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Nat Gertler on David Welsh’s Response to the Minx Imprint’s Cancellation
posted October 4, 2008
 

I think David Welsh seriously misses the mark when he suggests that DC not pursuing manga-like fantasy shows that they believe that can't work. DC certainly knows that fantasy can work, that manga succeeds in that. Making their line not primarily a fantasy line would seem to be not trying to go head-to-head with manga. Just as many a new publisher chooses not to enter the superhero market; it's not that superheroes can't work, it's that the market for superheroes is pretty well served by existing publishers, and there is more likely success to be found not going head-to-head with them. Going after the customers who are graduating from Sweet Valley High rather than Hogwarts is a reasonable strategy.

Having said that, the Minx line did not rely solely on real-world concepts and exclude fantasy ones. I'm not the best reference here -- I've only read two of their volumes, but one of those (Good as Lily) was built around a fantasy concept (albeit not power fantasy).

David Welsh Responds: Nat, I think we agree in the essentials. My argument wasn't that DC was saying that manga-like fantasy doesn't work but that the approach they chose with Minx (largely realistic stories aimed at the same demographic) wasn't already being executed in abundance by English-language manga publishers. My point was that manga isn't exclusively the domain of fantasy and adventure. There's plenty of material about everyday people dealing with everyday life, so I saw it as a false contrast.