Image publisher defends comic book movie pitches

Published Jun 16 2012, 14:50 BST  |  By Hugh Armitage

Eric Stephenson has defended the practice of developing comics as movie pitches.

The Image Comics publisher has spoken out against the common criticism that some comic creators use their projects as a first step towards a film deal.

"Let's pretend for a moment that virtually everyone writing and drawing creator-owned comics is only doing so because they want to shop their ideas around to Hollywood, so they can be turned into television shows and movies. Or both," Stephenson wrote on his blog.

"Let's say these creative people are so driven by ambition that selling comic books simply isn't enough. They don't just want their stories to reach comic book readers - they want them to reach the world.

"They want as many people as possible to read their stories, to look at their artwork, to experience their creativity. Is that so wrong? Is wanting to expand the audience for your creative endeavours beyond the relatively limited horizons of the comics market really a bad thing?"

He went on to point out the hypocrisy of celebrating the success of The Avengers - which has become one of the highest-grossing films of all time - while simultaneously criticising the ambitions of creator-owned projects.


"If you look outside comics, there is original new fiction of all stripes - and novels are adapted into films and television shows even more frequently than comics - but are the writers behind those books being accused of generating new ideas simply to pitch to other media?" he continued.

"Or is it just that certain comics readers somehow feel threatened by the fact that not all writers and artists want to filter their creativity through someone else's characters and ideas?"

Robert Kirkman's Image title The Walking Dead has found huge success after being adapted for television in 2010.

Photo gallery - Marvel comics taken to the screen in pictures: