To many, comics have always been Marvel, DC and a bunch of other ones that nobody cares about. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it's rooted in some form of truth. Marvel and DC have made up over 80% of the comic book market combined for much of history since the early '70s (when Marvel usurped DC as the top comic publisher). That means that just under 20% of the market was shared between the many, many other publishers such as Image, Dark Horse, Valiant, Archie, Malibu, Oni, and so on, making it the equivalent of lesser beings fighting over scraps. Image was the only exception to this, but only briefly.
When Image first launched in 1992, the company had seen such a massive sales explosion that for a brief period it uprooted DC as the second biggest publisher in America. No American company since then has done that. However, this was very much short lived, and they settled back in a distant third place where they mainly competed with Dark Horse, IDW, Boom, Dynamite as the top indie companies.
So it makes me wonder: Is there any company in comic book history that could've been a legitimate rival to Marvel and DC?
Note that just being third place isn't enough. I mean that said company would have to pose a significant rivalry to Marvel and DC's market share, and force the Big 2 to compete directly with them, rather than leading the remaining 20% of it. Which company would be most likely to do that?
I think Valiant would probably stand the best chance. It was founded by Jim Shooter, had a clever take on superheroes with characters that drew from mythology, pulp stories, science fiction, military, and modern comics, to create a distinct entity of its own. You had superheroes like X-O Manowar, Ninjak, Bloodshot, Harbinger, Turok, Solar, Magnus, Archer & Armstrong, Rai, Shadowman, H.A.R.D. Corps, Ivar Timewalker, and probably more. Valiant had sold over 85 million comics in just a few years. What doomed the company was a lot of bad luck financially, and with the higher management, causing the company to deteriorate before an ill-fated buyout by Acclaim, then a closure. However, if things went better then maybe it would've gave Marvel and DC serious trouble in the market.
But what do you think? Any ideas for this?
When Image first launched in 1992, the company had seen such a massive sales explosion that for a brief period it uprooted DC as the second biggest publisher in America. No American company since then has done that. However, this was very much short lived, and they settled back in a distant third place where they mainly competed with Dark Horse, IDW, Boom, Dynamite as the top indie companies.
So it makes me wonder: Is there any company in comic book history that could've been a legitimate rival to Marvel and DC?
Note that just being third place isn't enough. I mean that said company would have to pose a significant rivalry to Marvel and DC's market share, and force the Big 2 to compete directly with them, rather than leading the remaining 20% of it. Which company would be most likely to do that?
I think Valiant would probably stand the best chance. It was founded by Jim Shooter, had a clever take on superheroes with characters that drew from mythology, pulp stories, science fiction, military, and modern comics, to create a distinct entity of its own. You had superheroes like X-O Manowar, Ninjak, Bloodshot, Harbinger, Turok, Solar, Magnus, Archer & Armstrong, Rai, Shadowman, H.A.R.D. Corps, Ivar Timewalker, and probably more. Valiant had sold over 85 million comics in just a few years. What doomed the company was a lot of bad luck financially, and with the higher management, causing the company to deteriorate before an ill-fated buyout by Acclaim, then a closure. However, if things went better then maybe it would've gave Marvel and DC serious trouble in the market.
But what do you think? Any ideas for this?
