A Job for a Superhero : Artist Rejoins Marvel in Hopes of Rescuing Comics Industry

To his friends, Rob Liefeld seems to have attained the ultimate Generation X lifestyle. He works odd hours drawing cartoons and drives around Southern California in his Jeep, stopping off for Mexican fast food when the urge hits.

But corporate America has a pretty grown-up job for the laid-back 28-year-old millionaire.

Marvel Entertainment Group Inc., with which he had an acrimonious breakup three years ago, has hired him back to breathe new life into its legendary stalwarts: Captain America and the Avengers.

Liefeld returns as a successful entrepreneur in his own right. Yet despite recent glitzy Hollywood deals he has struck with filmmaker Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise to help create characters and stories for science-fiction movies, Liefeld remains faithful to his roots.

“Captain America and the Avengers were my favorite characters as a kid,” he said. “It was an opportunity to launch these characters beyond 2000.”

In 1992, Liefeld and four other top creators from Marvel walked out on the New York-based comic giant. Liefeld and Jim Lee of San Diego had created the popular X-Men and X-Force series that sold 12 million copies, breaking an industry record. But the two felt underpaid and underappreciated; Liefeld said he wanted a better salary, profit sharing and creative control.

“I was looking at the NFL and NBA, and I was looking at how the talent got cut a bigger piece of the pie,” said the Fullerton native.

Liefeld and Lee set out on their own and formed Image Comics Inc., a group of five publishing companies, all separately run by ex-Marvel artists. Experts predicted the duo would be out of business in six months.

In 1995, Image’s sales--which include licensing for television cartoons and toys in addition to the comic books--reached a whopping $100 million, making it No. 3 behind Marvel and D.C. Comics.

Enter Jerry Calabrese, Marvel Entertainment’s new president.

Calabrese brought a fresh face and attitude to the bargaining table, offering Liefeld and Lee profit participation and editorial power in an effort to lure the Californians back.

Liefeld signed a one-year contract with Marvel and will continue to run Extreme Studios in Anaheim, producing favorite titles Youngblood, Battlestar Galactica and Avengelyne. The agreement with Marvel includes 25% of the profit from all sales of comic books, television shows and toys derived from the characters.

“The artist side of me will be at Marvel and the publishing side of me will be at Image,” Liefeld said. “Given that I have total autonomy, it will be the best of both worlds.”

It’s a deal that Liefeld says old-school Marvel executives would have never cut.

Bill Liebowitz, owner of Golden Apple comic book stores in Los Angeles, agrees. “All the rules are over. Jerry has no axes to grind. Hopefully [Liefeld and Lee] will bring renewed spirit and creativity to the characters.”

Analysts say Liefeld’s move back to Marvel is essentially an attempt to save the $1-billion American comic book industry, which has seen computer games, the Internet and other high-tech temptations chip away at its market share.

Experts say that Liefeld needs to bring the vigor back to characters that once lured millions of teenagers and young adults into comic book stores.

“Captain America and the Avengers were heroes, not vigilantes,” said Liefeld from his Anaheim studio. “As an industry, we have gotten away from it. We want to restore the age of the hero.”

Draped in red, white and blue, Captain America was created during World War II by renowned cartoonists Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. Sales remained strong through the 1980s. But in the last few years, sales have plummeted from 250,000 to 50,000 monthly, according to Gareb S. Shamus, publisher of Wizard, a Congers, N.Y., trade magazine.

“When companies started launching new titles, sales slipped on everything,” he said. “Many comic books were lacking, story-wise and artistically.”

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Experts say the two artists need to rejuvenate and update the personal relationship between comic book characters and their readers.

“Captain America needs a new story,” said Mission Viejo fifth-grader Adam Downey, while shopping at Golden Apple’s Hollywood store. “It’s just kind of boring.”

Adam, who usually spends his entire $10-a-week allowance on comic books, says he has begun to spend more on CD-ROM interactive disks and computer games lately--and so have many other comic book readers.

In the last few years, publishers have nearly doubled their prices while allowing quality to drop, experts say. Comic book buffs are turned off by the industry’s recent marketing tactics.

“They hook you into a series by starting the first book at $1.95 and then the next one is $3.95,” said Golden Apple regular Dean Marone, a medical supplies salesman from Los Angeles. “I don’t care if it’s on slick paper.”

Insiders say that Lee and Liefeld, known as the “princes” of the industry, have the talent to revitalize its classic characters, which can give publishers, retailers and the artists a shot in the arm.

Said artist Jim Valentino, who defected from Marvel three years ago to work for Liefeld:

“This is sort of like Paul McCartney going back to cut music with the Beatles.”

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Profile: Rob Liefeld

* Age: 28

* Residence: Fullerton

* Education: Graduated from Whittier Christian High School in 1985; studied art and English at Fullerton College, 1986-87.

* Background: Began cartooning as a freelancer for DC Comics and Marvel Comics while in college. Left school in 1987 to become full-time cartoonist. Formed Anaheim-based Image Comics and Extreme Studios in 1992.

* Cartoon projects: X-Force, Youngblood, Prophet.