The New York Times has a nice profile up of Dark Horse Comics, which is the third largest publisher of comic books…an especially impressive achievement when one considers that the firm is privately owned and not part of some massive conglomerate. The article mentions a number of reasons why important creative talents — and even some lesser lights like Yours Truly — like working with Dark Horse. A biggie, of course, is that you generally feel like you're working with them, not for them.
I'll add another: One-stop shopping. It's something a lot more companies, and not just purveyors of funnybooks, should practice. And by that term, I mean that there's someone in charge with the power to give a Yes or No that actually means something. I've worked with (or for) a number of companies where you can go to the person ostensibly in charge of determining what projects they do and you can say, "Here's an idea that I'd like to write," and it almost doesn't matter what the response is because it still has to be referred to committee and kicked around and put on an agenda to be discussed at next summer's planning conference after it's run past the marketing department…and on to oblivion.
I have literally had cases where there was some comic that I proposed and it won approval from every single person who theoretically had to approve, all the way up to the top…and it still didn't happen. Everyone said Yes but then red tape and buck-passing and I-don't-know-what-else caused it to be delayed or simply not scheduled or something.
Quite maddening. There have been times when they said Yes and in hindsight, I would have been much better off with them saying No. Because we would have gotten to the same place via the No, only quicker and with a lot fewer meetings and phone calls…plus, of course, a No frees you up to take something elsewhere or to focus your energy on other ideas. One time, the head of one of the two biggest comic book companies asked me what changes I thought the firm could institute to make them more "creator-friendly." I told them what I'm telling you, and said that what I wanted was to be able to pitch an idea to an editor and potentially get a Yes that was a firm commitment and not merely the prelude to weeks of conference referrals and exploratory discussions. The boss said that sounded like a terrific idea, then turned to an aide and said something like, "Make a note to have the Infrastructure Planning Committee discuss Mark's idea at the October seminar."
I've never encountered that with Dark Horse. I go to Mike Richardson, the guy who owns the company, and if he says he wants to proceed with something, that's it. End of discussion. I can't tell you how refreshing that can be. Even one level down, his editors can go to Mike and then call you back and say, "Mike approved it" or even that he didn't. Either way, you're not left dangling for months. It's a fine operation, and I say that as someone who isn't known for speaking excessively well of publishers, even some who've had the wisdom to employ me.