Marvel Comics has had an unprecedented amount of success these past several years.
Save for a few months here and there, they’ve been the number one comic book seller in both units sold and dollars earned. They’ve got a great live-action TV show in Agents of SHIELD along with cartoons Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of SMASH that satisfy a younger audience. Their Avengers movies are wildly successful, raking in billions of box office dollars and dominating pop culture like never before.
The company is doing well, yes, but there’s one area they have been lagging behind the competition: creator-owned comics.
In 1982, Marvel started their Epic Comics imprint as a place where their top-name creators could go to create comics based on their own ideas. There were some incredible titles like Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar and Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill’s Marshal Law, but it wasn’t long before sales dipped across the board and Marvel tried to save the line by adding characters like Elektra and Wolverine. Despite these efforts, the imprint folded, only to return for a brief stint in the 2000s.
Marvel’s current creator-owned imprint is Icon Comics, launched in 2004 to fill the same role as Epic. Now, Icon has only a handful of titles -- 17 by my count, only 7 of which are currently ongoing -- and it’s undeniable that some have gone on to be a huge success.
Mark Millar’s Secret Service with Dave Gibbons and Kick-Ass with John Romita, Jr. have been adapted into blockbuster movies, and Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s Powers just debuted as a TV show this week on PlayStation’s Originals (which we’ll still count even though Powers started at Image Comics). But an adaption isn’t the only indicator of success -- Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal and Incognito are modern crime classics, and Bendis and Oeming’s United States of Murder, Inc. was up for IGN’s Best Comic Book Series of 2014.
Unfortunately, if you take out all of the books by those creators, it only leaves seven behind, with three currently ongoing. That’s not exactly a picture of creative diversity or confidence in the Icon brand. It's nice that the few comics they do have are pretty great, but the pool of creative talent and variety of style across the line is lacking.
In comparison, DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint has 14 ongoing titles and a huge backlog that includes some of the best comics ever written, like Y: The Last Man, Sandman, and 100 Bullets. Vertigo isn’t the creative winner it once was, but there are some solid books out right now and more on the way.
Image Comics, the number one place to go for creator-owned comics, was founded solely to produce creator-owned comics, and it has a massive catalog featuring dozens of ongoing titles. It’s hard to turn your head without seeing something about The Walking Dead, Spawn, or Saga these days.
Simply put, when it comes to creator-owned comics, Marvel has a long way to go to catch up.
Now comes the question, why should Marvel care about producing more creator-owned comics when they’re dominating the superhero market every month? Creator-owned comics play a vital role in the creative pulse of comics. Marvel’s comics (and DC’s, for that matter) are high-octane affairs that are all about the big crossovers, the crazy costume changes, the shocking deaths, and what’s coming next. They are the summer blockbusters, whereas creator-owned comics are the independent films. Creator-owned comics are a place where writers and artists can go to express a personal idea without curtailing their voice to meet the needs of a larger publishing agenda. It’s an opportunity to flex a different muscle.
By taking the time to tell their own story, comic creators get a break from the hectic nature of company superheroes that all live in the same universe. Talking about his experience as the head of the big Spider-Man crossover Spider-Verse, writer Dan Slott told , “It was all very crazy -- and I'm never doing one of these again.” And while Slott is often known for his sense of humor, you get the feeling he indeed was overwhelmed and exhausted by working on a superhero crossover. Marvel did seven crossover events in 2014 alone, each spanning several months, which paints the image of more than a few Marvel folk being equally overwhelmed.
Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved superhero comic books and I always will, but I’m also realistic about how they work and operate. Some of the best comic book stories ever told have been about Marvel and DC superheroes, but I would argue that the environment those comics are created in isn’t as conducive to creating a higher form of art that challenges ideas, explores concepts, and says something about the world. I like seeing Spider-Man stopping Rhino’s latest rampage as much as the next guy, but that doesn’t quite compare to watching Marko and Alana try to raise baby Hazel while on the run in space.
But to make Icon competitive in the marketplace, the imprint needs an overhaul.
Currently, just about all the big names in comics go to Image when they want to put out a creator-owned book, including prominent Marvel creators Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Rick Remender, Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer, Kieron Gillen, and Jamie McKelvie. It paints a certain image when all of those people would rather take their ideas and go to another company rather than bring them to Icon. Aaron did recently launch Men of Wrath at Icon, but he’s the exception.
Granted, there are obviously other factors at play, and it’s not as easy as giving Marvel a comic and telling them to print it with their Icon logo stamped on the front, but the point stands. Marvel needs to make Icon an attractive place for comic creators.
That’s where Image has the edge. They have appeal not only as a successful, iconic brand but because of what they offer a creator. The creator gets to keep all profits, so the only costs are printing and the fee that Image charges, which covers “solicitations, traffic, production, and some promotion of the book,” according to their site. Icon also gives all profits to the creators, but they receive no help with with promotion, according to an interview with Mark Millar.
As a comic book journalist for the past four years, I can attest to the lack of promotion on Icon books. I’ve done interviews for dozens of Vertigo and Image books, but for Icon, only one. I’ve been to plenty of Vertigo and Image panels at comic conventions, but never one for Icon. Promotion from Marvel’s PR team and a dedicated presence at conventions is a must if readers are going to ever view Icon as being in the same league as its competitors.
There are other things that need to happen, too. The current Icon logo looks like an outdated Illuminati sign and needs a sleeker, more modern update. Marvel has pockets deep enough to offer incentives to creators, and that means offering the same perks as Image and then some. Marvel also has global reach and a marketing machine to match, so they should utilize that in promoting their creator-owned books in addition to their superheroes.The real beauty of creator-owned comics is that they are proof that comics can tell stories about things other than superheroes. So often comics are thought of as things for children -- nothing but Saturday morning cartoons in paperback form -- and that couldn't be further from the truth. If Marvel, with its ever-growing popularity, were to invest in making Icon all that it can be, then it would go a long way to show the masses that comics are for everyone, not just fans of superheroes.
It’s not too late for Marvel to make something out of Icon. They’re already putting out some of the best superhero books that money can buy, so imagine the other creative wonders they could produce if they put more effort into creator-owned comics. The next Saga is out there waiting to be given a chance, but a lot needs to change if you’re going to be buying it from Marvel’s Icon imprint.