Newsarama has their annual interview with DC prez Paul Levitz. I’ll spare you the blinky interface and reams of superhero stuff and excerpt the only part we care about here on MangaBlog:
NRAMA: Somewhat connected to WildStorm – CMX. As a whole, how is it performing compared to expectations and within the marketplace?
PL: The goal with CMX was to get us into the world of manga and to begin to build the relationships in Japan as we saw them as a growing part of the world of popular culture. It’s done that job – evidenced in part by opening the opportunity for the investment in FLEX Comics, which we think is a very interesting learning experience for us, and will hopefully lead to some very interesting projects both here and overseas.
It’s opened up a number of opportunities for us over there as well that we haven’t pursued, but that might not have been available to us otherwise. So the basic bsuienss goals, I think, we’ve met quite nicely. The success of the CMX print line itself has been…okay – not awe inspiring yet, but manga remains a very viable and growing segment fo the market, and hopefully, we’ll continue to improve our track record of what we pick and how we publish, and get a bigger and bigger share of that. We’re not in any danger of overtaking Viz any time soon.
NRAMA: I think that was a lot of the reaction when CMX was first announced – “Look out Viz, look out TokyoPop!”… and when it wasn’t that, the imprint took a hit in image (as well as for other issues at the time, too)…
PL: It would be pretty ridiculous for someone to assume that they could overtake Viz since they have the base relationship with the two best oil wells in the field. TokyoPop has had years to build their relationships with creators, hone their skill sets as a publisher, and get product out there that people wanted. It’s not shocking that they’re still doing well at it.
So, we’re content to be behind the two of them, but hopefully making our own place in the game.
Well, that puts a nice spin on the admission that CMX manga don’t seem to be selling very well. Let me be up front here: I have a lot of admiration for Asako Suzuki and Jim Chadwick and the rest of the CMX crew. They cleaned up the TenTen mess and have been publishing some very strong books: Emma, Oyayubihime Infinity, Canon. They are branching out into horror with Presents, which got some good critical buzz, and they also publish a lot of kid-friendly manga that doesn’t get as much attention, such as Time Guardian, Chikyu Misaki, and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne. My girls, who turn up their nose at the Minx line that is supposedly designed just for them, really like a lot of the CMX titles. And they’re not alone; Emma, Canon, and Gon were all nominated for the ALA Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, and David Welsh recently remarked that Shaenon Garrity could do an Overlooked Publisher Festival about them.
I think CMX would do a lot better if DC would back them up a bit more, maybe shell out for more color pages and better paper and a more commanding web presence. Perhaps if the guys in Corporate regarded them as a book publisher, rather than a tool for making deals with third parties, that would happen.
I buy a *ton* of CMX and the amusing part is that if the program had its act together from the start they probably wouldn’t publish as many titles that would interest me (My CMX list: From Eroica with Love, Swan, Oyayubihime Infinity, Versus, Penguin Revolution, Emma, Venus in Love, and Land of the Blindfolded. I’d probably buy more of their weird 80’s shojo but there is only so much one person can buy).
The owner of my comic book shop thinks DC screwed up CMX by putting out too much of the same thing so by diversifying with shonen, seinen they are on the right track. He also thinks that they should have shelved low-selling series like Swan and From Eroica with Love but to me these series are worth TEN or TWENTY contemporary shojo series since they really speak to the history of shojo manga. (That’s right, DC. I don’t care if only me and two other people in America buys these series, they make me happy).
Otherwise, who else besides Vertical (and only a few “boutique” authors/series there) is going to put out manga from the 1970s and 1980s? (way back in the dark ages Viz did this but now it seems rare for them to publish a title from the 90’s even).
You’re right about the niche titles, Danielle. When Vertical does them—with the creamy paper and the Chip Kidd covers and the comp copies to the Time magazine book reviewer—it’s a Big Deal. I’m not going to argue that Swan and Eroica are in the same league as To Terra and MW, but presentation does make a big difference.
I couldn’t agree more with everything you’ve said here. When you consider the competition for licenses, Jim, Asako and company have assembled a roster of titles that’s almost miraculously solid and varied and interesting. (And given me several sentimental favorites in the process.) But I still don’t think CMX has made as strong of a showing in bookstores as it needs to, though that could be said about almost any of DC’s imprints, from spandex to Vertigo to Minx. There are some successes, obviously, but they seem to be mostly in the form of perennial sellers.
And I know I keep harping on this, but there were about a million opportunities during that Minx roll-out to remind people that DC already publishes several comics a lot of girls might like, and I think they took advantage of about five of those opportunities at the outside. It was bizarre.
I think their biggest screwup was TenTen. That title could have been their Beserk, but they mucked it up. Even though it sold well. If that makes any sense? I bought the first volume and never bought any more because it was edited so horribly. And then they started going with the shojo a bit too much, and much of it meaningless froo froo. Only recently with the publication of some mature titles (copied from Del Rey’s bigger format)have they begun to earn back any credibility in my eyes. Diversify dawg!
Did anyone notice the unusual step that CMX took in the Venus in Love manga? They actually had an ad for the Tokyopop title from the same author called Zig Zag. I just don’t remember this happening before. Where a manga publisher runs an ad for a manga by another publisher. I didn’t buy Zig Zag so I don’t know if there was an ad for Venus in that volume.
Tokyopop’s being doing ad swapping for years—I remember seeing an ad for Paradise Kiss in the back of Blue Monday (not quite a manga, granted) years ago. And then they (as well as other companies) do ad swaps with anime companies—I just saw an ad for the CMX manga Gals packaged with my Super Gals anime box set (from Right Stuf). You can even get a few anime series with manga from other companies packaged WITH THEM. I think Fruits Basket and Peach Girl have both done that.
Anyway, God bless CMX—people may think they’re too “shoujo,” but the truth is they’re bringing over quality and/or historical shoujo series that diversify the market as a whole. If they want to get into the seinen game, fine, but that niche has already been poked by a nunber of different publishers. Shoujo from the 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s? CMX is almost entirely alone, and it’s a niche that sells pretty crappily. Kudos to them for making our market bigger even while it meant getting hit in the wallet pretty hard. Without CMX, we wouldn’t have a definitive manga on dance (Swan) or The Young Magician, which I still think is the one of the most brilliant and underrated manga I’ve read in ANY genre.
I don’t know who at CMX is responsible for choosing all the old shojo — it really feels like the work of one or two fanatics. I’d love to talk to those fanatics and get to know them. That said, I love their ’70s and 80s shojo, of course. :) Moon Child, Eroica, Swan — the awesomest!
For further proof that DC isn’t giving CMX the support it deserves, one need only consider CMX’s appearance at NY Comic-Con. CMX made its big licensing announcements for 2007/08 at the Wildstorm panel, which featured an all-star line-up of celebrity comic writers (Brian K. Vaughn, Gail Simone). The result was really schizo: one minute the moderator was directing our attention to comic book adaptations of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the next we were looking at cover art for some of the girliest shojo you can imagine (i.e. I Hate You More Than Anyone), and then we were given an opportunity to grill Vaughn about future issues of Rex Mundi. Maybe this year, DC will give CMX its own panel. Or better still, sponsor a panel educating fans about shojo manga history—why not TELL Kare Kano fans why they also ought to be reading From Eroica With Love, Swan, and Moon Child?
It’s probably old news at this point, but I recently got the first 3 volumes of the GALS! series from CMX and they were some of the most enjoyable comics I read all year.