Minx (comics)
Encyclopedia
Minx was an imprint
of DC Comics
that published graphic novel
s aimed at teenage girl
s. It ran from 2007 to 2008.
, following several years of planning. Senior Vice President Karen Berger
and Group Editor Shelly Bond were supervising the imprint.
DC had contracted [Alloy Marketing + Media to market the line's books, with a budget of $125,000 to $250,000. Berger stated that the success of translated manga
and Marjane Satrapi
's Persepolis
among teenage girls helped motivate the creation of the imprint.
Initial online reaction to the imprint had some controversy over the sexual connotations of the name as well as the small proportion of female creators in the lineup, especially due to an emphasis on female creators in The New York Times
article that broke the story.
On September 24, 2008, Comic Book Resources
reported the confirmation of the imprint's cancellation. Some remaining projects would be published, while others were cancelled. CBR summed the situation up:
Of the imprint-closing titles, Emiko Superstar, Token and The PLAIN Janes 2: Janes in Love were published. The sequels to The New York Four and Clubbing were all canceled along with
the nearly complete All Nighter. All Nighters creator David Hahn
is committed to getting it published, saying "over the past two-and-a-half years, I've ignored my other creator-owned projects to devote my efforts to ‘All Nighter,’ so somehow, I will see to it that it eventually gets published."
Most of the suggestions for the imprint's downfall focus on the failure of the distributor Random House
to achieve one of the principal aims: to get the graphic novels shelved in the Young Adult section in the major bookstores. However, creators questioned felt that this could have been achieved given time.
imprint, entitled New York Five. It launched in January, 2011.
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
of DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
that published graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
s aimed at teenage girl
Girl
A girl is any female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood. The term may also be used to mean a young woman.-Etymology:...
s. It ran from 2007 to 2008.
History
Minx was announced in November 20062006 in comics
-January:*January 1, 2006: Newsweek offer a look back at 2005 through editorial cartoons. *January 2, 2006: The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman starts a blog to detail his creative process...
, following several years of planning. Senior Vice President Karen Berger
Karen Berger
Karen Berger is an American comic book editor. She is best known as the Executive Editor of DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.-Biography:...
and Group Editor Shelly Bond were supervising the imprint.
DC had contracted [Alloy Marketing + Media to market the line's books, with a budget of $125,000 to $250,000. Berger stated that the success of translated manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
's Persepolis
Persepolis (graphic novel)
Persepolis is a French-language autobiographical comic by Marjane Satrapi depicting her childhood up to her early adult years in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution. The title is a reference to the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, Persepolis....
among teenage girls helped motivate the creation of the imprint.
Initial online reaction to the imprint had some controversy over the sexual connotations of the name as well as the small proportion of female creators in the lineup, especially due to an emphasis on female creators in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
article that broke the story.
On September 24, 2008, Comic Book Resources
Comic Book Resources
Comic Book Resources, also known as CBR is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book-related news and discussion.-History:Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1996 as a development of the Kingdom Come Message Board, a message forum that Weiland had created to discuss DC...
reported the confirmation of the imprint's cancellation. Some remaining projects would be published, while others were cancelled. CBR summed the situation up:
Of the imprint-closing titles, Emiko Superstar, Token and The PLAIN Janes 2: Janes in Love were published. The sequels to The New York Four and Clubbing were all canceled along with
the nearly complete All Nighter. All Nighters creator David Hahn
David Hahn (cartoonist)
David Hahn is a Portland, Oregon-based comic book artist born in Los Angeles in 1967. He is best known for his work illustrating the comic book mini-series Bite Club and its sequel Bite Club: Vampire Crime Unit for DC Comics, where he also illustrated stories for Robin, Fables, Batman: The...
is committed to getting it published, saying "over the past two-and-a-half years, I've ignored my other creator-owned projects to devote my efforts to ‘All Nighter,’ so somehow, I will see to it that it eventually gets published."
Most of the suggestions for the imprint's downfall focus on the failure of the distributor Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
to achieve one of the principal aims: to get the graphic novels shelved in the Young Adult section in the major bookstores. However, creators questioned felt that this could have been achieved given time.
Post-shutdown sequels
Brian Wood and Ryan Kelley's New York Four have a sequel, published under DC's VertigoVertigo (comics)
Vertigo is an imprint of the American comic-book publisher DC Comics. Its books are marketed to a sophisticated audience, and may contain graphic violence, substance abuse, frank depictions of sexuality, profanity, and controversial subjects...
imprint, entitled New York Five. It launched in January, 2011.
List of graphic novels
| Title | Creators | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| The P.L.A.I.N. Janes | Cecil Castellucci Cecil Castellucci Cecil Castellucci, also known as Cecil Seaskull , is a young adult novelist, indie rocker, and director. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California... and Jim Rugg Jim Rugg Jim Rugg is an American cartoonist and illustrator from Pittsburgh known for his tongue-in-cheek evocation of 1970s-era comics and pop culture. His graphic novels and comics collections include Street Angel, Afrodisiac, The P.L.A.I.N... |
May 16, 2007 |
| Re-Gifters | Mike Carey, Sonny Liew Sonny Liew Sonny Liew is a Malaysian-born comic artist/illustrator based in Singapore. He is best known for his work on Vertigo Comics' My Faith in Frankie together with Mike Carey and Marc Hempel, and Marvel Comics' "Sense and Sensibility" adaptation.... and Marc Hempel Marc Hempel Marc Hempel is an American cartoonist/comics artist best known for his work on The Sandman with Neil Gaiman.-Biography:... |
June 2007 |
| Clubbing Clubbing (comics) Clubbing is a graphic novel published in 2007 by Minx, a cancelled imprint of DC comics. It was written by Eisner Award nominated Andi Watson and drawn by Josh Howard.-Plot:... |
Andi Watson Andi Watson Andrew "Andi" Watson is a British cartoonist and illustrator best known for the graphic novels Breakfast After Noon, Slow News Day and his series Love Fights, published by Oni Press and Slave Labor Graphics.... and Josh Howard Josh Howard Joshua Jay Howard is an American professional basketball player who most recently played for the NBA's Washington Wizards. At and , he plays as a small forward.-High school:... |
July 2007 |
| Good as Lily | Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm | August 2007 |
| Confessions of a Blabbermouth | Mike Carey, Louise Carey, and Aaron Alexovich | September 2007 |
| Kimmie66 | Aaron Alexovich | November 2007 |
| Burnout | Rebecca Donner and Inaki Miranda | June 2008 |
| Water Baby | Ross Campbell Ross Campbell Ross Campbell is a Scottish professional association football player who is currently without a club.He started his career with Scottish Premier League side Hibernian and represented Scotland at the under–20 and under–21 levels... |
July 2008 |
| The New York Four | Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly | July 2008 |
| Janes in Love (PLAIN Janes 2) | Cecil Castellucci Cecil Castellucci Cecil Castellucci, also known as Cecil Seaskull , is a young adult novelist, indie rocker, and director. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California... and Jim Rugg Jim Rugg Jim Rugg is an American cartoonist and illustrator from Pittsburgh known for his tongue-in-cheek evocation of 1970s-era comics and pop culture. His graphic novels and comics collections include Street Angel, Afrodisiac, The P.L.A.I.N... |
September 2008 |
| Emiko Superstar | Mariko Tamaki and Steve Rolston Steve Rolston Steve Rolston is a Canadian artist and writer of comic books and graphic novels currently living in Vancouver, British Columbia. After working in story boards for various animated series, he got his first break from Oni Press as the penciler and inker of the first four issues of their on-going... |
October 14, 2008 |
| Token | Alisa Kwitney Alisa Kwitney Alisa Kwitney is an American author.Kwitney was born in New York City. She graduated from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and from Columbia University's Master of Fine Arts Fiction Writing Program. Kwitney was also an editor for Vertigo, the mature/dark fantasy branch of DC... and Joelle Jones |
October 2008 |
External links
- DC's official announcement of the imprint's launch
- ‘Not Just For Boys’ Columbus Dispatch article, prominently featuring Minx
- A librarian's perspective on Minx by Columbia University librarian Karen Green at comiXology
- The New York Four Synopsis
Interviews
- Cecil Castellucci, November 30, 2006
- Jim Rugg, December 1, 2006
- Line Editor Karen Berger April 5, 2007
- Mike Carey April 10, 2007
- Louise Carey May 23, 2007
- Rebecca Donner, Publishers WeeklyPublishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
, May 12, 2008