I don't understand where's this "Girls don't like comics" come from. Growing up I was inspired by female cartoonists (Shawn Kerri, Shary Flenniken, Lynn Johnston, etc.) and all my female friends loved reading comics. What's interesting though is that they preferred reading comic strip collections over comic books.

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OMG Shawn Kerry. (fangirl)

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I did, too. I also read a few mangas and some indie stuff. I didn't read an actual "comic book" until probably...high school?

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Whenever you're ready, send a pitch to Shelly anyway.....they still have an interest in the demographic, but not enough to support an entire line.

If you even have interest in publishing through DC...hahaha...with ties to Scholastic, ect. there's most likely better deals from the book publishers!

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I don't think anybody with any brains at all thinks girls don't like comics. I might go so far as to say that girls don't much care for bland, crappy, pandering comics, though.

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People at the tops of industries, the ones with the money, sometimes make generalizations, though. Hollywood doesn't want girl movies. It's happening in comics too, from things I have heard.

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Do you mean to say that comics companies are actively moving away from printing material that would appear to be specifically appealing to girls?

If I'm interpreting that right, could I ask you to please elaborate a little for me, cause that's not something I'd heard and I find the idea a little shocking, and I'd like to know more.

If it's not stuff you'd be comfortable discussing in a comments section I'm interested enough to continue this via email, if you'd rather.

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I'll second what Raina said here. There is an assumption that girls don't read comics, specifically superhero comics, or that we only want certain "types" of comics.

Film has been a bit more obvious about it, with some companies actually saying they won't produce movies with female leads in them anymore.

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Exactly. If we want more readers, both male and female, we need better comics.

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Oh they have brains, they just think the market will require more trailblazing than they wish to pay for to make it worthwhile. :)

But it's not just in comics, it's also in video games (despite even the explosion in casual games you can see being made and purchased by girls for handhelds like the DS.) and in films.

Though from what I have seen, book publishing as a whole has a very good handle on female readership. I have high hopes for GN imprints of existing book publishers that already know how to market to YA, women, and girls because in theory it seems like they wouldn't be re-inventing the infrastructure with respect to distribution and marketing.

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I'd blame it on a lack of awareness. I've never even heard of Minx, and I go to an art college. I didn't know there were publishers that focused on girls' cartoons. I'm pretty sure a lot of the other illustrators here were not aware of it either.

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Are you a teenage girl who reads Seventeen magazine? That's who they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars marketing to. DC spent more money marketing Minx to teenage girls than any other comic book company has ever spent marketing anything. But the problem is that just because you target a demographic doesn't mean they have to respond. Some people just don't care for reading books in the comics format.

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I just hope that people won't summarize that Minx went under because girls simply don't want to read comics.

See, this is what I'm really afraid of. That this will scare publishers off of a comics-hungry demographic. We both know it's there, no question!

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Maybe it will, like for a day or two, and then when the dust settles, they'll notice they are still tripping over young women sitting on the floor under the manga shelves, a short stack of all kinds of titles ready to hand. And they'll see the quarterly sales and circulation numbers coming in from libraries. And they'll try again. And some already know the demographic is there and won't really be phased by Minx's closure.

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I was picturing your BSC books as being a good gateway into the wild world of comics for girls who might feel comics are just for boys and was hoping the Minx line would have been the place for them to go.

I agree, it was nice to know they were an option.

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Gateways are a funny thing. BSC readers seem to just want more BSC comics! Young readers seem to grow fond of specific characters, styles of drawing, storylines...and hey, that sounds like mainstream comic readers too, now that I think about it! :)

Young manga readers are similar. They're not usually fans of manga or comics as a format, so much as they're fans of Death Note or Bleach or whatever series they're really really into. It takes a special kind of fan to really love sequential storytelling as to be open to anything and everything there is to read.

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I love all those photos. :)

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Yes, I hope they don't get that impression either. I did my first self published graphic novel for girls and they loved it. I did stay far away from the stereotypical stuff large companies think is the only stuff that will sell to girls too and it did very well.

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I absolutely love the pictures and your post, and looove reading all these comments. Thank you for the great post!

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I thought I'd posted and completely forgotten, or was reading a really old thread when I saw this userpic.
My morning: more surreal than usual.

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Minx is over ?!! Noooo ! I've already bought three books and I wanted more ! I was so happy that this collection existed.

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Aw, that's unfortunate. I've never heard of Minx until now.

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"They look for comics about interesting topics (nothing unusual there), and comics about characters they can identify with. They want comics that are made for them. They need comics that are made just for them."

Whenever I say this, I am always waiting for the first person to say, "Just make good books," which I always take to mean (and not incorrectly), "You worry too much about making books for girls, and you worry too much about women making those books for girls"

So, thanks for saying what you've said. The more people who do, the more the truth of it will sink in.

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Reminds me of a story I once heard about Brian K Vaughn. At some con, someone remarked to him about all the women in line for his booth and his female fans in general. He responded, "Yeah, it's funny how many women will show up if you don't actively insult them."

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I wasn't particularly blown away by the Minx line, although I enjoyed a couple of the books (dreadful book design, though!).

I think they needed to aim a bit younger, for when girls are more experimental in their reading habits.

But I'm sure it's a whole host of factors to blame. Can't say I'm surprised, though - it had the air of a noble failure from day one.

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