On a tangent / Re: Gene Ha
That business week article seems actually quite well researched. There are a couple of mistakes, but not many, as far as I can see. For example, there are currently (in fact, I think, not ever) no Archie comics reprinted here in Germany. Also I don’t know if a mainstream bookstore like Hugendubel would have the Panini reprints of Supergirl and if any young female reader would look for it even if Manga didn’t exist… ^^;

The main (but minor) problem I have with that article is that none of the facts and developments described there are actually new. Most go back 7-10 years (like the mainstream publication of manga in France since the early-to-mid 90s and the publication of homegrown German mangas since 2001). Only the foreign licensing of German mangas and the further growth of the number of small/medium French manga publishers happened over the last year or two, IMHO.

BTW, I’d say there is no European comic industry. There’s France/Belgium. Then there’s a bit of local stuff in Britain, Spain and Italy. The rest of Europe mainly imports stuff (probably above 90% of all their comics) from elsewhere.

And while some of the French comics creators may have overlooked the decade-long upswing of mangas until recently, all of the big French BD publishers have had their hands in the manga pie for years, so they can’t complain about lost business. And while BDs may lose a bit of ground ATM, sales-wise, it doesn’t look like they’re in any real danger, at least not from manga competition alone. The increased national competition does probably make the foreign markets look more attractive, though (to finally get back to the Soleil deal).

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/letters/10623/

There was one more big problem: sales were pretty low. I don’t know if that’s a matter of bad marketing, or perhaps Humanoides’ very serious tone. Soleil has a reputation for more edgy and youthful books.

If properly managed Marvel should be able to get some decently selling books for a low initial cost. Hopefully one of them will become a breakout hit. I feel like the US and European comics industries will have to work hard not to be overwhelmed by Japanese reprints.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/dec2007/gb20071226_346610.htm

Anyway, what I totally agree with is your impression that Soleil offered the deal to Marvel and not viceversa. Also, I don’t expect this to fare much better than DC/Humanoids deal, although I’d be glad to be proven wrong eventually.

Are you sure? The authors Barbara Canepa and Alessandro Barbucci are both Italian. The French editions of Sky Doll contain translation credits, so they probably weren’t written in French originally. Also, the Italian editions of Sky Doll were always published about the same time as the French editions. On the other hand, the French editions note “all foreign rights reserved”. But I’m still not sure if it should be called a Soleil original or rather a Vittorio Pavesio original.

http://www.pavesio.com/edizioni-titolo.asp?titolo=doll

In this thread, Marvel’s CB Cebulski gives a bit of information about the Soleil deal:
http://forums.millarworld.tv/index.php?s=&showtopic=77441&view=findpost&p=1727584

Course, larger books drive comic shops crazy. Perhaps Marvel isn’t too worried about them. This is an attempt to attract non-superhero readers.

I should probably read more European comics, but my tastes run much more to Monsieur Jean than Heavy Metal. :) I’ve seen some of the lovely-looking SF stuff from Humanoids, and the lack of emphasis on story meant I wound up wandering away from it as other things caught my interest.

Soleil has a lot of interesting titles, mostly focusing on fantasy and science fiction settings. I wonder why their top seller Lanfeust (et al.) isn’t in the line-up, instead they’re using series that were already translated by Heavy Metal. Cheaper license fees to test the waters?

Also, Sky Doll isn’t even an original Soleil title, AFAIK, but a licensed translation of the Italian original. Maybe they bought the foreign rights or just played license broker?

BTW, Johanna, Sky Doll is certainly better than your first impression, IMHO. I haven’t read the books in a while (since volume 3 came out), but the character design makes sense for the story and the art is great enough (at least to me) to justify buying it all on its own. I’d recommend sampling it once it comes out from Marvel (the HM edition may be hard to find and the samples I’ve seen had really bland lettering, IIRC).

[...] Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading, blogs about Marvel to Reprint European Comics From Solei. I’ve never heard of any of [...]

Tony: Wow! On the bright side, maybe this will help address James’ concern about publishers who don’t do enough publicity about acquired titles.

2001
Yiu 1-In Hell”
2002
Yiu 2: My Promise To You”
Jerry Mail 1: Protection Guaranteed
2003
“The Fires Of Askell: The Wondrous Balm”
2005:
“The Insurgents Of Edaleth 1: Canticles”
2007
The Insurgents Of Edaleth 2: Crusade

And in April 2008, according to February Previews:

HEAVY METAL JULY 2008
This issue features the 58-page graphic novel “The Rage” by Tackian and Mook.
http://www.soleilprod.com/volumes.php?pId=1131
That is, another Soleil book.

COLLECTION OF SHA TP
by Pat Mills & Olivier Ledroit
In Medieval France, a young witch named Lara is tortured and burned at the stake. As she dies, she vows vengence on her persecutors. A thousand years later, in a futuristic city, the mysterious Sha sets off on her trail of vengeance, tracking down and killing their reincarnations! (C: 0-1-2)
SC, 144pgs, FC SRP: $19.95

A collection of another Soleil series that ran in the pages of HM between 1999 and 2001, the first Pat Mills for the French market before Requiem.

There were some preview pages at a link on the bottom of the website you linked to at Marvel.

Sky Doll was visually sort of interesting, with the sort of “animation camera” angle approach to the pages.

Universal War One looked like the little of Battle Star Galactica I’ve seen.

Samurai looked like.. I don’t know Disney’s Mulan for adult audiences??

I’ll wait until I read more about them, to see if they are something I’d be interested in. That was the problem with DC’s Humanoids, I didn’t know what they were and DC didn’t seem to know how to give enough info on them.

And, seeing the character, ick. Near-naked angel girl with stiletto boots? Well, that answers my question of what’s motivating Marvel.

I guess I was asking the wrong question — I don’t understand what motivates Marvel to do this.

One publisher has often succeeded in a general realm where another failed… and in this case, the terms may be very different. Marvel may have gotten a much cheaper deal, Marvel may be a publisher-for-hire in this, Marvel may be getting film rights out of this, etc.