How Image can break up the Big 2

[BrianT]

Ahead of DC's "Rebirth" announcement today, I contemplate Image Comics having a "rebirth" of its own with the Image partners reviving their launch titles, as well as some "The Walking Dead" spin-off suggestions. Couple this with Image's organic growth strategy, Image could soon become part of the Big 3.

http://www.examiner.com/article/how-...k-up-the-big-2

[JaggedFel]

Image cant in my book until more stuff like Walking Dead takes off sure they can apply pressure in the comic realm but they arent in Movies, TV and Videogames having any effect not to mention their characters arent nearly as iconic.

[Of Atlantis]

If Image were to break up the status quo of Marvel and DC holding the majority of the market share, it would take them leading the charge in influencing casual comic readers to explore new avenues. I don't think Image could do it alone, if even possible, but I think they could open to door to it happening eventually.

[Dark-Flux]

I dont agree. To say Image would make headway into taking Marvel/DCs market share by putting out the original Image properties with the partners involved rings false to me. What evidence exists to suggest such a thing would work?
Neither Spawn nor Savage Dragon are huge sellers. Various properties have relaunched numerous times to very little fanfare (Cyber Force, Youngblood etc)
Image United was a heavily pushed event book, with all those characters with all the creators and Kirkman involved and... it did alright. Till it was cut short and got stuck in limbo.

Imo, if Image is gonna continue to grow, itll have to be a slow uphill battle. Not some huge nostalgia-driven event gimmick which may do well initially but ultimately fissiles out. They need to continue on the path theyre on and put out a variety of high quality, interesting stories that appeal to an audience beyond the traditional superhero crowd.

[Deniz Camp]

Image is always going to have that up hill battle because it also requires a lot of its creators; there are no advances, and without editorial the creators have to do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of decision making.

That means it's a challenge to get non-comics creators to do work and bring their fans over, which is an easy boost. William Gibson and Margaret Atwood doing comics has the potential to be a big seller, at least in collections, but I don't think they're willing to do too much more work beyond writing, and Image requires MUCH more, unless you hire and pay an editor out of pocket.

Image's only growth can come from straight ahead comics creators putting out quality work. That's invigorating, precisely because it's challenging. It's all craft, it's all quality, no show.

[JFP]

I don't know if Image wants to topple the Big 2. I remember Erik Larsen, back when he was Image's publisher, used to make articles for CBR. He used to make tons of articles discussing the Big 2. But I don't recall him discussing much of Image at all, outside of his own work. He even once said he doesn't want Marvel or DC to end their comics. From my impression from those articles, toppling the Big 2 wasn't on Image's priority list back then (wasn't that a decade ago he made those articles?). I doubt it has changed now.

I know people are going to point out two things. First, he's not publisher anymore, so things might have changed, is what people might say. I would say he's highly influential at Image. Always has been, always will be as long as he works there. I wouldn't be surprised if his feelings for the Big 2 were widespread amongst the Image staff. The second thing people are going to say is it's not his job to promote creator owned comics. They are not the property of Image. I would say neither are the Big 2 comics. While creator owned comics at Image may not be the property of Image, he would be better off promoting those comics than promoting the Big 2 comics.

All in all, I doubt Image wants to topple the Big 2. They'll never break up the Big 2 if they don't want to. So I don't see any reason to get our hopes up that it'll ever happen.

[Paulie Blade]

Two things from me.

I hate the principle of a "rebirth". It's pretty much admitting that something was "dead" beforehand. DC is saying they screwed up and they need to restart (even though it happened multiple times already). It can't be a positive accent.

Secondly, Image is great by being different than the "Big 2". Notice how Image has no cape comics. Maybe cape comics is something the mainstream audience needs (sorry for sounding cliché). Image goes further, they explore interesting areas. Instead of cape comics, we have Lazarus, Saga and Monstress and I would never trade them for capes.

[Dark-Flux]

Er...for the record; Image totally has cape-comics.

[Crazy Diamond]

Er...for the record; Image totally has cape-comics.

Yeah. Invincible, Spawn, Cyber Force, Savage Dragon, etc. They kinda built themselves on capes albeit ridiculously EXTREME capes. Nothing wrong with that.

I think what's going to happen rather than Image overtaking Marvel and DC is newer readers are going to go towards the smaller companies. They don't have the same connection to Superman, Batman and the like that previous generations do. Even for me, most comic fans I knew growing up may have liked the movies, games, and cartoons but you would've had to pay them to read Marvel and DC. They gladly read stuff like Naruto, Penny Arcade, P v P, and the like though.

[Paulie Blade]

Er...for the record; Image totally has cape-comics.

My point is that cape comics are not the core of the company, as it is in the case of Marvel and DC. Since the comics are creator owned and creators are free to publish whatever they want (as long as it's good), there is a huge variety of topics, which include many mature ones as well.

[BrianT]

I don't know if Image wants to topple the Big 2. I remember Erik Larsen, back when he was Image's publisher, used to make articles for CBR. He used to make tons of articles discussing the Big 2. But I don't recall him discussing much of Image at all, outside of his own work. He even once said he doesn't want Marvel or DC to end their comics. From my impression from those articles, toppling the Big 2 wasn't on Image's priority list back then (wasn't that a decade ago he made those articles?). I doubt it has changed now.

I know people are going to point out two things. First, he's not publisher anymore, so things might have changed, is what people might say. I would say he's highly influential at Image. Always has been, always will be as long as he works there. I wouldn't be surprised if his feelings for the Big 2 were widespread amongst the Image staff. The second thing people are going to say is it's not his job to promote creator owned comics. They are not the property of Image. I would say neither are the Big 2 comics. While creator owned comics at Image may not be the property of Image, he would be better off promoting those comics than promoting the Big 2 comics.

All in all, I doubt Image wants to topple the Big 2. They'll never break up the Big 2 if they don't want to. So I don't see any reason to get our hopes up that it'll ever happen.

Current Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson said in the interview I linked to in my piece that he doesn't want there to be a Big 2, where there's always the same 1 or 2 companies at the top. And that's kind of my point here if Image can chip away enough at DC and Marvel, it could at least be a race between the three of them.

Also, for what it's worth, Larsen talks up the virtues of Image quite often on Twitter.

[missingmarch]

Image sells more and more every year now. And a lot of people who would never read a DC or Marvel comic read Image books. If the history of american comics shows us anything, it's that the hegemony of superhero comics won't last forever. Image isn't a one-trick pony and will survive the changes in taste that come and go.

[Nick Miller]

without a shared universe, Image will have to stay at number 3. There just isnt a pull for fans like me to get their comics monthly.

without a huge narrative "trunk" to tempt me, i can choose which series to get in trade. (Where image does great)

They should absolutely launch a shared superhero universe with 9-10 titles to start.

[Dark-Flux]

/\ But youre assuming they are going after the Big2 crowd.
Theyre trying to attract a new readership. One that Marvel and DC have no appeal to.

[WeirdSpace]

The way DC is behaving towards their readers these days, Image may yet be one of the big 2. Not because they suddenly gain a big market share, but because DC keeps loosing readers.