The Italian 'father' of six teenage fairies that have won the hearts of girls around the globe has set his sights on an older teen market with the creation of a 17-year-old paranormal sleuth named Maya.
Cartoonist Iginio Straffi, who dreamed up the wildly popular Winx Club, has joined forces with journalist Silvia Brena to create a new series tracking the adventures of Maya Fox.
Maya made her first official appearance during the weekend in the shape of a novel in which she sets out to save the world from sinister forces.
Unlike the brilliant colours and glossy make-up of the Twinx Club fairies, Maya inhabits a much darker world.
Straffi has based his new character in London but drawn liberally on Japan's manga tradition in his drawings.
Maya's dark eye make-up, long raven hair and preference for black clothes point to a faintly rebellious streak designed to resonate with teenagers.
The novel's release was timed to coincide with the action of the plot, which takes place in the run up to Halloween.
The book opens with Maya discovering she has the ability to communicate with the dead, a power she must master over five days in order to decipher a mysterious prophecy and save the world.
Although Straffi's reputation alone will be enough to fuel initial interest in his new creation, the slightly older target market of Maya could make her a tougher sell than the Winx Club fairies.
Reading is not a favourite pastime among Italian teenagers and graphic novels have traditionally targeted male audiences rather than young women.
But Brena's solid background writing for women's magazines should ensure the character appeals to female readers, while Maya's cool, slightly alternative image radiates an attractive confidence that many teenagers aspire to.
Rainbow, the production company founded by Straffi in 1995, has also opted for the technological tie-in of an Internet community, a sure-fire way to spread the word among web-obsessed teenage girls.
The first book, entitled Maya La Predestinata, has three follow-ups already in the pipeline, and there are also plans to launch a Maya comic for readers younger than the main target age group of 13 to 15.
The Winx Club, popular with girls from around five to twelve, is a group of six fairies who study magic at a school in the world of Alfea. They dress like hip teenagers, tussle with adolescent-type problems and frequently save the world from the powers of evil.
The Winx Club, which started life as a cartoon on Italian kids TV in 2004, generates business for Rainbow all over the world.
Winx fairy dolls are the third most popular dolls globally and Winx merchandise such as books, bags and toys generate global turnover of over a billion euros a year.
A feature film, Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, was released last year and a second film is planned for 2009, along with a fourth season of the TV series.
