Just What Is "The Image Deal"?

Over on his blog, Dwight L. MacPherson made an official statement regarding his pulling his work from the Shadowline over at Image Comics:

"After much deliberation and counsel, I felt it was in the best interest of my creative teams to leave Shadowline and seek to publish my books where they would have maximum exposure and the greatest possibility of financial prosperity. After making three successful books at Shadowline, the creative teams and I have yet to see a penny for our efforts. After being told I would see profits for 'The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo Book 1' within 'one year of publication,' I was later told it would be 'two years.' This was not acceptable to my creative teams, so, with their approval, I decided to part ways with Shadowline. Despite what has been stated by outsiders, having your book in the front of Previews and making 'the sacred Top 300 list' does NOT translate to actual profits. Any suggestion that they do is naivete--or just plain ignorance. I enjoyed my time working with Shadowline, Jim Valentino and Kris Simon and wish them the best in their future endeavors."

In being asked whether the Shadowline deal is the same as the regular Image deal, he responded:

Yes, it's the same as the Image deal. Unfortunately, I can't get into the specifics of the contract, but if all you had to pay was printing cost, it would be a fantastic deal. But that's not the way it is.

My friend, you would be shocked how many Image books don't break even.

Now, it is reasonable that they take more than just the printing costs (and I don't think Dwight was indicating that it wasn't), since they certainly provide some sort of non-advertising service with getting it to the printer, listed in the Image section of Previews and other things, I'm sure.

But I wonder exactly what the Image deal entails?