Scans_Daily

A few weeks ago I started the occasional series of Minx posts by looking at Regifters before looking at some of New York Four/New York Five (which I intend to post more of later on because it's really bloody good).

This is a look at Plain Janes, one of only two Minx series to be given a sequel (the other being New York Four). It's by Jim Rugg (art) and Cecil Castellucci (story) and is about not only finding your place in the world, but creating a place for yourself.

The backstory is that Jane lives in Metro City at the beginning of the book. she gets caught up in a bomb explosion in the city centre and the family moves out to the suburbs. Jane vows to keep strong and not let the bomb ruin or change her life, or make her timid and afraid.

( This is her first morning of school. )

Recently, I've gone back and had a re-read of some of my Minx books. For those of you who don't know, Minx was DC's attempt at a line catering to teenage girls by publishing digest sized complete stories for sale in book shops. The line died because nobody bought them, though this is most likely because retailers didn't know whether they belonged in the young adult section or in the graphic novel section with Watchmen and Judge Dredd (i.e., not where the Twilight set might wander). There's been no talk of bringing Minx back, or even if DC want to have another go with trying a similar publishing experiment. I do half expect that the end of the next DC crossover will reveal that Drama Jane, is being brought into DC continuity so that she can be forgotten about by more readers.

This extract is from Re-Gifters by Mike Carey (now writing Unwritten and assorted X-books) and Sonny Liew (last seen in the blockbusting Sense and Sensibility. The team wrote the excellent My Faith in Frankie, which was a Minx book before there was Minx.

As for Regifters, it's the story of a (South) Korean girl living in LA called Dixie/ Dik Seong Jen/ Jen Dickson. Dixie practices hapkido and has a crush onAdam, a boy in her class. Her mum makes jewellery which she sells to a shop in Koreatown and in the first extract, ( Dixie is taking the latest batch to the store.  )

Our second part ( is getting ready for a party )

Coming soon - more Minx