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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
So Much For Eurocomics: DC Drops Humanoids and 2000 AD Imprints
To sum it up in one word: "Motherf**ker."
DC has given up on two of its three international comics imprints, 2000 AD which handles British comics and Humanoids which handles European comics. Here's the official news release and here's a more revealing article from Newsarama. CMX, the Japanese manga line, is being kept alive - but as Newsarama's Brian Hibbs notes, all three imprints have done poorly in sales and CMX just happens to be the least weak of this trio of sales runts.
I can't say I didn't see this coming. I'd have been very surprised to find out sales on the 2000 AD and Humanoids imprints were healthy, and apparently they weren't. That said, I'm disappointed it had to turn out like this. DC could have stuck it out longer, perhaps, or redirected its energy in some way... but the chances of European comics making any headway in today's market with today's reader demographics would have been near-impossible. At least, not to the scale that a major publisher with stockholders would require.
Regarding the surviving imprint, CMX - well, DC tried to do manga, but apparently it didn't take. (At least, based on Hibbs' numbers.) Tokyopop and Viz may not have the market all to themselves, but they certainly dominate and have brand name advantage among the gaijin otaku. DC can hang in there, assured that there are lots of kids who at least like manga and will give their titles a try...
The same can't be said for the other imprints. Which is perhaps - likely? - why they did so poorly.
The loss of 2000 AD is sad, but I must confess I wasn't very interested in what they offered. I'd sampled a lot of 2000 AD titles when I was younger, and wasn't much interested in reading them again. If they'd decided to do some of the serials from Crisis or maybe even bought the rights to The New Adventures of Hitler by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell, I'd've tried them out. The post-adolescent snarky bloodfests that DC's 2000 AD specialized in are typical of the British 2000 AD but no longer my cup of tea. As it is, I'll be picking up the Ballad of Halo Jones reprint - a wonderful, overlooked series by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson - when it comes out, one of the last of DC's 2000 AD offerings.
For me, at least, Humanoids is a whole other story. While manga has boomed in the United States, Eurocomics has had an uphill battle to maintain its miniscule sales in America. I was first introduced to European comics in the 1980s by Heavy Metal magazine and then Catalan Communications, which published wonderful graphic albums by a wealth of European comics stars. This included Milo Manara, Matthas Schultheiss, Guido Crepax, Massimo Mattioli, and even the first U.S. translated work of Lorenzo Mattotti, Fires. These were comics of varying qualities but they were often high quality, beautifully produced and unlike any comic you'd see in the United States. They were examples of what comic books could be - and were, across the Atlantic. They were fun, sexy, adult and mature - and God bless Catalan publisher Bernd Metz, wherever he is now.
Others have tried to capture the spirit of Catalan, most notably NBM and Drawn & Quarterly, but only DC Humanoids have come close to being such a vibrant, deep resource for translated Eurocomics.
Humanoids was originally an independent publisher which was an extension of Les Humanoids Associes from France. The independent Humanoids (a term I'll use to distinguish between Humanoids as its own publisher and DC Humanoids) seemed too focused on science fiction, particularly that written by Alexandro Jodorwosky, and I found myself largely uninterested in their offerings (with the notable exception of Bilal, but I'll get to that in a minute). In sharp contrast, after DC acquired Humanoids, there was a clear push to provide a fair sampling of various genres of Eurocomics, including Westerns (notably The Bouncer by Jodorowsky and Francois Boucq), modern thrillers (the slow-moving but rewarding Sanctum) and even adventures in the Herge / ligne claire mode (Yves Chaland's excellent Freddy Lombard stories). As a dedicated fanboy I supported the DC Humanoids imprint as best as I could.
That said, I had some serious misgivings about DC Humanoids. And most of it has to do with Enki Bilal.
DC Humanoids decided to have its own Bilal Library, reprinting most of the works by one of France's most revered comics creators. That's a great idea, getting Bilal the recognition he deserves. But I already had most all of the selections in their Bilal Library - he's one of my favorite comics creators, after all, going back to when his graphic albums were published by Catalan Communications in the 1980s. This brings up a major problem: with the notable exception of the second volume of the Beast trilogy, most all of the Bilal books from DC Humanoids had already been published in America - some of them by both Catalan and the independent Humanoids. Established Bilal fans - who should have been the starting point for a Bilal Library - had very little worth buying.
Why not publish some works that weren't translated yet? There are two "reportage comics" that Bilal drew, working with his longtime collaborator, the writer Pierre Christin. One was Los Angeles: L'Etoile Oubliee de Laurie Bloom, about the career of a would-be starlet. The second was Coeurs Sanglants et Autre Faits Divers, a striking science fiction thriller about a worldwide secret cult. Both were written as a series of newspaper clippings - and while risky for a comic shop market, could have had great appeal for the bookstore market, for folks who don't usually buy comics but would be struck by this strange hybrid. For that matter, Bilal's art books - the ones with his Nikopol characters, or even the series of illustrations he did about the Berlin Wall - could have been translated and released, as well.
There were other issues as well. As a general policy, the DC Humanoids gave up the lavish, oversized hardcover editions that the independent Humanoids specialized in, opting instead for smaller softcover compendiums with two or even three graphic albums in one volume. More bang for your buck, which is often a good thing... and which persuaded me to buy some books, like Sanctum, which I would have passed up if they were hardcover and priced higher. That said, there's something about Bilal's work in particular, especially his later work, that invites more lavish production values.
The Hunting Party suffered unduly by DC Humanoids' treatment. This is one of the greatest comic books of all time, a work that was recognized outside of comic books circle as a major work of art. The independent Humanoids version of The Hunting Party got it right: they not only published it as an oversized hardcover, they included an epilogue previously unseen in the United States. The DC Humanoids version was published under the title The Chaos Effect, with The Hunting Party as the second half of a volume that includes The Ranks of the Black Order. It also didn't include the epilogue at all... but it did use the art in the story for endpapers and spot illustrations.
What the hell?
I've pre-ordered several Humanoids books from my local comic shop and thankfully they'll still be published. That said, I'm not sure if the second volume of The Incal: The Epic Conspiracy covers the whole story - I'm betting it doesn't - and I doubt they'll publish a third and final volume, if warranted. And The Incal is perhaps the most important European comic of its era, the masterwork of acclaimed comics genius Moebius which last was published in America by Marvel Epic in the 1980s. It should be back in print in the United States and remain in print - I hate to ask a corporation to consider art ahead of commerce, but there are times when that should be the case.
Unfortunately, the commerce side of DC's recent international comics initiative has apparently been so fucking dismal, I can't blame them if they decide to shirk such duty. You can only bleed for so long before you need to amputate, after all.
And for the record, I give CMX less than six months.
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DC has given up on two of its three international comics imprints, 2000 AD which handles British comics and Humanoids which handles European comics. Here's the official news release and here's a more revealing article from Newsarama. CMX, the Japanese manga line, is being kept alive - but as Newsarama's Brian Hibbs notes, all three imprints have done poorly in sales and CMX just happens to be the least weak of this trio of sales runts.
I can't say I didn't see this coming. I'd have been very surprised to find out sales on the 2000 AD and Humanoids imprints were healthy, and apparently they weren't. That said, I'm disappointed it had to turn out like this. DC could have stuck it out longer, perhaps, or redirected its energy in some way... but the chances of European comics making any headway in today's market with today's reader demographics would have been near-impossible. At least, not to the scale that a major publisher with stockholders would require.
Regarding the surviving imprint, CMX - well, DC tried to do manga, but apparently it didn't take. (At least, based on Hibbs' numbers.) Tokyopop and Viz may not have the market all to themselves, but they certainly dominate and have brand name advantage among the gaijin otaku. DC can hang in there, assured that there are lots of kids who at least like manga and will give their titles a try...
The same can't be said for the other imprints. Which is perhaps - likely? - why they did so poorly.
The loss of 2000 AD is sad, but I must confess I wasn't very interested in what they offered. I'd sampled a lot of 2000 AD titles when I was younger, and wasn't much interested in reading them again. If they'd decided to do some of the serials from Crisis or maybe even bought the rights to The New Adventures of Hitler by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell, I'd've tried them out. The post-adolescent snarky bloodfests that DC's 2000 AD specialized in are typical of the British 2000 AD but no longer my cup of tea. As it is, I'll be picking up the Ballad of Halo Jones reprint - a wonderful, overlooked series by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson - when it comes out, one of the last of DC's 2000 AD offerings.
For me, at least, Humanoids is a whole other story. While manga has boomed in the United States, Eurocomics has had an uphill battle to maintain its miniscule sales in America. I was first introduced to European comics in the 1980s by Heavy Metal magazine and then Catalan Communications, which published wonderful graphic albums by a wealth of European comics stars. This included Milo Manara, Matthas Schultheiss, Guido Crepax, Massimo Mattioli, and even the first U.S. translated work of Lorenzo Mattotti, Fires. These were comics of varying qualities but they were often high quality, beautifully produced and unlike any comic you'd see in the United States. They were examples of what comic books could be - and were, across the Atlantic. They were fun, sexy, adult and mature - and God bless Catalan publisher Bernd Metz, wherever he is now.
Others have tried to capture the spirit of Catalan, most notably NBM and Drawn & Quarterly, but only DC Humanoids have come close to being such a vibrant, deep resource for translated Eurocomics.
Humanoids was originally an independent publisher which was an extension of Les Humanoids Associes from France. The independent Humanoids (a term I'll use to distinguish between Humanoids as its own publisher and DC Humanoids) seemed too focused on science fiction, particularly that written by Alexandro Jodorwosky, and I found myself largely uninterested in their offerings (with the notable exception of Bilal, but I'll get to that in a minute). In sharp contrast, after DC acquired Humanoids, there was a clear push to provide a fair sampling of various genres of Eurocomics, including Westerns (notably The Bouncer by Jodorowsky and Francois Boucq), modern thrillers (the slow-moving but rewarding Sanctum) and even adventures in the Herge / ligne claire mode (Yves Chaland's excellent Freddy Lombard stories). As a dedicated fanboy I supported the DC Humanoids imprint as best as I could.
That said, I had some serious misgivings about DC Humanoids. And most of it has to do with Enki Bilal.
DC Humanoids decided to have its own Bilal Library, reprinting most of the works by one of France's most revered comics creators. That's a great idea, getting Bilal the recognition he deserves. But I already had most all of the selections in their Bilal Library - he's one of my favorite comics creators, after all, going back to when his graphic albums were published by Catalan Communications in the 1980s. This brings up a major problem: with the notable exception of the second volume of the Beast trilogy, most all of the Bilal books from DC Humanoids had already been published in America - some of them by both Catalan and the independent Humanoids. Established Bilal fans - who should have been the starting point for a Bilal Library - had very little worth buying.
Why not publish some works that weren't translated yet? There are two "reportage comics" that Bilal drew, working with his longtime collaborator, the writer Pierre Christin. One was Los Angeles: L'Etoile Oubliee de Laurie Bloom, about the career of a would-be starlet. The second was Coeurs Sanglants et Autre Faits Divers, a striking science fiction thriller about a worldwide secret cult. Both were written as a series of newspaper clippings - and while risky for a comic shop market, could have had great appeal for the bookstore market, for folks who don't usually buy comics but would be struck by this strange hybrid. For that matter, Bilal's art books - the ones with his Nikopol characters, or even the series of illustrations he did about the Berlin Wall - could have been translated and released, as well.
There were other issues as well. As a general policy, the DC Humanoids gave up the lavish, oversized hardcover editions that the independent Humanoids specialized in, opting instead for smaller softcover compendiums with two or even three graphic albums in one volume. More bang for your buck, which is often a good thing... and which persuaded me to buy some books, like Sanctum, which I would have passed up if they were hardcover and priced higher. That said, there's something about Bilal's work in particular, especially his later work, that invites more lavish production values.
The Hunting Party suffered unduly by DC Humanoids' treatment. This is one of the greatest comic books of all time, a work that was recognized outside of comic books circle as a major work of art. The independent Humanoids version of The Hunting Party got it right: they not only published it as an oversized hardcover, they included an epilogue previously unseen in the United States. The DC Humanoids version was published under the title The Chaos Effect, with The Hunting Party as the second half of a volume that includes The Ranks of the Black Order. It also didn't include the epilogue at all... but it did use the art in the story for endpapers and spot illustrations.
What the hell?
I've pre-ordered several Humanoids books from my local comic shop and thankfully they'll still be published. That said, I'm not sure if the second volume of The Incal: The Epic Conspiracy covers the whole story - I'm betting it doesn't - and I doubt they'll publish a third and final volume, if warranted. And The Incal is perhaps the most important European comic of its era, the masterwork of acclaimed comics genius Moebius which last was published in America by Marvel Epic in the 1980s. It should be back in print in the United States and remain in print - I hate to ask a corporation to consider art ahead of commerce, but there are times when that should be the case.
Unfortunately, the commerce side of DC's recent international comics initiative has apparently been so fucking dismal, I can't blame them if they decide to shirk such duty. You can only bleed for so long before you need to amputate, after all.
And for the record, I give CMX less than six months.
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LOL 2000ad is an impluse buy in the uk, cheap and available in most all local newsagents.