Sharing the Wealth as a Comic Book Goes to Hollywood

Sandy Huffaker for The New York Times

Ross Richie, Boom’s C.E.O., shook hands with a fan at Comic-Con in San Diego.

EIGHT years ago, when the founder and chief executive of Boom Studios offered to publish a comic book called “2 Guns” about two undercover drug agents, he frankly told its writer: “The paycheck isn’t borderline insulting; it is insulting.”

An edition of "2 Guns" which includes all five installments of the series.

But beyond the paltry pay, the C.E.O., Ross Richie, was able to offer the writer, Steven Grant, a deal that’s still not a given in the comics industry: a significant share in any movies, TV shows or video games that might emerge.

At the time, that possibility seemed slim. But this Friday, “2 Guns” will open as a live-action buddy film starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. Because of Boom’s “creator share” model, Mr. Grant got a cut of the money that Universal Pictures paid for the rights to the movie. (The deal was just shy of seven figures, Mr. Richie says.)

“Ultimately, it’s become the most successful thing I’ve ever done,” said Mr. Grant, an industry veteran. The first issue of a comic book sequel, “3 Guns,” hits shelves next month, and Universal has the option to turn it into a film, too.

When print books are made into movies, it’s common for the authors to benefit from the deal. But that hasn’t necessarily been the case with comic books. In the early days, creators sold their rights for a pittance, not dreaming that their characters would endure for years and migrate to television, film and all manner of merchandise. Or creators’ efforts have been considered “work for hire,” so the intellectual property has stayed with the publishers.

The giants of the comics industry, Marvel Entertainment and DC Entertainment, both run boutique publishing imprints that give creators more control of their intellectual property. But Marvel and DC are known mainly for “corporate comics” â€" series with top-tier characters like Spider-Man, Captain America, Batman and Superman. Those characters’ decades-long vitality has primarily benefited the publishers.

The comic book industry had $700 million to $730 million in sales of single issues and collected editions last year, but that sum is dwarfed by the billions that the superheroes can draw at the box office worldwide: “Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Iron Man 3” and “The Dark Knight Rises” are among the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time, at more than $1 billion each in ticket sales.

Marvel, owned by Disney, and DC, a unit of Time Warner, each command nearly 40 percent of the comic book market. Smaller publishers print superhero comics, too, but they know they must go beyond the traditional business model to compete with the behemoths.

At Image Comics, which has a market share of less than 7 percent, creators have full control of their characters. Image is where Robert Kirkman’s “Walking Dead,” about a world overrun by zombies, began its lurch toward a pop-culture phenomenon. “The Walking Dead” has achieved a rare alchemy: it is a popular comic book series, its collected editions are top sellers, it has inspired novels and games, and it has become a critically acclaimed TV series (on AMC).

Another small publisher, Dark Horse, prints creator-owned material and has licensing deals to produce comics featuring characters from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Star Wars.” Boom, with a market share of just 1.5 percent, also does licensing deals, including one for “Adventure Time,” based on a show on Time Warner’s Cartoon Network. But it uses its “creator share” model to attract writers like Mr. Grant.

MR. GRANT, 59, has written for many comic book companies, including Marvel, where he wrote issues of “The Punisher,” and a reverent 64-page “Life of Pope John Paul II” in 1982. He had the idea for “2 Guns” in the mid-1990s but could find no takers for his pitch; publishers were mainly interested in superhero comics. Nevertheless, he wrote the script for the comic book in 2001 and shared it over the years with friends, Mr. Richie included.

Mr. Richie remembered “2 Guns” in 2005, when he founded Boom and was looking for comics to publish. “You understand we’re a tiny little company, and we don’t have any resources,” he recalled saying to Mr. Grant, who was equally downbeat, responding, “O.K., it’s your funeral” when he accepted Boom’s offer to publish his comic.

Boom has had some success in attracting Hollywood to its properties. In 2006, after a bidding war, Universal bought “Tag,” about an ancient curse passed on by touch, and “Talent,” about a plane crash survivor who can channel the skills of the other passengers. But when “2 Guns” was released in 2007 as a five-issue comic series, illustrated by Mateus Santolouco, no one in Hollywood was interested. The next year, however, when Mr. Richie was on the verge of selling “2 Guns” to another studio, Universal snapped it up.

“We are always looking for great source material and especially something that could be developed to be a potential franchise,” Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, co-president of production for Universal Pictures, said in an e-mail. And the “2 Guns” plot, with its dual leads, he said, offered a good opportunity for two A-list actors to work together.

A version of this article appeared in print on July 28, 2013, on page BU5 of the New York edition with the headline: Sharing the Wealth as a Comic Book Goes Hollywood.