As most of you who keep up with comic related news know, DC acquired Jim
Lee's Wildstorm Productions late last year. With it DC got some of Image's
best titles. Books like Astro City, Battle Chasers, and Leave it to
Chance. DC also acquired upcoming titles like The Authority, Planetary,
and America's Best Comics. So, where does Image go from here? Losing
Wildstorm was a major loss for Image and it necessitates action. In order
for Image to survive long term some significant moves and changes will have
to be made.
The first thing Image must do is fill the void left by Wildstorm. In my
mind, the best way to do this is to add a slew of self published small
press titles to their current lineup. Books like Finder, Pantheon, and
Castle Waiting would be excellent choices. Also, perhaps Image could do a
talent search of sorts and find some talented individuals who simply lack
the financial resources to make their comic a reality.
With the loss of Wildstorm Image's livelihood is now contingent upon Todd
McFarlane's line of books. The various Spawn titles do sell well, but not
well enough to support Image by themselves. McFarlane has made it known
that his line will be expanding soon, and for Image's sake he had better
come up with a few blockbuster titles. Image should also consider
resurrecting their Non-Line of books. Under Jim Valentino's direction the
Non-Line wasn't exactly a success, but I think with some aggressive
promotion and a new direction it could be a big success. There are also
many unemployed artists out there who are proven commodities. Guys like
Mike Weiringo, of Spiderman fame, and Yenil Francis Yu, of Wolverine fame,
don't currently have a monthly assignment. I'm sure both of those guys
would love to do a series of their own, and in Image's current state they
can't afford to let guys like Weiringo and Yu stay unemployed. Finally,
Image needs to try and lure some top-notch creators and their books away
from other companies. It's not exactly the nicest thing to do, but comics
are a business, and sometimes what needs to be done isn't very nice. Both
Sirius and Dark Horse have some fantastic books, and with Image's current
resources they might be able to steal away some of their titles. I think
it would also be very wise of Image to aggressively promote some of their
remaining titles. Books like Kabuki and Channel Zero have gotten rave
reviews, but not enough fans are aware of them.
For all I know Image is already pursuing many of the avenues I've talked
about. In fact, I think it's fairly likely. Whatever Image does to combat
the loss of Wildstorm needs to be done expeditiously. They're still the
third largest publisher, but if they lose any more titles or fail to fill
the large hole left by the Wildstorm defection, they're going to fall into
obscurity.
