by Brandon Schatz
Over at Publisher’s Weekly, they’ve announced that a couple of Brain Wood series will return to print from Dark Horse, as part of a focus on YA content from the company.
In November, a collection of the two New York Four/Five volumes the writer did with artist Ryan Kelly for DC’s Minx line, an ill-fated imprint that missed its mark more than it hit. Marketed towards the YA market, many of the books attempted to tell stories involving that age group instead of aiming upwards towards the older set. Take a look at a book store, and you’ll see the kids section filled with books telling stories about kids or teens who are just a little bit older than the age being marketed towards. As always, the younger set wants to seem more grown up, and the perfect way to hit the demographic is to aim higher, and market lower.
Keeping in that vein, Dark Horse will also be bringing Demo back into print, a series Wood did with artist Becky Cloonan, first for AiT/PlanetLar, and then for Vertigo.
It’s been a big couple of weeks for Wood, along with the announcement of his involvement in Marvel’s Moon Knight title following Warren Ellis’ departure. These are the first big project announced from Wood since accusations of misogyny were levelled at him late last year, though Dark Horse hints that there is more to come from the writer in the coming months, as The Massive draws to a close, and new series begin.
As noted by my piece earlier this week, I have my own problems with Wood, though as blogger and former DC editor Valerie D’Orzaio notes, it’s important not to confuse feelings on Wood’s actions with a call to action, or a means to an end. I know I’ve enjoyed these books in particular, and would love to see them reach a wider audience.
So DC doesn’t own the comics that were made for Minx?
That’s a possiblity. Clearly, that is no longer the case for NYF. That said, it’s my understanding that a lot of these kinds of books function on a type of Watchmen contract with the company, the rights reverting to the creator(s) after so long out of print. (Though I believe contracts have changed since that point in time.)
“Though I believe contracts have changed since that point in time”
“I Believe” here means “i really have no idea, but it sounds more authoritative when i phrase it this way”, correct?
Yep, just going on the info at my finger tips. Good thing I never pretended otherwise, yeah?
Given the huge number of books that are reverting to creators at Vertigo and Zuda—remember that_obviously they are letting go of material they don’t think they can leverage. Nothing wrong with that, and a fair deal all around.
Vertigo absolutely had a contract change a few years ago and it’s why a lot of people left and went to Image and other publishers.
now, you were saying…?
Wood may have also asked DC to relinquish their ownership rights and just had to wait for the legal paperwork to work through the system. The Minx imprint was seemingly working with the old Vertigo contracts.