Green Arrow: Year One

Internet | A website called the Home of the Green Arrow, which supports the far-right British National Party in its "fight to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia," has co-opted Jock's art from the DC Comics miniseries Green Arrow: Year One for its banner. "This is leaving a horrible taste in my mouth," the artist wrote this morning on Twitter. He has contacted DC's legal department. [Jock's Twitter feed]

Art | Frank Frazetta's original cover painting for the 1967 Lancer paperback edition of Conan the Conqueror sold at auction last week for a reported $1 million. That's nearly four times the previous record price for the artist's work -- $251,000 -- paid in 2008 for the cover to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Escape on Venus. [Spectrum Fantastic Art, via Sci Fi Wire]

The Greatest 1950s Stories Ever Told

Art | As of Thursday morning, bids on the 18 pieces of original art by Joe Kubert had reached $30,000. The auction, held by Heritage Auction Galleries, opens to the public today. [Daily Record]

Awards | Mike Keefe, editorial cartoonist for the Denver Post, has won the 2009 Berryman Award for Editorial Cartooning. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Publishing | Dark Horse Assistant Editor Brendan Wright discusses one of the perks of his job: seeing the doodles and character designs that Stan Sakai occasionally leaves on the back of his Usagi Yojimbo art boards. [The Wright Opinion]

Publishing | Lauren Davis takes a look at celebrities who dip their toes into the comic-book pool. [io9.com]

Retailing | "Superheroes saving comic book stores from recession." Yeah. [Daily Camera]

Creators | Phil Hester talks about his career and his new BOOM! Studios series The Anchor, and offers some advice to young writers and artists. [Surfing the Bleed]

From "Spandex" #1

Creators | Scott Thill interviews Martin Eden, creator of the gay-superteam comic Spandex, which earlier this week had been heralded as presenting "the first gay superheroes." “Let’s not kid ourselves,” Eden said. “Spandex aren’t the first-ever gay superheroes. At the moment, for instance, you’ve got a lesbian Batwoman, a lesbian Question, Rictor and Shatterstar in X-Factor, and there’s been Apollo and Midnighter in the Authority, who were gay versions of Superman and Batman. There are probably a few more, but not many. I mean, I was thinking of pitching a gay series to Marvel a while ago, but could barely think of any gay characters they had, which surprised me.”

Blogosphere | Tucker Stone delivers a special, positive edition of "Advanced Common Sense": "That's what being a hero is all about -- is that sometimes you have to take out a baby." [The Factual Opinion]

Black Dossier

Libraries | The library board in Jessamine County, Kentucky, heard public comment last night about acquisition and borrowing policies and the recent firings of two employees who kept a copy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier out of circulation. The hourlong meeting was marked by shouting, crying and the presentation of petitions, including one that called for the removal of two books and two DVDs -- Black Dossier among them -- from county library shelves. No action was taken by the board. [Lexington Herald-Leader]

Awards | A controversy emerged just a day before the National Book Awards ceremony as author/blogger Janice Harayda suggested that Kathi Appelt, a judge in the Young People''s category, should recuse herself because finalist David Small had illustrated her novel. In her response Appelt was cryptic, at best, saying that as committee deliberations are private, "I or any other judge might well have excused ourselves from voting on any particular book, if conflict of interest were an issue.” In the end, Small's celebrated graphic memoir Stiches didn't win last night; Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice did. [ArtsBeat, Jacket Copy]

IDW storefront

Publishing | IDW Publishing has launched a digital-storefront application for iPhone and iPod that now features 10 free comics and more than 200 for purchase. Titles will be added regularly. [IDW Publishing]

Publishing | SLG Publishing is holding a "pre-holiday recession sale" through Monday, during which time all items online are offered at a 40-percent discount: "The economy tanking combined with some bits of bad luck has taken it's toll on our small company. We're finding ourselves in a bit of a jam due to some things that are beyond our control. ... Since we are not a bank or a car company we aren't going to get any bailout money from any source other than our loyal fans." Cartoonist Evan Dorkin has more. [SLG Publishing]

Publishing | Speaking of SLG, cartoonist Andy Ristaino writes that low pre-orders for Escape From Dullsville could mean the collection of his seven-issue Life of a Fetus won't see print. [Livejournal]

The Phoenix Requiem

Webcomics | Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson spotlights a selection of science fiction and fantasy titles for teens. [School Library Journal]

Manga | Kami no Shizuku ("Drops of God"): Savior of wineries the world over. [Kyodo News]

Comics | This article looks at how "recession-proof" comics -- POW! SPLAT! -- "seem to flower during periods of economic stress." Sigh. [DailyFinance]

Creators | Eddie Campbell chats briefly about Alec: The Years Have Pants, autobiographical comics and what recent releases have interested him. [Speakeasy]

Fables: The Deluxe Edition

Creators | Ron Hogan posts a three-part interview with Bill Willingham in which the writer discusses the popularity of the Fables franchise, the state of the industry, politics in comics, Justice Society of America and his fondness for the character Obsidian. It's a solid interview; go read it. [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Creators | Artist Danijel Zezelj talks about process, influences and working with writers like Brian Azzarello, Jason Aaron and Brian Wood: "Some scriptwriters use more descriptions, some less. For instance, Brian Azzarello, his scenarios are almost exclusively dialogues. ... He uses very little descriptions, more like description of the situation, where and what happens, but practically everything else is left to the drawer. But he can do this, because Brian Azzarello is a big master of dialogue. Basically, through dialogues the characters are being formed. I like the most those kinds of scenarios, because in such cases you have completely opened space for composing images and layouts. I have a lot more freedom within that form." [Personal Cyber Botanica]

Weekly Astro Boy Magazine

Publishing | Tezuka Productions and D-Arc Inc. has launched Weekly Astro Boy Magazine, a service that delivers manga by Osamu Tezuka to iPhones and iPods in the United States. Announced last month, it's the first English-language manga service for mobile devices.

If I'm reading the site correctly, the premier "edition" of Weekly Astro Boy Magazine offers the first volume of Astro Boy for free. Subsequent volumes of that title, and other Tezuka classics like Phoenix, Dororo, Black Jack and Buddha, cost 99 cents each, and are available in weekly installments. [Weekly Astro Boy Magazine]

Education | Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza, creators of the webcomic Least I Could Do, have established The Rayne Summers Webcomic Scholarship at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. Named for the protagonist of their nearly seven-year-old comic, the scholarship will cover tuition for one student each year who is working toward a career in webcomics. [Least I Could Do, via The Daily Cartoonist]

Eisner Awards

Awards | The judges have been named for the 2010 Eisner Awards: Craig Fischer, associate professor of English at Appalachian State University and comics critic; Francisca Goldsmith, director of branch services at the Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia, and author of The Readers' Advisory Guide to Graphic Novels; John Hogan, editor of Graphic Novel Reporter; James Hudnall, comics writer and publisher; and Wayne Winsett, owner of Time Warp Comics and Games in Boulder, Colorado. [Comic-Con]

Awards | Neil Gaiman has been awarded the Booktrust Teenage Prize for his novel The Graveyard Book. The award was established in 2003 to celebrate contemporary fiction in the UK written for teenagers. [Booktrust Children's Books]

Publishing | Publishers Weekly profiles five-year-old publisher Dynamite Entertainment, focusing on successes like The Lone Ranger and The Boys, and touching upon the risks associated with licensed properties. [PW Comics Week]

Hagar the Horrible: The Epic Chronicles

Publishing | Titan's Hägar collection pillages Seth's design for The Complete Peanuts. [FLOG! Blog]

Graphic novels | George Gene Gustines spotlights 11 graphic novels as part of The New York Times' holiday gift guide -- among them, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Bloom County: The Complete Library, and Criminal. [The New York Times]

Creators | Colleen Mondor chats with Jim Ottaviani about his latest graphic novel T-Minus. [Chasing Ray]

Creators | Author Kevin Baker discusses his Vertigo graphic novel Luna Park on NPR's Talk of the Nation. You can listen to the interview, or read the transcript. [NPR]

Creators | Brian Heater wraps up his three-part interview with Neil Swaab. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | Andi Ewington answers five questions about his graphic novel Forty-Five. [ArtPatient]

Comics | Graeme McMillan looks at seven superhero stories that are simply "too big for movies." [io9.com]

Blue Bloods: Masquerade

Publishing | Italian movie producer Domenico Procacci has purchased Bologna-based graphic novel publisher Coconino Press, adding it to his Fandango filmmaking and book-publishing company. In addition to its own titles, Coconino publishes the Italian editions of works by such artists as Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, and Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi. [Variety]

Publishing | Young-adult novelist Melissa de la Cruz has signed new contracts with Hyperion, the Disney Book Group imprint that publishes her bestselling Blue Bloods series. The deal calls for three companion books to the teen-vampire drama, including Blue Bloods: The Graphic Novel. [Variety]

The Last Unicorn

Publishing | IDW Publishing will adapt Peter Beagle's bestselling 1968 fantasy novel The Last Unicorn as a six-issue miniseries. The comic, by writer Peter B. Gillis, artist Renae De Liz and colorist Ray Dillon, will debut in April. [ICv2.com]

Publishing | Simon Jones offers commentary about declining manga sales in Japan: "Some blame was again placed at the industry’s increasing focus on niche genres (just as comics is a spandex ghetto, manga is facing a crisis of the moe slum), but I think this is being overstated as a cause, when it’s really a symptom that is self-feeding.  Manga sales have gone down … it could be lower birth rates, or competition from other media, or internet piracy (come on guys, we don’t need to couch this in flowery language), or any combination of those.  But it all comes down to fewer companies being able to produce mainstream products, because a growing segment of mainstream audiences are no longer willing to pay for them despite increasing demand." [Icarus Publishing]

Publishing | Micha Hershman, former graphic-novel buyer and marketing executive with Borders Group, has joined Dark Horse as the company's senior director of marketing. [press release]

AOL

Business | Time Warner has set Dec. 9 as the date to complete its separation with AOL, ending one of the worst media deals of the decade. The spinoff, which comes just shy of 10 years after the merger, is expected to be followed by massive layoffs at AOL. [Variety]

Legal | Again? The heirs of Stephen Slesinger, the man who in 1931 signed a licensing deal with Winnie-the-Pooh creator AA Milne, are again taking Disney to court, this time over accusations of unpaid royalties. The moves comes on the heels of a judge's September ruling that confirmed Disney as the rights holder. [BBC News, via The Daily Cartoonist]

Retailing | Industry veteran KC Carlson takes a lengthy look at the early days of the direct-market system. [Westfield Comics]

Retailing | Did you know that Ryan Sohmer, co-creator of the webcomic Least I Could Do, opened his own comic store about a month ago in Pointe-Claire, Quebec? [The Chronicle]

Retailing | A comic-book store also has turned up in Old Bridge, New Jersey. CJ Comics will have its grand opening on Nov. 21. [MyCentralJersey]

Gunnerkrigg Court

Webcomics | El Santo compiles his list of the 10 best webcomics of the decade, including Hark! A Vagrant, Gunnerkrigg Court and High Moon. [The Webcomic Overlook]

Comics | At least once a year a newspaper in the U.K. declares one character or another "the first gay superhero." This time it's a gay super-team/comic named Spandex. [The Sun]

Comics | John Geddes spotlights Alien Legion, the early-'80s Epic Comics series whose Dark Horse ominbus edition hits stores this week. [USA Today]

Creators | George Gene Gustines profiles the legendary Joe Kubert, who's permitting "a large trove" of his original art to be auctioned on Friday. [The New York Times]

Creators | Robert Kirkman discusses his first exposure to Image Comics, the history of the company, becoming a partner, and writing Image United. [Techland]

Creators | Brian Heater continues a multi-part interview with Jerry Moriarty. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Comics | Brandon Thomas launches a multi-part examination of the Morrison-Era New X-Men and Whedon/Cassaday-Era Astonishing X-Men. [Fiction House]

Flight Explorer, Vol. 1

Publishing | Retailer Christopher Butcher catches word that Flight Explorer, the younger-readers spinoff of the long-running Flight anthology, is without a publishing home. Although the first volume, published in March 2008 by Villard, reportedly sold through its 20,000-copy first printing, editor Kazu Kibuishi tweeted last week that "the project remains orphaned." Butcher provides commentary on his blog. [Comics212]

Legal | Google and groups representing publishers and authors on Friday filed a revised settlement they hope will resolve a dispute over the Internet giant's controversial plans to make millions of out-of-print books available online.

The original agreement, created to resolve a 2005 lawsuit, was opposed by parties ranging from DC Comics to the U.S. Justice Department to the governments of France and Germany, who argued that its terms could violate copyright law. The revisions address the handling of orphan works, restrict the Google database to books published in the United States, Britain, Canada or Australia, and allow other companies to license the digital catalog.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin is expected this week to set a date for a "fairness hearing" in which arguments about the settlements will be presented by b0th sides. [The New York Times]

Dragon Ball, Vol. 3

Publishing | More details have emerged on plans by Japanese publishing giant Shueisha to sell manga on mobile phones in 28 countries, including the United States, beginning in spring 2010. ICv2.com reports that Shueisha, co-owner of Viz Media, will launch the digital initiative with 20 to 30 titles, including Dragon Ball. [ICv2.com]

Publishing | A writer at Sankaku Complex examines the declining sales in Japan of manga magazines and tankobon, and declares that the country's manga industry is in "dire straits." [Sankaku Complex]

Internet | This morning Time.com launched Techland, a free-standing website devoted to "geek culture," with coverage ranging from science-fiction movies and video games to gadgets and comic books. [Techland]

Female Force: Princess Diana

Publishing | Darren G. Davis, publisher of Bluewater Productions, responds to recent criticism in the U.K. of the company's Female Force: Princess Diana biographical comic. [Hero Complex]

Publishing | James Hudnall takes a broad look at shifts in comics distribution channels, from the newsstand to the direct market to "the digital age." [Big Hollywood]

Retailing | Here's an odd article that's part profile of newly opened comics store, part attempt at a snapshot of the marketplace. The assessment of the industry is a bit ... rosy. [The Boston Globe]

Sales charts | R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis Illustrated remains the No. 1 hardcover on The New York Times' graphic books bestseller list as the eighth volume of Matsuri Hino's Vampire Knight debuts as the top manga and Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth climbs to the top paperback slot. [The New York Times]

Events | Matthew Brady covers an appearance on Friday in Chicago by Dean Haspiel and Tim Hall for a screening of The Act-I-Vate Experience, a short documentary about the comics collective. [Warren Peace Sings the Blues]

Comics | Tim Macavoy counts down the Top 10 gay superheroes (though he ends up with more than 10). [Queer Sighted]

Stuck in the Middle

Libraries | There's still more follow-up to the removal this week of Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age from two middle-school libraries in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Teachers still have access to the anthology -- it depicts language and sexual reference that at least one parent found objectionable -- and may use it in class.

An editorial in the Argus Leader calls the school board's decision "a reasonable approach that balances the need to provide suitable guidance for kids when dealing with sensitive topics without falling prey to censorship." CBS affiliate KELO, meanwhile, continues its coverage of the story with a look at how books are selected for libraries. Tom Spurgeon also has reaction from two of the anthology's contributors. [Argus Leader, KELOLAND.com]

Creators | Jeet Heer digs up writings by a young Dave Sim expressing, in no uncertain terms, his disdain for the work of Jack Kirby. [Comics Comics]

Creators | Cartoonist Jeff Keane discusses the evolution of The Family Circus, IDW Publishing's new archival collection, and the future of newspapers. [ICv2.com]

Batman and Robin, by Frank Quitely

Creators | Thought Bubble interviews artists Frank Quitely and Charlie Adlard. "When you work on a title or character that everyone knows loads of people say 'I hate his Wolverine' or 'I hate his Superman' or whatever," Quitely says, "because it jars with their own favourite versions of the characters -- no one ever says 'I hate his We3 animals' because they didn’t start reading it with any preconceptions or prejudices. From that point of view it’s always easier to work on new stuff, or your own stuff, but I enjoy the challenge of getting to do well-known characters and I generally don’t really care if some folk don’t like what I do, it’s personal taste, and I’ve got a pretty thick skin." [via ArtPatient]

Creators | Collaborators Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering talk at length about their historical graphic novel Burke and Hare. [Forbidden Planet International]

Creators | Warren Ellis offers for download his scripts for issues of Fell, Desolation Jones and Ministry of Space. [Warren Ellis]

Webcomics | El Santo spotlights a handful of politically conservative webcomics. [The Webcomic Overlook]

Comics | The Son of Satan is back, baby! [The Cool Kids Table]

Stuck in the Middle

Libraries | There is, of course, follow-up on the decision by the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to remove the anthology Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age from middle-school libraries. Local CBS affiliate KELO reports on the reactions of parents and highlights some of the better-known challenged and banned books.

As we noted yesterday, teachers will still have access to the 2007 collection of stories about life as a teen-ager (by such contributors as Gabrielle Bell, Daniel Clowes, Joe Matt and Dash Shaw). That's because, in the words of School Board President Kent Alberty, "There is value in the book. One of the subjects addressed is bullying, something the district is very interested in making sure is handled appropriately, and the book does address that." [KELOLAND.com]

Publishing | Japan's NHK television network reports that publishing giant Shueisha, a co-owner of Viz Media, plans to develop plans to sell manga via mobile phones in the United States beginning in spring 2010. [Anime News Network]

eManga

Publishing | Digital Manga Publishing is seeking submissions of original manga, graphic novels, prose novels and short stories in all genres for its eManga manga-rental website. [About.com]

Publishing | Leyla Aker, a senior editorial manager at Viz Media, talks about the company's SigIKKI imprint. [Japanator]

Business | Peter Lauria draws a dotted line between Disney's not-yet-finalized purchase of Marvel (as well as the poor performance of A Christmas Carol) and the ongoing restructuring of Walt Disney Studios. [New York Post]

Passings | George Gene Gustines pens an obituary for Comic-Con co-founder Shel Dorf, while Mark Evanier addresses the estrangement between Dorf and event organizers. [The New York Times, News From Me]

Muramasa

Events | The Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, D.C., on Friday kicks off a monthlong retrospective called "Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, Father of Anime," featuring a discussion by manga scholar Frederik Schodt, film screenings and performances. The event's website also has downloadable essays by Schodt, Helen McCarthy and others. [Freer and Sackler Galleries]

Events | Todd Allen attended Saturday's discussion at the Chicago Humanities Festival by Jules Ffeifer, Matt Groening, Lynda Barry and Chris Ware: "The level of pessimism at this panel was a bit depressing. Nobody was really suggesting alternate venues. I think it was Barry that compared comics to having a baby and wanting the baby to make money and pay the rent. Ware went a step further, saying 'it’s a problem to make a living' and 'do it for yourself, don’t expect to make a living'." [Indignant Eclectica]

Retailing | This preview of a local signing by creators Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Avon Oeming and David Mack transforms into a very nice profile of Jermaine Exum, owner of Acme Comics in Greensboro, North Carolina. [News & Record]

Retailing | Georgetown University's news magazine provides a brief overview of Washington, D.C., comic stores. [The Georgetown Voice]

Luna Park

Creators | Author Kevin Baker and artist artist Danijel Zezelj discuss their Vertigo graphic novel Luna Park. [USA Today]

Creators | Cartoonist Art Baltazar is interviewed in advance of his appearance tonight at the University of Central Oklahoma. [UCO360]

Comics | Shaenon K. Garrity re-examines Scott McCloud's Zot!, and the nature of superheroes. [comiXology]

Internet | Time.com is shuttering its pop culture/sometimes-comics blog Nerd World and replacing in on Monday with Techland. [Nerd World]

Internet | Now that it's official, congratulations to Kiel Phegley on his well-deserved promotion to news editor of Comic Book Resources. [The Cool Kids Table]

Wolverine: Old Man Logan

Publishing | Comic sales to the direct market fell 14 percent in October, versus the same month a year ago, resulting in the biggest decline since May. Sales of the Top 100 graphic novels plummeted 30 percent -- again due to the brisk sales of Watchmen last fall -- combining for an overall decline of 17 percent.

As we reported last week, DC Comics had the top six bestselling comics for the first time in four decades, with the fourth issue of its event miniseries Blackest Night coming in at No. 1 with an estimated 137,169 copies. Marvel's Wolverine: Old Man Logan hardcover collection topped the graphic novel chart with an estimated 7,347 copies.

The retailer-focused news and analysis site ICv2.com notes that Marvel's $3.99 titles continue to slip, with the third issues of Ultimate Comics Avengers and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man each shedding about 5,000 copies from the previous issue. Of course, they weren't the only ones to slide: 19 of the top 25 comics saw drop-offs in what the website describes as "a bearish month." [ICv2.com]

Shel Dorf, left, with Ray Bradbury

Passings | Mark Evanier pens another remembrance of Shel Dorf, co-founder of Comic-Con. [Hero Complex]

Conventions | Calvin Reid spotlights the comics programming at the Miami Book Fair International, which continues through Sunday. [PW Comics Week]

Conventions | Brian Heater files his report from last weekend's King Con Brooklyn. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | Frederik L. Schodt, author of The Astro Boy Essays, discusses the cultural impact of Osamu Tezuka: "In Japan, Tezuka is called the 'God of Manga' not because he invented manga — he certainly didn’t — but because he made some innovations in the traditional comic-book format. Tezuka took the basic setup and did something that was very new at the time: a hybrid between comic books and animation. He expanded stories to make them very long and cinematic, so many readers almost felt like they were watching a movie compared to traditional comic books. That allowed other artists to begin employing the same techniques and the same methods, thus elevating the original medium to a full-fledged form of expression. Artists could suddenly depict the same sorts of things that would be depicted in more mature novels or films." [A.V. Club]

American Vampire #1

Creators | Graeme McMillan interviews American Vampire creator Scott Snyder about the upcoming Vertigo series, working with artist Rafael Albuquerque, and how Stephen King became involved. [io9.com]

Creators | Rachelle Goguen chats with cartoonist Gregg Schigiel, who's writing Marvel's X-Babies miniseries. [Living Between Wednesdays]

Creators | Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney visited an elementary school in Belleville, Illinois, last week after eighth-grader Tom Fields won Kinney's nationwide contest to find young cartoonists. [Suburban Journals]

Comics | William Gatevackes looks at some of the appearances by The Beatles, or Beatles analogs, in comics, from Marvel's Strange Tales #130 to Vertigo's Greatest Hits. [PopMatters]

Comics | Johanna Draper Carlson highlights some of the graphic novels due in stores in January, including the first volume of Dark Horse's translation of Blacksad. [Comics Worth Reading]

Comics | Y: The Last Man makes this list of "10 underrated depictions of the apocalypse." [Chicago Tribune]

Art and design | I know I link to Paolo Rivera's blog a lot, but I really like his "Wacky Reference Wednesdays" feature. This week he spotlights a panel from Mythos: Captain America. [The Self-Absorbing Man]

Google

Legal | Google and a group of authors and publishers have until Friday to revise a proposed settlement over the Internet giant's plans to make millions of out-of-print books available online. They originally were given a deadline of Nov. 9. DC Comics is among the parties that objected to the terms of the agreement -- -- $125 million and a registry to identify and compensate copyright holders -- arguing that it violates international copyright law. [Bloomberg News, Media Decoder]

Legal | The sentencing of Christopher Handley, the 39-year-old Iowa man who in May pleaded guilty to possessing manga depicting children in sexual situations, is scheduled for Jan. 25. He faces up to 15 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release. [ICv2.com]

Dick Tracy

Legal | A federal judge has ruled that actor Warren Beatty may proceed with his lawsuit against bankrupt Tribune Media Co. over ownership of the movie and TV rights to the Dick Tracy comic strip. [Reuters]

Comics | A study by marketing-research company Simba Information contends that one in 10 adult book buyers in the United States read comics. [press release]

Conventions | Miami New Times previews this weekend's Miami Book Fair International with a brief Q&A with Dan Goldman. Graphic Novel Reporter breaks out the comics programming, which includes panels and workshops featuring James Sturm, Carol Tyler, Harry Bliss, Josh Neufeld, Sid Jacobson, Brian Fries, Neil Kleid, Marisa Marchetto and Kurt Hassler. [Miami Book Fair International]

Conventions | Alan Gardner rounds up comics-related coverage from last weekend's Chicago Humanities Festival. [The Daily Cartoonist]

King Con Brooklyn

Conventions | Becky Cloonan posts her report from last weekend's inaugural King Con Brooklyn. [Ink and Thunder]

Libraries | Joseph P. Smith spotlights graphic-novel collections in a few New Jersey libraries. [The Daily Journal]

Creators | Craig Yoe discusses comics, his career and growing up in Akron, Ohio. [Akron Beacon Journal]

Creators | Brian Heater launches a four-part interview with Jerry Moriarty. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | Is Dave Gibbons working on a new version of the freeware video game Minesweeper? [GamePro]

Comics | This blog is in the middle of a series that highlights what it considers the best comic books of the decade. [Berkeley Place]

Comics | Matt Wilson counts down the five best and five worst villains introduced in the post-"Brand New Day" Amazing Spider-Man. [Topless Robot]

Fandom | Show us these superhero tattoos in another couple of decades. On second thought, don't. [Great White Snark]

Female Force: Princess Diana

Publishing | Just days after one U.K. newspaper devoted a lot of ink to a preview of Female Force: Princess Diana, another reports that the Bluewater Productions biography has been labeled as "disgusting" by a co-founder of a group dedicated to preserving Diana's memory. “Comic means something to laugh at," says Margaret Funnell of Diana Circle UK. "I don’t find it at all comical and I wish they hadn’t done it. Anyone with half a brain who had a love for Diana will hate it.” [Daily Express]

Publishing | Following the success of its adaptation of James Patterson's Maximum Ride, Yen Press has announced it will tackle the author's bestselling young-adult series Daniel X. The first volume will be released in summer 2010. [About.com]

Education | It seems like every year around this time an article makes the rounds about comic books improving early literacy. Here's the 2009 edition, courtesy of University of Illinois professor Carol L. Tilley, whose research on the subject was recently published in School Library Monthly. [News Bureau, Canwest News Service]

Genghis Con

Conventions | The Genghis Con small-press comic convention will debut on Nov. 28 in Cleveland, sliding into the Thanksgiving weekend slot long held by Mid-Ohio Con. The guest list so far includes Derf, Abhay Khosla, Andy MacDonald and Tom Williams. [Plain Dealer]

Creators | Moebius expresses his love for the work of Naoki Urasawa (Pluto, 20th Century Boys). [The Eastern Edge]

Creators | Eddie Campbell discusses Alec: "The Years Have Pants," blogging and process. [Library Journal]

Creators | Christopher Borelli covers a panel at the Chicago Humanities Festival featuring a conversation between longtime friends Lynda Barry and Matt Groening. [Chicago Tribune]

Creators | Here's another profile of Frank Beddor, author of The Looking Glass Wars fantasy novels and writer of the spin-off Hatter M comics. [Star-Tribune]

Creators | J. Torres chats briefly about writing Wall-E for BOOM! Studios' line of Disney/Pixar comics. [GeekDad]

Creators | Victoria Grabner profiles brothers Joshua and Jacob Hicks of Henderson, Kentucky, who have launched a line of Christian-themed comics. [The Gleaner]

New X-Men #114

Comics | David Brothers details how Grant Morrison ruined the X-Men: "Grant Morrison made the X-Men grown-up. He eschewed stereotypical supervillain stories until the tail end of his run, and even those stories were layered with a depth of character and nuance that kept them above generic megalomania. When Magneto nearly destroys New York as the culmination of his big plan, he’s forced to confront the fact that the personality he created to further his plan, the healer Xorn, is better liked and more effective than he could ever be. No one wants Magneto any more. Magneto is old and busted, Xorn is the new hotness." [4thletter!]

Comics | Graeme McMillan spotlights five genre comics that people should be reading. [io9.com]

Music | Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos talks about, among other things, the song "DC Comics and Milkshakes": "... I was reading a Booster Gold comic drinking a chocolate milkshake on a bus listening to the Replacements when I thought up that song. I had this wave of euphoria, like, 'DC Comics are so amazing.' I've read them all my life, and no matter what's going on -- if I had a bad breakup or a [expletive] job -- they always cheer me up. And they're cheap. They're only like 2 pounds, and a milkshake is 50 pence. So as long as I've got 2-pounds-50 on me, I'm kind of invincible." [Star-Tribune]