Liefield , along with Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Jim Valintino, and others founded Image Publishing in 1992. Image was formed as an "umbrella" publisher, so each artist could set up their own studio, and - more importantly - keep all copyrights to all characters created by their studio.
Originally the artists simply wanted artist control of a character. They wanted the final say on dialogue, art, plot, and story. It is understandable that an artist would seek full control of his comic.
The artists also knew copyrights on popular characters mean merchandising. This includes action figures, and the royalties from T.V. and movies. Comic books are a big entertainment business. The written ideas spill over to other media.
At the major comic companies, everyone in the corporation has a say in the destiny of a story. This includes the manager, directors, and stockholders, to name a few. This is all done through sales. If the title doesn't sell, the story, artist, or writer is changed. With the Big Boys, that comic title better be in the top 100 list.
So the artists decided to be and run their own corporation. The artist will come first and the publisher second.
It was a beautiful team. The publisher was subservient to the artist, and the artists controlled the board of directors. The studio and the publisher required two vital business elements to be successful. The first element is trust. There had to be tremendous trust between the artist's studio and Image publishing. Second, there had to be a clear, communicated understanding of the distribution of the revenue generated in all entertainment fields.
Mark October 2, 1996 on you calendar. Sadly, this is the day Rob Leifield was fired (or resigned - depending on which side you believe) as Chairman of the Board of Image Publishing, in a disagreement over the revenue distribution between Image and Liefield's Extreme Studios.
The news releases spoke of the breaking of the second rule of success. Funds. Sometime prior to October 2, the first rule, trust, was broken.
Who is right or wrong is impossible to determine without a copy of all of the contracts and expert legal advice.
Stay tuned.
Robert
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