Independent, creator owned books, comics, video games, movies, music, and other mediums have become a modern powerhouse in their respective industries. It seems that every day we see a new Shovel Knight game, a new indie band, or a new publishing company spring out of nowhere and find success amongst the bigger companies, like Penguin Publishing, and Nintendo. And, while these bigger companies do still tend to earn the higher profits, the staggering amount that these independent companies make comparatively cannot be understated. 

A couple months ago, I had spoken briefly on the breakout-publishing house, Image, and the massive impact it has had on the graphic novel and comic world. However, I had gotten quite a few suggestions to write a slightly more in-depth article on the company, as well as a wider, more in-depth look at the publications it has under its name and how a small-time press evolved into the powerhouse that it is today. 

Image is and has been the leading producer for independent comic companies in the past twenty plus years and has paved the way for other publishing houses to follow and gain success. Valiant Entertainment and Boom! Studios are examples of publishers that are finding massive success alongside DC and Marvel. Some attribute it to the running of Image as a company. 

The Company 

It is well known that the largest graphic novel and comic publishing houses are Marvel and DC respectively, having some of the most well known popular culture characters in the entire world. Heroes like Batman and Spider-Man, as recognizable as Mickey Mouse (I sang the song in my head while spelling that out) and Uncle Sam, are usually a couple of the first characters that people recognize when they hear ‘comics,’ ‘graphic novels,’ or even ‘American publishing works’ in general. 

What is not well known is how less recognized companies like Image stack up against these big two publishing houses, and how well known the published works from this company actually are without consumers even knowing it. 

Looking at the October 2015 Unit and Dollar Shares for the major comic companies, one can see that both DC and Marvel take up the highest percentage of bought and sold books. Looking at the comics sold by independent publishers, however, we see that Image owns 9.17% Dollar Share and a 9.27% Unit Share. Comparative to the second highest independent publisher, IDW, having a 6.16% DS and a 4.96% US. This is almost double the amount of Unit Shares distributed to comic stores around the world between Image and IDW, and is roughly 1/3rd the amount that DC sold that month. 

Many attribute Image’s successes to both storytelling and their overall business plan. Produced a few years ago, this short video explains how Image works and why it stands out as a company. In short, many people believe Image works because they don’t claim rights to any of the characters or stories published under the Image banner- all rights are owned by their respective creators. This allows for complete artistic freedom, and for creators to tell the stories that they want to tell without many limits.

Image was, in fact, founded and created by artists and writers who were tired of having the characters they created and the stories they wrote hindered by Marvel and DC editorial staff. So, in order to truly have the freedom to write and have the rights to the characters they made, this group of talent founded Image Comics, in 1992.

From there, the success of the company grew, producing extremely popular comic titles like the popular Spawn  lesser known Savage Dragon. Their popularity then dwindled slightly in the early 2000’s, but picked up again around 2010, due to new, more widely known comics and stories that have become television shows and movies. 

Publications 

A company is only as good as its products, and for Image that means it is doing well. Amongst its publications, many of them have become or are slated to be movies or television shows. 

Amongst these most popular and successful properties is the mega hit comic and television show, The Walking Dead, one that brought Robert Kirkman and the company Image to the forefront of public consciousness. The story is about a police officer in his fight to keep his family alive in a zombie apocalypse. No longer was it just a company known only by comic consumers, but also by a very large, very dedicated fan base around the world. 

Kirkman, due to Image not restricting him on what to write and how to tell his stories, was able to kill off fan favorite characters at a seconds notice in order to advance a plot or create an emotion in the reader. These bold storytelling elements are very rare in comics due to publishers not allowing writers to kill off popular characters. This sense of anyone could die at any moment and the freedom Kirkman was met with in his writing of TWD allowed for a huge fanbase to grow around his stories. 

Upcoming blockbuster movies, like Jeff Lemire’s Descender and Scott Snyder’s Wytches,  are currently in the works to increase the number of Image-books-turned-film. In fact, a large number of popular movies, like Kingsman: The Secret Service and Men In Black are independent comics that had been made into blockbusters. 

While many comics find success on both the small and large screens, some are simply popular amongst the fans of the medium alone. The insanely well received Saga is one of the highest selling comics on a monthly basis, with Saga volume 1 selling in the top ten collection books sold every month consecutively, since 2012. Saga, being perhaps Image’s most popular comic alongside The Walking Dead, follows the story of two lovers belonging to two separate races, whose people are at war with each other, as they try to raise their young daughter in a universes rife with battle. Some describe the story as, “Romeo and Juliet meets Star Wars meets Game of Thrones.” No doubt all these popular genres combined made for the success of this popular comic. 

Saga’s storytelling is honest and funny, as well as deep, moving, and at times very graphic, both in terms of violence and sexuality. Creators Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples don’t beat around the bush in this series, delivering cut-up bodies and pornographic sequences in order to showcase a sense of realism without sugar-coating the story. 

 This creators freedom in Saga allows for the comic to stand out amongst all the others. DC and Marvel would never allow for sexual activity or true casualties of war to be shown on their printed pages. Image, however, has little-to-no problem displaying this kind of content, allowing for stories like Saga to stand above the more sheltered books supplied by the bigger publishing houses. 

So, What Does Image And Independent Publishers Offer Consumers? 

Independent publishers, from video games to comics offer more than the standard ‘vanilla’ takes on popular culture. Companies, like Image, allow for creative freedom to come in more ways than one- creators are happier, because they have freedom. With happy creators come passion projects, in which they will spill their hearts and souls into their stories. This gives consumers the best content that money can buy- that is what companies like Image produces. 

Image publishes comics of all genres, from fantasy to murder-mystery, to love stories, to apocalyptic futures, Image has a book for everyone. And, while there is creative freedom for the creators of these books to explore, many Image books do not include over-the-time language, violence, or sexual themes. In fact, some books don’t have that content at all. One can check by looking at the ratings of a particular series- E being for everyone, T for teen, T+ for 17-and-up, and M for mature audiences. 

As sales indicate, readers still do tend to pick Batman over Rick Grimes, but more quickly does it seem that, in the future, this may not be the case. If someone wants to read, submit, or experience a passion project in the comic book medium, Image is a great place to start. 

Recommended Reading 

As always, here is a short Reading Recommendation list of some of the best sellers from Image Comics, along with some of my own personal favorites, to get anyone interested in the genre started. 

• The Walking Dead   (Horror/Survival)
• Saga                         (Sci-Fi/Fantasy)
• Chrononauts             (Sci-Fi/Humor)
• Wytches                   (Horror/Thriller)
• Black Science          (Sci-Fi/Mystery) 
• Nailbiter                   (Mystery/Crime/Thriller)
• East of West             (Post-Apocalyptic/Sci-Fi)  
• Spawn                      (Superhero/Horror)