EIGHT MONTHS IN AND...? ERIK LARSEN ON BEING A PUBLISHER

[MattBrady]

It was mid February when Erik Larsen found himself as the Publisher of Image Comics. At the time, Larsen had several goals, both short and long term that he’d targeted – broadening the line, adding new titles, getting rid of deadweight, and overall, streamlining the publisher’s operations and getting the trains to run on time.

We caught up with him to see how things are going eight or so months later…

Newsarama: So…eight months.

Erik Larsen: It’s hard for me to keep track. It doesn’t seem like long – it goes by in a twinkling. You suddenly look up and just think, “Holy crap! What’s going on here? Where did the time go?”

NRAMA: Well, when you took over in February…

EL: Wow. It was February?

NRAMA: Yep – there’s that whole eight months thing.

EL: Holy crap. Okay…what was I thinking when I said yes?

NRAMA: When you took over, you indicated that there were some immediate need problems that needed to be fixed in terms of the overall lineup. Do you feel that you’ve made headway in that direction?

EL: Yeah – things are getting better all the time. There was some stuff right off where I was like, “Oh wow – this ain’t good.” And we did something about it. There’s also a lot of stuff that the guy in the street really has no business knowing about that needed to be dealt with, so I’m not going to get into that – a lot of stupid stuff, wasteful things that something needed to be done about. People that seriously needed to be fired and weren’t being fired. But that’s about all I want to get into that side of things.

NRAMA: So now, business-wise, things are more streamlined?

EL: Yeah, but it’s still a process, and it’s still going to take a while longer to get exactly where I want it to be in terms of…well, everything. There are also books that were put into motion fairly early on that are taking time to get together. Writers are writing and artists are drawing, and stuff like that, but it’s not ready to go just yet.

Comics are not one of those things where you can come in and then, two months later, your whole lineup is different – with a few exceptions. There are people who are coming to us with books that are really ready to go – fully done, and ready to be published. But for the most part, people are coming to us with ideas, or less, and you have to take that and hone it and make it work, and make sure all the various pieces are put together.

NRAMA: Speaking on the business side of things – it was in one of the latest press releases to come out – Eric Stephenson was quoted and called the Executive Director. When did he get that title?

EL: That was a pretty recent thing, and it came about when Todd was in trial with the Tony Twist stuff, Eric was there and had to testify, and it all came about between conversations he had with Todd and Larry Marder. It’s more reflective of what he’s actually doing – it’s a better title that better fits his day to day work. He’s not really an editor per se, so it makes sense for him to be called that, rather than Managing Editor.

NRAMA: But he’s not the full-on Executive Director as Larry was when he was in that role?

EL: Kind of and kind of not. A lot of what ends up happening when you make things organized is that people shuffle jobs. We looked at what Eric does best and what I do best, and then took the job of Executive Director as it was when Larry had it, and the job that was Publisher when Jim had it – we took those jobs, combined them, and added a whole other level of stuff that didn’t exist when either of them had it, and then, we split that job in half between Eric and myself.

There’s a lot more to it than there once was – and part of that is basic stuff that just wasn’t done. Books need to be proofread, you know? I think it’s a good idea that we have someone who does that. There some basic things that needed to be done, and done in a more hands on approach than they had been done prior to this. We’re both keeping busy – that’s the important part.

It’s just a process where, over time, it gets more clarification as people settle into their roles. A lot of what I’m doing is more art direction than a lot of other stuff. It’s me coming in and saying, “That cover would be more effective if you did this,” and people are sending me cover sketches, and I’m tweaking things and suggesting things, and reading stuff as it comes in – suggestion dialogue changes in some cases, or telling people that their dialogue is just great as it is. It makes for better comics at the end of the day, and that ain’t bad.

NRAMA: You also said you wanted to broaden the scope, or swing the pendulum back a little towards the mainstream, with the impression being given that you were looking to add more superhero books to the lineup. There’ve been some steps taken in the intervening time, with Noble Causes coming back as an ongoing series and a few spinoffs from you. Is that the kind of thing you were talking about?

EL: That stuff was along the lines of stuff that we could do right away, but a lot of it is going to be more long-term than that. We’re talking about doing other kinds of books with characters that are here, or putting together new books, and a lot of times, it’s just this process with people wanting to do a project, but it taking a while to get it done and ready to go. And then the solicitation process adds an additional chunk of time.

There are books that people aren’t aware of yet that are in the process of being put together, but it’s a lot easier for me to add in a Superpatriot miniseries today just to get something happening in the direction I was talking about immediately. We’re going to try to do more along these lines, but that’s not really what its all about – it’s not about me expanding my universe, because I can do that anytime, and I often do. This is really about expanding the scope of what we do.

We’re not going to be doing something again where we launch an entire line of books in a month, or any nonsense like that either – that puts too much of a pressure on the readers and the retailers. We’ll just do it book by book.

NRAMA: Any examples?

EL: I was contacted by the guys who do the video game, Freedom Force. They’re going to be doing a second Freedom Force videogame coming up next year. It was a relatively cool videogame, and it really tied in with the whole superhero ting. They came to us and said they wanted to do a comic book, so we started working on it, and looking for the people who would do the job they wanted on it.

What they were after was to try and do a big, overblown Jack Kirby style of comic. What I did was team them up with Tom Scioli, who does Myth of 8 Opus, which is very much in that Jack Kirby vein. Now they’re together and doing a book that will be coming out next year. It’s a tie in to the videogame by guys who are very familiar with the game, so it’s going to be a pretty cool book.

NRAMA: You mentioned earlier that about Todd advising Eric and being in discussions about the future of Image…is it still a fully collaborative vision between the remaining founders?

EL: To some extent. We’re still all pals. We still all talk to each other.

NRAMA: But as Publisher, do you have a limited autonomy in terms of what books get out there, or is it more along the lines of everyone looking at the pitches that come in, and a consensus being reached?

EL: Mark and Todd are not active in terms of that. I pick the books, and it’s really Eric Stephenson and me who are going over stuff as it comes in. A fine line is drawn with me – I’ll approve some stuff that Eric will tell me he’s not so sure about, and I’ll convince him, and in the end, hope I’m right.

Sometimes it doesn’t always work though – you want it to, you hope it does, but that one time in ten or so, you put something out there that’s just…ouch. But there have also been some really cool books that have come out. I’m really pleased about Ultra, and the way that book looks and reads. For me, that was a success story. Likewise, I was really pleased to find and be able to publish the Flight book – there’s going to be more of those.

NRAMA: More Flight, or more anthology-style collections?

EL: More Flight! They’re planning on doing that as a series of books. Hey – we’ll take it. They’re pleased to be part of this, and happy to have a publisher who’s supporting them in their efforts and everything down the line.

NRAMA: When you look at the lineup of books you have coming out, are you pleased with the blend of genres that Image is hitting, or is that even a concern?

EL: I’m not looking for any specific balance, because it’s always a matter of creators coming in with what they want to do. If I’ve got six creators that are all coming in with Westerns, and they’re all great Westerns, then suddenly, we’re in the Western business. If nobody is sending in a Western, I’m not going to be worrying about doing one, or thinking about chasing someone down to do one. Ultimately, we’re not a company that does that particularly – we really are a company that’s about publishing things that other people own, and helping them to be able to realize their dreams and get their things out there. It’s a different kind of thing than everyone else.

Do I look at the line and say, “we’re doing good,” or “I’d like to add a ____ style of book?” Sometimes. There are things that we’ve passed on that have turned out okay elsewhere – not that I’ve passed on, specifically, but “we” as a company. [laughs]

NRAMA: Talking again in terms of lineup – you’re working with studios again, and in some cases, sub-publishers such as Desperado and Dynamic Forces. Are there different rules involved in working as a studio with Image this time around, or is it more of a “C’mon back and let’s talk?”

EL: I don’t know what Jim said to people, so I can’t really speak to how things went, and how those relationships developed or how they went sour. I don’t know why policies were implemented, but it seems to me that a good book is a good book, and if somebody’s got a good book, I don’t really care if they’re saying they’re part of a studio or whether they’re on their own.

But, I let people know that if they’re coming to Image Comics, and they have six good books, and two lousy ones, it’s not in our best interests to be publishing the two lousy ones. The impression I was getting was that people were using their position and abusing their position by kind of insisting that if Image was going to publish a studio’s good, commercial books, we had to take their three books that were really uncommercial and awful. I’m not going to embrace that – that’s counterproductive.

But it’s a good thing to talk this stuff through with whoever you’re dealing with ,and get them to realize that ultimately, if they’re trying to establish their own studio as an entity that is making books, it’s in their best interest to not publish their dreck – it says nothing good about anyone involved with it. We don’t want to be publishing crappy books, and they shouldn’t want to be publishing crappy books. The interesting thing is, some of these guys who were part of Image and had studios, and were doing books through us, and were also doing crappy books – I notice that as soon as they went away and did stuff on their own, the crappy books immediately went away. They took the books that weren’t good, and we didn’t particularly want, and they weren’t publishing them on their own either. I mean – what was the point of that? They could’ve not done them here, and everyone would have been happy.

In some other cases, people left Image to do stuff on their own, and they’ve never recovered – they’ve never seen the kind of numbers they were getting when they were doing business with us. For some of those guys, it makes sense to come back and to come back to a place where we can get the word out there.

NRAMA: Have you put out feelers to studios that have left?

EL: Yeah – some. A lot of guys get invested in being right, though, and they don’t want to come back, because that admits defeat on some level. The only thing I can kind of say is that they’re coming back under a different regime, so they’re coming back to a different Image for different Image. But whatever – I can’t complain about it all day. If you want to do stuff on your own, go ahead – that’s fine by me.

NRAMA: In regards of attracting new creators…you’ve always been pretty steadfast in your claim that your creator’s agreement is the best means of persuasion to bring people onboard. Have you changed anything, or relaxed anything in efforts to bring more people on?

EL: Not really. I think a lot of it just comes down to differences in basic personalities and things like that. I know there are people out there, who feel perfectly comfortable approaching Jim Valentino, and there will be people who aren’t comfortable dealing with Jim; just like there will be people who don’t want to approach me, and people who do. You just have to hope that people can look past their perceptions. It’s a different situation at Image now, so why not try it out? I know there were people who had gotten frustrated with Jim for whatever reasons who are suddenly coming back saying, “Is it safe now?” But I’m sure there are other people who I’m busy pissing off.

NRAMA: Something that was brought up around the time when you took over – I don’t think you said it, but it was the talk of the town, so to speak – Image’s market share. When you took over, you had 4.20% of the dollar share, 3.84% of the unit. In August, you’re down from that – 3.60% dollar share, 3.26 unit share. Are you sweating those numbers yet?

EL: No.

NRAMA: Really?

EL: Really. Things change. Part of that can be due to Marvel putting out 40 new X-books, and everyone sees changes in their market shares down the line. There are certain things we can do, and certain things that we can’t do. I’m much more concerned about our line, and how good our line is as something to read. That’s much more of a concern to me, and I don’t let that other stuff bother me in the least. I want the books that we do to be strong and do well, and we’ve got books that are growing in sales, and creators that are happy to be working here. At the end of the day, that’s my concern: how’s everyone being treated, how well are they doing, and how happy are they in doing it.

I think, as time goes on, things just will naturally shift, and that’s the way things go. I see our numbers, and our numbers are not going down. I think you’ve got other people who are just flooding the market with other stuff, so perhaps the market is growing.

NRAMA: So the entire pie is getting bigger, it’s not the slices getting smaller?

EL: I think it’s that exactly. I think we’re in a position now where we’re recovering, and that the entire market is starting to expand again, which in the end, will be good for all of us.

NRAMA: At the same time, with what you mentioned about Marvel, and to some extent DC as well – several other smaller publishers have mentioned that’s a huge hurdle to get over. How do you get retailers eyes on Image books when they are, in your view, equal to or better than anything Marvel or DC is putting out?

EL: Luckily, we’ve got a lot of people who get out there and talk about stuff, and that helps a lot. Word of mouth is a much more powerful took than I think people give it credit for. When you’ve got people out there just yelling and screaming about how great a book is, you can see it in the larger audience. Look at the San Diego Convention, where Flight came out. The word got out, and there were times where there was a rush of people coming to get that book. It helps to have that, and it helps to have people out there saying, “Wow – this really is different, this really has changed, this really is better. There’s more coming?”

Some of the guys who did stuff in Flight are going to be doing books on their own – the word of mouth from Flight is going to carry over to those projects too. But thanks to some of these different projects, we’ve got people sending us stuff out of the blue that are just fantastic. There was one guy who was just posting pages of a project he was doing called Pig Tail on our message board, asking what we thought of it. He’s really good, and we realized that we had to pick it up and get it out there in front of people’s faces.

NRAMA: Do you think Image has, through Jim’s projects and now through stuff coming up under you, lost the stigma of publishing only one type of book – girls and guns, and projects like that?

EL: I hope so. If we haven’t, then somebody is really not paying attention. Now, I think if anything, in the last little while there’s been a feeling that Image Comics doesn’t publish any Image Comics anymore. To some extent, I want to be able to say that we do, and we’ve got a couple here and there. And there are people out there who are doing Image-types of comics out there on their own, and it’s a no-brainer there – why not bring it over and do your comic that’s like an Image book at Image? Guys like Raven Gregory – The Gift looks like an Image Comic, it smells like an Image Comic, it feels like an Image Comic. Why doesn’t it say Image on it? In a case of that book, we can take it in, and help it grow.

And that’s not the only one – there are books out there now that I look at and think, just given some proper guidance and some proper tweak, we can help guide some of these guys. That’s part of the problem too – a lot of people are working out there without anyone looking over their shoulder, without anyone saying to them, “If you do this, the end result will look better and read better.” It’s a helpful thing.

NRAMA: Wrapping things up…you spoke about some of the titles that have been success stories. What are some of the pleasant surprises that you’ve seen since you’ve had the word “Publisher” after your name?

EL: Well, there are books that are on the rise – The Walking Dead, the numbers are going up on that on a monthly basis. It’s the same thing with Invincible – as a book, it’s growing and getting better, and sales are increasing. Having books like Small Gods come out of nowhere is always a cool thing, given the buzz that it’s getting and the reception it got. It continues to grow, and will continue to grow. There’s a trade coming out collecting the first few issues of that for people who might have missed it.

I expect good things from The Gift. It’s a book that, on its own, it got quite a bit of attention, and I expect it’s going to do really well over here. I’m pleased that PvP is going to go monthly – finally. I think even books that have been around for a while are showing some promise – Spawn keeps getting better. Todd’s getting on track again, and has decided after years and years of people trying to get him to cancel orders and resolicit, because his book is so damn late, finally that happened and things can progress on that front and the book can get back on track. That way, when he does get to issue #150, which is a milestone, Todd can actually be writing stories that build to something big instead of doing it the way he had been doing it, which wasn’t necessarily getting things there. He was just kind of doing issues as they came, but there was a better way. We all want to see Spawn doing better than it is. That’s a lot of it – helping guide people, no matter if it’s Todd, or the new guy off the street so that it makes things better for them and for us.

I’m also pleased that we’re getting all of Paul Grist’s stuff over and being able to have that available. He’s one of those guys that I wish were pumping out the issues a little faster than they are, but we’ll do what we can with what we’ve got, and I think things are just going to get better as time goes on…as the weak die and the strong replace them.

NRAMA: The Darwinian theory of comics?

EL: Exactly. There’ve been books out there that people wonder, “How the heck did that get out?” For the most part, those have wrapped themselves up, and at this point, the idea is not to replace a weak book with another weak book, but to help out the books that are strong, and get them to be stronger, and to bring in other books that can also be strong as well. That’s the process that we go through.

It’s an interesting thing – I’ve got different contacts than Jim had, but Jim’s contacts stick around unless they had a reason to go – I’m not shoving people out the door. But there’re also things where books naturally find their level, and in some cases, we have to be the ones to tell the creators their book isn’t making it, it’s not building, and things aren’t going to get better. Those are the kind of conversations that you don’t like to have, but you’ve got to. That’s part of helping them, really. If you explain things to people, I find that generally, they get it. We don’t want creators to be a failure.

We’ve had times when we’ve had great creators come to us with the absolute worst book they could possibly create for the market, and sometimes it’s just a matter of taking them aside and trying to get them to try another project that might do better. We don’t want to put something out there just to watch people fail. Put a good creator on a stronger property, and you’re going to see more success, rather than a floundering failure. It’s not such a bad thing that we have to stop someone from jumping off the bridge while they’re holding an anvil. If we can get them to jump while holding a rubber raft, that’s a good day for us.

NRAMA: Finally, and it’s something that you’ve grown familiar hearing…the hardcover Image 10th Anniversary book?

EL: …yeah! That sounds like a great idea! Are we doing one?

NRAMA: If it was up to you, what number would you put in front of the word “Anniversary?”

EL: You know, let me tell you – I think what I would call this book would be Image Comics #1, because there’s never been one of those. Let’s just leave that word “Anniversary” off entirely. Let’s not even address that. I look at it as something like a celebration of Image Comics as a whole, rather than a celebration of the odometer clicking over.

If we could get something like that out for Christmas, that’s great. And that’s certainly what I’m hoping to do.

NRAMA: Even thought the December solicits have already gone out?

EL: Oh yeah. We don’t need no steenking solicitations. At this point, if the book is ready, orders have been taken – those orders have not been cancelled. If we come in and tell retailers there will be an order adjustment and they can increase or decrease their orders, that ought to work. There’s no good reason that we couldn’t just do that and get the bloody book out there.

NRAMA: Are you saying that everyone’s done with their part now?

EL: They’re all so goddamn close it’s ridiculous. I think Todd at this point, has a few pages left to script. I’ve seen his entire story colored, so it’s like that last little step. I think that’s what we’re looking at…we just need to get this done.

If this book isn’t out by the end of the year, I know I’m going to be really pissed off. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, but I’m going to be pissed off if it doesn’t.

[Cousin Cory]

Erik, Erik, Erik... you say so many reasonable things, and then you allow yourself to be dragged down at the end by discussing this joke of a hardcover.
Yes you do need steenking solicitations. How can you even pretend that orders placed 2-1/2 years ago are any kind of predictor of what interest in the book will be today? Saying order adjustments are possible barely begins to address it. How many stores have gone out of business since they placed their orders for the anniversary book? How many new stores were not around back then to place orders when they were originally taken? How many people who pre-ordered the book from their retailers have experienced job loss or other changes in their economic situation? How many people have died since they ordered the book?
It may be a moot point, because Erik, I hate to say it, but I have this feeling that at the end of the year, you will be pissed. Everyone's "so close" to being done it's ridiculous? Haven't we heard that song sung before? Don't put your credibility at such high risk by making those kind of statements. Series, heck, imprints, have been announced, solicited, shipped, and canceled in the time since we were told the Image book was "almost" done.
Fold your hand. Just cancel the orders now. When (if) the book is ever finished, resolicit it.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

It's all just a trick of the process. Retailers will basically be able to reorder the book through the process. It just helps Image get the book out quicker.

It's not hurtful to the industry. If anything, it might hurt Image, but the paperwork is in place, the motions have been filed, and now it's just one last step to get the book out. Let him do it.

The people who have died, been laid off, or moved on will just cancel their order. Or, more likely, their retailer will. Of course, this assumes that retailers are in touch with their customers, but let's not go there...

In the meantime, that FLIGHT book was pretty damned cool. ULTRA is a lot of fun. DRAGON has had a good strong couple of issues recently.

Too bad about Top Cow's lack of anything decent to read, but things are still looking up at Image.

-Augie

[GeorgeG]

Two things:

1. Can someone explain to me how Image's business plan works? If I'm a creator and I bring my title to Image, what money do I get? Upfront? Or after expenses, I get $$$ ?

2. Looking forward to Battle Hymn.

[Ravengregory]

I swear being a part of this all is so frikkin cool.
Can't wait to see what Erik brings to the table next.

[innocentboy]

yo, tha's a very very good interview.

thank you for this.read straight through from start to finish.

[MisterE]

Originally posted by GeorgeG

1. Can someone explain to me how Image's business plan works? If I'm a creator and I bring my title to Image, what money do I get? Upfront? Or after expenses, I get $$$ ?

You get a percentage (amount to be decided amongst you and other members of creative team) of back-end royalties based on the net amount the book makes. Image gets reimbursed for printing expenses and takes a small office fee. Doesn't matter if you sell 10000 copies or 100,000, the fee is the same and very reasonable.

Also, keep in mind that Image doesn't have to compete with Marvel and DC because it doesn't work like Marvel and DC. Image only makes enough to continue functioning whereas the Big Two are in it for the profit.

Marvel HAS to publish 40 X-titles in the hopes they will boost the bottomline for their investors and they'll cancel a book if it doesn't sell like gangbusters. A title with sales numbers that Marvel and DC consider too low (and ripe for the chopping block) can do exceptionally well at Image and a lot of that has to do with Marvel and DC being massive companies with a lot of overhead and high-priced talent. Things Image doesn't have to deal with becaue the creators own their own work and rise or fall on the quality and enterainment value of that work.

[tlspark]

Re: The Anniversary book. Does anyone seriously care about this anymore? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? This book has become the Chinese Democracy of the comics medium.
Image is putting out some decent books right now. I think Eric should focus on the future and let the past remain in the past. Image is now a vastly different imprint, than it was when it first began. For the better, I might add. For me, The Anniversary book now goes the way of Kevin Smith's unfinished comics. No longer interested.

[EMeadow]

Originally posted by tlspark
Re: The Anniversary book. Does anyone seriously care about this anymore? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? This book has become the Chinese Democracy of the comics medium.

Nothing will ever compete with Guns N Roses.

Now if we could get the Mage Vol. 1 HC out the door please................

[Egg]

Glad to see Image is making headway! I'm really looking forward to their future!

Egg
Copy Editor - ANT (as of #4)
Writer - www.KamenComic.com

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Originally posted by tlspark
Re: The Anniversary book. Does anyone seriously care about this anymore? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Yes, I do. A lot. Many SAVAGE DRAGON fans want to see the character's origin.

-Augie

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by Augie De Blieck Jr.
It's all just a trick of the process. Retailers will basically be able to reorder the book through the process. It just helps Image get the book out quicker.

It's not hurtful to the industry. If anything, it might hurt Image, but the paperwork is in place, the motions have been filed, and now it's just one last step to get the book out. Let him do it.

The people who have died, been laid off, or moved on will just cancel their order. Or, more likely, their retailer will.

Order reductions are a pretty bad tool for the retailer -- the window in which to reduce is ridiculously small (Certainly smaller than the time it can take to contact all of the people who originally order a book), and it's really REALLY easy to miss seeing the notice. I mean, in terms of priority of things that MUST get done every week, ORs are pretty much my last thing to do because the volume of them are, week-to-week, pretty minor. Which means, that some weeks, I never actually find the time to check the OR list.

Incidentally, Image's TOS state that a book that late is to be made returnable -- though any book over $3.50 is specificed to be full-copy returns (though I don't remember if Image has ever actually *enforced* that part of the policy). Hardcovers are HEAVY to ship, and the retailer is paying for shipping, then, BOTH directions.

It should be resolicited.

-B

[Erik Larsen]

Originally posted by Cousin Cory
Erik, Erik, Erik... you say so many reasonable things, and then you allow yourself to be dragged down at the end by discussing this joke of a hardcover.
Yes you do need steenking solicitations. How can you even pretend that orders placed 2-1/2 years ago are any kind of predictor of what interest in the book will be today? Saying order adjustments are possible barely begins to address it. How many stores have gone out of business since they placed their orders for the anniversary book? How many new stores were not around back then to place orders when they were originally taken? How many people who pre-ordered the book from their retailers have experienced job loss or other changes in their economic situation? How many people have died since they ordered the book?
It may be a moot point, because Erik, I hate to say it, but I have this feeling that at the end of the year, you will be pissed. Everyone's "so close" to being done it's ridiculous? Haven't we heard that song sung before? Don't put your credibility at such high risk by making those kind of statements. Series, heck, imprints, have been announced, solicited, shipped, and canceled in the time since we were told the Image book was "almost" done.
Fold your hand. Just cancel the orders now. When (if) the book is ever finished, resolicit it.

Y'know--if there's a will there's a way--and we can come up with ways of making stuff work if need be. Are people still interested in the book? If the mail I get is any indication--yes, absolutely. Is doing an order adjustment perfect? Maybe not--but it will get the book into readers hands faster than any other method and it's not as though it will be a secret when this book is finally finished so I don't see it being a problem plus--I'm guessing we'll print a few extra copies so people can reorder (if need be).

It's THAT or tack ANOTHER four months on the the already ridiculous wait.

And you may be right. I've certainly been pissed before. remember--I finished MY part nearly three years ago!

At the end of the day--we'll do the right thing--and if that means that I'll end up cutting out a check to Brian Hibbs so he can send back a copy or two--I'll do it (although I could just pick it up from him personally--I'm in the area). Still--knowing what I know about this book--I don't think you're going to have any trouble moving this book.

[Ravengregory]

Hell...I'd get Battle Chasers if it ever came back out let alone all the image guys.

[M Polo]

THE Quote of the interview:

There are certain things we can do, and certain things that we can’t do. I’m much more concerned about our line, and how good our line is as something to read. That’s much more of a concern to me, and I don’t let that other stuff bother me in the least

Keep that insight and I'll keep preaching the goodness of the books coming from IMAGE!!!

[holtom2000]

loved his comment about 30 new x-men titles. it's so true.

[crunch-o-matic]

I would be worried that if once Wanted ends and maybe Kirkman takes Invincible and Walking Dead to ICON that Image's market share would be 1% or less.

Does that affect the Previews placement of Image?

If so, what about the perception of Image if they loose premier status?

[Greg T]

Originally posted by crunch-o-matic
I would be worried that if once Wanted ends and maybe Kirkman takes Invincible and Walking Dead to ICON that Image's market share would be 1% or less.

Does that affect the Previews placement of Image?

If so, what about the perception of Image if they loose premier status?

Kirkman has repeatedly said that he has no plans of moving Walking Dead or Invincible. As Image gets more and better books, their market share will slowly start to increase.

Look, they're already producing some of the best stuff on the market at this time, not to mention some of the most diverse.
What Valentino started and Larsen has started is just simply amazing. 5 years ago if you would've told me that Image comics is where I look first, I would've said you were crazy, but now....


Great job, Erik!

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by Erik Larsen
Y'know--if there's a will there's a way--and we can come up with ways of making stuff work if need be. Are people still interested in the book? If the mail I get is any indication--yes, absolutely. Is doing an order adjustment perfect? Maybe not--but it will get the book into readers hands faster than any other method and it's not as though it will be a secret when this book is finally finished so I don't see it being a problem plus--I'm guessing we'll print a few extra copies so people can reorder (if need be).

It's THAT or tack ANOTHER four months on the the already ridiculous wait.

And you may be right. I've certainly been pissed before. remember--I finished MY part nearly three years ago!

At the end of the day--we'll do the right thing--and if that means that I'll end up cutting out a check to Brian Hibbs so he can send back a copy or two--I'll do it (although I could just pick it up from him personally--I'm in the area). Still--knowing what I know about this book--I don't think you're going to have any trouble moving this book.

Heh.

Y'know, except for one or two of our parties, I don't think you've ever come over to the store, Erik. Y'should though -- hang out some time, shoot the shit.

It certainly doesn't need to take 4 months for the solicit process -- there's plenty of stuff we order on an expediated basis, and get it 2-3 weeks after the order is placed. Resolicitation could also be in a "PREVIEWS update" etc

Also, you could start the resolicit wheels NOW if the book is so close to being published -- I just think there's a fundamental difference between a "10th anniversary" book and "THe founders draw thier characters" -- EVEN IF THE CONTENTS ARE EXACTLY THE SAME.

It's not right and it's not fair, but it IS how the market is

-B

[doom]

Originally posted by holtom2000
loved his comment about 30 new x-men titles. it's so true.

i dunno. marvel has always put out way too many xmen themed books. i don't get how marvel cancelling some and launching new ones is the cause of image's shrinking market share.

its like saying Around the World in 80 Days did badly at the box office because warners put out another Harry Potter movie.

tons of xbooks is marvel's modus operandi for like the last 15 years now. i know there will be more and if i were erik, i wouldn't be caught off guard by it.

[crunch-o-matic]

People say lots of things.

I'd be worried. I can't imagine how thin the market share is between IDW, Dark Horse, Tokyo Pop and Image.

[bottleHeD]

Originally posted by doom
its like saying Around the World in 80 Days did badly at the box office because warners put out another Harry Potter movie.

But it is! At any given time, people will have only a certain amount of money to spend, and hence, and one title is bound to suffer. It just may not necessarily be the better one.

[doom]

Originally posted by bottleHeD
But it is! At any given time, people will have only a certain amount of money to spend, and hence, and one title is bound to suffer. It just may not necessarily be the better one.

better example:

el nino (which is spanish for "the nino" btw): he comes around every two or three years. everyone knows this.

your house gets flooded because you waited til an el nino year to have the roof replaced.

i am not trying to rag on erik. i would just expect industry people to be aware of the x nino and prepare their year accordingly.

[Erik Larsen]

Originally posted by doom
better example:

el nino (which is spanish for "the nino" btw): he comes around every two or three years. everyone knows this.

your house gets flooded because you waited til an el nino year to have the roof replaced.

i am not trying to rag on erik. i would just expect industry people to be aware of the x nino and prepare their year accordingly.

Easier said than done, my friend.

How would you suggest preparing for there being no money left over for a retailer to buy anything other than mutant books?

Plus--keep in mind--we're a company that doesn't own a single character and publishes only creator-owned books. We don't create properties--we publish them. We can only publish what is brought to us. Given that, how would you suggest preparing for an impending storm?

All we can do is put out good books and hope that one day retailers will look at their shelves and SEE the piles of left over books that they ordered heavy on and think twice before doing it again. These poor guys get taken to the cleaners again and again. Look at those shelves--it certainly isn't littered with five-inch tall stacks of unsold Image titles. Our titles have incredibly high sell through. Our creators will stick things through until their stories are told.

We're not going to shut down or roll over because a storm is coming.

[doom]

Originally posted by Erik Larsen
Easier said than done, my friend.

How would you suggest preparing for there being no money left over for a retailer to buy anything other than mutant books?

Plus--keep in mind--we're a company that doesn't own a single character and publishes only creator-owned books. We don't create properties--we publish them. We can only publish what is brought to us. Given that, how would you suggest preparing for an impending storm?

All we can do is put out good books and hope that one day retailers will look at their shelves and SEE the piles of left over books that they ordered heavy on and think twice before doing it again. These poor guys get taken to the cleaners again and again. Look at those shelves--it certainly isn't littered with five-inch tall stacks of unsold Image titles. Our titles have incredibly high sell through. Our creators will stick things through until their stories are told.

We're not going to shut down or roll over because a storm is coming.

compete with better marketing. i guess it was last may when all the x books got attention, right? starting in april, i would contact ever comics news outlet (be it wizard, newsarama or any of others) and get creators lined up for interviews. i dont know if this site charges people when they do those theme weeks, but an "erik's image spotlight" on some of the hot titles would be good. kick silvestri in the pants and get him to do one on a different week. have something sneaky up your own sleeve you can pull out since you have one of the bedrock image titles: instead of "xmen title wave" how about "larson's dragon collected into four high quality oversized hardbacks"?

chain todd to a drawing table. regardless of people's opinions of him, i think everyone agrees he is one of the industries top artists. a new spawn hardcover to debut would take some of the luster off the x flavor of the month.

give scott kurtz free reign with the characters of the image core books and use that to knock around some marvel titles. kurtz' splitting image, anyone?

image's key strength is its diversity and the general respect its creators have in the industry. capitalize on that and use it to sink the battleship x-tantic (ugh, i hope i didnt just inspire another title)

promote, promote, promote! i love marvel, but more so, i love good comics. while the industry seems to be shrinking right now, we still have a lot of great titles. don't let people forget about them just because of one of the thrice-a-decade x relaunches

i talk about the image central guys here not as a sleight to anyone, but just because those guys have the cache to get the spotlight turned back around.

good luck! and feel free to hire me as a consultant if you want more ideas! : D