EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Erik Larsen Discusses Image Comics' Role in the Future of Comics & Media
The Image Comics founder discusses the role of creator owned material as the medium moves forward, how the company makes big movie deals, and the status of Image United #4.
DB: With the comics industry currently reassessing itself, what is the role of creator owned properties (specifically Image Comics titles) in its future?
EL: I think at this point readers are going to get reminded more and more the advantages of creator owned stuff. As much as they put a shiny coat of paint on it, the reality is that Superman is 73 years old. That is an old character; he's been around a long time. That's not your dad's Superman. That's your granddad's or great-granddad's Superman.
DB: These books are gaining some clout with TV's Walking Dead a big hit, Undying Love getting optioned for film, and The Darkness getting a second video game. What is the publisher's function in pursuing and promoting these deals?
The thing you have to understand about Image in particular is that all of our books are owned by their creators. Image itself doesn't have any kind of hook in anybody. So, those kind of deals are there for the creators to pursue. We don't share in any of that revenue and we don't make any of those deals so really it's entirely in their hands whether they're able to make this work out. We can point to people and say, 'here's my agent ' or 'here's a guy to talk to' and I think there's a lot of that that still goes on. But the reality of it is that we don't share in anyone else's rights and that's not likely to change any time soon.
DB: But isn't there a bit of company pride for these projects getting attention?
EL: There is absolutely. It's great to say, “look what we as a company have been able to establish.” At the same time, our strength and everything else is really that we're all about the creator and letting the creators do what they want to do with their creations.
DB: Are there any deals on Image Comics adaptions being bounced around the office?
EL: It's not really my place to be announcing things, but I know a lot of people are really active out there and that people are coming to Image about there new book who have already got this lined up already. Guys just kind of learn over time what can happen with these things. We're not dealing with a bunch of naïve kids at this point.
We have guys that know the ropes and know that, were they to do creative stuff with Marvel and/or DC, any at most they would share only a tiny, little portion of that big piece. At Image, they're going to have the lion's share of that and Image Comics itself is not going to be participating in that. It's a real incentive to do stuff here with their original characters. At Marvel or DC, the characters being created there are being spun off of other characters. That's why you have Red Hulk and Red She Hulk and stuff like that rather than an entirely new character.
DB: And you get to explore more genres, too.
EL: That's what we're all about. We're talking to various folks about doing various types of books. I don't think DC Comics would be saying 'let's do a porno book.' I don't think they're going to go that direction. In a lot of cases, they very hesitant to go in directions that people want to push them in. They'll do something like Jonah Hex, but they won't do a full western book if that's what people want to do. At Image, we'll have people come in saying they want to do a western book and we'll look at what they want to do.
DB: Talking about Image Comics as a whole, what is the status of Image United #4?
EL: (laughing) That is out of my hands, man. The thing with that is that I do my part. I lay it out, I ink all of the characters in there, and I send it off. At that point, it's really out of my hands. I'm not even sure what pages are in what person's hands. I know they're out there. I know that somebody's go them, but I couldn't tell you with absolute certainty who's got what. I know Todd [MacFarlane] has drawn his pages, so I don't know what the holdup is.
