view.

    So there are several dividing lines between what is independent and what is mainstream, depending on who you ask. Image gets its own forum though, because of the amount of traffic it generates here.

    -M

  10. #10
    Spectacular Member Erik Larsen's Avatar
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    I think of Image as an independent based on what it owns and how it operates--just as I DON'T think of Archie as being an independent because of their corporate structure.

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