Minxy

Tom Spurgeon did pretty-much the only write-up you need to read, but I did want to say a few things that occurred to me while hearing the news.

* I’m not really surprised. It’s one of those things where, if the Minx line had continued on like Vertigo for 10 or 15 years, I wouldn’t have been surprised, but that it’s ending a year and a half in? Also not terribly surprising. DC is weird for developing and then disregarding brands like that… the slowly leaking news that contracted-but-not-published books may still find a home within the company is testament to the weakness of their overall branding efforts, in my opinion.

* 18 months? Really? The length of their commitment was a scant two-seasons? That seems ridiculously unprofessional to me, to give a major publishing effort less than two years to find its feet… particularly one as theoretically well-funded as coming from DC Comics. Of course, in book publishing things like lines and deals can evaporate in even less time than that, ask Mark Siegel about his first time publishing Little Vampire and having the winds change direction on him. But I would have thought a three season commitment would have been a minimum deal to agree to with upper management, just to give yourself some time for course correction and to build brand recognition.

* Didn’t they just launch a crime fiction line and an original graphic novel initiative over at Vertigo? Jeezus, I wouldn’t want to be Will Dennis or that other editor right now. It’s like upper management has just completed the guillotine hanging over your desk at work, and you know exactly when it’s going to drop… to round out the metaphor I will add “Only big piles of cash will prop it up.”

* I really hated the photographs on the covers of the books. I get why that design was chosen, but it really, really didn’t work for me.

* Most importantly, I don’t think the rise or fall of this line says anything at all about the validity of “comics for girls” or any variation thereof… There are still plenty of excellent graphic novels for the YA market, and for girls in particular, out on the stands. I also think that there’s a market for more, and that every publisher looking to enter the market can learn from the successes and failures of MINX to create something that will ultimately succeed.

* Good luck to all of my friends involved with the line, I hope your stories find homes elsewhere.

– Christopher