VOICE FROM THE LONGBOX

Coming in April is a new "wave" of monthly titles named Tsunami. (Don’t blame me for the puns.) They use Japanese storytelling techniques as a model. The goal of these new titles is to attract a different audience than those currently buying Marvel’s monthlies. Marvel has noticed that comics (specifically Japanese Manga) are selling to non-comic store customers (namely younger readers and girls) in chain bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble. Rather than trying to make girls read Avengers or Thor, Marvel decided to create titles with a different emphasis on pacing and character development, and maybe even (gasp!) romance. If the top selling trade paperbacks in these chain stores are Love Hina, Inu Yasha, and Gundam Wing, you aren’t going to attract any new readers with another Wolverine title.
Marvel introduced their new wave with a series of teaser images on some of the popular comic news websites. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed once I actually heard the titles. It took me a day or so to realize that maybe these titles aren’t necessarily for me. So, rather than blast these books before reading them, I’ll hold my opinion until April. (Wow. Growth from a comic book store guy.)
Namor has been in comics since 1939. He’s been everything from a Nazi-basher to a super-villain,.. and now he’s going to be a teenager. And he’s in love with a surface girl. (Okay, maybe I haven’t grown so much that I can’t snicker at the Little Mermaid-ness of this one.) And the first issue is only 25 cents!
Venom is going to be the sci-fi / horror title, featuring everybody’s favorite brain-eating symbiote that used to be Spider-Man’s costume. This time, the symbiote jumps from person to person.
Sentinel features a sophomore slacker and the giant mutant hunting robot he finds in his dad’s junkyard. (Okay. I saw this movie, too.)
Human Torch promises more straight-forward fun and action than some of these titles. It features the fiery member of the Fantastic Four.
Mystique is the blue-skinned shape shifter from the X-titles (and movie) that hopes to feature Alias-type adventures.
Runaways is billed by Marvel as "Smallville meets Harry Potter", starring six young friends and the secret they share.
And there you go. It’s not exactly Peach Girl or Cowboy Bebop, but it’s a different take than Marvel’s norm. And, as I’ve said in the past, it doesn’t hurt to try something different to attract new readers. These are still Marvel characters in the Marvel Universe doing Marvel-type things, just at a different pace. Now, if only somebody could explain to me what Marmalade Boy is,...