Editorial-driven v. creator-driven starts

[Polar Bear]

Some comics begin because an editor has a vision or sees an opening, then either requests pitches or flat-out assigns a comic. One example is Transformers: it's not like Budiansky (working from memory here) had a burning desire to tell a particular story, pestered editors until he found one that'd publish it, etc. Other obvious instances are Ultimate Spider-Man and Legends of the Dark Knight, as well as--I suspect--the vast majority of the DC Explosion/Implosion titles.

On the other hand, some comics begin because of a creator who had a particular idea and pitched it at the right time. One example is Quasar, which Gruenwald admitted was "the comic no one was demanding" (or words to that effect)--hardly a sales success. Another is Conan, which Roy Thomas virtually demanded of Stan Lee and which promptly became a runaway hit with two titles lasting for decades. Obviously, Watchmen and Marvels were both creator-originated.

Anyone know any anecdotes showing the relative sales superiority of one way of starting a title versus another?

[earl]

Marvel in the early 70s started up a bunch of stuff with someone creating the character maybe doing an issue or two and then someone coming along later and really making the character or book. Of course quite a few of their editors were also writing titles.

Roy Thomas created Iron Fist and I think did one issue.

Len Wein on X-Men/Wolverine - I think he became EIC, so he had to give up writing the book, although Dave Cockrum's artwork was a big part of the book on and off for quite a few issues.

Tomb of Dracula had Gene Colan from the start but really didn't get rolling until a few writers later when Marv Wolfman started writing the book.

Killraven was the same thing until McGregor and P Craig Russell started on the book.

Master of Kung Fu went through a couple of writer and art teams until Doug Moench became the main writer paired up with all of those great artists.


There are some that attribute Archie Goodwin and Roy Thomas getting the rights to make Star Wars comics long before the first movie was done for possibly saving the company.

[T GUy]

Marvel in the early 70s started up a bunch of stuff with someone creating the character maybe doing an issue or two and then someone coming along later and really making the character or book. Of course quite a few of their editors were also writing titles.

Roy Thomas created Iron Fist and I think did one issue.

Len Wein on X-Men/Wolverine - I think he became EIC, so he had to give up writing the book, although Dave Cockrum's artwork was a big part of the book on and off for quite a few issues.

Tomb of Dracula had Gene Colan from the start but really didn't get rolling until a few writers later when Marv Wolfman started writing the book.

Killraven was the same thing until McGregor and P Craig Russell started on the book.

Master of Kung Fu went through a couple of writer and art teams until Doug Moench became the main writer paired up with all of those great artists.


There are some that attribute Archie Goodwin and Roy Thomas getting the rights to make Star Wars comics long before the first movie was done for possibly saving the company.

All of these examples are editor - or even publisher - driven start-ups.