Indie Comics: The Little Known, Unheard of Fundamentals

Indie Comics as a term is really starting to heat up debates on its proper definition. To be frank I’m kind of guilty of this too. Years ago I did an Op-Ed on the differences between indies and creator-owned series. Now with more insight thanks to The Business of Comics YouTube channel, I can now confirm a bigger definition. For indies, it’s not just about who owns the IP or who calls who, licensing has plenty to do with it too.

Some Images Are More Indie Comics Than Others

To give readers a good idea about my old Op-Ed, let’s compare some of Image Comics’ content for a debate.

Spawn as a whole is owned by Todd McFarlane Productions, owned, managed, and named after his creator. McFarlane is also the creative director, president, and one of the people owning Image Comics. If anybody wants to do anything official with Spawn, they need McFarlane’s direct permission.

But now let’s look at Rising Stars, written and owned by J. Michael Straczynski. But… Top Cow (an Image imprint/partner) technically holds all of the rights for distribution and licensing. It’s how the Top Cow execs tried to get a deal for a Rising Stars movie without asking JMS first. Needless to say, Straczynski wasn’t fine with this. Sure he would’ve gotten his royalties, but Top Cow had the power in this situation. But not enough of it because JMS manages to wrestle enough control from Top Cow to start his own imprint Joe’s Comics; for as long as that lasted anyway.

This is what really separates indies from simpler creator-ownership. Contrary to my old conclusion, distribution and licensing rights are more concrete than connections. Translation: Spawn, Invincible, and even Savage Dragon are more indie than say Paper Girls or Saga. Hopefully Exploding Giraffe works out for Brian K. Vaughn.

What’s A Real Indie Comic?

If you want examples of genuinely indie comics, I can name a few. The Star Runner Chronicles are a definite example of an indie comic franchise. It’s also safe to say Will Lill Comics is an indie comic publisher. How come? Well the Comics Publishing Institute is a better source than me.

So yeah indie comics isn’t just about who owns the IP, it’s a business model. It’s essentially a small business that’s dependent on an IP’s popularity and how well it can be managed. Which is not an easy thing to do as distribution and advertising is probably the hardest thing to do in this business. It’s one of the reasons that Joe Benitez moved his self-published Lady Mechanika steampunk title to Image. Similarly Michel Fiffe’s Copra goes to Image for a while because of printing and demand issues. At least until the Covid pandemic forces it to change gears with Image now just focusing on trades.

Those bits are part of why it’s so hard to distinguish indie comics from creator-owned ones. Even then it’s dependent on the agreements and contracts between people on who gets the benefits. In this case, creators should be extremely careful about who gets the licensing rights. Why? Because that’s what separates the two categories.

Licensing and Estate Ownership

Imagine a comic needing a new media adaptation or a toy deal. If you need examples, the Hellboy movies did not have Mike Mignola as a producer. Hellboy publisher Dark Horse on the other hand was very attached to these; or at least the company president Mike Richardson was. I need to note that this is before Dark Horse was acquired by Embracer Group.

Now compare that to Raising Dion, an adaptation of a comic and a short film. The IP creator Dennis Liu owns the rights including who to green light. If Liu didn’t give the okay and stay as a producer for the Netflix show, he might’ve lost all of the filming license rights. Does anybody really want to see more of Marvel’s franchise tug of wars between Fox and Sony in other places? Valiant is already in the process of this.

And if the creator’s dead? Well hopefully the IP is part of the creator’s company, as is the case with Super!; R.I.P. Zack Dolan. Okay yes, Unlikely Heroes Studios isn’t continuing that series but they’re still selling it. Or the creator’s estate could own the IP and licensing rights like Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. They are very strict with Tarzan, even Disney doesn’t dare mess with them in the long run.

Licensees Are Not Indie Comics

With that in mind, I do not consider companies with licensed content to be indie; whether that’s American Mythology, Boom!, Dynamite, or Sumerian Comics. Licenses are dependent on the IP owner for how long they can publish. Because if they’re not satisfied, the owners can take back the IP and find someone with a better offer. Or for characters like Conan the Barbarian, it becomes a bidding war over who gets the publication rights.

What About Crowdfunding?

Yeah this comes up on the internet in some circles. People have been debating on whether comics funded on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Zoop, etc. can be considered indie comics. When Power Rangers and Top Cow’s Witchblade can get funding on there, why bother calling it indie? But… just so I don’t have to gaslight some of my reviews, I’ll tell you that it depends.

Boom! Studios projects like BRZRKR and Power Rangers, definitely not indie. Long running franchise, Lady Death, surprisingly still indie. One of the hundreds of projects with some person’s name on it; more indie than not. Some of these creators decide to publish their content with official publishers; like how Scott Snyder took his Nocterra project to Image comics. But… there are still problems with crowdfunding; I found a zine list to back it up. Even Iron Circus Comics who made their own crowdfunding/pre-ordering system have to use more resources to keep themselves steady.

Indie Comics Are… Worth It?

So yeah, indie comics walk fine lines when it comes to ownership and publishing. Real indies need to not just have IP ownership, they need to publish on their own platform, find ways to get into stores, and try to find ways to hold onto licensing rights. That’s… a lot of work. Now I see why most of these publishers want to reach the conglomerate model. Because all of those patron models are dependent on keeping customers’ money flowing with engagement. It almost doesn’t seem healthy to be independent.

But the ink’s not dry yet. Thanks for coming to the end and as always, remember to look between the panels.