Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment

Image Comics, Portland Bound?

So, Image Comics have probably got enough on their plate right now.

But Heidi MacDonald reports that she picked up word at San Diego Comic-Con that Image Comics were up-sticking from Berkely, California  and moving their headquarters to Portland, Oregon. And inquiries I've made seem to back up those very strong rumours.

Image Comics has always been a California company, originally technically part of Malibu in Calabasas, California, were in Anaheim, then Orange County before moving up the freeway to Berkeley over ten years ago which, as Heidi points out, is rather expensive now.

Portland, over the state line in Oregon, is not only cheaper but boasts an insane comic book lineup, from Dark Horse Comics who basically started it all off there, to Oni Press, to the CBLDF, and a thriving comic creator community, plenty of whom who already work for Image Comics, comic stores like They  Walk Among Us, Bridge City Comics and Books With Pictures, shows like Rose City Comic Con and Wizard World Portland and comics – well- everything.

While Image is a relatively small-in-numbers company, which much of the work carried out by  freelancer or partner studio, their impact on the US comics industry is third to the Big Two. They could well become the big man on campus.

It may be a digital world and you can work anywhere. But you can't all go to the pub after work if you're in another state. Social networking in person and making face-to-face contacts can be so important, which is why comic conventions still play a major role. Hell, it's where Heidi got this story from. Networks of different people can create opportunities, ideas, collaborations that would never have been achieved without physical proximity.

And, it seems, Image Comics is about to make that a lot easier for a whole lot of people. Although local paper, the Portland Mercury has some warnings for the publisher…

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