Mickey Mouse and Alan Moore

This is probably the only day of the year you'll see those two names together in a headline.

Today marks the 56th birthday of the writer of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, From Hell and countless other influential and entertaining comics. It's also the 81st anniversary of the release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, and the date The Walt Disney Company celebrates as Mickey's birthday (despite his actual first appearance in Plane Crazy some six months earlier).

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]

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]

Tales of the TMNT #55

Publishing | Following the purchase last week of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property by Viacom/Nickelodeon, Mirage Studios announced it will publish Tales of the TMNT at least through May 2010.

On the official website, cartoonist Dan Berger writes that co-creator Peter Laird retained an option to publish up to 18 TMNT comics a year. Elsewhere, writer Tristan Jones notes that the agreement only covers single issues "based on the current Mirage Universe stuff (eg: a continuation/conclusion to Volume 4)."

However, judging by comments made yesterday afternoon by Laird, it seems unlikely he will invoke that option in the near future: "One thing that is becoming clear to me is that, right now, I need to really step back from Turtle stuff. I am feeling strongly that I need to distance myself from the TMNT to truly grasp what has happened, and become accustomed to it. With that in mind, I have to say that it is likely that any new TMNT comics coming from me/Mirage (under the 'reserved rights' clause negotiated in the sale) are probably not going to be seen anytime soon. Although I do have the right to publish up to eighteen issues of TMNT comics per year, it is highly unlikely that I will do that right away. In all honesty, the idea of doing ANY new Turtle stuff right now leaves me cold." [NinjaTurtles.com]

Legal | A court has ordered South Korean cartoonist Choi to pay $17,000 to settle a dispute with Wonju City over a cartoon that included offensive words about President Lee Myung-bak. The city recalled about 20,000 copies of the promotional paper after readers discovered the hidden message. [The Korea Times]

Retailing | Dirk Deppey wonders whether the current state of specialty music, movie and video-game stores offers A Christmas Carol-like glimpse at the future of the direct market. [Eurogamer]

The Muppet Show #1

Publishing | I knew that Disney's Studio Fountain and Soda Store carried the BOOM! Kids line of Muppets and Disney/Pixar comics, but this is the first mention I've seen of any of the books in a Disney theme park. [Westfield Comics]

Publishing | Jessica Reed uses an appreciation of Asterix on the eve of the character's 50th birthday as an opportunity to take a few jabs at the French: "There's something endearing about the French and their illusions de grandeur, in which they like to think of themselves as the underdogs putting up a righteous fight for the survival of their perceived uniqueness. I fear the French are too often guilty of clinging to obsolete historical landmarks, most of which paint a picture of their country as having an important and respected say in world culture – from international diplomacy to food, fashion and art. This is a vestige of the past, and yet Asterix charmingly perpetuates this comfortable illusion of control for many a French reader: they're depicted as feisty, fun-loving patriots with a culture and spirit of résistance that can't be obliterated, even under duress." [Guardian]

Casper, The Friendly Ghost #1

Publishing | Speaking of milestones: Casper, The Friendly Ghost is 60. [Express-News]

Creators | Brian Heater continues his multi-part interview with Guy Delisle. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | Deb Aoki talks with Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda about their book Yokai Attack! [About.com]

Manga | David Welsh gathers a panel of notables to recommend horror/supernatural manga. [The Comics Reporter]

Comics | A Welsh scholar has included the 1970s DC Comics series Beowulf, Dragon Slayer in her study of "representations of masculinity in modern reworkings of the Beowulf story." [WalesOnline]

Comics | A candidate for the most boring superhero comic of all time: Adventures of the Super Site Selectors: The Search for the Perfect Location. [The Charleston Gazette]

Google, meanwhile, isn't working on a device, but they do plan to launch an e-book store in order to deliver electronic books to "any device with a web browser." Time will tell what any of this means for the comic industry, but with a color tablet coming out soon, you can see the possibilities.

Webcomics | Writing for PBS's Mediashift blog, Simon Owens writes about what newspaper cartoonists can learn from web cartoonists. He spoke with both Richard Stevens and Howard Tayler for the piece.

Digital comics | With the movie coming out soon, IDW has released a whole bunch of Astro Boy comics for the iPhone.

Digital comics | Alex De Campi shares her thoughts on the various digital comics applications that are out there.

Webcomics | Questionable Content creator Jeph Jacques offers up a State of the Webcomics Union, discussing what's changed in online comics over the six years he's been making them. (Via Scott McCloud)

Video games | OK, this probably isn't the usual Slash Print material, but I'm kind of stoked about this Epic Mickey game that Disney is working on.

Dragon Ball

Manga | Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball has been officially removed from Wicomico County schools in Maryland following a committee review of the popular series. The announcement was made Thursday by Superintendent John Fredericksen, slightly more than a week after a parent's complaint about depictions of nudity and sexual situations in the first volume triggered the school board to pull the manga from library shelves.

The committee also is reviewing the all-ages Dragon Ball Z; Dragon Ball is rated for teens. Both titles are published in North America by Viz Media. The Wicomico County Public Library announced last week that it is conducting an "internal reconsideration" of Dragon Ball, pulling the series from circulation while it decides where the manga should be shelved.

And in a timely post, Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide, addresses the Dragon Ball dust-up and other issues for io9.com. [WBOC.com]

Publishing | Random House imprint David Fickling Books will publish three collections of comics from its canceled U.K. comics anthology The DFC. The books -- Mezolith by Adam Brockbank and Ben Haggarty; Good Dog, Bad Dog by Dave Shelton; and Spider Moon by Kate Brown -- will be released in March, April and May 2010. [Booktrade, via Forbidden Planet International]

Publishing | More on the prominence of Chinese comics at the Frankfurt Book Fair. [Telegraph]

V for Vendetta

Crime | A teenager in Ayer, Massachusetts, has been arrested in connection with a string of V for Vendetta-inspired episodes that alarmed area residents. The unidentified 18-year-old reportedly is one of five teens who donned Guy Fawkes masks as a joke. Police and neighbors aren't laughing, though.

On Sept. 30 and Oct. 4 police received reports of Guy Fawkes peering into the window of a house, entering a supermarket and standing along a tree line. Authorities eventually identified one of the teens -- the 18-year-old suspect -- who will be charged with disorderly conduct. Fascists! [Sentinel and Enterprise]

Crime | The owner of a recycling center in Taipei, Taiwan, unknowingly bought a refrigerator containing an underwear-clad decaying body, wine bottles and a few comics. (There's probably an otaku joke in there somewhere.) The four men from whom the refrigerator was purchased claim they have no idea who the body got in the fridge. [AFP]

Retailing | Why did The Walt Disney Company wait so long to overhaul its store chain? [Advertising Age]

Retailing | A profile of Mike Banks, owner of Samurai Comics in Phoenix, Arizona. [The Arizona Republic]

The Book of Genesis Illustrated

Creators | R. Crumb is getting all kinds of attention this week for The Book of Genesis Illustrated, including this profile: "If people of faith say what I've done is blasphemous or profane, I'd shrug my shoulders and say, 'I just illustrated what is there.' I'm not ridiculing it, just illustrating the exact words that are there. I restrained myself. I really didn't want to make visual jokes about it. I hope people see it for what it is." [USA Today]

Creators | This is an interesting, if brief, spotlight on Nigar Nazar, the first and perhaps "only woman cartoonist of Pakistan and very likely the entire Muslim world." [Denver Post]

Creators | Robot 6 contributor Sean T. Collins talks with Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai about his story for Marvel's Strange Tales miniseries. [Marvel.com]

Creators | Alex Robinson answers seven questions about A Kidnapped Santa Claus, Too Cool to Be Forgotten, Box Office Poison and more. [The Vault]

High Moon

Creators | Artist Steve Ellis chats about High Moon and digital distribution. [Crave Online]

Creators | Novelist Holly Black discusses the Good Neighbors trilogy, her graphic-novel collaboration with Ted Naifeh. [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Music | Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos talks about his love of comics. [A.V. Club]

Blogosphere | I've never heard of Pete's Basement, but the folks behind the comics-focused website and prodcast get a nice profile. [New York Daily News]

Art and design | Ben Morse spotlights five of his favorite comic-book logos. I'm not keen on the ones for Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters and The Incredible Hulk, but I've always loved Jim Steranko's X-Men design. [The Cool Kids Table]

Comics | Esther Inglis-Arkell chronicles the top five dinosaur fights in comics. [io9.com]

Humor | "Area Man Has Far Greater Knowledge of Marvel Universe Than Own Family Tree." [The Onion]

Hellboy: Seed of Destruction

Digital Comics | Dark Horse announced via press release that both Umbrella Academy and Hellboy: Seed of Destruction are available through the iTunes Store, with subsequent issues available soon. Seed of Destruction is available as four issues at $0.99 each, or as a bundle of all four issues for $3.99. The first issue of Apocalypse Suite is available for free, with issues #2–#6 only $0.99 each, or a bundle of all six issues for $4.99.

Digital Comics | Disney Comics Worldwide shares more details on Disney's DigiComics initiative. They'll eventually be rolled out worldwide, starting in December in English-speaking countries and Italy. They'll be available for the iPhone, iPod and Sony PSP, and eventually Disney hopes to expand to other platforms like Nokia phones and the Wii. The stories will initially come from "the huge archive that The Walt Disney Company Italy has built up in the last 50 years."

Motion Comics | All five episodes of the Spider Woman, Agent of S.W.O.R.D. motion comic are now available for free viewing on Hulu. Because it is "intended for mature audiences," you'll have to register and verify your age.

Webcomics | At Comic Space, Joey Manley offers some advice to webcomics creators on promoting their comics outside of traditional comic audiences.

"In print, comics are their own category of thing. People think you have to be a special kind of person to read and enjoy them. They’re either intimidated by comics, or superior to comics, or both. Not always. Yeah. But often," he writes. "On the web, comics are just one more fun thing to look at. It’s all part of 'the web,' and people don’t get their guard up so quickly. They go from blog to animated cartoon to webcomic to photo-sharing site to social network and back to blog again, without paying attention to the differences between these things. It’s just one big mush of fun. They don’t feel like they have to be 'comics fans' to read a webcomic.

This is just one of several interesting posts over the last few days; read his blog to check them all out. (via Paperless Comics)

Webcomics | Brad Guigar at Webcomics.com has posted many of the funny things Scott Kurtz said while emceeing the Harvey Awards. And a lot of them are pretty funny.

Digital Comics | In November you'll be able to read Robert Crumb on your iPhone.

Digital Comics | Alex De Campi kicks off a column at Bleeding Cool by talking about her upcoming digital comic Valentine.

Webcomics | Michel Fiffe's Zegas has kicked off over at ACT-I-VATE.

Alaska flag

Legal | Alaska legislators are considering introducing a bill that would expand the state's child-pornography laws to include cartoons and computer-generated images (anime is mentioned specifically in the article).

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that cartoons depicting minors in sexually explicit situations are legal because real children are not involved. Congress responded the following year by expanding obscenity laws to include digital images and cartoons. In June, a federal appeals court upheld the conviction of Dwight Whorley, a Virginia man sentenced to 20 years in prison in part for possessing child pornography. However, the Justice Department also prosecuted him under the PROTECT Act for receiving cartoon (manga/anime) images via email depicting the sexual abuse of children. Whorley's conviction was the first under the 2003 statute that was not based on photographs of children.

Simon Jones has commentary. [Anchorage Daily News, Icarus Publishing]

Creators | Todd Klein reports that longtime letterer Joe Rosen has passed away. He was 88. Rosen began his career at Harvey Comics, and later worked on countless titles for Marvel and DC Comics, including The Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four and Power Pack. [Todd's Blog]

Dragon Ball

Manga | Brigid Alverson leads a roundtable discussion about the removal of the popular Dragon Ball series from a school library in Maryland. [Good Comics for Kids]

Retailing | The Walt Disney Company has called in Steve Jobs and his Apple team to overhaul its 340 Disney Stores in the United States and Europe. The floor-to-ceiling reboot, expected to cost about $1 million per store, will include interactive elements and even a scent component. The company also is considering changing the outlets' names from Disney Stores to Imagination Parks. [The New York Times]

Conventions | Deb Aoki provides a manga fan's guide to this weekend's Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. [About.com]

Conventions | Writer-editor Jamie S. Rich has arrived at a finding after staffing the Oni Press booth at last weekend's Wordstock book festival: "I have to say, for as much as comics folks like to bitch about behavior of comics fans at conventions as if it were unique to the field, it's totally not. Book lovers are just as socially awkward and downright stupid and rude. The inane questions we heard or off-hand, thoughtless remarks rivaled anything a fanboy might lob at an unsuspecting comics pro." [Confessions of a Pop Fan]

Zuda

Webcomics | Cartoonist Scott Kurtz, a vocal critic of Zuda Comics, has revised his stance on DC's online initiative: "If companies like DC can enter the Webcomics world, and find a way to work with creators fairly and bring credibility and positive attention to this medium … that’s good. If Zuda can light a fire under the asses of talent that normally wouldn’t make progress, that’s awesome. We want that, don’t we? Doesn’t a rising tide lift all ships?" [PvPonline]

Creators | Through the sales of the first xkcd collection and tickets to his book tour, cartoonist Randall Munroe raised enough money to build a school in Laos: "We’re not going to torment the kids’ ability to learn phonetics by calling it The XKCD School, but we will be writing a dedication which will go on a plaque." In other Munroe news, the cartoonist talks with Laura Hudson about his self-published book, the rise of xkcd, and raptor-phobia. [xkcd blog via Fleen; Comics Alliance]

Creators | Mike Mignola discusses the evolution of Hellboy, the state of B.P.R.D., Witchfinder, and what's next for the Hellboy universe. [TFAW.com]

Creators | Your Berkeley Breathed interviews for the day. [CNN.com, Vulture]

Art and design | Todd Klein launches a multipart study of DC Comics' Robin logos through the decades. [Todd's Blog]

On Stranger Tides

Back at the D23 event in September, Disney announced they were doing a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, subtitled "On Stranger Tides." This caused several people to wonder aloud, "Hey, does this have anything to do with the 1988 Tim Powers book of the same name?"

Yes, it does. Geoff Boucher with the L.A. Times catches up with Powers, who says Disney optioned the book almost three years ago. His book is about a group of pirates, including Blackbeard, searching for the Fountain of Youth ... which viewers of the third Pirates movie may remember being mentioned at the end of that movie:

"I've watched all the movies several times, of course, and I think the clear thing they would use is the trip to the Fountain of Youth," Powers said. "My main character doesn't overlap with Jack Sparrow at all [in personality or circumstance]; they're totally different characters. I suppose they might overlap the Geoffrey Rush character Barbossa and Blackbeard. The only thing I feel certain they will hold on to is the Fountain of Youth since they telegraphed that at the end of the last movie."

The movie is scheduled to come out in the summer of 2011.

Long Beach Comic Con

Conventions | The local newspapers were all over the inaugural Long Beach Comic Con, held over the weekend in Long Beach, California. The Long Beach Post reported on the ribbon-cutting by Stan Lee -- "Some Stan Lee Day," he joked. "They're still delivering mail, and the banks are still open." -- and some of the other convention highlights. The Contra Costa Times also has a wrap-up.

Gelatometti, the Wildstorm Studios blog, has a nice photo set from the convention, including a great shot of Jim Lee and Stan Lee having a laugh. [Long Beach Comic Con]

Conventions | The fourth annual British International Comics Show, held Saturday and Sunday in Birmingham, reportedly drew more than 3,000 creators, publishers, dealers and fans. [Birmingham Mail]

Events | A handful of news outlets have coverage of local 24-Hour Comics Day events: Columbia Missourian, KTUU (Alaska), Minneapolis Comic Books Examiner and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. [24-Hour Comics Day]

Publishing | BOOM! Studios CEO Ross Richie discusses the format and distribution for the publisher's Disney Standards comics. [ICv2.com]

Opus, from "Bloom County"

Creators | Cartoonist Berkeley Breathed receives a pair of spotlights focusing on the release of Bloom County: The Complete Library from IDW Publishing, and the 30th anniversary of the influential comic. Does Breathed embrace the impact of his strip? "An understandable but unfair question for any writer. If you say yes, you're an arrogant d—-head. If you say no, you're a clueless dolt. Interestingly, if you ignore the question entirely, you're seen as both, my specialty. I can tell you this: There was a woman in 1989 that was committed by her family to an Ohio mental health facility largely because she thought she was pregnant by Bill the Cat. If this is what you meant, I'm happy to say yes, I recognize Bloom County's influence but I'll stop short of embracing it, as I do a porcupine." [USA Today, Los Angeles Times]

Creators | Adrian Humphreys profiles Kurt Westergaard, whose cartoon depiction of the prophet Muhammad with a lit bomb wrapped in his turban ignited international protests in which more than 100 people died, attacks on Danish embassies, and an assassination plot against the cartoonist.  "I don't regret anything," Westergaard says. [National Post]

Grant Morrison

Creators | Grant Morrison has signed with the International Creative Management talent agency. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Creators | This profile of Molly Crabapple touches on everything from her ever-growing Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School to her graphic novel Scarlett Takes Manhattan to her international travels. [The New York Times]

Creators | Keith Higginbotham catches up with Mark Waid at Long Beach Comic Con to talk briefly about the state of comics writing. [Long Beach Post]

Creators | Novelist and comics writer Frank Beddor discusses Hatter M, the Looking Glass Trilogy and more. [Orange County Register]

High Moon

Creators | Collaborators David Gallaher and Steve Ellis chat briefly about High Moon. [Comics Alliance]

Creators | Sequential Tart interviews Shaenon Garrity and Andrew Farago. [Sequential Tart]

Blogosphere | Alan David Doane has five questions for Tom Spurgeon about The Comics Reporter and comics journalism. [Trouble With Comics]

Comics | Thriller devotee Johnny Bacardi pens an ode to the short-lived DC Comics series created by Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor Von Eeden: "... it was such a huge pile of odd ideas and characters, and I suppose many who tried to embrace what it had to offer were simply overwhelmed by all the...stuff...that Fleming had cooked up. I would imagine that sometimes it seemed like just too much. Indeed, that was my reaction, as I recall, after I had finished issue #1. But I was more intrigued than off-put. I think I was in the minority." [Trouble With Comics]

Art and design: Todd Klein kicks off a multipart study of the Legion of Super-Heroes logos. [Todd's Blog]