When you get the chance to interview Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson, you take it. After all, in his hands, Image has went from a publisher on the verge to the very bleeding edge of comics, and helping push creator-owned as not just an idea but a movement to another level. That alone makes him an interesting conversation, but I’m confident in saying there isn’t a person in comics that will give you more honest, insightful answers. With Image Expo on the horizon, the chance to talk to Stephenson about the latest slate of books and where the industry is headed is even more irresistible, and thanks to Image, we had the opportunity to exclusively share a conversation between us with our readers.
Fresh from the Image Expo keynote, you can find that conversation with Stephenson about a little bit of everything: today’s announcements, the creator-owned movement, women creators at Image, the future of “Nowhere Men”, and at the end, an answer that encapsulates everything that makes Image Comics the most exciting publisher around in my opinion. I’m always happy to have the chance to talk with Eric, and I hope you enjoy the interview below.
ES: Well, we’d considering doing a standalone event earlier in July, but the reality of a situation like that is it puts a lot of pressure on our staff, on creators, on retailers, and on the press when everyone is already going kind of nuts preparing for one of the biggest conventions of the year. We also wanted to find a way to do something a little different in terms of our presence in San Diego, but we didn’t want to go outside of the actual convention to do it, we wanted to work with CCI instead of against them. It just seemed like a cool way to highlight our presence at the con while also doing something a little different, more in keeping with what we’d put in motion with our own Image Expo events.
I remember the first time I interviewed you, back in 2011, you shared that a big place Image was looking for growth from was the growing masses of readers who were tired of events and character deaths and the usual dog and pony show we often see in comics. Fast forward three and a half years later, and Image has more than doubled its market share in an industry that is in a sustained boom, with many consumers and retailers shifting attention and money over to not just Image, but other publishers that are trying to build creator out. How do you feel about the current state of Image and comics in general, and do you think that the movement towards more creator-driven comics is something that will expand as we move along?
ES: I hate the term “creator-driven,” and I don’t think creators should accept that kind of crap. As I noted in my keynote, it’s a term that was coined by our competition as a means of degrading the importance of creator-owned comics. I sat on a panel at ComicsPRO earlier this year where these other guys sat and said that nobody cares about creator-owned comics and that it doesn’t matter so long as the comics are “creator-driven,” which is amusing because if that’s the case, then why are so many publishers running around trying to emulate our approach, you know? I think it’s pretty obvious that when you look at the continued emphasis on things like renumbering books and dredging up movie and TV properties from the ‘80s, killing characters off, that sort of thing, and then how little long-term impact that stuff is having, that people are getting tired of all that. Do some of those stunts still work? Well, sure they create spikes – but to diminishing effect. It’s not like the numbers aren’t out there to illustrate my point.
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ES: The thing is, they’re not embracing creator-ownership at all. When you have a publisher bragging about cutting the creator in for 50% of a property, that’s not creator-ownership on any level. Creator-sharing, maybe, but unless you own and control 100% of your creation, which is the case here at Image, then it’s not the same thing.
Beyond that, though, yeah, the fact that other publishers are looking at what we’re doing and trying to figure out how to make that work for them is kind of gratifying. It’s like Erik Larsen said when Marvel started Icon: He and the other Image founders were right. Marvel would never have launched an imprint like Icon if Image didn’t exist, and that’s something for Erik, Todd, Marc, Valentino, Rob, and Jim to be proud of, if you ask me. If there’s more of a focus on creators, absolutely, that can only be a good thing.
Along those lines, with Image’s recent successes, we’re seeing more and more writers and artists taking the leap into working at Image. In today’s announced teams alone, you have people like Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen, Sean Murphy, Ray Fawkes, John Arcudi and James Harren working at Image for the first time, and those are some pretty huge draws. How do you feel Image’s…well, image has changed as far as being a potential home for one’s more personal work, and what do you think have been the biggest drivers of that?
ES: I think creators look at what people like Brian and Fiona are doing on Saga, or what Matt and Chip are doing with Sex Criminals, or the kind of work Kelly Sue and Emma put out there with Pretty Deadly, and they’re realizing that the ideas that really excite them, the projects that make them want to wake up and get to work first thing in the morning because they’re so into it, are actually possible when they’re working for themselves. I think especially if you look at something like Sex Criminals or Chew, ideas that are so obviously out of the ordinary, it’s pretty clear that those series are more personal ideas that couldn’t have just been shoehorned into work-for-hire material. I think writers and artists are waking up to the fact that they can have fun doing stories about the superheroes they grew up with, but when they want to really cut loose and do something that is 100% them, there’s a place they can do that. And better yet, a place they can do that where their ideas won’t be interfered with on any level.
ES: I think Warren and Declan are an amazing team. Saying that Warren is one of the most important writers in comics over the last 20 years or so is old news, but I think even Warren was probably surprised at how well he Declan worked together on Moon Knight. I hate using words like “synergy,” but if any creative team in comics has that right now, it’s definitely Warren and Declan. Having the two of them, along with Jordie, who is a creative force of nature in her own right, working together is nothing short of a joy.
Continued belowThe last time we talked when we were at ECCC, we talked a good bit about the Mignolaverse, and notably how great James Harren and John Arcudi are. Looking back now, that conversation makes Rumble’s announcement unsurprising, but exciting no less. For a book like that, is that a case of you reaching out to a couple people whose work you loved, or did it come together in some other way?
ES: James almost drew a project here a while back, this Santa Claus book with Benito Cereno, and he’s friendly with people like Jason Howard and Ryan Ottley. I think Robert and he talk, as well, and basically, I think he was curious about doing creator-owned work and he and John got to talking about it and then John gave me a call with a bunch of questions. John and I talked a few times and then John, James, and I talked, and it just came together really quickly after that. I love what they do, and they wanted to try doing something here – there you go. Honestly, this ties into what you were just asking a minute ago, because the thing is, the more people come over, the more they talk to their friends, and it becomes less a case of me chasing after someone than fielding calls or emails from interested creators.
ES: Cool, original ideas. As I’ve said in the past, we don’t have some kind of gender/race quota here, because hiring someone because of their race or gender is just as fucked up as not hiring someone because of their race or gender. I mean, it’s kind of ironic that people overlooked the fact that Marian Churchland had originally been advertised as one of the guests and had to cancel. Same with the fact Leila De Duca was right there on stage and everyone ignored her in favor of claiming Kelly Sue was the only woman in attendance. All that aside, an announcement regarding another title by a female creator was pushed back – and actually got pushed back further this month – due to scheduling conflicts. Things happen when they happen.
The new projects we announced this week fit the brief I just gave you: They’re cool, original ideas. I’ve wanted to work with Becky for ages – I think she’s an incredible, incredible talent. Same goes for Marian, Claire, and Sloane – that’s an awesome team, and I couldn’t be more stoked to have them working together here at Image. Corinna and Gabriel are a great team. All of those things happened on their own, though, because like I’ve explained before – we don’t pass out assignments. We accept proposals. Right now, there are four other new books by female creators in the works, and we’ll announce them when they’re ready.
Here’s the thing, though: Image received eight Eisner nominations for work that was either written, drawn, or colored by women, more than any other single publisher. We’re publishing a growing number of titles by female creators, due in large part to the fact that I say again and again in interviews like this that we would really like to be doing more work created by women. It’s not an overnight process, but insinuating that we are somehow the problem when we’re actively working toward a more inclusive industry seems a little counterproductive.
ES: It’s cool that you mentioned Ben and Tooth & Claw actually, because I think the work he and Kurt are doing on that is phenomenal. Kurt has a pretty impressive resume already, and I think people know he’s capable of delivering great material, but this series is really something special, not just because Ben’s bringing so much to it as an artist, but because this is Kurt Busiek at his absolute best.
Aside from that, I think Becky and Andy’s book, Southern Cross, is going to be a revelation for a lot of people. Everyone is familiar with Becky the awesome artist, but she’s an amazing overall storyteller, and it’s pretty exciting to showcase her writing talents on this series.
With 2014 seeing tremendous growth for Image in both sales and widespread recognition of the quality of your line (particularly from the Eisner Awards), and today’s announcements laying out an extremely promising future, you could make a pretty great argument that Image’s star hasn’t been this high since the launch of the company. Does that change your approach at all when it comes to how you find new books or what you’re looking to publish?
ES: To a certain degree, yeah, but at the end of the day, it still just comes down to whether it’s good or not, and whether or not it looks interesting enough to publish alongside books like Saga and Velvet and Lazarus and Wicked & Divine. I feel like everyone’s doing his and her absolute best work and whatever we’re adding to the line has to stack up with that, you know? That was what made something like Luther Strode so cool back when Justin and Tradd first pitched it: I knew it was going to fit right in. Justin just did it again with Spread. That book just had “it,” if you follow. As vague as that probably sounds, that’s what we’re looking for, and that’s pretty much always going to be the case.
ES: Well, as you may have gathered from the statement Nate posted online, the future of Nowhere Men is kind of out of my hands. Half of issue seven is drawn. It looks great. It’s absolutely stunning work on Nate’s part. He’s tremendously gifted, but unfortunately, as a result of his situation, we’ve been at a standstill for almost a year now. Back in January, my hope was that we could at least wrap up the second arc. That would have left readers in a satisfying place, and I would have more or less accomplished what I’d set out to do story-wise. I’d still like to do that, but honestly, everything is up in the air right now. We tried getting someone else as a replacement – Jake Wyatt, Möritat – and what we learned is that Nowhere Men really only works if it’s Nate, Steven, Jordie, and myself. So without Nate, Nowhere Men ceases to exist on any real level, and without Nowhere Men on our schedules, Jordie, Steven, and I have moved on to other things. We’re all pulling for Nate, obviously, but the whole situation is just deeply saddening. Hopefully, things improve for Nate at some point, because he’s too talented to have his career derailed like this.
One thing that I think is really fascinating about how Image Expo works is that it doesn’t really fit the way the comic industry does things. For most publishers, books are announced shortly before their ordering window opens, in a way to best fit Diamond and how that process works. With the Expo, it almost feels more like the way major films are announced with a lot of lead-time, with a book like Ellis, Shalvey and Bellaire’s “Injection” not coming until April 2015. Why is that, and is it important to you and your team to keep playing with standard industry practices to find the best way to promote your books?
Continued belowES: I think it’s important to comics as a whole for all of us to play around with standard industry practices. Doing the same things over and over again clearly isn’t working, and I think there’s ample evidence out there to support that. We should all be asking ourselves what we can do better, what we can do differently, because that’s the only way you effect real change.
Something I brought up in my keynote was that a huge source of inspiration for me, throughout almost my entire career, was the fact that Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko revived a dying industry by breathing new life into the superhero genre. I love the story of Stan Lee going home to his wife and complaining that Martin Goodman wanted him to do a knock-off of the Justice League. He didn’t want to do it – he wanted to quit, to get out of comics altogether, but she told him if that was how he felt, he should try doing the book his own way first, because if he was going to quit anyway, he didn’t have anything to lose. And we got the Fantastic Four out of that, and then the Incredible Hulk, and Thor, and Spider-Man, and the X-Men, and Doctor Strange. An entire company’s fortunes changed in a matter of years. All these superhero movies that are so successful now were born out of the creativity of those three men, all those years ago, and that didn’t happen because they were playing it safe. They looked at how things were being done and asked what they could do better. They took chances.
What’s that old axiom? “Fortune favors the bold?” We could all benefit from being a bit bolder, or as Warren said to Declan, Jordie, Steven, and myself just the other day, “The only rules are the ones we invent.”
