First thank you for printing my letter in its entirety, I was pretty lengthy and I expected it to be cut but you didn't, thanks again.

I'm writing to address Holly Sedor of 8th St. Books and Comics in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan's comments on my letter.  When I first wrote about COMICS FOR KIDS I knew I was leaving out other groups (the most obvious being five to ten year old girls).  I made the omission on purpose because of the length of the letter and because I wanted just to concentrate just on the boys.  As I stated young boys have always been comics target market and in my view we have lost them.  However in this one respect I do think girls have it all over the boys and you can thank Archie's for that.  In my opinion the target market for Archie Comics is (and always has been) young girls between the ages of five and ten.  I still see parents bringing their girls into the store and I am still selling Archie's (and over the last few years manga titles) to them.  Unfortunately there is no such corollary for/to little boys and hence the original letter.

Now on the girls side, you can and should make arguments about it's current, miserable state (like it's ever really been anything else).  Among other things girls are 'ghettoized' into the Archie universe because that is the ONLY thing girls have; but at least THEY HAVE THAT.  You can also argue that after a girl out-grows Archie there is really no place for them to go in the world of comics.  Where is the next rung of the ladder? Superheroes?  How many decades does the industry have to watch girls ignore them before they get it, girls don't care about capes!  How about Vertigo? Johnny the Homicidal Maniac?  Maybe when they are sulking, sullen later-teens sure, but not at eight or nine.  Currently manga seems to be the only outlet for girls past Archie and again, thank god for the Japanese.  But as I'm sure you will agree, it's not enough.

So, I am in complete agreement with you Holly about how more should be done for girls and how it is also an important issue facing our industry. Unfortunately, it's an industry where most of the members of the food chain (retailers/creators/publishers) are male, so I think the solutions and movement on this issue need to be generated on the feminine side of the fence.  Even if all of the 'men in comics' were in total sympathy with your feelings (as I am), I don't think guys can come up with a post-Archie girls comic line that will actually be appealing to girls.  This may be reverse-chauvinism on my part, but we have been running things for quite some time now and our track record for the female market is pretty piss-poor.  Perhaps the women in the industry should start making their voices heard on this issue, they are the most qualified and experienced in this problem.  Girls, like young boys, teens, women and any other group not being represented deserve their spot on the playground; if for no other reason then because they are an unexploited market.  So what do you think Holly?

In closing, let me mention I do have a vested interest in girls comics.  My little girl is two years old and I'll witness her first hand getting into and then out of comics through Archie.  I'd like to see her continue to enjoy reading comics (along with a lot of other stuff) as she gets older, however if there is one thing I'm sure of its that today's market holds nothing for her.  I would dearly love to see that change.