Interviews 

Eric Stephenson Talks “Nowhere Men,” the Future of Image [Interview]

By | August 1st, 2012
Posted in Interviews | % Comments

Today at MC to kick off Artist August in a completely non-logical way, we have an interview with Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson. Sure, he isn’t an artist, but he is a man who is control of an entire publisher of artists, and maybe the most exciting one at that. 2012 has been a great year for Image, even surpassing the awesome of 2011 for them. We talk to Stephenson about the year so far, where they are headed, their SDCC announcements, his own book “Nowhere Men,” and who his favorite artists in comics today are, amongst other things. Thanks to Eric, as per usual, and welcome to Artist August. Look for more in the form of an art feature on Eric’s artist on “Nowhere Men,” Nate Bellegarde, later today.

Before we get into the overarching Image business, let’s talk about your own book: Nowhere Men. This has been brewing for a bit with Nate Bellegarde on art. From what we’ve heard, it sounds quite interesting — science being the new Rock and Roll — but can you give us a little more on what it’s all about and what its path to existence was?

Eric Stephenson: Well, it’s been a long, rocky path, I’ll tell you that.

The idea has gone through a few different permutations over the years, as well as some false starts with other artists, but at its heart, it’s always been about these sudden events that transform the world in various ways. One of the most relevant examples, obviously, is the emergence of The Beatles in the 1960s, when they seemingly came out of nowhere to light up a dull black and white world with Technicolor. Steve Jobs and Apple were like that. Star Wars was kind of like that, at least in terms of its effect on film, and going back to the ‘60s again, there’s that moment when youth culture and fashion was transformed because of the Mods. People can’t really pinpoint the first Mods — they were just there all of a sudden.

In Nowhere Men, four scientists — Dade Ellis, Simon Grimshaw, Emerson Strange and Thomas Walker — are individually the most famous and well-regarded men in the world. They join together to create a company called World Corp. that is the catalyst for some profound changes… but then things get a little bit underhanded and weird.

I don’t want to give too much away, because if I can bring up Star Wars again, I was a kid when that came out and I didn’t know much about it before I first saw it. I think going into something new without a lot of advance knowledge — without knowing who all the characters are or having a concrete idea what it’s about — is a more exciting experience than the alternative. That’s relatively hard to accomplish these days with so much information available 24/7, but we’re trying.

For what you’re trying to do, what made Nate such an ideal fit on art?

ES: Simply put, he’s brilliant. I’m obviously not much of a commodity in terms of writing and I certainly haven’t been very prolific since the ‘90s, but Nate — as well as Steven Finch at Fonografiks — is hands down the best collaborator I’ve ever had. Everything I’ve given him, whether it’s suggestions for character designs, ideas for various locations or just the actual story itself, is taken another level in Nate’s hands. He gives a lot of thought to everything he does, and it really shows in the finished pages. The book just wouldn’t be the same without him.

I was first attracted to his work on the Hector Plasm one-shots he did with Benito Cereno, but I feel like he really started coming into his own on Robert Kirkman’s Atom Eve and Atom Eve & Rex Splode miniseries, along with a 12-issue run on Brit. As much as I liked that work, though, what he’s doing now is an entirely different league. There aren’t enough superlatives for an artist as good as Nate.

2012 has seen The Walking Dead reach new heights, Saga take off into the stratosphere, and many other books make a huge splash. Would you say 2012 has been running according to plan so far, or has it exceeded or not met your expectations?

Continued below

ES: In terms of the response we’ve been getting, I’d say we’re exceeding expectations. I’ve been really thrilled for the creators involved, because they’re all doing such amazing work and I love that people are so enthusiastic about it. It’s been a great year.

There were quite a few announcements for your team at San Diego. For you, both as the Publisher of Image Comics and as a fan of comics, what were you most excited about announcing at SDCC this year?

ES: Being on a stage with Greg Rucka, Matt Fraction, James Robinson, Darick Robertson, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Chris Roberson, Joe Casey, and Howard Chaykin was pretty damn awesome. It’s going to be hard to top that, honestly. They’re all so tremendously talented, and such great people. I’m really proud to be associated with them, along with the guys we announced who weren’t on stage, like Michael Lark, Joe Harris and Gary Whitta and Whilce Portacio, and it’s just… It was an amazing day, really — one of the true highlights of my time as publisher — and I’m excited for all of their books. 2013 really can’t get here soon enough — and I say that as someone who is thoroughly in love with 2012 at the moment.

In a previous interview, you lamented Casanova no longer being at Image, given how big of a fan you were of that series. Now, Satellite Sam is coming to Image with Casanova’s Matt Fraction writing and Black Kiss’ Howard Chaykin on art. I know both of those guys are favorites of yours. What was the story behind getting that book at Image instead of it landing at, say, Icon?

ES: Yeah, I think I’ve been pretty upfront about how — if not outright heartbroken, then disappointed — I was that Casanova moved away from Image. I think it’s incredible work, and I think Matt’s a really gifted writer.

Meanwhile, Howard’s obviously doing Black Kiss II at Image, as well as another book we’ll be announcing in the not-too-distant future, so it just seemed like a natural fit for Matt and Howard to bring Satellite Sam to Image as well.

Happily, we’re going to be doing more with Matt, too, so I’m really excited about that. It’s silly, but it actually makes me kind of emotional. I mean, I seriously can’t stress enough how deeply affected I was by losing Casanova. Matt kept Five Fists of Science here, though, and we just did a new printing of that, because it’s a really consistent seller on our backlist — and I don’t think it was ever like a door closed forever or anything, but I’m just thrilled to be working with Matt again.

In a lot of ways, it seems like Ed Brubaker, a man perhaps most prominently known for revitalizing Captain America, has become a major figure at Image. He was always quite vocal about creator rights and creator-owned books, but do you feel his role with Image exceeds simply writing one of your more successful titles in Fatale?

ES: Ed is a force of nature. Just being on the phone with him is awesome, because he has a load of great ideas and is always very generous with his advice. Having him at the panel on Saturday was kind of a last minute thing, but we were at lunch beforehand and he was just so amped about what we were doing and the people involved, that it seemed stupid not to involve him. I think his enthusiasm for what’s happening right now is kind of infectious, and yeah, I definitely feel like having Ed as a vocal supporter of creator-driven comics is a huge benefit, not just to Image, but the industry as a whole.

In the past few years, it seems there has been a transition from following characters to following creators. What role do you feel Image has played in that transition?

ES: I think since the beginning Image has given creators a platform to do work they believe in, that they’re enthusiastic about sharing with the audience they’ve built working on other characters. I don’t think there’s any denying that Marvel and DC have a lot of wonderful characters, but at the end of the day, Disney and Warner Bros. own those characters and they ultimately determine what happens to them. There are legions of fans that love those characters — and you can count me among them — and lots of writers and artists who want to work on them, but that’s not all there is. There are great characters, there are great writers, there are great artists, and I don’t think acknowledging that diminishes any of them on an individual basis.

Continued below

The volume of books that have been announced is something I’ll touch on later, but it seems that the names associated with many of the announcements have been getting bigger and bigger, and more closely associated with the Big Two. Namely, you have people like Greg Rucka and Marvel Architect Matt Fraction working at Image on new books. Do you see there being a migration of sorts back to creator-owned titles? To me, it seems as if there is almost a cycle in which creators like Fraction or Hickman start at Image, move on to “bigger” titles, and then come back to get their creative fix.

ES: Well, like I just said, everyone wants to work on those characters at some point. I do think there’s something hugely attractive about contributing to this rich tapestry that’s been developed over — hell, over almost a century now in DC’s case, but definitely over decades upon decades. I think for the most part, people dig working on those characters, but at a certain point, they’ve scratched that itch and they want to work for themselves.

I mean, there’s kind of this illusion that work-for-hire equals stability, but the reality of the situation is that you are working for someone else, and as long as you are working for someone else, you are at their mercy. If you’re working on a book and someone further up the ladder decides to make changes to it, you are beholden to go along with that decision. You do what they tell you to do. I’m willing to bet Marvel Studios has a fair amount of say over what happens with the comics relating to their successful film franchises — if they want to change a project or even kill a project because it doesn’t jive with their plans, there’s not a lot of room for argument. It’s not only their toy box, but they own all the toys. If you want to do things your way without interference, well, the only real alternative is to build your own toy box and fill it with your own toys.

It used to be that people started off doing work-for-hire and that worked up to creator-owned work, but somewhere along the line, that cycle was somehow reversed. In the last couple years, though, it looks like we’re getting back to the natural order of things.

In an interview published recently with Comic Book Resources, Grant Morrison shared that he’s both closing the book on his traditional superhero work for a bit as well as focusing more on his creator-owned work, including more work with Image past his upcoming mini-series “Happy!” Can you tell us anything about that? I’m sure you’re thrilled at the idea of working with Morrison on more projects, if it comes to be.

ES: Well, we’d originally talked about a couple different things, and you know, Grant has many, many ideas. Grant has an incredible imagination, and while it would be premature to go into detail just yet, Happy! is only the beginning of his relationship with Image. Are we thrilled about that? Absolutely. It’s been a real pleasure working with Grant, and I can’t wait for people to see Happy! for themselves. I think it’s some of Darick’s best-ever artwork, and it really meshes well with the grimy world Grant has created for his first crime epic.

The Walking Dead was very much one of the hottest topics at SDCC, with the announcement that issue #100 is the highest selling book of the decade and the reveal of the season three trailer. What kind of effect, if any, do you feel The Walking Dead has on the rest of your line and the viability of Image Comics as a whole?

ES: Obviously not everything is affected by one book’s success, but I do think the overall visibility of the title has helped us and continues to help us.

The success of The Walking Dead helps. The success of Saga helps. The success of Fatale helps. The Manhattan Projects. Mind the Gap. Revival. I think it’s an exciting time for everyone, and I think everyone appreciates the exposure each new success brings.

Continued below

It seems every major con features at least a couple Image title announcements, and between Image Expo and SDCC alone, there were double-digit titles announced. As the Image line continues to expand, do you see there being a certain amount of titles that you don’t want to go past? Also, do you feel like having a more expansive line causes any books to slip through the cracks?

ES: We definitely don’t want to be in the business of pumping out 100 titles a month, and thankfully, since we’re not a publicly owned company with a gang of stockholders to answer to, we don’t have to. Not everything we publish is an ongoing series — things come and go. There’s some overlap with various miniseries, obviously, but even so, I don’t think we’re in any real danger of clogging up the market with too many things just for the sake of driving up market share or whatever.

In your recent interview with Tom Spurgeon, you were quoted as rhetorically asking, “who’s going to be talking about AvX ten years from now?” At Image, what titles that are currently running do you see continuing to make an impact ten years from now, even if they’ve already wrapped?

ES: I should learn when to shut up sometimes, shouldn’t I? Or be more articulate, I suppose.

The point I was trying to make was that people remember stories, not marketing events. There’s a reason things like Watchmen and Sandman continue to sell, whereas other things from the same period don’t. The Walking Dead has been a growing success for going on 10 years because Robert’s telling a good story filled with interesting characters.

I think a lot of this is shooting fish in a barrel. Obviously, Saga is going to be remembered a decade from now. I would say that about almost everything Jonathan Hickman has done here. Fatale. Chew. Prophet. I think people are going to look back at what Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell are doing with Glory and regard that as an exceptional piece of comics storytelling. People take Erik Larsen for granted, I think. Savage Dragon is pretty phenomenal work, especially when viewed as a whole. People can scoff, if they like, but I think that’s going to be remembered over some of these transitional events that just intended to set up the next reboot or relaunch or whatever.

Books like Prophet and Glory have been big successes so far in 2012. Actually, all of the Extreme Studios relaunch books have been, really. When it was originally announced a lot of people were surprised by it, but since it has proven to be both commercially fruitful and critically well-received, especially Prophet and Glory. As a project that you personally worked diligently to bring together, how do you feel that it has all come together now that all of those books have relaunched?

ES: I think everyone involved would tell you it’s been kind of a mixed bag. Prophet has obviously received the most attention, and I think that’s down to the fact it was the most radically different from the source material. I think all the books have been successful in different ways, but not everything was intended to be changed as drastically as Prophet. I’ve read here and there that some people were disappointed, for instance, that Bloodstrike was so similar to the original concept, and I don’t think it’s fair to judge things on how they’ve been altered. I think Tim Seeley accomplished what he set out to do, but what his goals were vastly different from Brandon Graham’s on Prophet, or even from what Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell were doing on Glory.

I know Near Death has been the underappreciated title of choice for you, and with good reason — Jay is killing it on that book. But besides that, what under-the-radar Image titles do you wish more were reading? Personally, I’d say Danger Club — that’s one of my favorite books this year so far.

ES: Both of the books I just mentioned — Savage Dragon and Glory — are amazing. I think Super Dinosaur is great. If you read comics and you have kids, you could do a lot worse than share your love of comics with them via that book. I don’t have kids and I love that book. Robert and Jason hit it out of the park every issue. Skullkickers is a lot of fun. Lil Depressed Boy is a great book. Dancer and The Activity, both by Nathan Edmondson, are really good.

Continued below

SDCC, comic-wise, was undoubtedly stolen by your team and the bevy of exciting titles Image announced. With Marvel taking the not relaunch/reboot but renumbering approach and DC going back to the well with Sandman after doing the same with Watchmen, do you feel that the comic book zeitgeist is starting to shift away from the perceived mainstream?

ES: In a way, I feel bad for those guys, because obviously they’re getting a lot of pressure from above to more fully exploit their most successful properties. That’s the nature of the business they’re in, though, so I don’t think much of what they’re doing is entirely unexpected. Everyone knew that Marvel would have a response to the New 52, it was just a matter of when they’d do it, so now that it’s out there… Well, it’s not terribly exciting, is it?

I think people are ready for a more multi-faceted comic book industry. Readers have a lot to choose from these days, and I think the more they embrace that, the more they come to grips with the tremendous amount of variety on offer, they’re going to see it’s a better way to be.

We’re coming up on August, a month we at Multiversity celebrate every year by focusing on our favorite artists in comics. For you, who is really blowing you away in comic art right now?

ES: I have to start with Nick Bradshaw. Everything I’ve seen by that guy is awesome. I guess he’s doing some work on Wolverine and the X-Men right now? Fantastic stuff. Jonathan Chan gave me this poster he did of all the Marvel characters as they looked during the Silver Age and I’ve got that up in my office, hanging over my door.

There are a few artists here at Image that just blow me away with every issue the produce. Ryan Ottley on Invincible is a big one. I’ve watched him grow from a complete novice to a master of his craft over the last nine years and it’s been amazing to watch. Same with Charlie Adlard. I’ve liked Charlie’s work since the ’90s when he was doing X-Files, but he has really come into his own working with Robert on The Walking Dead. Sean Phillips, too — he’s always been good, but he’s just killing it on Fatale. Fiona Staples just sent in the cover for Saga #7 and that kind of blew my mind. Everything she does is great and she’s just getting better, the more she does.

Darwyn Cooke’s latest Parker graphic novel is amazing, too. Darwyn is one of my all-time favorites and while everything he does is beautiful, I think Parker is kind of the pinnacle of his work. Just brilliant, brilliant work that never ceases to thrill me. If you haven’t picked up The Score yet, you’re really missing out.


//TAGS | Artist August

David Harper

EMAIL | ARTICLES


  • Columns
    Artist August: Evan “Doc” Shaner [Art Feature]

    By | Aug 31, 2014 | Columns

    Today brings Artist August to a close, and what better way to do that than with “Flash Gordon” artist Evan “Doc” Shaner. Long someone that every artist has fawned over for his clean, powerful art with a pitch perfect ability for delivering a story, with his work on “Flash Gordon” we’ve found an artist find […]

    MORE »
    Columns
    Artist August: Tom Scioli [Art Feature]

    By | Aug 30, 2014 | Columns

    Full disclosure: I had another artist slated for this spot up until quite recently. I went with a pick that I felt was an important artist in the history of comics, and was excited to spotlight their work. However, when I started collecting pieces, I felt nothing. The work, while incredible, didn’t resonate with me […]

    MORE »
    Columns
    Artist August: Liz Prince [Art Feature]

    By | Aug 29, 2014 | Columns

    Liz Prince’s comics are exactly the type of comics I want to see more of in the world. Her work lies somewhere between the self-reflection of Jeffery Brown and the raucous energy of James Kochalka, examining herself and her surroundings through the lens of a humorist. Her comics are easily digestible while simultaneously impactful and thought provoking, […]

    MORE »

    -->