So many of you already know this, DC has canceled their Minx imprint. I read about this last night and had class today, so I discussed it a bit with my students. We can speculate why Minx didn't stick, maybe the books weren't strong enough or maybe the marketing never hit it's target, or maybe the content didn't resonate with the audience, or maybe this is a reaction to the shit-tastic economy etc etc. Whatever the reasons are, this is still a loss for comics. I wonder how this is going to resonate with the rest of the comic industry, with so many YA comics coming out, and more book publishers gearing themselves for graphic novels.
One of my students mentioned today that when she was younger she read only fantasy novels, the same went for me and all of my friends in middle and high school. I had no interest to read about real life, real girls and real problems; I wanted Dragons of Parn and Heralds of Valdemar and a Wrinkle in Time. Hope Larson said it best in her livejournal:
I've seen mentions of the Minx books mainly falling into the formula of "this summer changed my life!!!"...So most of the Minx books definitely have that kind of feel, and that's a subject that never really interested teen me. I wonder if that's why manga really caught my eye, it was like (for my teen self) the ultimate in comic escapism . Thinking about it now, Minx is a line that I've enjoyed more as an adult than I would have as a teen.
Of course, I was more picky with my novels than I was with my comics; I read almost everything I could get my hands on, because honestly, in 1996 it was hard enough just getting my hands on a comic. I don't know what that says, because teen me was definitely a nerd *cough*, and I'm not sure I would have even been the target Minx audience. I busy reading Spawn and thinking about how bad ass the chain panel borders looked. I guess what I'm trying to say is even if it wasn't about dragons and sorcerers, I would have loved to see New York Four on the shelf at my comic shop.
Kids today don't know how lucky they are!
Anyway- all the tangents, musings and speculations aside, I'm sad that this line didn't stick. There were a bunch of amazing books coming out of that imprint, and I hope that the stellar ones find a new home with DC. I also hope that Vertigo continues with the digest sized GN's, remember they had published a few before Minx (Dead Boy Detectives anyone?), and they were a lot of fun. So I hope this isn't something that's just taken out with the trash. Vertigo tapped into some greatness here, and I hope that they look beyond the numbers and see the truly amazing books that were produced, and stick with them.
5 comments:
"Kids today don't know how lucky they are!"
See, I was going to say that! It's so true. It was hard to get comics twelve years ago!
Things today are awesome, in spite of Minx closing. This year in San Diego was just flat-out bitchin'. So many girls! So many books for them to enjoy.
Yeah! That's the important thing!! Minx was still a step in the right direction, even if they canceled the line!
Is there any push or desire to get this stuff online?
I agree, Minx was at least attempting to bust the girls don't read comics myth. I think it was maybe too pandering? (don't really know, I only read the Jim Rugg one)
And, not to outdork you, but wasn't it Dragonriders of Pern? (it's been a looong time since middleschool, so I could be wrong...)
I found the books to be a mixed bag- Some I really enjoyed, and others I found to be just a little too "sassy and fresh". YA literature, in both novel and graphic novel form, is really hard to do, partly because by the time we're capable of creating and publishing teen lit, we're already out of touch with teen culture. Kind of like, when you start using the word "hip" it means that you are no longer hip. Probably fantasy tends to last longer and resonate more because it exists outside of popular culture but plays on familiar themes.
That said, though, Minx just needed a few years. It was new territory and they should've been able to explore it further. The digest size WAS great, and it was really cool to see my favorite young artists get exposure in the print world. Bummerz!!
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