It’s an age old impasse of art versus commerce and no matter how much they try there is really no way around it. The big two of Marvel and DC need to make money, period end of story. They need to make the bucks and focus on the bottom line. By doing that the management usually removes them from the creative process. In short you can’t have bean counters running the creative direction of a company.
2008 wasn’t a bad year for comics but it wasn’t a great one either. Marvel revved us up with the promise of what Secret Invasion would do to the Marvel Universe and in reality it didn’t do much besides push fans into the current big story arc Dark Reign. We could talk about spider-Man Brand New Day but it’s best we don’t.
On the DC side things were even worse. Batman was going to stop being Batman in Batman RIP, which didn’t really happen. Final Crisis, which was supposed to follow 52, got pushed back to after Countdown, which made an already confusing story almost indecipherable.
In Superman we’ve been led to understand that Superman will not be the feature in Action Comics and will be leaving Earth in the future. Most of this mess in DC is so editor Dan Didio can bring Green Lantern Hal Jordan to the forefront of the DC Universe as well as returning Silver Age Flash Barry Allen to his red suited post. That’s not me guessing, Didio admitted it in a few articles.
All things considered both DC and Marvel are a mess and have begun to reek of desperation. Marvel editor Joe Quesada has made some questionable judgment calls largely because he has to keep the machine greased and running. During the months before Iron Man came out all of us watched, as suddenly Tony Stark became the center of the Marvel Universe. This was an obvious attempt to drum up more interest in the movie since Iron Man has been largely a peripheral character.
It was also Quesada who stood steadfast behind the Spider-Man fiasco as well as taking forever to get Daredevil Father finished. Didio has ruined just about everything he’s touched and managed to screw the release order up so much that Final Crisis tie-ins are finishing way after Final Crisis ends.
Rumor has it that Batman RIP and Final Crisis writer Grant Morrison is seriously unhappy with how Didio has handled this last year and I know for a fact many of the other writers and artists feel let down by Didio. At Marvel is seems like the writers are trying to stay away from the main universe based on how Quesada has handled it.
Greg Pak is busy with Skaar Son Of Hulk, Ed Brubaker is following his own stories with Daredevil and Captain America, Jeph Loeb is doing his own thing with Hulk (with questionable results), and the list goes on. All of this turmoil between artists and writers reminds me of another time in the early nineties when this same situation led to a new beginning for seven artists who grew tired of working for the man.
Those seven artists decided to leave and form Image Comics, which while never becoming as imposing as the big two has managed to remain a major player. Todd Macfarlane, Erik Larson, Mark Silvestri, Jim Lee, Rob Liefield, Jim Valentino and Whilce Portacio showed the world that an artists could own his/her own properties, work without interference and not be forced into a timeline dictated by men willing to throw the history of beloved characters out the window in order to “shake things up”.
Back in the early nineties it was the artists time and comic books reflected that. The writing in the era was not nearly as well defined and leaned more on splashy art. Since those days fans have witnessed a reversal of fortune to where now comic book writers are what people are invested in. Don’t get me wrong the artists are very important but now is really a writers time. Being that the writers are king right now this would be an opportune time for the biggest names to jump ship and form another company in the format of Image.
When Image was created in 1992 it really put DC and Marvel in their place. When the big two began building themselves back from those losses they were much more respectful of their artists than they’d ever been. Over the last several years that idea has largely ended coming full circle with management once again trying to squeeze their ideas into the brains of writers. A new company would once again rattle the cages of those in charge as well creating another new powerhouse to the world of comics.
In my opinion the seven artists who are poised for this idea are: Ed Brubaker, Grant Morrison, Greg Pak, Geoff Johns, Brian Michael Bendis and Darwyn Cook. Now don’t start raging at the computer screen, these are just the writers I think could lead the way with a new company.
This conglomerate of writing talent could cause a major explosion in the next decade of comics and they wouldn’t be striking out alone they would have Image as a template. Granted Image has made serious missteps but you can’t take away what they’ve accomplished or how inspirational they’ve been.
With these writers in the fold you’d have the best in superhero writers, crime fiction writers, fantasy and science fiction writers. There would even be a weird psychedelic and counter-culture writing with Grant Morrison.
At one point or another these writers have all been cross with the big two so joining together wouldn’t be such a leap of faith. There’s also a guarantee that the fans would be there to support them. I don’t know one person who loves comics that wouldn’t be amped to see what this brain trust would turn out.
Just think of what could come out of the creative meetings at the new company. Greg Pak tossing ideas off of Bendis, Brubaker teaming up with Darwyn Cook (who can also draw) on a crime comic or Johns deciding to team up with Morrison to create an entire new superhero Universe. The thought is staggering as to what they could create.
On the business side of things the problems of DC and Marvel still exist. There are constant battles over ownership of new characters and no matter how much a writer drives the sales up of an established character they usually don’t see much of that cash. Not to mention all of the merchandising that goes on of which the writers usually see none of. There’s also the movie money, which is nearly as invisible to comic book writers as Sue Storm. With this new company a lot of that could be handled in style more equitable to the writers themselves.
In a more selfish notion I also can’t help but think how many new writers and even artists this new company could bring to light. Much the way Image gave Robert Kirkman a permanent home this new venture could do the same thing for writers like Paul Pope (Batman Year 100) or Jason Aaron (Scalped) or any number of unknowns that don’t want to battle against the nearly impenetrable wall of the big two.
Another great idea in this is that these writers could still work for the big two just not all the time. Given a chance to shine on their own they might bring an entire new angle to Captain America or Hulk or Batman or any number of characters.
The writers would also be able to call more of the shots so if a person like Didio or Quesada tried to throw a writer into a storyline they wanted no part of it would be easy to just walk away without worrying when they’d write again or if they’d be blacklisted. Sure that might not be a concern for a Morrison or Johns but Pak and even Brubaker haven’t achieved bulletproof status just yet.
Will this ever happen? Who knows? Will it be these artists? Again, who knows? The idea of the best of the best going all punk rock and hitting the DIY road just excites me. We’d see more creativity, the stories would be fresh and new and all of this would benefit the writers alone (not to mention the fans).
I’m sure people have varied opinions on who would be better than my seven or more suitable and that’s fine. I welcome those opinions because without them there would be no conversation on the subject and that’s really what I’m after. So let DC, Marvel, Dan Didio and Joe Quesada be on alert.
It’s time for a new image.
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