tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post8228990369283170259..comments2024-01-14T11:45:23.991-05:00Comments on Occasional Superheroine: The Plain Janes Have Left The BuildingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-91511370391313609702008-09-29T03:06:00.000-04:002008-09-29T03:06:00.000-04:00I'm not a young girl anymore, (just recently gradu...I'm not a young girl anymore, (just recently graduated from college) but I LOVE shojo (girl) manga and I do have many teenage anime/manga fangirls as friends. So i kinda have an idea of what appeals to most young girls who buy mangas and YA novels every month.<BR/><BR/>At the last anime convention I went to, there was a booth that sold mangas and comic books. The seller handed me a free Preview Book of the Minx line. Of all the Minx books previewed there, the only one I was immediately taken with was <B>Token</B> by Alisa Kwitney and Joelle Jones. <BR/><BR/>What kept my attention was the girl Shira's cute funny grandmother and a cool father. IE. she had a supporting cast that was not only entertaining, but also relatable. Shira was also rather pretty, (even if she wasn't as pretty as the other barbie look-alike girls) but awkward in her own skin. (What teenage girl is comfortable in their own skin when puberty hits them hard? I certainly wasn't!) I found her story to be very charming and I look forward to it being released in November. <BR/><BR/>The other Minx series were too real-world/serious/bohemian/depressing to me. <B>Token</B> at first glance was cute and funny. So I read it first. I'm sad to find it may get interrupted though...<BR/><BR/>My friend who also loves shojo manga and (unlike me) loves fantasy/romance YA novels didn't like any of the books offered in the Minx line. <BR/><BR/>"They're not pretty, and the pages are too busy and the artwork too sharp and too harsh to look at. [in comparison to shojo manga] There's no fantasy stories here...Don't they know that girls like fantasy and high school highjinks type stories? Pretty boys! young girls LOVE pretty boys! You could have a book with no girls, and just a bunch of pretty boys and girls would still buy it! Drama and angst is fine too, but only as long as the artwork is detailed and pretty."<BR/><BR/>There ya have it, a shojo manga/YA novel reader's first impression of the Minx line.<BR/><BR/>It might come off as pretty shallow, but hey...it's what sells, and I believe it sells because it's plain escapism and wish fulfillment at work here. <BR/><BR/>Guys like superhero stories because in a way they fulfill their fantasy of being an attractive strong hero. Girls like pretty heroines/protagonists with fancy/fantastical/pretty settings and attractive supporting cast/love interest for the same reason.<BR/><BR/>I agree, why couldn't they have done a fantasy type story?<BR/><BR/>Hello, Duh! What book was the nation's top bestseller all summer long? <BR/><BR/>Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. (It's even getting a movie for crying out loud...)<BR/><BR/>The Minx stories are interesting, (I could see myself reading them in regular novel format) but I'm not surprised it didn't attract the young girls who spend lots of money each month at the bookstore. <BR/><BR/>Packaging and marketing is a problem, I'm sure...<BR/><BR/>But I get the feeling that not many girls at the anime con were impressed by the Minx previews...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-73200512613088828762008-09-26T07:46:00.000-04:002008-09-26T07:46:00.000-04:00Hum.Too bad, I liked some of the line's books.I ge...Hum.<BR/><BR/>Too bad, I liked some of the line's books.<BR/><BR/>I get the references in all of the suggested death story lines except this one:<BR/>"forced to eat Adam's eyeball"<BR/>What's that referring to if it's referring to anything?ledtimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05983579319087579543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-39701385565189382232008-09-26T05:48:00.000-04:002008-09-26T05:48:00.000-04:00Boo.I really liked Plain Janes and Waterbaby.I lik...Boo.<BR/><BR/>I really liked Plain Janes and Waterbaby.<BR/><BR/>I like Alexa D's idea. Maybe some of these titles will find life elsewhere.JOHNNY ZITOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17812586799990184456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-27483880894184046612008-09-25T19:10:00.000-04:002008-09-25T19:10:00.000-04:00I really think you nailed one of the more core iss...I really think you nailed one of the more core issues in the lack of "genre" books like fantasy and horror in the line. In fact, I believe there was even some dismissal of that in the early press, as though "genre" books like that were to be avoided. Which I think was seriously overlooking what the market indicates. <BR/><BR/>It's too bad, though. If they'd had more time they might have come around to that...or other strategies that might have worked.Mariahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14647251791342761076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-24384986781192166272008-09-25T12:43:00.001-04:002008-09-25T12:43:00.001-04:00Is sad but I'm not surprissed. Appart from the fan...Is sad but I'm not surprissed. Appart from the fans of each individual artist, the ones who would have buy this tittles didn't knew they existed, the ones who knew weren't interested or were already disgusted by the first stream of bad publicity this line got before it was started. In my opinion is sad because while the line wasn't perfect it was giving a little more variety at Dc titles. Also Ross Campell and many of the other artist are awesome and they really deserved a line that could sell.<BR/>And from the Minx die... I think the most sad thing is that I can identify each and every tittle you are satirizing... didn't actually buy most though.Romanticidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13919835870730351314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-20400264941973235072008-09-25T11:13:00.000-04:002008-09-25T11:13:00.000-04:00I really enjoy these books, and they are some of t...I really enjoy these books, and they are some of the few comic or comic-related books I can get my wife to read.<BR/><BR/>Sad to see them go.Elwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00025147948683497899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-75017867519539252902008-09-25T10:49:00.000-04:002008-09-25T10:49:00.000-04:00I posted a similar comment to this at Comics Worth...I posted a similar comment to this at Comics Worth Reading but... I was an inventory manager at a Borders when this rolled out. I read all about it before hand and was able to get some ARC copies. I was excited. As soon as the first boxes came in and I saw that the thin little books would be shelved in graphic novels I knew it was going to fail. The books are small YA format and are totally lost in the GN section. Plus, they just can't compete with manga. I tired. I created endcaps for them but they were in the wrong part of the store. Could I have put them in YA? Sure. But it would have gone against the shelving code on the sticker and would have conflicted with the title look up computers so, no, not really an option. They might have had a chance if shelved with Gossip Girl and similar books in YA and that would not have taken marketing dollars. That would only have taken a phone call to Borders and N B&N to make happen. Just a call to say "hey, these books are YA so can you change your stickers to put this line of books in YA?". It would not have taken a major marketing inititative on Random House's part. Just a phone call. My advice to DC and all publishers is to vist a bookstore from time to time. Ask to talk to the shelvers. Ask to talk to the inventory managers. They know. They know where each book should be. They know which kinds of books the kids sitting on the floor in YA are reading and which kinds of books the kids sitting on the floor in manga are reading. Ask a bookseller. They won't even charge you. (Yet.)Shanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246982584049706133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-37645260726961696952008-09-25T10:34:00.000-04:002008-09-25T10:34:00.000-04:00I think one thing we can add to the Minx line's pr...I think one thing we can add to the Minx line's problems was its very narrow social focus. Most of the books seemed to ceneter on (and cater to) artsy-progressive, Boho culture alterna-misfits that a fraction of female consumers would connect with, yet so many more wouldn't. Here, let's look at descriptions of several MINX titles:<BR/><BR/><B>Burnout:</B>"...family secrets and the politics of ecoterrorism set against the lush backdrop of the Pacific Northwest."<BR/><BR/><B>Emiko Superstar</B>"Watch Emi go from dull, suburban babysitter to eclectic urban art star compliments of one crazy summer!"<BR/><BR/><B>The Plain Janes:</B>"When a transfer student named Jane is forced to move from the cool confines of Metro City to Suburbia, she thinks her life is overBut there in the lunch room at the reject table she finds her tribe: three other girls named Jane. Main Jane encourages them to form a secret art gang and paint the town P.L.A.I.N. — People Loving Art In Neighborhoods. But can art attacks really save the hell that is high school?"<BR/><BR/><B>Janes in Love:</B>"P.L.A.I.N. – People Loving Art In Neighborhoods – goes global when the art gang procures a spot in the Metro City Museum of Modern Art Contest."<BR/><BR/><B>Re-Gifters:</B>"Meet Jen Dik Seong — or "Dixie" as she's known to her friends. Korean American, dirt poor, and living on the ragged edge of LA's Koreatown<BR/><BR/><B>Water Baby:</B>"Surfer Girl Brody just got her leg bitten off by a shark. Jake, her shark of an ex-boyfriend, is back and when it comes to Brody's couch, he's not budging. It's up to Brody and her BFF Louisa to embark on the roadtrip from hell, narrowly escaping weird hitchhikers and shark-infested nightmares, to get Jake out of their lives forever. This time it's personal!"<BR/><BR/><B>Kimmie66:</B>"Telly Kade is pretty much your typical 23rd century teen. She's got impossible hair, misfit friends, a big sloppy brother...and a pair of VR goggles that lets her live among the vampires..."<BR/><BR/><B>The New York Four:</B>"Riley is about to find out what an adventure — and a mystery — living in New York City can be. The ultimate insider's guide to NYC is seen through the eyes of Brooklyn-born Riley. Raised by stuffy, literati parents, Riley's a shy, straight-A student who convinces three other NYU brainiacs to join a research group for fast cash."<BR/><BR/>I know it may be shocking to the birkenstock mocca-sippers, RAD surfer GRRRRLs, and art crowd progressives, but there's a whole world of young women out there who <B>weren't</B> included in the MINX tagline of "Your Life, Your Books". I'm not necessarily suggesting that MINX should have included a line of books aimed at the cheerleader crowd, but at the same time, I think most objective people can look at the MINX line and realize just how narrow it's social spectrum was.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10512092617863126826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-58676708254764709292008-09-25T09:23:00.000-04:002008-09-25T09:23:00.000-04:00haha! i know it's ironic/satirical but your Minx ...haha! i know it's ironic/satirical but your Minx Characters Die Anthology idea is still funny, even though i'm sad about the line getting axed (no Water Baby 2!). what about Water Baby, though? how would Brody and Louisa bite it?? you left them out!<BR/><BR/>anyway, thanks again for being so into Water Baby and mentioning it again here, i appreciate it. :)Sophiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13228892803278850156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-57831553515130196632008-09-25T08:42:00.000-04:002008-09-25T08:42:00.000-04:00Well, at first I thought of Minx as nothing more t...Well, at first I thought of Minx as nothing more than a cynical ploy. I don't like "corporate authorship/work for hire" deals. But then they put out some quality titles. <I>Re-Gifters</I> was one of last year's pleasant surprises. Also, <I>Skim</I> author Mariko Tamaki was supposed to have a book out from that imprint.<BR/><BR/>What's going to happen to that? I hope she finds another publisher... one that lets her keep the rights and ownership of the material the way book publishing is supposed to be. I was really looking forward to it, dammit!<BR/><BR/>But creator's rights issues aside, I did come around to belief in the necessity of imprints like this, books that feature something other than muscle-fest slapfights in tights for people who want to read novelistic comic stories heavy on characterization. Books for all-ages.<BR/><BR/>Sigh. So disheartening.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17723952510039418615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-22555822594853165692008-09-25T07:53:00.000-04:002008-09-25T07:53:00.000-04:00Well that's...:/I agree whole-heartedly with your ...Well that's...:/<BR/><BR/>I agree whole-heartedly with your assessment of the situation, Val, I just wish it weren't so. I wonder what is the chance of some of the Minx titles crossing to Vertigo? I really wanted to see more of The New York Four and the Plain Janes, though the former has a much better place than the latter (but then again, My Faith In Frankie was a Vertigo book)Alexa Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251397021262342205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-48449179638168092442008-09-25T00:02:00.000-04:002008-09-25T00:02:00.000-04:00I picked up the Minx books at Mocca, and I enjoyed...I picked up the Minx books at Mocca, and I enjoyed them, even though, as a guy, I guess I wasn't the target audience. I'm sorry to see Minx go. <BR/><BR/>PeterPeter Timonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12617365612060518408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-27529744242312778152008-09-24T23:54:00.000-04:002008-09-24T23:54:00.000-04:00I thought Castelucci's work was only "meh" and tha...I thought Castelucci's work was only "meh" and that interviews with her felt like she was slumming it. That didn't help, on my end.David Beardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13137121995124489190noreply@blogger.com