The Plain Janes Have Left The Building

Virgin won't be the last one to fall in this period of economic slowdown/clusterfuck. I expect more sudden axes to fall -- not out of any insider info, but based on that same ghoulish intuition.

-- OS post, 9/2/08

Minx, the line of manga-sized graphic novels for girls, is no more.

As of early this year, I really couldn't see DC's Minx line going any further. It wasn't for lack of quality. It wasn't for lack of promotional dollars on DC's part -- they did co-sponsor Friends of Lulu's Lulu Awards again this year on Minx's behalf. Further, they gave away promo copies of all their new releases at MoCCA Art Fest this year. But Minx had the same vulture standing over it that I've seen time and time again -- that I saw with Virgin, that I saw with CrossGen, that I've seen with countless imprints and publishers that didn't quite know how to precisely target and capture its niche audience -- or even really knew who that audience was.

Theoretically, Minx was a line of manga-sized books for teenage girls. Most of the titles were pretty decent reads for the stated audience; a few, like the otherwise excellent Waterbaby, were masterfully executed but way too adult.

Were the Minx books "comics" or "books?" Where were they to be racked at the comic shop, and where were they to be racked in the book store? As of two weeks ago, I saw Minx titles kept in the "teen novel" section of Barnes and Noble -- some distance, perhaps a whole floor or two, away from the graphic novel section. Would there be that crossover readership from the teen novel crowd? Would they open up that copy of Re-Gifters and be like "hey, cool" or would they be turned off?

Really -- I think some of it is that when DC set out to create "a line for girls" -- they looked, despite themselves, despite great rosters of talented people, more towards "Archie" than "Harry Potter" or "Heroes." I think they should have done more sci-fi and adventure books, or at least blend more of those elements in some of the line (Kimmie 66 was one -- but you wouldn't know it by the cover). The girls at the conventions that I have talked to for the last two years -- most never heard of Minx. When I asked them what they were reading, all the genres they mentioned were sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.

Then there was the tacit lack of any of the titles of under the Minx imprint being springboards for movies, TV, or other media. This has been the big song-and-dance DC -- and so many other companies -- have been using for a while now: "we'll develop it for film!" "We're the IP farm of Time Warner!" And yet -- where is the Plain Janes movie?

And some of it is that this economy stinks and that any line or imprint or publisher that is not drawing a true income beyond some pipe dreams and 5-year-plans is most likely going to get axed. Hate to say it, it sounds cold, it's what's gonna happen, and it ain't over.

But lastly, a female-oriented line of books could never succeed at DC because when it comes to females, they just don't fucking get it. They don't. They have such a shitty legacy when it comes to this subject, so much choking vile karma, that the attempts they make to "balance the scales," as it were, seemed token.

The Minx line launched on the same week Goodbye To Comics hit the Internet. Publicity for their line of "girl power" books was overshadowed by a rogue ex-employee with horror stories of sexual harassment. You can't make that up, you can't plan it (I sure as hell didn't), it's just so telling and so true.

I suggest DC "off" all the main characters from the line in a bunch of ingenious ways (just like in their mainstream superhero books)

The Plain Janes: A crazy serial killer stalks Main Jane and stuffs her in a refrigerator.

The Re-Gifters: Dixie is forced to eat Adam's eyeball.

Emiko Superstar: Emiko runs afoul of a local gangster and is tortured to death with a power drill.

As Good As Lily: Grace gets her heart stolen -- literally (chuckle!).

Confessions of A Blabbermouth: Tasha is mauled by the dog next door and is in an induced coma at the hospital.

Kimmie66: Kade is shot in the spine by an anarchist and is paralyzed, forced to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

The New York Four: Riley gets impaled -- and not in good way!

Burnout: Ironically, Danni herself is set on fire after being killed by a bitter feminist who shrunk to microscopic size and left footprints on her brain.

So let's do it -- let's have that Minx 80-Page Giant and tie up all those loose ends!

Minx Provides "Do Your Own Mini Comic" On Revamped Site

Just a quick bit --

DC's imprint Minx has revamped their website and now offers a mini-comic layout in PDF form so you can, in their words, "Tell Your Life In Pictures."

This is very exciting for me, as I now have a modest but structured template with which to put my modest but not incredibly awful comic drawing skills to use.

I figure that perhaps I can finish one 4-page mini-comic in time for the MoCCA Art Fest this weekend and either sell it or if that's sort of illegal because it's not my template at least give it away for good will.

Here are the topics I have been kicking around:

1) "My Friggin' Cat" -- about how my cat vomited in not one but both of my new shoes from Aerosoles, and my BF said he didn't mean to do it but he totally did because he was bitter about the salmon cat food.

2) "My Freaky-Ass Psychic Abilities" -- how I used to read tarot in Union Square park and these tourists from Chicago were totally freaked out because I was so accurate and then one of them took a photo of me because if the stuff came true he wanted to remember it but I was totally afraid this was just to get me arrested.

3) "Teenage Angst" -- like about when this friend from high-school explained to me all the basics regarding sex on a 15-minute bus ride and I was so freaked out because I was like "how could I have missed all this shit?" but you know how I could have missed it because I was reading @%##@% New Mutants and Peter Porker Spiderham that's how. And then later we almost got beaten up by this crazy woman.

4) "Oprah -- She's Wonderful" -- she really is wonderful. A biographical comic about real life.

So these are some thoughts. Please let me know if you have a preference.

Water Baby: Love and Rockets Drawn By Frank Quietly

Please don't take my assertion -- that the ambiguously romantic relationship between Brody & Louisa in the Minx graphic novel Water Baby resembles that of Maggie & Hopey from the acclaimed Love and Rockets -- to mean that the book is derivative. It's just that the dynamic between both sets of characters, a push-pull of freedom/possession and frustrated/fulfilled desire, is very similar.

The freak shark attack that deprives main character Brody of her leg arrives fairly early in the story, leaving the rest of the graphic novel to focus on the trifecta of Brody, her best friend/occasional girlfriend Louisa, and handsome deadbeat Jake. However, the shadow of the accident hovers over the entire proceedings, in a series of gruesome-but-poetic dream sequences.

Ross Campbell's art resembles very much that of a softer, more organic Frank Quietly, managing to make Brody's truncated leg and even her occasional nose-picking sensual.

Is it ok if I say that Ross Campbell's Water Baby transcends the Minx imprint and sort of stands on its own? Will it get lost in the various "nooks" each comic book retailer and book store carves out for this line, or will it get racked up among the other graphic novel current releases? If not the latter, go hunt it out when it hits stands July 2nd.

(Oh, and apparently Mario Van Peebles makes a cameo appearance at the end...)

Occasional Reviews: Minx

Thanks in part to OS reader and friend Chris, I've managed to get my hands on five Minx titles to review: Re-Gifters, Confessions of a Blabbermouth, Clubbing, Plain Janes, and As Good As Lily.

It should be fair to note that I have also been reading large piles of teen manga from my local library, which has informed my opinion on these Minx books somewhat. For the most part, I found the manga I read to be fast-moving, emotionally punctuated, and engaging for the targeted audience.

Also, I have debated whether or not I should push through reading books or comics that I find boring/bad in order to give a proper review. I have decided to stop reading any text that I find so disengaging that I want to quit it; such a reaction would match that of the potential consumer, and says a lot.

So, in order of how much I enjoyed them, here are my brief reviews for the Minx line.

Re-Gifters
Writer: Mike Carey
Artists: Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel
Grade: A+

Thoughts:
This book has all the qualities requisite for a good teen graphic novel. Engaging heroine, quality supporting cast, intriguing romantic conflict, lack of cliche, no easy answers. But above all that: story and art that moooooooooooooves. Let me repeat this: moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooves. This point is crucial. It has to move. You have to hook the reader. And when we're talking about teens, maybe that need to hook immediately is even more important.

And I know there has been a lot of criticism regarding the Minx books and the fact that most of the creative talent involved don't have vaginas. But I think Mike Carey nails this. And the art is dynamic, open, and endearing. Of all the Minx books I've read, this one is closest to possessing manga energy.

The Plain Janes
Writer: Cecil Castellucci
Artists: Jim Rugg
Grade: B+


Thoughts:
Plain Janes is very much Minx's "signature" book, and the one with the biggest commercial potential. I enjoyed it but felt it skewed a little older than the target audience. It felt a lot more like a graphic novel from Top Shelf or Fantagraphics than a teen book. But the pace moves very well, and the art is excellent.

Like some reviewers noted, there are a few characters in the novel that get a little cliche. The "evil sheriff." The gay boy with the big gimlet eyes and barrels of school spirit. The Sporty Spice girl. But the protagonist, "Main Jane," had some nice layers to her personality.

Good As Lily
Writer: Derek Kirk Kim
Artist: Jesse Hamm
Grade: B


Thoughts:
This book was great but needed editing. There is just too much text, too many big word balloons, and too many panels on each page. Had some of this been cut out, allowing the story and art to "breathe," it could have very well have been a far more successful book.

Also, the Korean-American protagonist is very similar to the Korean-American protagonist in "Re-Gifters." Nothing wrong with having multiple books with Asian protagonists. But the girls look too much alike and have similar frustrations/personality for volumes coming out so close to one another.

How about some African-American girls? They go to my local library and take out manga all the time.

Confessions Of A Blabbermouth
Writers: Mike & Louise Carey
Artist: Aaron Alexovich
Grade: C


Thoughts:
I liked the frenetic, fast-paced quality of the art but the book suffered from being one of the last I read. The short, big-headed, huge-eyed spunky protagonist with the bobbed hair. Where have I read this before? Just about in every Minx book I read.

I made it through nearly half the book before I put it down. To be fair, I read "Re-Gifters" after this and loved it. But I just had Minx burnout with "Blabbermouth."

Clubbing
Writer: Andi Watson
Artist: Josh Howard
Grade: C-


Thoughts:
The first several pages of "Clubbing," with its open, engaging art, seemed promising. But I quit at page 29. I just couldn't care less about this girl. And where were the clubs? The book is called "Clubbing." I don't want a Merchant Ivory movie. I'm a prole, I know. But I'm just recording my thought process as I read it.

An update: the BF said that the title is a pun because it really refers to golf. Oh, now I really want to read this.

PS: I really liked Andi Watson's "Glister." Okay?

And there you go, my thoughts on the first five Minx books. Some were enjoyable. Some were not.

Also, as I said before, the protagonists were all a little bit similar. Petite black-haired beauties with large expressive eyes, a punky attitude, and bobbed hair. I have no idea where such an archetype came from.


Okay, I'm going now.