Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #102

Originally Posted on 02/13/2004 by Jeff Harris

Just checked out Time Magazine and noticed a very small detail in this story about the increase of female readership of manga. Normally, that would be enough to warrant a mention on this old site. But something really peaked my interest.

According to the article, DC Comics, creators of some of the most iconic heroes on the planet and publishers of some of the most risktaking comic titles on the market today, are entering the world of manga this fall publishing manga under the name CMX (short for CoMiX). What isn't known is exactly WHAT they're going to publish. Afterall, many of the biggest manga properties are taken by the likes of Viz, ADV, fellow American comic company Dark Horse, and the current leader of the market, TOKYOPOP. Even with a stronger tie-in with Cartoon Network, there's much speculation about what kind of titles could be published.

Granted, they could go the Marvel route and publish manga versions of their superheroes. Manga versions of Sandman, Death, Batman, and the Adam Warren-drawn Titans one-shot did pretty good, but I'm sure that a bulk of what CMX will publish will be straight out of Japan, kind of like when they published a couple of Gon one-shots. One of the first CMX titles is likely the legendary fantasy franchise DC Comics recently acquired, WaRP Graphics' Elfquest, but no exact plans have been revealed other than the fact that CMX will begin publishing in the fall.

But wait, I can hear the faint cries of otaku reading this article, "What about REAL manga? Not this Americanized manga crap." I'm sure that Japanese-created comics will make an impact as part of CMX. Now, knowing that DC is preparing to become an American home for international comics (the European-based Humanoid Publishing titles are also poised to find a home at DC Comics under their brand name), I'm sure that they're currently arranging deals to publish some high-profile titles from the best manga-kas around. Of course with many of the major manga publishers already connected to American distributors, this could be harder than DC Comics thought.

Still, it's good to see the original comic company preparing to enter the manga industry with a bang.

(Greetings from the Future! CMX existed, created controversy with its editing standards, but eventually maintained a good run until DC Entertainment closed down the division, based at Wildstorm, in Spring 2010. - jh, 7/10)

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Creator/Webmaster
February 13, 2004