Sorry about that my good doctor. Hey, at least it was a huge post! ;-)

RamWolff, yes, that was the Image way. So many people doubted they could hold water with the big boys firmly in command of the market. What Marvel/DC/naysayers failed to realize is that comic fans are fans of the artwork. It isn't even so much about the storyline. If someone wants an A+ story, they'll read a book. The artists are the attraction. McFarlane's Spawn was one of the best drawn comics EVER. (It didn't hurt that his Spidey fans flocked to Spawn simply because it was "McFarlane" either.)

And yes, alas, in the end, even Image succumbed to profit taking. But that is business, you don't run a company just out of the goodness of your heart. But they still do some good business. I remember when McFarlane hung up his Spawn pen. He took the time to introduce his replacement (Angel something-or-other IIRC.) I thought that was a nice touch, smoothing the fans into the transition.

Artistheat, yeah, I think I remember reading a story about that once. (DC had a good point though, Shazaam was clear knock-off of Superman. Hell, they even had the same hair!)

Gryshnak, that sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't remember any specifics of it. TSR was a great company when it was alive and well, but toward the mid-late 80's, when profits started falling due to mismanagement, the company took a real nosedive on their policies. I know I have read numerous stories of attempted lawsuits, and corporate in-fighting going on pre-Wizard's takeover.