The first Image Expo was an incredible success that many wondered how they could match or even top that initial event in 2013. And for much of 2013, it looked like nothing would follow it up, as publisher Eric Stephenson stressed that they weren’t interested in doing another convention of that sort.
Then, out of the blue they announced that another Image Expo was coming, and it was going to be a whole other thing altogether, more of a small PR, media and fan event on one day built to focus everyone on what’s next both in terms of content and in terms of how things are delivered to readers. What we got this past Tuesday was a testament to Image as a publisher, and, as in anything they do, showed how their success is dependent on never kowtowing to conventional wisdom.
After all, based off the habits of their competitors, Image should have announced three Walking Dead spin-off titles, boosting the cost of all of their books to $3.99 and creating a massive event in which Savage Dragon punches a hole in the continuity walls of Image, bringing Saga, Invincible, Fatale and East of West into a massive 2014 long crossover. They should have announced that all of their most popular books would be double shipping with rotating artist teams taking over. They should have announced the expansion of their ComiXology digital comics app.
But that’s not what they did.
They focused on what the best things for comics and their readers are, and they went from there.
Dropping the Hammer with Image’s Next Wave of Titles
The buzziest announcements from the Image Expo were undoubtedly the new titles they announced, and with good reason: they featured some of the biggest names in the industry. It seemed like Twitter for the hour and a half of Eric Stephenson’s keynote speech was basically live blogging the events out of sheer excitement. It was wall-to-wall “oohs” and “ahs” from the peanut gallery about everything they announced.
Those announcements included:
– Robert Kirkman announcing that “The Walking Dead” was going to war, with the book going bi-monthly starting with issue #115 and running for 7 months, and Stefano Gaudiano would be joining to ink Charlie Adlard. Awesome level: 4 out of 10 (more Walking Dead is good, as is this type of arc, but less buzzy and I don’t like taking away from Adlard regardless of how good Gaudiano is)
– J. Michael Straczynski announcing the return of “The Book of Lost Souls” with Colleen Doran (from Marvel’s Icon imprint), “Dream Police” (also from Icon) and the arrival of “Alone” with artist Bill Sienkiewicz. Awesome level: 3 out of 10 (I’m not a crazy huge JMS fan nor have I read the two returning series, but man, that’s still pretty awesome)
– Matt Fraction announces “ODY-C,” a gender remixed telling of Homer’s “The Odyssey” with artist Christian Ward. Awesome level: 7 out of 10 (Fraction and Ward are a phenomenal team, and I’m interested to see how this plays out)
– Rick Remender returns to Image with “Deadly Class” with artist Wes Craig (and Lee Loughridge colors!) and “Black Science” with Matteo Scalera (and Dean White on colors!). “Black Science” gets a comparison to “Fear Agent,” which perks my ears up tremendously. Awesome level: 8 out of 10 (Remender going indie again, with something that is “Fear Agent”-esque? Oh man.
– Mark Millar and Duncan Fegredo on the, I can only guess, tentatively titled “MPH” that will kick off a new Millar universe over at Image. Awesome level: 9 out of 10 (I’m sorry, but I enjoy Millar and Duncan Fegredo is amazing)
– Darren Aronofsky and Niko Henrichon’s “Noah” will be released in the U.S. through Image, finally bringing the French graphic novel to life with an English translation.
Any one of them would have dominated the con they were announced at, as the creators that are working on them are so astoundingly big. Instead, Image unveiled them in one shocking deluge, putting the industry on notice in the process.
When you just think of the talent level that was announced on the writing side, you have four fifths of Marvel’s vaunted “Architects” group working on a book at Image. Sure, all of them besides Brubaker are still working at the House of Ideas as well, but with Fraction working on three books at Image, Remender (the non-architect who is writing arguably Marvel’s flagship book) working on two, Aaron working on one and Jonathan Hickman working on three (and one at Avatar), you have to imagine the workload they can take on at Marvel is sort of capped out.
By no means does this mean they’ll have any less importance in Marvel’s plans, but having these guys at Image? That dramatically improves Image’s visibility to the average fan, while potentially taking away from their availability for Marvel books.
There’s two other aspects that this could in theory impact: other writers and artists taking note and wanting a piece of the action, and the impact on Marvel’s Icon imprint and DC’s Vertigo.
On the former subject, we’ve already seen a lot of people moving in Image’s (and other publishers) direction who provide them the opportunity to tell the stories they want to tell, but what happens if DC’s stable of creators starts moving over? What about more of Marvel?
Just yesterday on Twitter, “Batman” writer Scott Snyder was talking about how he was interested in telling a series of creator-owned one-shot stories with favorite artist pals. Cartoonist Cameron Stewart heard the digital news at the Expo and excitedly asked, “who wants to do a book with me at Image?!” on Twitter. These are just two potential examples, but the seeds are getting planted in creators heads. What if they could tell their own stories and reap all the (potentially copious) benefits?
And that’s the best part, isn’t it? These are some of the best creators in comics telling the stories they really want to tell with the characters they’ve created. These are some of the best doing what they’ve always wanted to do in an economically viable and truly exciting way. Isn’t the best pathway to getting the best comics out there giving the best creators the chance to tell their stories, completely unfettered?
Vertigo of course still has life in it, but Icon? To me, Tuesday’s Image Expo was its death knell.
When you look at some of the subject matters of these stories – a gender swapped version of “The Odyssey”? A southern-baked crime story? – these don’t fit the “mainstream” world of comics that Marvel and DC and even their vaunted highbrow imprints follow. They may never have gotten a chance, if it weren’t for Image’s efforts to encourage creators to tell the stories they want to. It’s not a revolutionary idea, but in comics, it sure is an inspired one.
Yet, somehow, that wasn’t the biggest news from the event in my opinion.
Taking a Bold First Step in Digital Publishing
During Stephenson’s open to the keynote speech he gave, he talked about the major strides they’ve made on the digital front. According to Image’s projections, by the end of 2013 digital comic sales will represent 15% of their total revenue, up 3% from 2012.
Continued belowWhile 3% may not stand out much to you, combine that with creators like Brian K. Vaughan talking about the “staggering” returns they see on their digital sales, and you see this as not just a substantive aspect of the comic business, but something that will continue to grow parallel to the also growing print market.
Of course, it’s a brave new world out there, and someone has to make major moves to continue to move the needle upwards in that direction.
Some might not realize how huge of a deal this is, and I understand that. After all, both Panel Syndicate has already done this with “The Private Eye” and ever so covertly Mark Waid and John Rogers’ Thrillbent has been doing this for about a year.
But there is an unquantified but certainly substantial audience out there who had no interest in buying digital comics because they exist on a cloud – a highly secure and stable cloud, but a cloud no less – for them to access when they have an Internet connection. If ComiXology went down? You couldn’t access your books. If they went out of business? You’re shit out of luck, as JManga users found out earlier this year.
It’s not only that though, as some passionate comic readers live in areas that aren’t covered by local comic book shops. Some people live in places that aren’t within 100 miles of a shop. Look at Multiversity reader and commenter Clockstomper. He was a guy who wanted to buy Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s “Lazarus,” but didn’t want to miss out on the backmatter as he does on the letters column from “Saga” (which he buys from ComiXology). I checked with an Image rep, and she informed me that these new DRM-free copies absolutely do have the backmatter (as would the ComiXology copies, from what I understand), told Clockstomper, and a sale was made.
This is a tremendous way to start hitting the potential digital audience to likely break down some of the barriers of interest that have existed. Sure, it could also increase piracy, but as Stephenson told Wired, “my stance on piracy is that piracy is bad for bad entertainment.” Image feels strongly enough about their product that they don’t feel people will pirate the books and then ignore them forever. They believe piracy will lead to a converted sale either digitally (if given the opportunity) or in print.
And that’s a very refreshing take on digital (as Ars Technica noted), as most publishers stick their heads in the sand and say they’re preventing piracy by protecting their product with DRM.
Check The Pirate Bay. Check 4Chan. Check wherever. These comics are still being pirated no matter how much effort Marvel or DC or whomever goes to to prevent it.
By getting in front of it and releasing DRM-free copies for purchase, Image expands their potential audience and costs themselves virtually nothing.
What’s not to love about that, everyone?
Creating Your Own News Cycle
So what else could there be that Image did that turns conventional wisdom on its head last Tuesday? I mean, we already covered two HUGE things.
Well, how about the fact that two weeks before San Diego Comic Con – previously considered the Mecca of all things comics – they successfully ran their own event and got ALL of the attention for that entire day and most of the rest of the week. And when I say all of the attention, I mean all of the attention, as Multiversity had our biggest traffic day ever thanks and prominent site The Beat actually crashed due to their news coverage (where is your server at, Heidi?!). Hell, it even was the top topic trending on Twitter for the length of Stephenson’s keynote speech.
Continued belowSure, there’s a lot of mainstream news coverage at SDCC, but it’s diluted. You’re competing with major TV and film productions, other comic publishers and more. You’re in a sea of comparable or even bigger announcements.
Not only that, but by most estimations, SDCC is growing increasingly less and less about comics. I’ve had creators tell me flat out to not go to San Diego because it’s a waste of time if I want to focus on comics.
But Image did their own thing – they did a media event that kept the focus on them and what they are building. It featured prominent media members, fans, retailers and more, and it spent the entire time making everyone know just how excited we should be about what Image is up to.
I could easily see other publishers doing something similar in the future (why doesn’t Marvel have its own Expo? There’s already a Disney Expo, after all). But at this point, Image has changed the game, and they’ve managed to match the level of buzz created with the content they are creating. Given the nature of creator-owned comics, that’s often hard to do, but they’re doing a phenomenal job of that right now.
#What’s Next
So after dropping bombs like that, what could be next for Image? Obviously all of these titles will get released and they’ll continue to make their dent in Marvel and DC’s market share. They’re skirting the edges of 10% market share in both units and dollars continuously, and I think by the end of the year, they will likely get there.
But I think whatever they do, it won’t be what we expect. After all, Image has reached the level of success they have thanks to their ability to target the soft spots in the industry. They’re taking weaknesses in comics – content ownership in digital, success outside of the direct market, lack of diversity in genres, creator rights – and making them strengths for their line, and that has become something of a calling card for them.
However, there’s one thing we can count on, and the one thing you know will always be next for them: Image will keep making good comics.
Since we’ve started as a site, I’ve interviewed Image publisher Eric Stephenson nearly 10 times, and he’s said a lot of very fascinating and prescient things. However, nothing stands out more than something he said when we very first talked that stands out especially now. It was in response to a question that was basically, “what’s next for Image?”
“We’re going to keep putting out good comics and do a better job of letting people know that’s what we’re doing,” Stephenson said. “I know that sounds simplistic, but really, it’s all we can do.”
“I mean, we can take advantage of the changes in technology and find new ways to deliver our comics to readers, but ultimately, if we’re not putting out comics people want to read, we could be beaming them directly into people’s brains and it wouldn’t matter.”
At Image Expo 2013, Image redefined how users can access their product and, in the process, announced a bevy of sure-to-be-fantastic titles. I’m not sure what Eric Stephenson, circa January of 2011, would have to say about that, but I think I speak for comic readers everywhere when I say this: thanks for following through.
