From: jjonsson@alexandria.lib.utah.edu
Subject: Re: Atlas of the 1970's/Image
Organization: Marriott Library, University of Utah
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 02:14:21 GMT

In article <16AUG199204204261@mary.fordham.edu> areid@mary.fordham.edu (Darin Reid) writes:

>The Image "Explosion" reminds me of the rise and fall of the Atlas comics of
>the 1970's.  They both are introducing/ced a whole bunch of characters at once
>in hopes of making their company float.  

>Spawn, Savage Dragon, Brigade, Youngblood, WildC.A.T.S, Shadowhawk are already
>out, and from their ads we can look foward to Cyberforce, The Pitt, Supreme,
>Wetworks, The Others, and Infiniti! WoW!

>The Question is will this be good for them or cause them to have immediate 
>success only to implode shortly, somewhere down the line?  I think that both
>companies suffer/ed from the same syndrome, trying to recreate the great 
>Marvel explosion of the 60's!  What neither realize/d is that the Marvel 
>explosion was a gradual and "accidental" happening, bringing a dying company
>back from the dregs.  

>Image and Atlas both suffer from trying to recreate that same happening in the
>span of a year or two.  I  personally feel that had image started off with two
>series and built on them for a while they would be a better company.  

>any opinions?

I think Image will last, for about five or so years before experiencing a 
huge slideoff in sales. Why do I say this? Because of the unbelievable 
marketing blitz that Malibu has been able to put on. They have created so 
much talk, both in the industry and in the consumer populace that they have 
virtually guaranteed themselves huge sales for some time to come. I heard 
someone in the biz say at the con that money is flying fast and furious 
around the Malibu offices, and that McFarlane and Liefield are getting an 
outrageous sum for each book. But each book is currently selling 8 million 
copies! 
	I heard both DC and Marvel guys at the CON talking about how Image 
has spooked them with the sheer amount of money they've been able to throw 
into advertising, and the response they've gotten. 
	I can tell you right now that there were guys at the CON going 
around looking for extraneous copies of Youngblood #1. I can't tell you how 
many times I heard people ask "Got any Youngblood #1's?" And guess what, 
there weren't any available. (Not that there aren't 5 million sitting in a 
warehouse somewhere.) 
	And the wait to get a Liefield or McFarlane autograph was about 2 
hours. McFarlane was sitting in front of a Spawn painted funny-car on the 
second floor, and on Saturday, his line snaked a quarter mile around the 
upper level of the Convention center. Liefield was sitting at the Malibu 
display, which was about twice the size of DC or Marvel's and there was a 
line running two abreast, the length of the Con. Center. They have generated 
a rather huge fan base, and it will take a while before it falls off.

Unsubstantiated Con rumor #2: Crowd control broke down at a Liefield 
signing, and the Malibu table got mobbed. Liefield jumped up on the table 
and said some things designed to start a riot. It didn't work. Source: Mike 
Dringenberg again.


Jeff Jonsson
Marriott Library System Support, University of Utah.
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--"It's the sound of the secret--  jjonsson@alexandria.lib.utah.edu
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