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Although DC’s recently shuttered manga line, CMX, isn’t shutting down until the end of June, DC has already taken down the CMX website and completely scrubbed the rest of their site for any mention of the offending imprint. Despite the fact that books are still coming out. When you’re dead, you’re dead. Or as David Welsh notes

Pieces like this are important, as DC has already dismantled its CMX web site, and all links to title information now go to a listing for the second issue of the Brightest Day mini-series. That strikes me as both telling and tastelessly ironic.


Luckily quite a few people still remember. Mania.com presents a list of 20 Must Have CMX Manga. And Katherine Dacey eulogizes the books that appelaed to the audience outside DC’s core demographic.

The demise of CMX was a real blow to librarians who work with pre-teen and young teen readers, as CMX published a lot of terrific series for kids in this underserved 8-to-13 age group. As my colleague Robin Brenner noted last week, other companies may be publishing material for teens, but series like Black Bird and Vampire Knight aren’t really appropriate for the middle school crowd. And that’s where CMX came in


All told, it looks like DC won’t be going outside its core demo for quite a while now.

Comics, wake up! The call is coming from inside the house!

1 COMMENT

  1. Shortsightedness is the albatross of the US comics industry. The sooner Marvel and DC hire more women, become less of a bloody “boy’s club” and accept that the general population want more than just superheroes, then these half-assed “experiments” are destined to fail as the marketing depts and upper management refuse to get behind them.

    Been hearing some seriously disturbing rumours about the deeply ingrained misogyny at Marvel recently. Very, very sad and exactly the sort of mentality that keeps comics ghettoised.

    Surely it’s time these “boys” grew up? Stop putting superheroines in skimpy spandex, for god’s sake!

  2. Paul and Al made an interesting point on their pod this week.

    Disney already has the young girl audience sewn up, so all they need from Marvel is the young boy audience (even if we are just talking about babymen I guess).

  3. >>all links to title information now go to a listing for the second issue of the Brightest Day mini-series. That strikes me as both telling and tastelessly ironic.
    <<

    hahahaah – Lord is someone got a twisted sense of humor!

  4. I’m convinced Marvel and DC have both decided to let comic books run their course until the profit margin finally disappears. Their characters generate so much more money on other platforms, it’s downright archaic for them to continue publishing new comics.

  5. @ Tim
    >> and accept that the general population want more than just superheroes,

    Judging by the abysmal sales of CMX I’d say the general population does not want that.

  6. I thought at the time the CMX shutdown was announced that DC employees and executives probably harbored resentment and, perhaps, worse emotions toward the division. Manga is often depicted as a classier, more fulfilling, and better alternative to superhero comics instead of a different format, appealing to different tastes.

    If DC was just one of several imprints owned by a diversified publisher, instead of a troubled source of IP to be exploited, CMX might have fared better.

    SRS

  7. Christian: >>>Judging by the abysmal sales of CMX I’d say the general population does not want that.

    If one were to look at the Bookscan charts one would conclude that the general population is interested in nothing except manga and Alan Moore.

  8. As you all rush to condemn one of the Big Two (again) I wonder how many of you actually spent that same energy promoting CMX when it was running. I’d wager not so much.

  9. “I wonder how many of you actually spent that same energy promoting CMX when it was running.”

    Why would The Beat readers be responsible for that function? Blame DC for lack of promotion and ineffective marketing, not us. It’s not like this imprint was being published out of somebody’s garage.

  10. Whatev, I’ll start complaining when Vertigo is shut down or Brian K. Vaughn retires/passes away. Manga was a fun gravy train while it lasted, but numerous books with cookie cutter plots and OEL Manga artists with nothing more than the desire to be like Manga a.k.a lack of orginality(except for a few rly good ones here and there). This was inevitable with almost everyone in the manga industry saying in chorus “if its not broken don’t fix it.” so let the dark age of begin and hopefully we get a massive resurgence with the next generation.

  11. “Been hearing some seriously disturbing rumors about the deeply ingrained misogyny at Marvel recently. Very, very sad and exactly the sort of mentality that keeps comics ghettoized.”

    Not that it isn’t possible, or that it hasn’t been happening for the past 80 years of American Comics, but it seems like there are more women working at Marvel now than ever before.

  12. Mikael,

    The only real obligation fans and readers of work is to be willing to talk about books that they like to other people, and even that isn’t so much an obligation, but something people tend to instinctively do when they find something they like.

    It’s similar to when beer was discovered: “Hey, when i drink enough of this, I feel better than I used to.”
    “really, let me try. damn, lets build a civilization around these tall golden plants and make more of this.”

    Eventually, that became:

    Anheuser: “hey, this shit tastes like crap, but its full of alcohol”
    Busch: “Damn, lets tell other people about it using a combination of frogs and sexy women.”

    And it is the same with CMX. It was DC’s job to promote and encourage the line. If they didn’t, it is no one’s fault but their own.

  13. Beat: >>>> If one were to look at the Bookscan charts one would conclude that the general population is interested in nothing except manga and Alan Moore.

    And coincidentally neither of those two things will be having any new work published by the big 2 in the foreseeable future.

  14. “Blame DC for lack of promotion and ineffective marketing…”

    You could say that about everything DC does. I mean honestly, what they heck does their marketing department actually do? Because they sure don’t seem to be, you know, actually marketing any of their product.

  15. “Not that it isn’t possible, or that it hasn’t been happening for the past 80 years of American Comics, but it seems like there are more women working at Marvel now than ever before.”

    That may be true, but the sexist working conditions see a high turnover of female staff, and when did you ever seen any women become group editors or higher? It’s slightly better at DC thanks to Jeanette Khan, Karen Berger and the like, but even there, there’s male resentment!

    And I’m not even going to touch on what Marvel’s ideas on a good night out are for staff/creators at conventions.

  16. “You could say that about everything DC does. I mean honestly, what they heck does their marketing department actually do? Because they sure don’t seem to be, you know, actually marketing any of their product.”

    Plastic rings…and that’s about it.

  17. I certainly wouldn’t expect THE BEAT to do promotion for DC but I’m surprised no one has responded here to the question of whether anything at CMX enjoyed strong sales or not. Isn’t keeping rough track of companies’ sales records one of the specialties of THE BEAT?

    I went down the list of CMX’s properties and don’t recognize most of them, so I’m clueless about what did and didn’t sell for them. Anyone care to enlighten?

  18. That may be true, but the sexist working conditions see a high turnover of female staff, and when did you ever seen any women become group editors or higher?

    Bobbie Chase was a group editor from 1991-1994, executive editor from 1995-2001, and editor-in-chief from 1994-1995. I wouldn’t argue against accusations of sexism in Marvel’s publications, though.

    SRS

  19. “Bobbie Chase was a group editor from 1991-1994, executive editor from 1995-2001, and editor-in-chief from 1994-1995. I wouldn’t argue against accusations of sexism in Marvel’s publications, though.”

    Thanks for pointing that out! And there have been some great female MArvel editors (like Marie Javins), but, again, Bobbie left that last post 9 years ago.

    And as you point out their publications are sexist which means that it is deeply rooted in the culture from the top down. Most women who are in a minority in that sort of environment either keep their heads down—for fear of being branded a “feminist dyke”; collude with it—and become “one of the guys”; or simply leave when they can’t take it any more. It’s VERY hard to get any change in these areas.

    I hope that the future it will change but I’d like to hear positive statements along these lines from the upper management and not some kind of lip-service title like Girl’s Comics which is chasing the female dollar.

    Last year Joe Quesada even brazenly admitted Marvel titles are sexist by posting: “If you’re Marvel reader and truly feel we’re sexist, then why are you reading our books?”

    That sounds like a good enough reason for anyone who cares about these things to boycott Marvel until they change their editorial policies. I’d like to see more positivity from Marvel, rather than a ton more adolescent wank material, thank you very much.

    More men need to stand up and say this, so it can’t be dismissed so easily.

  20. Tim, you have yet to cite a specific example of sexism. It’s not that I don’t believe you. There’s something wrong with your insistance that Marvel has a social obligation to placate female readers. If female creators don’t feel that they’re getting the respect that they want at the large publishers they are free to come together and start their own comic imprint. It bothers me why that hasn’t happened but I think it has something to do with the low ratio of female readers to creators and the fact that very few marvel and dc readers want to read “girl comics.”–comics about realistic women with little to no sex appeal.

    Politically correct readers and creators need to come to grips with the fact that men and women are different and will not always produce material that will appeal to both genders. For every LOST, there are a dozen Twilight-like titles and Witchblade-like titles. It takes a lot more skill and maturity and pure luck to come up with content that men and women will enjoy equally. It’s much easier to fill in a niche. If Marvel is a “boy’s club”, there’s nothing wrong with that.I’d rather seem them remain a boy’s club than do something extremely patronizing to “reach out” to women or some non-traditional demographic.

  21. Hi Mike. I think you are correct in many of your points, but, as you say, just because “It takes a lot more skill and maturity and pure luck to come up with content that men and women will enjoy equally.” doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be attempted! Otherwise we are always settling for a “dumbed down” mediocre culture. “Why bother trying, it’s too hard…”

    Someone pointed out to me, if you simply swap the words “sexism” for “racism” would you be saying the same things? For example if we take your whole statement and give it that twist:

    “Tim, you have yet to cite a specific example of racism. It’s not that I don’t believe you. There’s something wrong with your insistence that Marvel has a social obligation to placate black readers. If black creators don’t feel that they’re getting the respect that they want at the large publishers they are free to come together and start their own comic imprint. It bothers me why that hasn’t happened but I think it has something to do with the low ratio of black readers to creators and the fact that very few marvel and dc readers want to read “black comics.”…

    …Politically correct readers and creators need to come to grips with the fact that black and white readers are different and will not always produce material that will appeal to both races… It takes a lot more skill and maturity and pure luck to come up with content that whites and blacks will enjoy equally. It’s much easier to fill in a niche. If Marvel is a “white man’s club”, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’d rather see them remain a white man’s club than do something extremely patronising to “reach out” to ethnic minorities or some non-traditional demographic.”

    When seen in that context hopefully you can see the point I’m getting at. That sexism is as bad as racism. But it is so deeply engrained into our western culture that most of the time we can’t even see it. I’ve only recently opened my eyes up to this and have been shocked at how much worse/more prevalent it is in “mainstream” comics.

    I don’t want to name and shame people here (as that would be inappropriate) but I do know certain comics pros who regularly frequent strip clubs on company money. Is that right?

  22. Tim,
    When you say that sexism is as bad as racism, are you basing that on a notion that all sexism is just as culturally conditioned as racism is dominantly perceived to be?

    I ask because if sexism on both sides of the gender street exists for transcultural reasons, then there could be more justification for “boys’ club” and “girls club” types of entertainment.

    And of course there are “ethnicity clubs” designed for various groups/nationalities. I think Tyler Perry owns three or four of them.

  23. Using he black race substitution is a flawed example.
    The cultural(physiological and intelligence, if ) differences between blacks and whites are muted by the fact the that everyone will go in droves to see whatever hyped entertainment event. Everyone in America gets behind Christian celebrations. Black people by and large go with the flow of consumerism unless they’re too poor and uneducated to take part.
    When they feel left out, you get something like hip hop–which these days only tell me that poor blacks want in on all that consumption that they’re missing out on.
    Black seperatism is a very fringe concept. these days.

    I imagine sexism might begin to stem from women in power now that women outside of the itsy bitsy comic industry seem poised to dominate corporate America. It’s a changing world, Tim.

  24. Gene, the best selling title at CMX by far ws Megatokyo, which is continuing.

    The average CMX title didn’t sell very much in bookstores, but neither do a lot of trades published by the big two. However, they have the DM sales to bolster them, which CMX didn’t have.

  25. Using the black race as substitution is a flawed.
    The cultural(physiological and intelligence, if ) differences between blacks and whites are muted by the fact the that everyone will go in droves to see whatever hyped entertainment event. Everyone in America gets behind Christian celebrations. Black people by and large go with the flow of consumerism unless they’re too poor and uneducated to take part.
    When they feel left out, you get something like hip hop–which these days only tell me that poor blacks want in on all that consumption that they’re missing out on.
    Black seperatism is a very fringe concept. these days.

    I imagine sexism might begin to stem from women in power now that women outside of the itsy bitsy comic industry seem poised to dominate corporate America. It’s a changing world, Tim.

  26. 28/2010 at 12:29 pm
    Using the black race as substitution is a flawed.
    The cultural(physiological and intelligence, if you want to believe so) differences between blacks and whites are muted by the fact the that everyone will go in droves to see whatever hyped entertainment event. Everyone in America gets behind Christian celebrations. Black people by and large go with the flow of consumerism unless they’re too poor and uneducated to take part.
    When they feel left out, you get something like hip hop–which these days only tell me that poor blacks want in on all that consumption that they’re missing out on.
    Black seperatism is a very fringe concept. these days.

    I imagine sexism might begin to stem from women in power now that women outside of the itsy bitsy comic industry seem poised to dominate corporate America. It’s a changing world, Tim.

  27. I completely agree with Tim, and maybe most in his statement that men of the industry opening their eyes to the injustice of sexism need to stand up about it. Because unfortunately there aren’t many women in the industry to do it.

    If anyone questions Tim’s comparisons to racism it can be broadened to include the portrayal of women (not only to creators and readers). Even though alot of American pop culture still features alot of token minorities and few mixed race relationships in stories, we no longer see the charicatures of Tintin in Congo. But superhero comics still portray women as sexual objects in art and often as spin-offs of male characters in writing.

    The fact that no-one forces black people to read Tintin in Congo doesn’t excuse portraying them that way anymore. Eventually we’ll get there when it comes to sexism too, but it’ll be a long walk.

    Non-feminists tend to think this kind of critique strives for the elimination of any sexy imagery of women or the like. But just skim through a batch of mainstream comics and have a look at how often, when a women is drawn as a sexy vixen in an unnatural and raunchy pose, how often it is needed for the story or does even add to it?

    As for Lost, if it isn’t sexist I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just luck. It was writing, and like Tim states, why go for less?

    Then again, superheroes… Why save a sinking ship? Sexism isn’t the only ideological problem in the individualistic world-view of this genre.

  28. I’m sad to see CMX shut down because I was reading Swan and now I suppose I’ll never get to read the end of the story.

    The question of sexism at Marvel is really a lot more nuanced than anyone posting here seems to understand. As the writer of one of Marvel’s best selling current projects, adaptations of L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, I certainly resent any implication that my work for Marvel is sexist. And I’m not suggesting that setting Dorothy Gale on one side of the scale against any number of scantily clad, impossibly buxom superheroines will set the pointer to zero. But even with my limited view as a freelancer, I’ve seen more points of view in the Marvel offices than anyone posting here gives Marvel credit for. I don’t know if these pov’s will result in any long term change for the better, but three years ago not even I would have predicted that a Marvel comics adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz would have done anything but sink quickly into oblivion.

    Of course, in the end what Marvel publishes is what Marvel is. But before you make a sweeping judgment about Marvel (or DC or any comics publisher), make sure you know what it is they actually publish, not vague assumptions of a few things they might have been publishing three years ago.