No, I'm not talking about the uber cool and criminally forgotten Vertigo series from the 90's. I'm talking about the new graphic novel line from DC comics! In case you missed the news, yes.. DC is launching an all graphic novel line aimed at teenage girls called Minx. It's headed up by Shelly Bond and Karen Berger and.. has a whole lot of books lined up created by men. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, first some pertinent links for those who are scratching their heads and going "Wha da hell?" ala. Chip from Guilty Gear.
First up, the initial announcement about it as related by Newsarama, because I'm too lazy to copy and past the whole article from the New York Times.
Next up, and interview with one of the overseers of the line, Karen Berger.
First up, the initial announcement about it as related by Newsarama, because I'm too lazy to copy and past the whole article from the New York Times.
Quote:
DC TO LAUNCH MINX LINE OF GRAPHIC NOVELS IN MAY
Focusing specifically on teenage girls, it was announced today that DC Comics will launch Minx in May, a line of graphic novels targeted towards young female readers.
The Minx line will be overseen by Karen Berger and Shelly Bond of DC’s Vertigo imprint, and will include between six and seven titles in 2007. The original graphic novels will be slightly larger than manga digest sized, and will retail for under $10. Minx will be the first concerted effort by a US publisher at an entire line of graphic novels aimed solely at this specific audience.
The line, according to a report in The New York Times Arts section, is seen by DC as an alternative, not only to superheroes and its other output, but also to manga, which has found a rock-solid audience among young girls. The stories, Berger told Newsarama, will not be manga-esque, or in manga format, but rather, all-new works aimed at the specific audience. Clarifying the content for the Times, Berger said the new OGNs will be “about more than going out with the cute guy. This line of books gives them something to read that honors that intelligence and assertiveness and that individuality.”
As noted by the Times, DC will team with Alloy Marketing + Media to promote Minx in the coming months, and will spend $250,000(*) in promotion of the line, making it “be the largest thing we’ve done in at least three decades,” according to DC president and publisher Paul Levitz.
Focusing specifically on teenage girls, it was announced today that DC Comics will launch Minx in May, a line of graphic novels targeted towards young female readers.
The Minx line will be overseen by Karen Berger and Shelly Bond of DC’s Vertigo imprint, and will include between six and seven titles in 2007. The original graphic novels will be slightly larger than manga digest sized, and will retail for under $10. Minx will be the first concerted effort by a US publisher at an entire line of graphic novels aimed solely at this specific audience.
The line, according to a report in The New York Times Arts section, is seen by DC as an alternative, not only to superheroes and its other output, but also to manga, which has found a rock-solid audience among young girls. The stories, Berger told Newsarama, will not be manga-esque, or in manga format, but rather, all-new works aimed at the specific audience. Clarifying the content for the Times, Berger said the new OGNs will be “about more than going out with the cute guy. This line of books gives them something to read that honors that intelligence and assertiveness and that individuality.”
As noted by the Times, DC will team with Alloy Marketing + Media to promote Minx in the coming months, and will spend $250,000(*) in promotion of the line, making it “be the largest thing we’ve done in at least three decades,” according to DC president and publisher Paul Levitz.
Next up, and interview with one of the overseers of the line, Karen Berger.
Quote:
KAREN BERGER TALKS MINX
“About three years ago, Shelly Bond, who’s been a Group Editor at Vertigo for many years, pitched me the idea to do Minx,” Berger said. “She was really looking at the influence of manga, for the most part, and really wanted to do a line for teenage girls that was an alternative to manga.”
While more recent fans known Berger as being synonymous with Vertigo and the…creepier side of the comics published by DC, but before that…well, it’s safe to say that for her entire career in comics, Berger has always had a little Minx in her.
“Comics for girls has always been a passion of mine since I started here – I worked on Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld in the early ‘80s, and I worked with George Perez on Wonder Woman in the late ‘80s, but even with those, it’s hard to really create a large audience for readers who don’t normally read comics when you only have one book out. You really need a line in order to do that, but the time then wasn’t the time to do it. Girls really weren’t reading comics in any large quantity. Again, the influence of manga is something that was so wonderful for our medium, because it really got older girls reading comics.”
“About three years ago, Shelly Bond, who’s been a Group Editor at Vertigo for many years, pitched me the idea to do Minx,” Berger said. “She was really looking at the influence of manga, for the most part, and really wanted to do a line for teenage girls that was an alternative to manga.”
While more recent fans known Berger as being synonymous with Vertigo and the…creepier side of the comics published by DC, but before that…well, it’s safe to say that for her entire career in comics, Berger has always had a little Minx in her.
“Comics for girls has always been a passion of mine since I started here – I worked on Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld in the early ‘80s, and I worked with George Perez on Wonder Woman in the late ‘80s, but even with those, it’s hard to really create a large audience for readers who don’t normally read comics when you only have one book out. You really need a line in order to do that, but the time then wasn’t the time to do it. Girls really weren’t reading comics in any large quantity. Again, the influence of manga is something that was so wonderful for our medium, because it really got older girls reading comics.”
Obviously there's far more information within the links, so you might want to read through them but stopping short of daring the comments section of each.
Well, anyway. As you can imagine the internet was fairly abuzz about this news. Sadly the two major points of discussion weren't exactly good ones.
The first is the fact that the announced line of books is lacking in the female creators department. Andi Watson, Mike Carey, Jim Rugg, etc. Mostly men, I think that there's actually only one female creator in the initial line of books. Oops. Naturally this garnered a bit of a "what the ********?" reaction from people. Since then it has been slowly coming out that several female creators were approached, but for various reasons nothing panned out for the launch of the line.
The second major discussion point is the name of the line itself. "Minx" is apparently still quite a loaded word that many people have an issue with. Quick look at Meriam and Webster gives the following definition for "Minx":
Quote:
1 : a pert girl
2 obsolete : a wanton woman
2 obsolete : a wanton woman
Whoops? I have to admit, I wasn't fazed at all by the name. Didn't even blink, hell.. the first thing I thought of was the Vertigo comic, followed mink coats, so that shows where my mind's at. But yes, a fair amount of people are taking issue with the name seeing it as perhaps not the greatest thing to call a line of graphic novels aimed at teenage girls.
Personally, I think they're coming down too hard on DC. It could just be me though, and hey.. I am a guy, but I have to admit to never really hearing the term used to describe a wanton women for quite a long time, and when I usually do it's in a period piece of British television show, and even then it's usually accompanied by "saucy".
But I suppose we should just be glad that they didn't call it something really offensive like... oh, I dunno, Sequential Tart.
