I came aboard with Dark Horse fairly early on. They were then just a small company, start-up company, five guys in an office at the end of a hallway. And I was a small company—one guy, not even an office or a hallway—just me and a few ideas and some pencils and ink. 

The thing that probably attracted me most to Dark Horse was their enthusiasm. Their enthusiasm and optimism. At the time I had just cut ties with Renegade Comics—Flaming Carrot was a trending book, a hot book, but more in a cult way—and I was getting overtures from different companies, even the majors, the big two. But I didn’t have a good feel about Marvel or DC and me. I think they knew I had something going on, that I was making a splash and all, but they just didn’t quite know what to do with me.

I remember at one point getting offered this thing called Alf. It was a comic adaptation of a popular TV show at the time. This big, ugly, grotesque puppet creature that interacted with a human family. I never saw the show but I think it was a kid show or sitcom. 

Anyway, Mike was so positive and optimistic and I totally had to throw in with them. They had just lost their hit title, Boris the Bear, a series that had initially put them on the map and was selling really well (70,000 copies). They had a few other titles that were selling, but none were as big of a hit or making as much money. So they weren’t really capitalized to compete with the page rates that Marvel or DC could offer. So I sort of invented my own kind of deal with Dark Horse, in essence the same kind of deal that later became the model for Image Comics: the publisher puts up no front money but gets the first grand or two off the top and the creator (me) gets the rest. Mike saw the play here: he got a name-brand title, however goofy it was (Flaming Carrot), and didn’t have to mortgage the farm to do it. (So, in a way you have Mike, who put that crazy plan into action, to thank for Image Comics.) 

But let’s not talk about business anymore. Let’s talk about comics. The whole comic industry was going through a sort of Prague Spring or Arab Spring at the time. Creativity was king. We were undergoing a total revolution right then, a new wave, and Dark Horse was riding that wave. The vision Dark Horse had and the creative freedom they celebrated put them at the vanguard of the revolution right next to Fantagraphics, Comico, the Turtles, and the rest. Mike and Dark Horse afforded me the freedom and the venue to do my thing, have some fun, and make an honest living. Eventually we even made a movie out of one of my properties . . . and we had a whole lot of other fun too. Thanks, guys. Those were great times. 

Your pal,

Bob Burden