At Crocodile Caucus, Lyle critiques the article I linked to earlier, 12 Reasons Why Manga is Not a Gateway Drug to Western Comics. In fact, he turns her arguments around and explains why, if the comics companies were smart, they would use the things that made manga successful to lure readers to their product.
His suggested strategies all make an enormous amount of sense. They are all about making superhero comics more accessible to new readers: Don’t be sexist, package your product well, promote it to people who are drawn in by the movies and TV properties. And I agree wholeheartedly with his first point: “Tell stories that can be enjoyed on their own.” Complicated backstories are fine for serious fans but not so good for bringing people into the fold.
