CBR: DC Cancels MINX Line

[CBR News]

Multiple sources have confirmed for CBR News that DC Comics' MINX line of
young adult graphic novels has been cancelled, with some announced, in-
progress and even completed titles shelved.


Full article here.

[Brian Garside]

I have to say, as a retailer this surprises me, though not a whole ton. We sold a few Minx books, and always ordered 5 or so extras of each title because they tend to be fairly evergreen.

What I don't understand is how CMX can still be alive. We've never sold a single copy of anything from this line.

[thefourthman]

I have to say, as a retailer this surprises me, though not a whole ton. We sold a few Minx books, and always ordered 5 or so extras of each title because they tend to be fairly evergreen.

What I don't understand is how CMX can still be alive. We've never sold a single copy of anything from this line.

Obviously, from the wording of the article and a trip to your local big box bookstore will back up, CMX does sell at the big box stores and they have more pull than we (the dm) have.

It is sad. Teenagers who have read the books, alond with the adults who weren't afraid to read them, seemed to love them.

I think the marketing must have been off, was there any marketing besides in house ads and diamond solicitaions, did Random House advertise in their books? Were teenage girlie mags courted? Book reviewers? Who was marketed?... I know I was and I am not the line's demographic in any shape manner or form.

If American Comics want to thrive again, they have to stop only marketing in house. It is a defeatest thing to do, to keep advertising to your same core audience. Why am I not seeing comic shop locator ads at the begining of comic movies? Why isn't DC advertising the Watchmen Trade on TV like Marvel is Secret Invasion? Why don't the saturday cartoons based on comics have a blurb at the end for the current issue of the appropiate all ages related title? That is how we are going to see sales go up on titles, by targeting new audiences. TV advertising is one thing, but movie and cartoon blurbs could be in riders on the property licensing, it would effectively cost the publishers nothing and they would gain everything from it.

[snarkbunny]

I've bought all but two of the Minx books that have been released to date, and I've enjoyed them all and more importantly, the 15-year-old daughter of friends of mine and HER friends have enjoyed them immensely.

I'm sad to see the line go.

[Cayman]

It's too bad this didn't work out. It seemed like a good idea and the titles I checked out were worthy.

[JoeMD]

Thiis is really a shame. I bought several of the Minx books and really enjoyed all of them. I'm eagerly awaiting the follow-up to The New York Four so I hope that's one of the titles that will still be published.

Having said that though, being a 23 year old male reader who was already into comics long before Minx came along I don't think I'm the audience that the line was targeting.

[AlistairCrane]

My library has all of the Minx titles and I've read a couple. But I'm also not a teenage girl/target audience so I don't know how much my opinion matters.

I'm sad to see the line go though.

[Jimmykitty]

Not cool.

Especially this bit:
"... Multiple sources close to the situation agree Bond and DC aren’t to blame for MINX’s cancellation, and that this development should be seen as a depressing indication that a market for alternative young adult comics does not exist in the capacity to support an initiative of this kind, if at all."

Then if not, what does?

Developed over years with full financial backing from Warner Bros. and created by top talent? Then what does? Obviously, Minx should've been an investment line. Something to nurture, not something to follow the manga audience in warehouse bookstores. Especially if the product comes out after those flames have died.

I just hope this doesn't deter other publishers from taking a chance on young adult books. Until then it looks like small press will continue to be the home of alternative thinking.

[Grico]

That's unfortunate. It sounded like a nice idea to expand out by DC, but personally I have heard nothing about this line since it was first announced. So the marketing push didn't seem to be there in the popular media, although its kind of understandable when DC isn't even marketing their core business (DC Comics) to any significant way. I'm glad CMX is still going, but I sometimes wonder how it keeps going forward as its manga selection seem to fall mostly in the extremely obscure. I've heard good things about a number of books, but beyond such pimping I had never even heard the books existed.

[The Xenos]

Damn. That's sad. I'm not the target audience, but I liked what I saw and was impressed with the line up. I was looking forward to checking more out. It's quite a disturbing sign. Well, among everything else with the economy nowadays. This one's close to home.

Meanwhile, I actually saw a Minx ad on the newsstand. It was on the back of some magazine aimed at teen girls. The back cover was flipped and it had a big Minx logo. I was confused until I saw it was the back cover and it was a big ad. Very nice. Though I guess it really didn't take off.

[Alex A Sanchez]

Seeing as how a lot of the contributers here (I am assuming) are not in the target demographic, it doesn't seem likely that we have seen much of a push for the books. Still, I am curious what effort was put forth. Was it behind the scenes shmoozing with B&N and Borders to try and convince them to invest in a shipment?

If MINX never made it to the store shelves, then there is no way to truly know if the market exists for the product. Especially with the many strong indicators that allowed the project to be green lighted, I am sure a market could have been created even if it did not exist before. Maybe Marvel will have a different strategy and want to use it to try to capture the same demographic.

I personally never picked up any of the books (although I have been very very tempted to pick up the Mike Carey one in order to try them out), but I was extremely excited with the concept. I love graphic storytelling as an art-form and as a media, and nothing would make me more happy than to see it growth in breadth.

[thefourthman]

@ Alex and in response to Xenos, if it was targeted at the audience (which Xenos' ad seems to indicate) but it was only availble at LCS, then it was not truly marketed correctly. This was always supposed to be a bookstore brand, but it never seemed to happen that way.

I do think nuturing it further would have been the way to go, just like television networks will keep shows going that have critical acclaim, even when the ratings don't justify it.

[fan4fan]

While not the target audience, I always gave the MINX books a look as something (a bit later) for my daughters.

Would they have worked in color?

Even my kids - who like B&W photos and films - have not been all that interested in B&W comics.

[JoshuaCee]

I'm really surprised by this, as well. I thought the line was doing well. It certainly attracted it's share of talent.

[Mart]

I didn't know they were for 'young adults' - weren't they introduced as being for teenage girls?

Never seen one in the UK, mind.