It had to be Image

Why the legendary Image Comics was the only place for Free Planet

Also in Atlantis still sunk this week:

• Collector interest around The Shape of Comics to Come

• Commander in Chains: A Kickstarter you should back

• What should I talk about next week?

• But first…

It had to be Image

Free Planet is already an exceptionally important book for me. Because we’ve created something that works as both art object and literature, because of the overwhelming praise it’s received from creative giants, and, significantly, because Free Planet is being published by Image Comics, the only place it could have landed.

For some comic book creators, the dream is to work on characters they love and grew up with. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I’d be a liar if said I didn’t have ideas for dozens of characters from DC, Marvel and assorted licensors. But while I’d love to make those stories a reality – and have written a fair number of work-for-hire comics myself – that was never the end goal.

I view creativity, above all else, as an expression of and an exercise in freedom. In a world dominated by a dizzying number of complex hierarchies, creating something purely your own, beholden to no one, is a joyous and triumphant assertion of autonomy. If you want to take orders and do work to someone else’s specifications, there’s plenty of easier gigs than comics. What’s more, comics afford creators an even greater degree of freedom than other visual mediums, as they require a relative paucity of hands to make.

Image Comics isn’t just the third biggest publisher in the industry. It’s not merely the largest creator-owned publisher. It’s not even just the home of the most innovative, exciting, risk-taking comics on the planet. Image Comics gives its creators more latitude, more freedom, than any publisher in comics or out. It’s a integral element of the company, going back to its creation.

Image was founded in 1992 by Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino, seven comics artists at the top of their game, who were tired of working on someone else’s farm. But rather than replicate existing models, they created something new: Image Comics was founded as a partnership with a primary goal of, not making a profit, but providing a place for creators to control, not just their creations, but their careers and lives.

Obviously, the biggest and most significant freedom offered at the comics industry’s premier creator-owned publisher is financial; Image Comics has the most generous, creator-centric publishing deal in all of publishing. Even great, well-paying publishing contracts with staggeringly large advances don’t provide the same opportunity for creators to benefit from their success as Image contracts do.

But the freedom provided by Image goes beyond the ability to profit from your work. Image creators get to decide on absolutely every aspect of their books. This includes how they’re positioned and marketed, what the covers look like, the materials used for printing, even publishing schedules, including whether a book is a limited series or ongoing and how long it runs.

The aforementioned reasons for Image’s importance are compelling, but what does it have to do with Free Planet specifically? At its core – the beating heart of all the geopolitical maneuverings, the military action, the interpersonal drama – Free Planet is about the belligerent insistence that no one tell you what to do, ever. As such, Image Comics – the only publisher that will abide that type of willful obstinance – was the only place that would be appropriate for the Shape of Comics to Come.

During my time in the comics industry, I’ve been a wrecking ball, a bull in a china shop, a torture chamber; in short, I cared too much, and while I’m sure I’ve accomplished things I otherwise wouldn’t have, it hasn’t always served me well. But with the unique freedom granted by Image Comics, with the ability to not just chart a successful course but reap the benefits of it, I finally have an opportunity for my independence, my autonomy, even my obstinance, to be rewarded.

As ever: The best way to help make Free Planet a success is to call your local comic shop and preorder the book. Doing so not only ensures you’ll get a copy of the first printing but indicates that there will be wider demand for it. If you don’t have a comics shop in driving distance, my friends at Collector’s Paradise have you covered. And if you are – somehow – still not sold on the Shape of Comics to Come, check out this preview.

The hottest new book of the year?

As reported by industry website Bleeding Cool, the Free Planet #1 ashcan – hand-numbered and limited to 407 copies – has been going for $150 on eBay. To be 100% clear: That’s not me selling them and I’m not making that money. Rather, it’s retailers who, having already thrilled to the book’s contents and placed their orders for May, have tossed them up for auction.

Still, the Free Planet ashcans going for so much – the highest of any exclusives from ComicsPro – remains extremely significant and encouraging. These auctions indicate a real demand for and confidence in Free Planet at the retailer level and excitement about it from the collector community. Truthfully, it’s all the more reason to preorder Free Planet at your local comic shop, and maybe even snag an ashcan before they climb higher in price…

Go back Commander in Chains

Finally, a soon-to-be-concluding Kickstarter of which you should be aware: Commander in Chains by my brother Chris Robinson! Chris is the Eisner Award-winning writer of Werewolf Frankenstein and editor of All-Negro Comics. His latest is described as “Air Force One meets The Fugitive” and has all the grindhouse prison flick action you crave. Go back it now; there’s less than a week to go and they’re only about $700 from their goal!

NEXT WEEK: My original plan was to dig through Free Planet’s extensive bibliography in alternating newsletters; however, last week’s on Hugh Thomas’ The Spanish Civil War received a more muted reception than I’d expected. Was this a fluke or a clear expression of (dis)interest? You tell me…

Aubrey