Part 6/10:
The risk is that as talent leaves for platforms like Substack or independent publishers, the established publishers risk losing both creative impact and market share. The comic landscape is increasingly competitive, with manga and webcomics siphoning audience and sales from traditional American superhero fare.
The Creative Exodus and Its Historical Parallel
Historically, creators leaving Marvel or DC at the height of their careers to form Image Comics in the early 1990s was a game-changer. Visionaries like Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, and Jim Lee took control of their properties and built lucrative careers outside the confines of corporate comics. McFarlane, for instance, leveraged Spawn into a multimedia empire spanning toys, animation, and movies.