Monday, March 22, 2004
Mary Jane...
So, there's a lot of talk lately about the new Mary Jane comic. Scott seems pretty hopeful and it does sound like a good team, but I have some serious reservations about it being able to take off.
First there is the whole manga/superhero divide in bookstores themselves, which someone mentioned in the thread. How many girls who read manga are ever going to look through Marvel's books enough to see this? It certainly is going to need some promotion. And that's at the GN stage. It'll have even more trouble getting noticed in comic form...
But more than that, I there's the issue of the hook. What really is the hook of this book in terms of the story itself? It sounds like it the story of a young lady who has some issues at home, has to figure out her love life, and wants some escapism. That's fine.. but gee it sounds awfully generic. It may sound revolutionary from how the industry usually is, but if we're talking about readers that look at this stuff on a daily basis, what distinguishes it? Spider-Man makes guest appearances? I doubt they are going to care much about that...
Paradise Kiss is very quirky, with a girl roped into being a model for crazy art school students. Kare Kano looks at the lives of two popular over-achievers and how they really tick. Marmalade Boy involves parents who swap partners and live in one big house, along with a possible confused romance with her new brother. Marmalade Boy has an extremely shy artistic girl pairing up with a motorcycle racer and tackles some serious issues.
Now, it could be that the Spider-Man movies have given enough exposure that more people will be willing to give it a shot, but I'm still not so sure. And if you took away Spidey and called Mary Susan instead, would this story bring people in? The writer admited that it go too too far into serious serious issues (which can be fine, but a lot of manga DO tackle these issues) and that it'll be fairly episodic (I think this could be more of an issue.. they talk about it being like a tv format, but most of the popular manga for girls live on cliffhangers). Hopefully a combo of good art and writing will make it striking and charming enough for people to pick up, but I am still a bit skeptical. I did enjoy Sidekicks though, so that gives me a bit of hope..
First there is the whole manga/superhero divide in bookstores themselves, which someone mentioned in the thread. How many girls who read manga are ever going to look through Marvel's books enough to see this? It certainly is going to need some promotion. And that's at the GN stage. It'll have even more trouble getting noticed in comic form...
But more than that, I there's the issue of the hook. What really is the hook of this book in terms of the story itself? It sounds like it the story of a young lady who has some issues at home, has to figure out her love life, and wants some escapism. That's fine.. but gee it sounds awfully generic. It may sound revolutionary from how the industry usually is, but if we're talking about readers that look at this stuff on a daily basis, what distinguishes it? Spider-Man makes guest appearances? I doubt they are going to care much about that...
Paradise Kiss is very quirky, with a girl roped into being a model for crazy art school students. Kare Kano looks at the lives of two popular over-achievers and how they really tick. Marmalade Boy involves parents who swap partners and live in one big house, along with a possible confused romance with her new brother. Marmalade Boy has an extremely shy artistic girl pairing up with a motorcycle racer and tackles some serious issues.
Now, it could be that the Spider-Man movies have given enough exposure that more people will be willing to give it a shot, but I'm still not so sure. And if you took away Spidey and called Mary Susan instead, would this story bring people in? The writer admited that it go too too far into serious serious issues (which can be fine, but a lot of manga DO tackle these issues) and that it'll be fairly episodic (I think this could be more of an issue.. they talk about it being like a tv format, but most of the popular manga for girls live on cliffhangers). Hopefully a combo of good art and writing will make it striking and charming enough for people to pick up, but I am still a bit skeptical. I did enjoy Sidekicks though, so that gives me a bit of hope..
