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As we know, the comic book industry is dominated by the "big two" — Marvel and DC. With decades of experience under their belts and libraries of some of the greatest characters ever created, the big two control more than 80 per cent of the market.

Enlarge Photo

Todd McFarlane's last work for Marvel was on Spider-Man.

There was a time, however, when the big two were threatened by an upstart independent company created by some of the hottest Marvel artists of the time. I am talking, of course, about Image Comics.

Growth market

The 1980s were a period of great change for the comic industry, mainly because of the growth in comic book shops. These stores dedicated to comics and comic-related items allowed for companies other than the big two to find a audience, and they allowed all publishers greater freedom when it came to releasing product.

The growth of independent companies meant new creators could break into the industry without knocking on the doors of Marvel and DC. It also meant they could do something they couldn't do at the big two — own their creations. The era of creator-owned comics came upon the industry, with some publishers acting more as distributors than traditional publishers.

At DC, the company began to offer their creators royalties on their books and continued royalties for their creations, hoping they would see the value of creating new characters for them rather than on their own. Marvel followed suit and the industry began to grow and attract new readers.

As the decade moved on, the comic book industry continued to grow. The royalties, which seemed like such a great deal when the industry was still rather small, now seemed insulting in the face of large profits being made by comic companies. There was also a growth in licensing of the companies' characters, which meant greater profits for comic book companies.

DC, after struggling for years, had begun to come back by allowing their creators to be, in a word, creative. From Watchmen to Dark Knight Returns to V for Vendetta to Sandman to Animal Man, DC was turning out some of the best comics on the market and they were being rewarded for it.

Marvel

Marvel Comics simply kept doing what it does best —turning out title after title of its top selling books as fans kept buying their favourite X-Men, Avengers and Spider-Man titles. While DC marketed its creators, Marvel marketed its characters and believed that's what mattered. Creators were essentially replaceable in their eyes and they made no bones about letting that be known.

That didn't sit well with too many folks at Marvel, especially its high profile artists, particularly Todd MacFarlane. The Calgary native first caught the attention of fans at DC by doing art for Infinity Inc. and then Invasion and Detective Comics. He moved on to Marvel to work on The Incredible Hulk and then became a star by completely overhauling Amazing Spider-Man, giving the book a more modern feel and changing the way everyone saw Spider-Man. In fact, the big eyed, acrobatic Spider-Man we know today is essentially MacFarlane's Spider-Man.

Revolt

So in December 1991 artists Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee and Todd MacFarlane, along with Todd's wife, marched into the office of Marvel President Terry Stewart demanding a change. Also present at the meeting was then editor-in-chief Tom Defalco.

The artists wanted more creative control and more compensation for their efforts. If not, they would leave the company and form their own studio, releasing their own books.

Initially they had hoped Marvel would allow them to set up shop as an imprint of the company and Stewart had essentially the same idea. Marvel had a line called Epic, which was mostly creator-owned and was supposed to help them compete with DC's Vertigo line. But Epic was faultering.

The artists balked. They wanted their own line, not a failing line owned by Marvel. Stewart bent as far as he was willing to bend and the artists left. They would join fellow artists Jim Valentino and Marc Silvestri to form Image Comics. It would launch May 1992 with Spawn No. 1.

The comic book industry was about to change.

Next

Next week we'll look at the launch of Image Comics and the impact it had (and is still having) on the comic book industry. As usual you can reach me at mclaughlin.darcey@miramichileader.com