The Wall Street Journal looks at recent efforts by American comics publishers to appeal to teen girls by following the path carved by manga. Now, why would they want to do that? Oh, right:
… Trade publication ICv2 puts the total comics and graphic novel market at about $640 million last year in the U.S. and Canada, with manga accounting for about $200 million of that figure.
The manga category is expanding quickly. Total sales of manga books jumped 22% to 9.5 million units in 2006 from 7.8 million a year earlier, according to Nielsen BookScan, which collects point-of-sale information from 6,500 retail locations across the country, including those operated by Borders Group Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc. The manga category in 2006 accounted for about two-thirds (68.5%) of all graphic novels sold in U.S. bookstores, up from slightly more than half (53.8%) in 2004, according to Nielsen BookScan. (The figures don’t include comic-book stores.)
The article focuses primarily on DC Comics’ new Minx imprint, but also mentions Marvel’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, and the Joss Whedon-penned Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Astonishing X-Men.
There’s also a video interview with DC’s Karen Berger, and a slideshow looking at female comic-book characters through the years.
