In 1992, several prominent artists for Marvel Comics, including Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, and Todd MacFarlane left the House of Ideas in order to found Image Comics. This due to their frustration that Marvel did not grant them much in the way of royalties from their popular works (including merchandising), so Image Comics was specifically founded on the notion that each comic would be creator-owned, with the creators of each comic having financial and creative control over their title. Works like Liefeld's Youngblood, Lee's Wildcats, Larsen's Savage Dragon, and MacFarlane's Spawn became very popular for a while, and today, later Image titles like Invincible, Saga, and The Walking Dead have become incredibly successful in their own right.
But suppose this had never happened. What if, in 1992, Marvel had made some sort of deal with the artists that caused them to stay?
-What might have been some terms both sides would have reasonably agreed on? I assume that neither would get 100% of what they want, but perhaps a compromise would've been reached. What would've been the effects of such a compromise for Marvel from a business perspective?
-From a creative standpoint, what would've been the effect of these artists continuing on their books? The X-Men comics and related titles would perhaps be the most effected, with Lee, Liefeld, and Marc Silvestri not leaving. Furthermore, what of the characters invented for Image Comics? Might Spawn have shown up in the Marvel Universe? Might several of the Wildcats characters instead be introduced as new X-Men? Might Liefeld's Youngblood have instead been a new rendition of the Teen Titans at DC, as was originally planned?
-How would this chain of events affect the industry as a whole? How might DC Comics have reacted to their primary competitor becoming more amenable to the demands of their artists? How might smaller publishers like Dark Horse and Valiant have developed differently in a world without Marvel Comics? And, of course, what might all of this have meant for the comic speculator boom and bust of the 1990s (which led to the bankruptcy of Marvel itself in 1996)?
But suppose this had never happened. What if, in 1992, Marvel had made some sort of deal with the artists that caused them to stay?
-What might have been some terms both sides would have reasonably agreed on? I assume that neither would get 100% of what they want, but perhaps a compromise would've been reached. What would've been the effects of such a compromise for Marvel from a business perspective?
-From a creative standpoint, what would've been the effect of these artists continuing on their books? The X-Men comics and related titles would perhaps be the most effected, with Lee, Liefeld, and Marc Silvestri not leaving. Furthermore, what of the characters invented for Image Comics? Might Spawn have shown up in the Marvel Universe? Might several of the Wildcats characters instead be introduced as new X-Men? Might Liefeld's Youngblood have instead been a new rendition of the Teen Titans at DC, as was originally planned?
-How would this chain of events affect the industry as a whole? How might DC Comics have reacted to their primary competitor becoming more amenable to the demands of their artists? How might smaller publishers like Dark Horse and Valiant have developed differently in a world without Marvel Comics? And, of course, what might all of this have meant for the comic speculator boom and bust of the 1990s (which led to the bankruptcy of Marvel itself in 1996)?
