Image Comics Profile

Name:

Image Comics

Publisher:

Erik Larsen

Started by:

Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino.

Current Partners:

Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino.

Characters:

Spawn
Savage Dragon
Shadowhawk
WildC.A.T.S.
Witchblade
Invincible

Famous For:

Image first became famous when seven top artists broke away from Marvel and DC. The move was hyped by the media and the first comics they published outsold many Marvel and DC titles. Image is now famous for its entire creator owned line. Image has two basic principles that drive business, “1) Image would never own another creator's property; and 2) Image Central would never interfere creatively or financially with any Image partner.”

Public Company (Can you own a piece of it?):

No

Percentage Of Market Share (According to Diamond):

As of 2005 - 3.56%

Creator Owned Projects:

Almost every comic that Image publishes is creator owned. Some major ones are: Witchblade
Spawn
The Darkness
Savage Dragon
The Walking Dead
Invincible
Godland
Shadowhawk

Location:

Mailing Address
Image Comics
1942 University Ave, Suite 305
Berkeley, CA 94704

Website:

www.imagecomics.com

Submissions:

Image comics are unique in that the comics they publish are creator owned. Therefore, they are generally looking for complete comics to publish. Here are some things you will need to include:

1. A cover letter with important contact info – name, address, phone, etc. You must include an email address.
2. Typed, one page synopsis of the story.
3. Minimum five pages of fully drawn, inked, and lettered work. It does not need to be in color. Do not send original art.
4. Include a mock up of the cover.

Image does not accept scripts for comic books. They do accept penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering samples in case they need to look for an artist for a project.

You can send submission to:

Submissions
c/o Image Comics
1942 University Ave.
Suite 305
Berkeley, CA 94704

As always, be sure to read Image Comics submission page for complete information.

Other Media:

Image has had some of their properties turned into motion pictures and television shows. There has been a Spawn movie and animated series, a Savage Dragon animated series, and a “Witchblade” television series.

Get A Job With:

Image posts job positions on their website.

History:

Image comics started out with a revolution. Although many of the stories as to how things went down vary, they all seem to agree upon the fact that most of the artists went to Marvel Comics with the idea of their own creator owned line, meaning the creators would own the rights to the comics and characters they created. They threatened to walk from many of their popular titles to pursue this venture, but Marvel wouldn’t budge, and the artists walked.

So it was that Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino broke off from their parent companies to launch their own creator owned line. They had two basic tenets, “1) Image would never own another creator's property; and 2) Image Central would never interfere creatively or financially with any Image partner.” They have done their best to stick to these tenants even today.

The fledgling creators launched many new comics, including “Spawn”, “Savage Dragon”, “Shadowhawk”, “Youngblood”, and “WildC.A.T.S,” among others. The titles did extremely well, outselling many of Marvel and DC’s comics. But trouble would soon come to the new publisher.

The first big issue that Image ran into was the inability to meet deadlines. Many of the artists found it very hard to maintain a monthly comic book. Probably the most notorious of the bunch was the crossover series, “Deathmate.” Many comic book stores preordered many copies of this title, but when months went by and the book didn’t show, people’s interest waned and when it finally did show up, many stores found that they were stuck with many unsold copies. The second issue was with infighting among the group of creators. Most of the partners puts a lot of blame on Rob Liefeld, accusing him of using Image resources to promote his own publishing line, Maximum Comics. This fighting led to the group outing Liefeld from the company.

Now, the company only has four of the remaining seven initial partners. Whilce Portacio was unable to put up the money to incorporate and was bought out within the first year. Probably the biggest hit, however, was when Jim Lee sold his part of Image, Wildstorm, to DC Comics .

Lately, Image has continued to thrive, publishing many new properties and bringing new talent into the limelight. Comic books such as, “The Walking Dead,” “Invincible,” “Fear Agent,” and “Godland” have made Image one of the top creator owned comic book publishing companies in the world. Image Comics continues to push the boundaries by publishing new, exciting, and ground breaking comics.