This Day in Comic Book History: July 14
This Day in Comic Book History: July 14
July 14 is an opportunity to celebrate the creator-owned revolution in American comics — the movement that gave artists and writers ownership of their characters and stories for the first time in the medium's history.
Image Comics: The Creator-Owned Revolution of 1992
Image Comics Founded
Seven Marvel superstars · Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, Whilce Portacio · Changed the industry forever
In February 1992, seven of Marvel Comics' most popular artists — Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, and Whilce Portacio — left the company to found Image Comics, a publisher dedicated to the principle that creators should own their work. The founding of Image was the most significant business event in American comics since Marvel's Silver Age revolution. It forced Marvel and DC to improve their creator terms, opened the market to a wave of new publishers, and established the creator-owned model that has produced some of the medium's finest modern work.
The Creator Rights Movement: A History
Fighting for Creator Rights
Jack Kirby · Steve Ditko · Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster · The long fight for creators to own what they make
The Image founding was the culmination of decades of creator frustration. Jack Kirby spent his final years in a legal battle with Marvel to recover his original artwork. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster fought DC for decades over Superman. Steve Ditko left Marvel over disagreements about creative credit and compensation. The witzend magazine movement of the 1960s, the underground comix revolution, and the Direct Market's growth all contributed to building the conditions in which creators could finally assert ownership of their work. Image was the movement's most dramatic and commercially successful expression.
Creator-Owned Comics Today: The Golden Age
The Modern Creator-Owned Era
Saga · The Walking Dead · Invincible · Monstress · The era when creator-owned comics became the most critically acclaimed in the world
The creator-owned tradition Image established has produced the most critically acclaimed American comics of the 21st century. Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead and Invincible. Brian K. Vaughan's Saga. Marjorie Liu's Monstress. Jonathan Hickman's East of West. These creator-owned works have won Eisner Awards, been adapted into major television series, and demonstrated that the best comics of our era belong to their creators. Image's founding principle has been more than vindicated by the work it enabled.
🏆 Top 10 Essential Creator-Owned Comics
- Saga #1 (March 2012) — Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' Image Comics epic; creator-owned storytelling at its absolute finest.
- The Walking Dead #1 (October 2003) — Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore's zombie epic; spawned the most successful cable TV drama of its era.
- Spawn #1 (May 1992) — Todd McFarlane's Image Comics launch; one of the founding titles of the creator-owned revolution.
- Invincible #1 (January 2003) — Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker's superhero deconstruction; became one of the best superhero comics of its decade.
- Monstress #1 (November 2015) — Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda's Image Comics masterpiece; multiple Eisner Award winner.
- Cerebus #1 (December 1977) — Dave Sim's pioneering independent comic; self-published for 300 issues, a monument to creator independence.
- Bone #1 (July 1991) — Jeff Smith's creator-owned masterpiece; self-published before moving to Scholastic, where it became one of the best-selling graphic novel series for young readers.
- Elfquest #1 (February 1978) — Wendy and Richard Pini's pioneering creator-owned fantasy; one of the first independently published comics to achieve mainstream recognition.
- Sin City #1 (April 1991) — Frank Miller's Dark Horse creator-owned noir classic; demonstrated that creator-owned work could equal anything published by Marvel or DC.
- Hellboy #1 (March 1994) — Mike Mignola's Dark Horse creator-owned masterpiece; one of the most original superhero concepts in comics history.
Support creator-owned comics at Epic Panels Comics — find Image, Dark Horse, and indie classics!