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THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE by George Khoury

IMAGE COMICS: THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE George A. Khoury Writer & Editor

Book Design and Production: Jon B. Cooke Transcriber: Steven Tice Proofreaders: Christopher Irving, Eric Nolen-Weathington, and John Morrow Front Cover Designer: John Morrow Back Cover Designer: Eric Nolen-Weathington Consiglieres: Jon B. Cooke, Jason Hofius, Ed Mathews, and Steven Tice

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 www.twomorrows.com • e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com First Printing • June 2007 • Printed in Canada Softcover ISBN: 978-1-893905-71-9 This book is respectfully dedicated to Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Special thanks: Gerry Alanguilan, Michael Allred, Hilary Barta, Bill Black, Mark Haven Britt, Jonathan Chan, Eddy Choi, John Cogan, Andrew D. Cooke, Joshua Cozine, Lauren Cross, Augie De Blieck Jr., Vito Delsante, Anthony Edwards, Jackie Estrada, Richard French, Gerhard, Brian Haberlin, Kurt Hathaway, Allen Hui, Rob Levin, Ryan Liebowitz, Jeph Loeb, Tom Mason, Dwayne McDuffie, Dan Nakrosis, Charlie Newlin, Carl Potts, Alex Ross, Erika Russo, Jim Salicrup, Nick Setchfield, Beau Smith, Michael Thibodeaux, Suzy Thomas, Roy Thomas, Maggie Thompson, Tim Townsend, Rick Veitch, and José Villarubia. For more on the author, visit www.myspace.com/georgekhoury TRADEMARKS & COPYRIGHTS Cyberforce, Darkness, Hunter-Killer, Witchblade, Stryker, Strykeforce, Ripclaw and all related characters are TM & ©2007 Top Cow Productions. • Savage Dragon, SuperPatriot, Freak Force and all related characters are TM & ©2007 Erik Larsen. • Youngblood, Badrock, Diehard, Shaft, Shattered Image and all related characters TM & ©2007 Rob Liefeld. • ShadowHawk and all related characters are TM & ©2007 Jim Valentino. • Spawn, Violator and all related characters are TM & ©2007 Todd McFarlane Productions. • Regent, Wetworx, WildC.A.T.S., Gen13, Grifter, Stormwatch, Deathblow TM & ©2007 Wildstorm Productions, a division of DC Comics. • Pitt is TM & ©2007 Dale Keown. • Maxx TM & ©2007 Sam Kieth. • Tribe TM & ©2007 Larry Stroman and Todd Johnson. • Vanguard TM & ©2007 Erik Larsen and Gary Carlson. • Danger Girl, Wildsiderz TM & ©2007 J. Scott Campbell. • Invincible TM & ©2007 Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker. • Batman TM & ©2007 DC Comics. • Thing, Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, Hulk, Weapon X TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Entire contents ©2007 George Khoury and TwoMorrows Publishing, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part, without written permission from George Khoury and TwoMorrows Publishing. The views expressed in the interviews here are not necessarily those of the author or of TwoMorrows Publishing.

IMAGE COMICS: T H E R O A D T O I N D E PE N D E N C E Table of Contents

“SCENE FROM A COMIC SHOP” George A. Khoury & Ladronn

7 INTRODUCTION George A. Khoury

8 THE SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE 10 FOUNDERS

COLOR PORTFOLIO 161 COUNTER TENSION 169 ASSOCIATES Steve Oliff

177 Scott Williams

185

Erik Larsen

Dale Keown

197

Jim Lee

Sam Kieth

207

Rob Liefeld

Larry Stroman & Todd Johnson

215

Todd McFarlane

Jae Lee

223

Whilce Portacio

Jeff Scott Campbell

229

Marc Silvestri

Tom McWeeney

112

246

Jim Valentino

Brian Michael Bendis

130 MANAGEMENT

251 Frank Espinosa

Tom DeFalco

261

138

Robert Kirkman

Dave Olbrich

263

144 Larry Marder

148 Matt Hawkins

156

DEATHMATE 244 “KING” KIRBY 273

THE IMAGE STORY

In 1986, Marvel Comics celebrated the 25th anniversary of their rebirth since the debut of Fantastic Four #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. What should have been a joyous occasion in their history instead became the year that DC Comics took the spotlight with their monumental sales, mainstream acceptance and massive critical acclaim on books like Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and John Byrne’s Superman relaunch. Ironically, Miller and Byrne were part of a recent mass exodus of top talent that departed from Marvel due to issues with Jim Shooter’s editorial regime. Soon the Mighty Marvel momentum was subsided as big projects like the “New Universe” and Star Comics had little audience and unfavorable sales. Worse than the reinvigorated state of the “Distinguished Competition” was the mediocre quality of the writing and art in Marvel books, which appeared dated and uninspired next to that of DC. With Shooter’s exit in 1987, his successor Tom DeFalco would start ushering in a new wave of creators that would rebuild the “House of Ideas” from the ground up. Among this crop of diverse artists were Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino — the seven young men who would band

together to found Image Comics. In DeFalco’s administration, Marvel was now welcoming new ideas and cultivating youthful talent with a place to hone their craft and build a following. Although this new troupe had grown fully devoted to and influenced by a diet of Marvel Comics, they were also prepared to bring an aura of change throughout the books. So strong were the influence and teachings of John Romita Sr. and John Buscema during the ’70s and ’80s, that their artistic style and approach became the predominant “house style” for practically the entire line. It also became painfully transparent how little had really progressed since the days that Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko helmed the stories, because now the books were littered with tales that were endlessly derivative in appearance and texture. The Marvel super-heroes were in need of a makeover that would aid them into the ’90s and beyond. “These shouldn’t be your father’s heroes; they should be your heroes!” said Marv Wolfman in a recent interview about writing modern super-hero tales — the exact approach that Image’s architects would take to heart from Day One of their respective careers. The Marvel metamorphoses started quite quietly. While most of the rookies initiated on illustrating lower-tier books and random fill-in assignments, it was their enthusiasm, professionalism and hunger that earned them the pivotal loyalty of prominent editors like Bob Harras, Carl Potts and Jim Salicrup. They would seize future opportunities and rock the very foundation of Marvel, not only by tapping into their artistic inspirations and imaginations, but by fusing trendy elements of popular culture and comics like never before. Suddenly they all hit their stride at relatively the same time: Todd McFarlane would radically rejuvenate Spider-Man’s appearance by making the character this highly poseable, bug-like figure that could shoot the most manic webbing you’ve ever seen; Whilce Portacio and Jim Lee recharged the X-Men franchise with the sort of sleekness and electricity seen only in anime and video games; Rob Liefeld’s Cable was a character that could go toe-to-toe with the Terminator and his gigantic arsenal of guns; others like Dale Keown (on The Incredible Hulk), Erik Larsen (on Amazing SpiderMan), Marc Silvestri (on Wolverine), Larry Stroman (on X-Factor) and Jim Valentino (on Guardians of the Galaxy) left their indelible sense of style unto their books, as well. To the mainstream, this period represented the last time that a generation found the level of excitement

that they craved for in comics. These new creators ushered in a level of diverting wonderment because they, too, were part of the same audience as the readers. Their “in-your-face” visuals spoke to audiences impressed by the different array of styles and detail in the artwork. The heroes were now ripped out of Venice Beach, boiling in testosterone; the big-haired heroines were totally curvy chicks straight from any boy’s active imagination. Finally, the old mold had been broken; these Marvel heroes were hip, lively and contemporary again! The fanboys ate it up and loved this renaissance. While most of the artists began to gain notoriety on their own, Marvel would witness a surge in sales that the establishment had never experienced. The great majority of Marvel books with talent from future Image founders and colleagues easily experienced their greatest peak of profitability and popularity during the early ’90s. A reinvigorated Marvel would expand their roster of books by seeking any opportunity to commence a new series to satisfy an audience that constantly craved more and more product. At their peak, the company put out over 80 titles a month and 85 percent of their profits came via the publishing of comics; they ruled practically half of the entire comics industry. This gold rush era allowed the company the luxury (and necessity) of bestowing new titles to their star artists. The new releases became enormous events that seemingly capitalized more on the bank-

able strength of the artists’ names than the characters themselves. It started in 1990, when McFarlane’s Spider-Man #1 sold close to three million copies, which was bested in 1991 with five million copies of Liefeld’s X-Force #1, and eclipsed later that year by the staggering eight million copies of Jim Lee’s X-Men #1. Sales were never like that in Golden Age! The bliss between management and talent would not last forever. Soon there were editorial clashes over content and the direction of the books. Scores of products started emerging using their artwork without any financial compensation or art credit. And forget foreign royalties, Marvel doesn’t share that with anyone. All of these things began to bring other grievances to light; the artists began to question their part in Marvel’s big picture. Sick of it all, Todd McFarlane would announce his “retirement.” And when Rob tried to branch out with a new title called The Executioners at Malibu Comics, his Marvel superiors reined him in by voicing their displeasure. Although all of these artists had received their accolades and earned generous royalties, they were beginning to get frustrated with their superiors and the developing exploitive nature of the corporate culture that came as Marvel’s stock went public in July of 1991. At the height of their successes, they decided that it was time to confront the brass head-on. On December 17, 1991, Todd McFarlane (with his wife and child), Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld had an impromptu meeting with an appalled Terry Stewart,

From left to right: Whilce Portacio, two unidentified employees of Golden Apple Comics, Marc Silvestri, Voodoo, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee and Jim Valentino during a 1992 appearance at Golden Apple Comics. ©2007 Golden Apple Comics.

ERIK LARSEN

If there was ever a person born to be a comic book artist, Erik Jon Larsen would certainly fit that bill. As a teenager he started writing and drawing his own strips in his fanzine Graphic Fantasy. By 1983, the self-taught artist made his professional debut in Megaton #1 and worked his way through the independent circuit before finally getting a freelance offer from Jim Shooter, then editor-inchief of Marvel Comics. Soon other editors took notice of his talents that earned him strings on titles like Punisher, Doom Patrol, and The Outsiders. When Larsen was given the impossible job of following Todd McFarlane’s memorable work on Amazing Spider-Man, he successfully maintained the title’s highly acclaimed status and earned his own fan following with his overly enthusiastic renderings and storytelling. Upon the formation of Image Comics, Erik resurrected Savage Dragon, his boyhood creation, as the title that he would, and continues (for 130 issues-andcounting) to, write and illustrate. In 2004, Erik became the publisher of Image Central, as he hopes to usher in a new era of renaissance for the company that he helped co-found.

I wanted to ask you something. Does it still bother you a little bit that they constantly misspell your name in comics press circles? It’s not the hardest name to spell. But it’s one of those names that you assume you know how to spell, that’s the thing about it, and in “Sienkiewicz” you go “I think I’d better look that up.” “Larsen” you’re like, “Pfft! I know how to spell Larsen. I don’t have to look that up.” But you think they would know better after 20 years in the biz? Oh, I know. Guys will get the e-mail from the end of my column and e-mail me, and my name is on the column. How are you getting that wrong? It’s spelled right in there. How are you getting it

screwed up? How are you doing that? So your dad was a college professor? Uh, yeah. I’m going to stick with that. But you dropped out of high school somehow. Yeah, but my kids don’t know that. Okay. I’d just as soon to keep that out of the public record. That’s mentioned in a lot of your interviews. You can do that when you’re young and foolish, but when you get older and responsible and want your kids to finish school, you go, “Well, wait a minute. Maybe that’s not something I should necessarily be going out there and advertising.” Why’d you drop out? I was going to a school that I really liked down in Northern California, and we moved up to Bellingham, Washington; the new school was very cliqué-ish. If you had gone to school with those guys since kindergarten you could be part of their group. I was entering into their world in 11th grade and it was just like, man, you are not breaking into this group. So that whole time you were by yourself. That was part of the reason that made you leave? Yeah, it was just an unfriendly environment, and it’s school stuff I just don’t want to be doing. I’m just not happy here. And my dad at that point was teaching workshops in self-reliance, and he was like,

IMAGE FOUNDER

Jim Lee

Jim Lee. Photograph courtesy of DC Comics.

Since his penciling debut with Alpha Flight #51, Jim Lee made his presence immediately known on his way to the top of the industry. Lee worked vigorously on perfecting his art by blending his influences with elements of modern pop culture into his own God-given passion for detail and high-powered heroism. He rapidly found himself ushering X-Men, his childhood favorites, to levels of unprecedented success with the eight million copies sold of X-Men #1. Upon joining Image Comics, Jim co-created WildC.A.T.s (with longtime friend Brandon Choi) and a plethora of popular characters for his own outfit, WildStorm. On August 27th of 1998, Jim left the Image family and sold WildStorm and their titles to DC Comics. Today, as an executive for DC Comics, Jim serves as the editorial director of WildStorm, where he recently had an eventful relaunch of his line. And on the art front, the influential artist currently collaborates with premiere comics writers like Grant Morrison (on the new WildC.A.T.s) and Frank Miller (on All-Star Batman and Robin).

When you were in Princeton, New Jersey [in the mid-’80s], did you have an epiphany that you wanted to get into comics? You’ve mentioned in the past that your parents wanted you to be a doctor. Yeah. Was that something you didn’t want? Could you see yourself being a disgruntled doctor? Well, I don’t think I would have been disgruntled, but I think in terms of what I loved at the time was comics, and it wasn’t the first time I thought about it. I think anyone, a kid that’s reading comics, they dream about being a comic book creator. Yeah, so I remember when I was ten or 12 I sent some drawings in to Marvel looking for a job, I think, so I certainly had the notion earlier. I don’t think I gave it real serious thought until I was in college and I had to decide what I was going to do after I graduated. Was there a particular thing that made you take that thought seriously? Was it

really The Dark Knight Returns? Yeah, I think it was a number of different factors all happening at the same time.1986, that was my senior year at Princeton, and you need to write a thesis to graduate, so a lot of seniors take “easy classes,” what are called “gut classes,” slang of the time, like Music 101, Clapping for Credit, or Studio Art, to ease up their academic workloads so they could spend hours writing their theses. So I took Studio Art, and it was taught by this teacher named Fontaine Dunn, who I’ve actually reconnected with in the years since. She was an abstract expressionist artist that commuted down from New York City, and she was very involved in the art scene in New York from the ’50s, ’60s and on, and she taught a studio class. So we did life drawing, painting, and whatnot, and she really inspired me to consider a career in art, whether it’s fine art, commercial art, whatever, but the passion she had for art, the way she talked about it. We went up to her loft in New York City and got to see a little bit of how she lived, and just that kind of lifestyle was very romantic, very appealing at the time. And then also Dark Knight Returns came out that year, and at the time Princeton was a very small town, there were no comic book stores. There are still no comic book stores here. That year, ’86, a freshman, some girl who was really into comics, started up a comic book club. At Princeton they have all these basically student-run businesses. You can sell, like, I remember beach

IMAGE FOUNDER

Todd McFarlane

Recent publicity photo of Todd McFarlane.

No matter where Todd McFarlane goes, he always seems to have to do things his own way. And it’s exactly that attitude and tenacity that has given this artist the ability to remain fiercely independent and create an empire from his character Spawn. From his humble beginnings in lowly selling titles at Marvel and DC Comics to his great successes on Amazing Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk, he’s always left his stamp and flair on anything he touches. Todd’s elastic visualization of Spider-Man radically transformed that character’s appearance and remains influential at Marvel today. Dissatisfied with Marvel’s constant editorial interference and attitude towards creators, he quit and entered a self-imposed retirement from the Spider-Man title that he successfully premiered with sales in the millions. Soon he reemerged to help found Image Comics and made Spawn and himself into household names. The first issue of Spawn sold over 1,800,000 copies and remains the best-selling independent comic title ever. Today the immensely popular artist is president of Image Comics and owner of both McFarlane Toys and McFarlane Productions; he’s also highly sought after for his artistic vision in mainstream film, television and other mediums. When you were growing up, you were a rabid comic book fan, right? You used to write letters and all sorts of things. It depends on your definition of “growing up.” I started collecting comic books probably when I was 16. I’m actually a late-bloomer. Once I started collecting, I became a freak. I think most people when they collect are a little more reasonable about their collecting. I’ve always been sort of an obsessive kind of guy. Like, when I get into something, I dive in completely. When I started collecting, I started buying Marvel first, started practically buying every single title, and then when I ran out of those titles, I started buying DCs. And when I ran out of those, then it was the independent comic books. And then there was, “I’m going to read them, and now I’m going to try and draw them, then write letters to them.” I just fell in love with the industry as a whole. You actually worked in a comic book store, right? Yeah. That was in Spokane, Washington.

When did you start taking the art seriously? Probably, I would say, the beginning of my senior year of high school. But you already had a scholarship in sports? The last thing on your mind was being a comic book artist? No, not really. I was always doodling, so what ends up happening, then, is I start collecting the comic books, right? Then the comics become a focus of my artwork. I go, “Hey, you know what? Instead of just doodling, I’ll actually put it to a constructive use.” And I go, “These comic books are pretty cool. Why don’t I start training myself to draw comic books instead of just trying — because at that point I was doing 15 different styles, y’know, in my notebooks? There was no rhyme or reason to my artwork. So the comic books then became a focal point. I’d go, “I’m gonna teach myself to draw comic books.” And then, I started doing that in high school, especially my senior year, so by the time I graduated from high school and then I end up going to college and playing baseball, I was very realistic about the chances of being a pro athlete. Although I had delusional friends, I knew that the odds were against me. So I knew I had to get an education, and at the same time “I’ll continue teaching myself these comic books and sending off samples.” And at some point I’m going to have to make a living. So if it was baseball, if it was

Todd’s cover artwork for the black-&-white reprinting of Spawn #1 in 1997.

IMAGE FOUNDER

Marc Silvestri Marc Silvestri. Courtesy of Top Cow Productions.

The always energetic Marc Silvestri was the first of the Image co-founders to ever experience a degree of major success when he became the regular penciler of The Uncanny X-Men in 1987. The Floridian self-taught artist broke into comics in the early ’80s via short stories in DC’s dying horror line; among the influences in his art style are Bernie Wrightson and John Buscema. After his pivotal runs on Uncanny and Wolverine, he went on to help build Image and develop his own properties. The launch of Cyberforce, his signature book, sold over 850,000 copies and gave Marc a taste that independence would be very sweet. In the mid-’90s, Silvestri moved his offices to Hollywood just as his Top Cow Studios experienced their greatest surge with the creation of Witchblade and Darkness, both among the best known Image properties. Gradually, Marc turned Witchblade into a popular TV show and successfully negotiated an enterprising deal with Marvel Comics where he and his Top Cow artists provide art for selected Marvel special events. Recently, Marc illustrated the popular Hunter-Killer (with writer Mark Waid) and continues to have his sunny disposition as he oversees the future of Image as their acting CEO.

You were originally from Florida? I was born there. I was raised in Chicago, but I was born in West Palm Beach. Until I was four we lived there, then we moved up to Chicago, and up until ’87, early ’88, is when I moved out to California. Just before that I spent a year in Detroit. Your family, they’re originally from Italy? No, my mom and dad, first-generation French, moved over here from there. Grew up during World War II. I think my dad actually served in the Army over there for a little while. Probably some cushy assignment. I think it was just after the war that he went into the service. But, yeah, they grew up there, and my brother, my sister and I were all born here. You’re the youngest, right? I’m the kid. By eight years. My sister is eight years older than me, and my brother is 11 years older. So,

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yeah, I was kind of late in life. So were they into your comic book ambitions from early on, or not? No. I didn’t really read comics much when I was younger. My exposure to comics came from my cousin Fred, who was a huge comic book collector back when we were kids. Even today, he’s still in the collecting biz. But even back then he had a few thousand comics, which was, to me, an incredible amount. I didn’t know anyone else who was really in that hobby. And he was putting things in boxes and bags long before it became fashionable. So that’s where my exposure to comics came from. I would go to his house and just pick up a few books that I thought looked pretty cool, stuff from Kirby and Buscema… Wrightson, when he was doing comics, Swamp Thing, stuff like that. Consequently, I never really read a whole lot of full story arcs, because I would just pick up one book, and if it was continued next issue, well, too bad. So you weren’t like most comic book guys are, you were into athletics and working out and that kind of stuff, right? Didn’t you work at a gym or something? I worked at a gym just before I got into comics, and that was pretty much just because I had nothing else to do and they gave me a free membership.

IMAGE FOUNDER

Jim Valentino No single Image founder took a bigger risk in joining Image Comics than Jim Valentino, who was married with children. After years of struggling through the independent comics circuit on books like normalman and Valentino, he finally found mainstream success writing and drawing Guardians of the Galaxy in 1990. Upon learning about Jim’s involvement with Image, his Marvel editors removed him from Guardians, although the artist had no intention of ever leaving. A firm believer in the spirit of Image’s idealism and potential of the new company’s success, Valentino never looked back and proceeded forward on his new creation. The first issue of ShadowHawk would sell a half-million books, allowing the artist some personal security and the resources to help other artists. From 1999 to 2004, Valentino served as Image’s publisher during a transition period that ushered in some of Image’s biggest critical success and talent, such as writer Brian Michael Bendis. This year, the Bronx native has returned to his roots in autobiographical comics with Drawing from Life and continues his line of super-hero comics under his ShadowLine imprint. Jim Valentino photo. Courtesy of Mr. Valentino.

How would you describe growing up in the Bronx with your family? Well, I didn’t actually grow up in the Bronx, we moved to California when I was seven. That said, New York is still the only place I’ve ever been where I feel completely at home. The pace of the city is my natural pace. How many brothers and sisters do you have? I have two sisters, one older, one younger and a younger brother. But only one mom and one dad.

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So comics were a bond that you and your father shared? What was it about comics that just grabbed your attention? Everything. The art, the stories, the characters, the word balloons, everything. They were an epiphany for me. I liken it to how most people describe a religious experience. From the moment I saw one I knew that was what I wanted to do. No question. Being a teenager in the ’60s — did you get into the cultural changes occurring around then? I’m not sure I know what you mean, but if you mean what I think you do then all I can say is read Vignettes, it’ll tell you more about my life than you could possibly need to know. Did you stop reading comics when you discovered girls and other distractions? Very briefly when I was in junior high school; by high school I learned how to hide it better and by the time I got out of high school I didn’t care. I figured if a girl didn’t like me because I read comics she was probably not the girl for me. Most of them either thought it was cool or didn’t care. At least I wasn’t a jock or a geek. Did underground comix start getting your attention back towards the art form? Underground comix were my

1992 ShadowHawk illustration by Jim Valentino for the cover of Malibu Sun, the house publication of Malibu Comics.

ASSESSING IMAGE

Counter Tension (Or: “How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Not Solely Blame Image for the Fall of Comics”) When Phil Seuling’s Seagate Distributing Company created the direct market distribution system in 1972, he probably unknowingly changed the entire economic course of comics for the foreseeable future. By avoiding the traditional newsstand channels (where sellers can return books), he created a system where comics were bought from direct distributors for Marvel, DC, and smaller comic book publishers — this window would allow sellers to get their books earlier than newsstands at competitively discounted rates on a non-returnable basis. The creation of the direct market allowed the rise of devoted comics shops and retailers that would cater to a dedicated readership. Publishers encouraged the growth of the direct market because it was a winwin scenario that not only built customer loyalty, but provided a lucrative new source of business. Throughout the seventies, sales were declining on the newsstands; a new market where books were non-returnable was the future that they were going to pursue to its fullest extent. The direct market also allowed independent and alternative publishers a chance to gamble on a mechanism with which to keep their readers – books like Cerebus, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bone would have never found success on newsstands. “What this created was an environment where small publishers could enter the market,” said Steve Milo, the founder of American Entertainment (which during the early nineties was the biggest single retailer of comics) and the pioneer of comics retailing online. “They could enter a market on a non-returnable basis, which was a very low risk, and they could be a lot more risky in terms of their offerings. So they didn’t have to worry about coming out with mainstream

products. They could take more chances. So this really created kind of a creative revolution, and really opened up a lot more opportunities for upcoming talent who previously had really been restricted to just Marvel and DC.” When the media’s anticipation of the Batman movie began in 1988, there were many prominent comic book distributors (key ones were Diamond, Comics Unlimited, Capital City, and Heroes World) when the boom in comics exploded wide open. In the years prior, major comics publishers had set their sights so strongly on the direct market that they practically allowed their product’s presence on convenience, grocery and drug stores to disappear by turning a blind eye to the newsstand market — more than 70% of their revenue coming from just the direct market. Stores dedicated to selling comic books and related paraphernalia began emerging in malls and local neighborhoods all across the country. In the beginning, it was practically a license to print money from an audience of readers and speculators too eager to give it up. “Batman was insane for the comics business,”

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Second row, left to right:: Erik Larsen, Marc Silvestri, Whilce Portacio, Rob Liefeld, Len Brown (Topps creative director) and Ira Friedman (Topps V.P.). First row, left to right: Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, Jim Lee, Arthur T. Shorin (Topps chairman & CEO), and Jim Salicrup (Topps Comics’ editor-inchief and former Marvel editor). This is the only known photo of the seven Image founders together. The occasion took place on July 12, 1993, at the L.A. headquarters of the Creative Artists Agency for the signing of a Topps and Image Comics trading card set. Courtesy of Jim Salicrup and Topps.

Image Comics: The Road To Independence