Glass Houses

Last week, Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson gave a speech at the 4th annual ComicPRO meeting, in which he said a number of very silly things, basically blaming the industries problems on every other company besides Image, the beacon of light and hope for retailers everywhere.

Other, wiser folks than I have taken Stephenson to task for some of what he said.

But I wanted to deal with one aspect of what Stephenson said:

Superheroes are great.

I grew up reading superhero comics.

But over the years, when the writers and artists and editors and publishers I looked up to talked about advancing the medium, about producing more challenging content, and creating comics that appealed to adults, never once did I mistake what they were saying to be, “We need to find a way for superhero comics to appeal to more adults.”

This is the comic book industry, not the superhero industry, and if we want to stick around for the long haul, we need to recognize that and capitalize on that, because as much as I fond as I am of the superhero comics I read when I was younger, the full scope of what comics are and what comics can be is what will ultimately bring the world into your stores...

There is a vast and growing readership out there that is excited about discovering comic books, but as long as we continue to present comics to the world in the Biff Bang Pow! context of Marvel and DC, with shop windows full of pictures of Spider-Man and Superman, we will fail to reach it.

 

Stephenson is not the first to note that perhaps the medium is too dependent on super-heroes...folks have been saying that for decades.

But just for illustration purposes, let's just take a look at what comics Image is releasing this month:

Well, I guess if one of our partners wants to do super-heroes, that's OK. Plus, he brings in the Walking Dead dollars, so we have to humor him. (Also from Kirkman, Super Dinosaur, which has no issue out this month).

Again, McFarlane is an Image Founder, so he gets a pass on "presenting comics to the world in the Biff Bang Pow! context of Marvel and DC" thing. See also Image founder Erik Larsen, still publishing Savage Dragon, which has no issue out this month.

Oh, and Millar is pretty popular, so we're giving him a pass. Him, he's allowed to do super-heroes. Hell, we're going to publish an entire super-hero "universe" from Millar. Which we expect you retailers to carry even though I'm up here dissing companies that sell super-heroes.

Again, the Millar exception. Flash Gordon pastiches don't count, do they?

Same thing for Galaxy Quest rip-offs, right? Just because it has heroes in the title, and just because it is about actors who have to become super-heroes, that's not really a super-hero book. Besides, HITCH!!

Look, JMS is special--he wrote Babylon 5 16 years ago!! Of course we're going to publish multiple super-hero series from him. Besides, these comics "deconstruct" the genre--that obviously doesn't count!

Legion Of Super-Hero pastiches don't count, either--everyone has to publish one of those!

This series is tough to describe, but we even though we did solicit it as "the ultimate slacker superhero for the 21st Century" and "the new feel-good hero of the decade,'' that doesn't mean you should consider this a super-hero comic! Please don't stop buying it!

Just because she's a teen cop from the future who uses a rocket pack to fight crime, that doesn't make her a super-hero, does it? Does it?!?

In any given month, about 20% of Image's output is super-hero comics. And I have no problem with that. Any apparently, neither does Eric Stephenson, despite his "our shit doesn't stink" speech in which he castigates other companies for publishing super-heroes.

Oh, another thing Stephenson said? He dislikes "constantly re-launching, re-numbering, and re-booting series..." Because Image would never do that...

Oops.

Bold Fashion Choices--The Image Avengers!!

As much as folks might like to mock the "leather coats and pouches" era of the Avengers, that was nowhere near the nadir. In 1993, after the Image puppies abandoned Marvel, apparently the orders came down that Marvel artists had damn well better ape them as much as possible.

So, from Avengers #363 (1993):

That's Captain America, Crystal, the Black Knight, Hercules and the Black Widow. Click to embiggen to full pain-inducing size, won't you?

That's Steve Epting and Tom Palmer, by the way, proving that no one was immune forn the ravages of the 90s.

And yes, that issue had a foil-embossed cover. One of four Avengers issues that year to have one.

Someday you will pay, 1990s. Some day you will pay.

Manic Monday--Spitting Image Part 2

Dear Image...

Please stop putting the "Next Issue" ads on the freaking back covers of your comics!!

You don't do it on all of your books--is it just the Shadowline titles?--but you do it often enough to tick me off.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that it's a good tactic to put a full-page spoil of the reveal for the current issue's final panel ON ONE OF THE FLIPPING COVERS where it often can't be avoided.

Put them on the inside in the back, where I'm less likely to be spoiled unnecessarily.

Thank you.

Manic Monday--Spitting Image Part 1

At DC's Brightest Day panel at C2E2, Newsarama's David Pepose passes this along:

(DC Executive Editor Eddie) Berganza talks about the character of Deathstorm, the Black Lantern version of Firestorm: "The way Geoff writes him is like one of those '80s Image characters. A lot of groovy lingo."

Uhhh, Image was founded in 1992. I'm just sayin .'

Also, Image comics (especially of the 80s) weren't famous for their "groovy dialogue," so Berganza is damning Geoff Johns with some pretty faint praise there.

Also from Berganza regarding Brightest Day:

The last issue of Brightest Day, #24, will be a lot bigger. Berganza: "There's a lot to resolve and put in place, and giving the proper amount of splash pages and double-page spreads for our new savior."

Yes, because we should judge the quality of a hero (and "our new savior") by the amount of splash pages and double-page spreads he has. And silly me, I thought the comics medium was about sequential art, instead of putting out as few panels as possible to impress the rubes with "big" pictures.

So that's what Action Comics #1 was missing--more splash pages and double page spreads. Silly me.

Best Cover Ever...?

Or BEST COVER EVER!!!! ??

OK, OK, here's the pesky details from Image's March solicits:

RAT BASTARDS #1
story KURTIS J. WIEBE
art & cover SCOTT KOWALCHUK
MARCH 2
24 PAGES / FC†
$2.99
“MAD SCIENTISTS ARE A GIRL’S WORST ENEMY,” Part One†
The Rat Bastards are a collection of runaway and homeless teenagers that have been taken in and cared for by an aging inventor, Dante. Applying his brilliance, he crafts marvelous technological contraptions. With his vision and help, the teenagers agree to don his technology for the betterment of mankind. Together, they combat tyranny and stop madmen from bringing harm to the world.

I am sooooo on board!

They've Put My Dreams On Paper Again

Image solicitation of the millennium:

LADY ROBOTIKA #1
story JANE WIEDLIN & BILL MORRISON

Wait a minute...Jane Wiedlin of my beloved Go-Go's?!?!?

Yes, Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's:

Aliens from a distant planet abduct rock star JANE WIEDLIN (The Go-Go’s) and force her to play a concert for their Earth-obsessed emperor. On the trek back to their planet, they implant Jane’s body with nanobots as she sleeps. But their plan to turn her into one of their cyborg slaves backfires when Jane learns to control the nanites within her and becomes the super-powered cyborg liberator, LADY ROBOTIKA!
A new out-of-this-world shock sensation! Jane (The Go-Go’s) Wiedlin teams up with Bill (The Simpsons) Morrison to create a sexy and fun cosmic Rock and Roll fantasy!

Could this be the most perfect comic ever?

Yes, yes it could be.