Image Boom over? Really?

[Orpheus37]

I was listening to ifanboy this week, and it was mentioned that an anonymous creator said the Image resurgence was over, and had leveled out/dropped down. Is this actually true? I guess there was initial momentum starting a few years ago when a lot big names came over for the first time. Now that the initial shock/excitement factor of a ton of creators doing their own material has worn off, what is the problem? Is it just natural ups and downs? The time off between arcs? The series' not as good as people hoped? Personally, as a big image fan, I would like to see more mini-series. It seems like a ton of series are coming out with the creators saying "we're in this for the long game" , its an ongoing, etc. For me personally, it feels so exhausting. I want to support image, but I don't want to be living with everyone of these series for the next 6-10 years. I'd like to see more stuff in the mold of Ronin, in that its a sizable story, but can fit into a reasonable volume, and is pretty much all planned out before its started. I think Image has great quality, but I think the desired length for a lot of these series' is kind of extravagant.

[Deniz Camp]

It's just a natural readjustment, the natural up and down.

The Image 'boom' was driven by a few high profile creators really uping their creator owned work. Some of those books have died, or have had the shine worn off with age -- not because of a decrease in quality, but because the market is all about what's new, what's hot, and issue 40 is...not. It just never is. The periodical market isn't set up for 60+ issue series, full on, and I think writers and artists and cribbing to that fact now, and adjusting accordingly.

But more than anything, there hasn't really been an Image 'hit' in a while, and a lot of books that showed promise get stalled by the financial realities of the market. And great new series and voices, like LIMBO, still can't find an audience off their own merit -- you need those creators to get big work at Marvel or DC first.

Likewise, there's just more competition. Boom and Black Mask are putting out great, creator owned books with a variety of tone and voice and genre.

Just wait a bit though and you'll see something recharge Image again --- Hickman's new wave of creator owned books, or some writer hitting his stride with the perfect high concept or some artist coming onto the scene with the force of a hurricane, the way that Tradd Moore did.

[wwise03]

I have dropped from 15-20 Image monthly titles to 2 monthly titles (Invincible and Lazarus), though I will likely give Black Monday Murders a monthly try. I am still hyper excited for all of the Image projects, but have shifted from buying them monthly to buying them in hardcover deluxe format. My decision was made based on the delays rather than the content (which I feel is still pretty good).

More of my monthly dollars are spent on Valiant, Archie, and DC Rebirth at this point.

[InformationGeek]

Just wait a bit though and you'll see something recharge Image again --- Hickman's new wave of creator owned books, or some writer hitting his stride with the perfect high concept or some artist coming onto the scene with the force of a hurricane, the way that Tradd Moore did.

I don't think Hickman's new work will do that. His stuff is a bit too serious or sterile or full of his own tropes.

What Image needs right now is another Saga. I may not be a fan of the comic due what I feel are a lot of problems, but it's a book that is both very creative, very out there at times, knows how to be both serious and fun, and can hit people the right way. Image needs that right series to really capture the audience's attention and hunger for something they totally need even if they didn't realize they needed it yet.

[Kuwagaton]

They constantly wheel out (often enjoyable) ultra high concepts that just fizzle out. At least ten books I've really liked have just vanished. I think if you're not sticking to a big title like Saga or Walking Dead, you're likely to wander off, and not even the big two shrug that sort of thing off.

[SwampyCA]

It’s up and down cycles. But I do think more people are trade waiting.

Walking Dead and Saga are on their own tier. The name writers like Remender, Gillian, etc can sell 15K plus a month. Anything else is going to be <15K a month after issue 1 or 2.

[Joker]

Image is doing exactly what it should be in terms of a diverse range or titles from great talent.

Problem is, the American comic market is still trained to care about Marvel and DC most. Give it time. The "boom" may be "over" but it's really just the ebb and flow of things.

[ArthurCurry]

It does seem Image is a little less prevalent than two years ago when they were churning out new books every couple months and they all seemed great. About two years ago I was picking up everything- Saga, Southern Bastards, Black Science, Deadly Class, Manifest Destiny, Invincible, Walking Dead, Three, East of West, Ghosted, Nailbiter, etc, etc.

I think Saga started the 3 months off between arcs, which I'm fine with, but then every book picked up on it and then expanded on the time off. It's to the point where almost every series I pick up from Image is going to be at best 8-9 issues a year, some hitting 5. At that point to me its too hard to follow in small installments and more worth it to wait for the trade. But then if you're trade waiting you endanger monthly sales and the comic could get canceled.

Image's problem, like that of the Big Two is that they solicit books that are never published. Or books are so infrequently published people are always asking "has this been canceled?"

It's hard to sell someone on serialized storytelling as a way to fund the creation if the creators don't seem invested in those projects as their work for the big two. Yea that work might pay their bills but then don't be surprised if people drop your creator stuff. Take Jason Aaron for instance- Southern Bastards was and probably is my favorite ongoing book, but it comes out so infrequently why not just wait for the trade? Same thing with his new Goddamned series, he couldn't hit release dates for Southern Bastards so why would I invest in a new series by him which has already hit the same delays after only 3 issues SB is experiencing.

Then you have Hickman's Dying and the Dead...which is on a whole other level delay wise.

Image publisher & creators love to espouse the benefits of creator owned comics, and I agree its great for the creators, but its been consistently worse for the readers of those series each year, while simultaneously not introducing any new series of the same caliber.

[JFP]

I have dropped from 15-20 Image monthly titles to 2 monthly titles (Invincible and Lazarus), though I will likely give Black Monday Murders a monthly try. I am still hyper excited for all of the Image projects, but have shifted from buying them monthly to buying them in hardcover deluxe format. My decision was made based on the delays rather than the content (which I feel is still pretty good).

More of my monthly dollars are spent on Valiant, Archie, and DC Rebirth at this point.

It’s up and down cycles. But I do think more people are trade waiting.

Walking Dead and Saga are on their own tier. The name writers like Remender, Gillian, etc can sell 15K plus a month. Anything else is going to be <15K a month after issue 1 or 2.

It does seem Image is a little less prevalent than two years ago when they were churning out new books every couple months and they all seemed great. About two years ago I was picking up everything- Saga, Southern Bastards, Black Science, Deadly Class, Manifest Destiny, Invincible, Walking Dead, Three, East of West, Ghosted, Nailbiter, etc, etc.

I think Saga started the 3 months off between arcs, which I'm fine with, but then every book picked up on it and then expanded on the time off. It's to the point where almost every series I pick up from Image is going to be at best 8-9 issues a year, some hitting 5. At that point to me its too hard to follow in small installments and more worth it to wait for the trade. But then if you're trade waiting you endanger monthly sales and the comic could get canceled.

Image's problem, like that of the Big Two is that they solicit books that are never published. Or books are so infrequently published people are always asking "has this been canceled?"

It's hard to sell someone on serialized storytelling as a way to fund the creation if the creators don't seem invested in those projects as their work for the big two. Yea that work might pay their bills but then don't be surprised if people drop your creator stuff. Take Jason Aaron for instance- Southern Bastards was and probably is my favorite ongoing book, but it comes out so infrequently why not just wait for the trade? Same thing with his new Goddamned series, he couldn't hit release dates for Southern Bastards so why would I invest in a new series by him which has already hit the same delays after only 3 issues SB is experiencing.

Then you have Hickman's Dying and the Dead...which is on a whole other level delay wise.

Image publisher & creators love to espouse the benefits of creator owned comics, and I agree its great for the creators, but its been consistently worse for the readers of those series each year, while simultaneously not introducing any new series of the same caliber.

You guys hit the nail on the head. It's not the content. It's the delays. I save my money for trades when it comes to Image. I don't even bother with the monthlies anymore. It's so weird how these creators will create a new comic, getting amped up on the idea that the comic outsells the average Big 2 comic, then they'll delay the comic to work for the Big 2, thereby reducing the possibility of their comic trumping the average Big 2 comic.

[Joker]

I have no problem with the month off between arc people are doing. I've always said I'd rather wait for quality.

Then you have Hickman's Dying and the Dead...which is on a whole other level delay wise.

Which, unfortunately, has happened every time he works with Bodenheim. I don't know why he keeps working with that guy on "monthly" books.

[wwise03]

I have no problem with the month off between arc people are doing. I've always said I'd rather wait for quality.

I don't think people would have a problem waiting a month between arcs. But on a number of Image's best titles, a month off between arcs is not what is happening. Instead, we are waiting up to two or three months in the middle of arcs for so many books. Look at the release histories Velvet, Sex Criminals, Southern Bastards, Bitch Planet, The Goddamned, Casanova, Injection, Nowhere Men, They're Not Like Us, Pretty Deadly, Rat Queens, etc. There are times where it feels like the only Image creators capable of hitting his release dates are Robert Kirkman and Brian K. Vaughan.

With regard to whether the "boom" is over, it may just be that Image has maxed out its 5-year potential in the market. I just can't fathom a scenario occurring in the next 5 years that would allow Image to get a similar market share to DC or Marvel. Any significant growth in Image would have to come from bringing in new comic readers. Significant new readership will likely come from the trade market. And again the problem is going to be the amount of time it takes for trades to release. Just taking Southern Bastards as an example, the second trade released on or around May 6, 2015. The third trade does not release until on or around July 19, 2015. That is over a year. New readers who picked up the first two trades of Southern Bastards may not even remember that book exists.

[LordMikel]

They constantly wheel out (often enjoyable) ultra high concepts that just fizzle out. At least ten books I've really liked have just vanished. I think if you're not sticking to a big title like Saga or Walking Dead, you're likely to wander off, and not even the big two shrug that sort of thing off.

I think this is what is hurting it. When Black Magick came out I loved it. Then it simply ended without a word. That happening makes me leery about buying new series unless they label it as a mini series.

[Joker]

I don't think people would have a problem waiting a month between arcs. But on a number of Image's best titles, a month off between arcs is not what is happening. Instead, we are waiting up to two or three months in the middle of arcs for so many books. Look at the release histories Velvet, Sex Criminals, Southern Bastards, Bitch Planet, The Goddamned, Casanova, Injection, Nowhere Men, They're Not Like Us, Pretty Deadly, Rat Queens, etc. There are times where it feels like the only Image creators capable of hitting his release dates are Robert Kirkman and Brian K. Vaughan.

With regard to whether the "boom" is over, it may just be that Image has maxed out its 5-year potential in the market. I just can't fathom a scenario occurring in the next 5 years that would allow Image to get a similar market share to DC or Marvel. Any significant growth in Image would have to come from bringing in new comic readers. Significant new readership will likely come from the trade market. And again the problem is going to be the amount of time it takes for trades to release. Just taking Southern Bastards as an example, the second trade released on or around May 6, 2015. The third trade does not release until on or around July 19, 2015. That is over a year. New readers who picked up the first two trades of Southern Bastards may not even remember that book exists.

I'm not arguing any of that. Hell, I wasn't even talking about that.

I can't speak to all of those specific examples, but a few of them have openly addressed the delays, the reasons, and they're pretty understandable. I give Fraction a pass; he was dealing with his father dying. Ellis had a brain thing that doctors couldn't explain. Nowhere Men had an artist just completely **** up.

The Jasons, I don't know what exactly happened there, but it's a bummer. I dropped The Goddamned because, well, I'll just wait until it's over.

So yeah, some people need to get it together in a big way. Some people, they have legitimate reasons and I allow for "life happened" to supersede the funnybook deadlines.

[sven]

I think this is what is hurting it. When Black Magick came out I loved it. Then it simply ended without a word. That happening makes me leery about buying new series unless they label it as a mini series.

Black Magick isn't over. It's just being put on hold until Rucka and Scott are done with their 6 issue arc of Wonder Woman.

[cc008]

Image is doing exactly what it should be in terms of a diverse range or titles from great talent.

Problem is, the American comic market is still trained to care about Marvel and DC most. Give it time. The "boom" may be "over" but it's really just the ebb and flow of things.

Agree with this. The "boom" may be over... but all the books that were a part of that are still going strong. Like many of the titles mentioned above. The delays and announcements that don't really pan out kind of hurt though. As long as creators stay consistent and the quality remains high, Image is going exactly what Image should be doing, and they'll be fine.