How to kill Giants with your Rights

I love comics.

Let’s be honest, your first impression when you read that was either “What a geek.” or “How does that even matter? The course is about entrepreneurship!” If it was the former, yes, I am. If it was the latter, allow me to elaborate, and share the story of a comic book publishing company that not only provided readers an alternative to the “Big Two” (Marvel Comics and DC Comics), they pretty much reinvented the comic book publishing game, and perhaps the industry itself.

The year 1992 was important for comics. Tim Burton’s Batman had kicked the door in for big-budget comic book adaptations while DC Comics was still riding the wave that the success of titles such as The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen had brought. On the other side of the fence, Marvel Comics’ stock was booming in the six short months since they’d gone public. They were, unquestionably, the bigger player in the market. Soon however, their momentum was cut short. Frustrated with their editorial policies, seven young creators left Marvel Comics to start their own publishing house, Image Comics.

Let me emphasis the impact of this exodus. Three of these seven creators were Todd McFarlane, whose Spider-Man #1 had sold about three million copies; Rob Liefeld, whose X-Force #1 had sold five million copies; and Jim Lee, whose X-Men #1 is, if memory serves me right, still the highest selling comic-book of all time. These were people behind the biggest comic books of the time, and were at the top of their game.

Of course, as with any “start-up”, there were initial challenges that the founders had to address if they were to survive in a competing market. Although there is a lot to dwell into if I were to discuss what made Image Comics different than the others, I would like to focus on their chief draw: creator rights.

We discussed in class about how uniqueness in entrepreneurship is not defined as much by how unique the idea behind the business is as it is defined by how unique the execution, or rather, the implementation of that idea is. Image Comics is also publishing comics as is Marvel Comics or DC Comics. Moreover, if I were to ask you to name a Marvel Comics book or a DC Comics book, I’m pretty sure most of you could name at least one for each. So how is it that Image Comics have dominated the New York Times Best Sellers list in for the last few years?

The answer is simple. Image Comics gives creators full control of their comic books — in every aspect, from creative to financial. Not only does this avoid ugly creator disputes (a prominent example being the one with Watchmen, where the creators claim the company “swindled” them out of publishing rights of their creation), it also allows for development and acceptance of radiant new ideas that go beyond the world of spandex superheroes like Batman or Spider-Man and intellectual properties such as Archie.

Image Comics’ business model is straightforward. Do you have an idea for comic book? Simply head over to their site, follow the instructions and submit your pitch. Image takes a small flat fee off the books published and in their own words, “since Image Comics, Inc. owns no intellectual properties, you can be assured—accepted or not—that your property will remain yours.” The rest, such as details like the division of profits among the creators, must be decided by the creators themselves.

I’ve been reading comic books for as long as I can remember. You begin by following creations with enthusiastic passion. You’ll read Captain America month in month out but will soon realise that perhaps more than what makes Captain America Captain America is not as much as the character but the creators that give him the voice and the look. You’ll then follow the creators with same vigour and move on to their other stuff that goes beyond what you were accustomed to read. The world of Criminal, The Fade Out, Fatale, Scene of Crime, and so many more.

Image Comics are celebrating their 25^th anniversary this year. Not too shabby for company started by seven young creators who had faith in their stories and simply wanted to own their work.