Minx (comics)

Minx was an imprint of DC Comics that published graphic novels aimed at teenage girls. It ran from 2007 to 2008.

History
Minx was announced in November 2006, following several years of planning. Senior Vice President Karen Berger and Group Editor Shelly Bond were supervising the imprint.

DC had contracted [Alloy Marketing + Media to market the line's books, with a budget of $125,000 to $250,000. Berger stated that the success of translated manga and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis among teenage girls helped motivate the creation of the imprint.

Initial online reaction to the imprint had some controversy over the sexual connotations of the name as well as the small proportion of female creators in the lineup, especially due to an emphasis on female creators in The New York Times article that broke the story.

On September 24, 2008, Comic Book Resources reported the confirmation of the imprint's cancellation. Some remaining projects would be published, while others were cancelled. CBR summed the situation up:

Multiple sources close to the situation agree Bond and DC aren’t to blame for MINX’s cancellation, and that this development should be seen as a depressing indication that a market for alternative young adult comics does not exist in the capacity to support an initiative of this kind, if at all.

Of the imprint-closing titles, Emiko Superstar, Token and The PLAIN Janes 2: Janes in Love were published. The sequels to The New York Four and Clubbing were all canceled along with the nearly complete All Nighter. All Nighter's creator David Hahn is committed to getting it published, saying "over the past two-and-a-half years, I've ignored my other creator-owned projects to devote my efforts to ‘All Nighter,’ so somehow, I will see to it that it eventually gets published."

Most of the suggestions for the imprint's downfall focus on the failure of the distributor Random House to achieve one of the principal aims: to get the graphic novels shelved in the Young Adult section in the major bookstores. However, creators questioned felt that this could have been achieved given time.

Post-shutdown sequels
Brian Wood and Ryan Kelley's New York Four have a sequel, published under DC's Vertigo imprint, entitled New York Five. It launched in January, 2011.

David Hahn's All Nighter was published as a mini-series by Image Comics in 2011.

Interviews

 * Cecil Castellucci, November 30, 2006
 * Jim Rugg, December 1, 2006
 * Line Editor Karen Berger April 5, 2007
 * Mike Carey April 10, 2007
 * Louise Carey May 23, 2007
 * Rebecca Donner, Publishers Weekly, May 12, 2008