Last week, Johann Draper Carlson interviewed Alex de Campi, creator of two Tokyopop OEL titles: Agent Boo and Kat & Mouse. I’ve read both, and agree with the legions of fans and critics who cried foul at Tokyopop’s cancellation of Kat & Mouse, which was a great example of how to write intelligent, topical comics for younger girls. De Campi is especially candid about the book’s marketing:

Q: Kat & Mouse appeared in a kind of hybrid format, shorter than the manga digest Tokoypop popularized, at a $6 price point. Was that format planned from the beginning? Do you think it helped or hurt the project?

A: Oh heavens. It killed the project stone cold dead in the market. It looked too wimpy and kiddie for its audience, and if you racked it spine-out, it just vanished. Plus, the usual Tokyopop no-marketing-support-unless-it’s-Princess-Ai. And no, it wasn’t planned from the beginning. When they told me they approved the project, they then sprung the whole 90-page thing on me. Considering my plot outlines had written for 160-180 pages, I was shocked and disappointed — but I didn’t feel like there was anything I could do… When they launched Manga Readers or whatever that little format was called, they were all “we will get this in the YA section of bookstores!” Um, did they? Did they heck. They also didn’t follow up with any marketing outside the comics world. I remember speaking to one of their marketing people and going, hey, have we tried to get this reviewed in some newspapers’ kids book sections? Can you show me what reviews you’ve managed to get for the book? And they were completely flummoxed.

Click here to read the rest of the interview. I also encourage you to read the comment thread, where de Campi and Carlson challenge Lawrence Summers’ infamous comments about women in the sciences. Amen to that, sisters.