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Friday, December 01, 2006
DC Foibles
The new Minx line from DC has captured the imagination of many smart comic book people. Johanna notes the lack of women creators in the line, something many have noticed. Now, I certainly think the Minx line is a great idea and I look forward to new books from Jim Rugg and Derek Kirk Kim. But the fact is for anyone who desires more female visibility in comics the announcement of a line targeted to young women yet it being another area where men dominate is disheartening. There's a certain feeling I got reading about the new line that perhaps you did, too. It's that strange mix of on one hand recognizing it's smart for DC to reach out to this particular audience and on the other hand not being completely satisfied with how it's being done. Unfortunately it's a feeling I've gotten following DC Comics for a few years.
I say this as someone who truly appreciates DC's desire for more variety in their output. I know there are a lot of smart people working there who want to adapt to a changing marketplace. This post is only written in the spirit of constructive criticism as I air my feelings as a fan. That feeling is one of frustration as I see again and again DC try a new venture only to see it compromised and unable to, shall we say, reach its potential. Here is a list of examples just from what I could think of today:
The One Year Later jump launches with heralded new creative teams on books...creative teams that change and books that are delayed only a few months in
DC picks up the Humanoids line so many European comics are given new exposure...the line is unceremoniously dumped (I believe we all found out when Humanoids books weren't part of that month's solicitations)
The growing manga market is acknowledged with the debut of CMX...censorship in Tenjho Tenge alienates manga fans
Indie artists are given a chance to play with DC's big characters in the "Bizarro" books...for some reasons cartoonists can only write or draw the comics, not both
Now the controversy over the Minx line.
I want a company with real money behind it like DC to go beyond the superhero world. What I don't want is, because there is big money at stake, forces in the company that are on the conservative or cautious side leaving readers with product that pales in comparison to what other, much smaller publishers can give us (compare Bizarro Comics to AdHouse's Project: Superior). I understand that as a fan if I'm this frustrated people working in the company have to be pretty darn frustrated, too.
I don't have any solutions. I just want there to be case where DC announcing something that sounds cool, at first it is cool and then as time goes on it's still cool, maybe cooler. I'm sure if I was reading comics at the start of the Vertigo line I would have felt that way. There's a case where, even though I know small compromises had to be made in terms of content and whatnot, many new voices were heard by fans only a company like DC could reach. I want it to happen again.
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