Heeheehee...

[teddog]

I wish I had my clock radios icon still, because posting this is just the same to several people here...

Del Rey, Marvel to Collaborate on X-Men, Wolverine

Oh! But it gets better!

"The first, X-Men, was described as a shōjo title — "X-Men meets Fruits Basket or Ouran High School Host Club" according to one panelist — features Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning as an all-boys' school, with the only female student being Kitty Pryde. The work will be aimed at a manga audience; while the characters will be based on famous X-Men heroes, the manga will not require any prior knowledge of the original X-Men comics. The manga is scripted by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman, with art by Indonesia-based artist Anzu."

My first reaction: An X-Men/Ouran High School Host Club fusion or even crossover would be really freaking funny.

Second reaction: Fruits Basket and Ouran probably aren't the best examples for this (Tohru =/= Kitty), unless they're trying to say "Reverse Harem".

Third reaction: I am extremely curious how this is going to translate. Morbidly curious, even, since I do not mentally connect the stereotypes of shōjo with the X-Men.

Ah, who am I kidding. I just want to see this explode into pairing wars. AND IT WILL. Such is the joy of the Harem genre. ::pops some popcorn::

Comments

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Like I said above, there's an opportunity here for something really neat to come about. If the examples are correct, this is going to be a "reverse harem" series of some sort. This puts the lead female character in a position of power because the story is told through her point of view. What really interests me is that Ouran High School Host Club is given as an example; it's a comedy that gently pokes fun at gender and social issues in comics aimed at the female market in Japan, although as a satire it's not particularly hard hitting, deep or biting.

It would only be speculation at this point if this comic is going to be anything like Ouran. The "all-boys' school" seems to echo some of Ouran's set up, but it's not clear if they're referencing Ouran and Fruits Basket as examples of a popular shōjo series in North America (therefore making this all marketing spin) or if the plot for the X-Men series is going to be anything like the examples. My guess is it's probably the former, as the two examples are like day and night.

Yeah, so, I see the potential here for something neat. I don't really like the preliminary sketches, but I really don't have an eye for the shōjo aesthetic.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem on my end is that as I'm starting to become more aware of other creative types (getting to know them is probably pushing it a bit), I'm winding up being too close to the work. I've actually met Raina, albeit briefly, as APE (though I'm blanking if it was in 2006 or 2007). And I like her work. It just means that I have a harder time pulling back and looking at it more pragmatically.

'Course, if it blows chunks it blows chunks. And I do think there is some spin here. But there's also a paycheck for the creators involved and I'm kinda biased on that front. I don't know the artist, however, and I haven't seen his(?) work at all. Not even the sketches. So we'll see how it all plays out.

Von