Two creative groups will be leaving Image and making new publishing arrangements, beginning with July releases.  Tidal Wave Studios, which is responsible for 10th Muse by Marvel Wolfman and Roger Cruz and Black Tide by Debbie Bishop and Mike S. Miller, is moving to Avatar Press, where it will receive a separate imprint within Avatar.  And Archangel Studios is going to begin releasing Red Star, by Christian Gossett and Brad Kayl, under its own imprint in July. 

 

Both groups are planning to increase production in their new digs.  Tidal Wave is planning to spin off additional titles from 10th Muse and Black Tide, and Archangel is planning to add help to get Red Star on a true bi-monthly schedule, as well as putting out additional titles to bring its annual total to eight to ten books. 

 

The two companies left for varying reasons.  According to Image Director of Marketing Eric Stephenson, Tidal Wave was asked to leave over 'irreconcilable creative differences.'  Stephenson said, 'We hit a wall with them where things could not proceed any further,' and declined to give details. 

 

Red Star creator Christian Gossett said of the move in Archangel's announcement, 'We feel this move will give us more freedom to accomplish our long term strategic initiatives.'  Asked for details, Gossett specified distribution and printing as two areas where he wanted to begin communicating directly, and said that he 'definitely' wanted to sell more books through the new system. 

 

Gossett said of the move, ' Image was founded by creators that went out on their own; therefore, they understand better than anyone that creators will often want to be independent....'   He was complimentary about his former home, however.  'I'm so thankful that Image was there for us when we needed them, and still admire what they are trying to accomplish,' he said. 'They are one of the only entertainment companies that would allow a creator to completely own their creation. I have nothing but the best wishes for them.' 

 

We asked Stephenson whether these latest departures, along with the recent defection of Dreamwave (see 'Dreamwave Ankles Image'), represented an unusually high level of churn for Image.  He called it 'fairly normal,' and said, 'People come in here all the time and do a book, and if it doesn't work out they go somewhere else.'  Stephenson also asserted that turnover was higher in the early days of Image than it had been recently. 

 

Stephenson bristled when we questioned whether Image central was turning into an incubator for new projects.  'I don't think it's an incubator because we've got established people like Frank Cho coming in with Liberty Meadows (see 'Image Adds Liberty Meadows'), and James Robinson and Paul Smith bringing in Leave it to Chance (see 'Leave It to Chance Monthly Comic Returns').

 

Stephenson summarized the Image perspective:  'Image was set up to be a creator-friendly company.  People come and go and that's the nature of Image.  It was up to them to make their decisions about how they wanted to carry on.  We've never had a policy about holding any ill will toward people for leaving.'