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Here, allow me.

WHAT THE F***?

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it's time for us to bring you news of what could perhaps be the most unsettling collaboration the manga industry has seen to date. Announced just recently at the New York Anime Festival were X-Men and Wolverine - the manga. While Wolverine will (unsurprisingly) be a shounen title, X-Men will be shoujo. The creative teams for the two are as follows:

X-Men - Written by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman with art by the Indonesian artist, Anzu.

Wolverine - Antony Johnston was named as writer, with the artist to be named later.

Think a shoujo X-Men series is impossible? Think again. Del Rey and Marvel are taking some fairly absurd creative liberties with this series. X-Men will be a shoujo manga, depicting the Xavier Institute as an all-boys' school, in which Kitty Pryde is the only female student. How appropriate, considering Kitty's mutant power is the ability to walk right through walls and any other solid surface as she pleases. According to Newsarama's report, "Kitty is torn between the popular Hellfire Club, led by Pyro, and the school misfits who she eventually bands together as the X-Men."

While I've always thought it would be an excellent idea for Marvel to target the female demographic by providing a "shoujo-ish" take on its universe -- for example; a canonical series about Peter Parker and Mary Jane's relationship, or a highschool drama starring the new X-Men recruits at the Xavier Institute (that is what Academy X was for a while) -- this collaboration comes across as rather strange.

Is it because none of Marvel's own writers are capable of providing drama and romance-filled books that could entertain female readers better than their current line-up of comics? Certainly not. I'd like to think the likes of Brian Bendis and J. Michael Straczynski are every bit capable of providing romance-filled teenage drama as some of the better shoujo writers out there. After all, hasn't Bendis been penning Ultimate Spider-Man for a good few years now?

Whatever the cause, it looks like both Del Rey and Marvel are expecting good results from the collaboration. Will we see a greater female demographic picking up X-Men? Only time will tell. In the mean time, here's the press release for you enthusiasts.

Read the full Press Release