Back in the days when the TV landscape was pretty much limited to the three networks and little else, the fall premier week was a big event. In a space of one or two weeks, all three networks would premier all of the new shows that they had lined up for the year. In those days before VCR recorders and DVD players, this made for some pretty serious choices for TV watchers. There weren't as many entertainment alternatives then and so the networks played hardball, forcing you to make choices as they pitted their best and most promising new programs up against the best shows from the competing networks. It was called "Launching Big" and the strategy worked very well for that time. But the entertainment landscape was quite different in the 60's and 70's from what it is today. With so many other choices available for viewers, network programmers know that a new show needs to be nurtured with more care if it is to survive. Debut it against weaker competition, place it in between two popular shows, do what it takes to give audiences a chance to see the show or kiss it goodbye.

These days the availability of entertainment options is so large that most of us bear a casual attitude towards them. The hype gets bigger and bigger, but genuine interest most often gets lost in all the noise. The last place where hype seems to pay any dividends is at the local movie plex, where the bombastic trailer has been elevated to an art form. For some reason the comic book industry still finds the need to "launch big", despite having virtually no success in that area. The latest little attempt at "launching big" is Marvel's Tsunami line of books. To understand why Marvel felt any need for the Tsunami line of books, you have to consider the change that has occurred in the comics industry over the last few years.

Sales on monthly comic books have dropped steadily for the past 10 years. If you discount the speculator boom of the early 90's, the sales slide goes back much farther than that. In the 70's virtually everyone in the industry believed that comics would not survive past the mid 80's. Somehow the comic book has managed to beat its' terminal diagnosis and survive decades past its' former life expectancy. Of course, this has not occurred without adjustment pains. The traditional industry leaders (read: DC and Marvel Comics) still face sales that are a fraction of what they were in healthier times. Naturally they are both looking to find new ways to sell books in a changing marketplace.

The buzz within the industry lately has been the rise of manga to an capture an audience that had eluded the comic industry for more than 40 years: female readers. Studies have shown that females read more than males, but for some reason women and girls had shown little interest in reading stories about men in spandex beating each other up while busty babes looked on. Perhaps women just didn't have the proper "tools" to appreciate the finer points of titles such as Punisher or Batman. So what was it about manga that suddenly had female and male readers buying these books in large numbers? Nobody within the American comic industry seemed to know, but that certainly wasn't going to stop them from attempting to imitate it.

In February, Marvel introduced the Tsunami line to retailers with the following words:
"Every couple of years or so, Marvel releases a new publishing initiative that looks beyond the way comics are currently produced an asks "What's next?" ...Marvel Tsunami will come to mean many things. From fresh new, never-before-seen concepts (always been a hallmark of the great Marvel tradition), to a refocused energy on some classic favorites touching on all of Marvel's major families! ... We're also looking towards the East to Japan, where pop culture is being defined years ahead of the curve, and adding a touch of manga to the mix...Those of us in the know are aware that manga is sweeping the country, growing in popularity almost daily with the youth market, and even more importantly, with female readers. If you think that's good news, the better news is many of our new MARVEL TSUNAMI titles are ripe with manga flavor."

Now, first off, I have to give Marvel some credit for being willing to admit up front that some of its' books are ripe. This new "truth in advertising" could certainly help make our ordering choices easier. Beyond that, I puzzled at just what Marvel meant by "adding a touch of manga to the mix." Despite becoming something of a buzzword, Manga simply means "comics" in Japan. It's not a style or a format. Somehow here in America, we have begun to equate the word manga with a style, represented by the traditions that we see most often in Japanese comics: stylistic art characterized by oversized eyes and small mouths, black and white line art and lots of giant robots. This is an unfortunate generalization, as anyone who has read Lone Wolf And Cub can attest. So what is it that Marvel feels is a "touch of manga"? Apparently it is bad art.

Now, I understand that art is in the eye of the beholder. I'm sure that there are comic fans out there who like what they see in titles such as Human Torch and Venom. Far be it from me to disparage an artists hard work. Whatever you want to call it: brave new art style or wretched abomination, one thing that I don't think it should be called is Manga. Unfortunately this is not new of exclusive to the comics industry. Trying to associate new and unproven product with established and successful product is common in most any entertainment industry. "If you love STEPHEN KING, you might like this book by someone who writes kinda, sort of like him!" "If you watched THE MATRIX, then we also hope you'll spend your money on this similar rip off!"

It's hype by association and it almost always misses the point. It invariably emphasizes aspects that were incidental to the success of the product that it is trying to emulate. In this case, Marvel has sadly missed the elements that have attracted new readers, and more importantly, female readers, to the manga section. I feel reasonably sure that these readers aren't interested in buying comics about Venom, no matter how much the art style might incorporate "manga touches". Traditional American comic book characters have worked fine in traditional American comic books. You want to branch out and try something different? I'm all for it! But don't just stick some superficially manga styled art on the books, label it Faux Manga and expect it to take sales away from Chobits.

This is not to say that there is nothing interesting in the entire Tsunami line. Mystique is well written and an interesting premise. I'm pretty sure that it is also doomed. Somehow Marvel has decided that what the world wants is lots more X-Men spin offs, no matter how many dead and buried spin-offs litter the quarter bins of comic shops. It is ironic that Marvel can't even recognize what elements have contributed to its own successes. Over the past few years, Marvel has had an impressive string of successful books, and yet they seem clueless as to why books by Mark Waid, J. Michael Straczynski and Grant Morrison have yielded improved sales. As long as Marvel remains clueless about what new readers want they will continue to occasionally surprise us with some great books. But for every great book that they produce, we will also be subject to several projects like The Truth, because somehow "you demanded it!"