Jack Kirby

If Twitter had existed back in the mid-1980s, things might have turned out differently for Jack Kirby and, ultimately, his heirs. Perhaps Marvel’s demand that he permanently sign away the copyright to all his work for them in return for very limited rights to his original art would have triggered the sort of online firestorm that scotched the Bank of America debit card fees, SOPA/PIPA, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s brief moment of collusion with the hard right. Then again, maybe not—the internet can be fickle.

A number of creators criticized Marvel’s actions at the time, and in the end they did soften a bit and come up with a deal Kirby could sign. More recently, Kirby’s heirs tried to claim ownership of a number of copyrights for characters he created, but the judge in that case ruled in Marvel’s favor without even going to trial. Now Change.org is giving it a second try, with an internet petition asking Marvel to make things right with Kirby and his heirs:

We strongly urge Marvel Entertainment and its owner Disney to acknowledge Jack Kirby’s authorship and primary role in the creation of these characters. As well, we urge Marvel to pay Kirby’s family royalties or other just compensation for the use of these characters and stories.

The petition calls on the signatories to boycott Marvel until that happens. So far, despite appearing on The Beat, the petition only has 229 signatures, which isn’t likely to move the sales needle enough for Marvel to notice.

Justice League #5

Sales | Sales of comic books and graphic novels to comic books stores through Diamond Comic Distributors increased 27.5 percent in January compared to the same month in 2011. Comics were up 32 percent while graphic novels were up 18 percent compared to 2011. DC Comics dominated all 10 spots at the top of the chart, with Justice League #5 coming in at No. 1. Batman: Through the Looking Glass was the top graphic novel for the month. [ICv2]

Passings | British comics artist Mike White, who illustrated Alan Moore’s The Twisted Man and numerous other stories for 2000AD, Lion, Valiant, Action and Score ‘n’ Roar, has passed away after a long illness. [Blimey!]

Publishing | Because the world demanded it, apparently, Random House plans to publish e-books of all the collected editions of Garfield newspaper comics. [Down the Tubes]

A Batmobile replica from Gotham Garage

Legal | Lawyer Jeff Trexler explains the ins and outs of copyright as it applies to the bits and pieces of the comics and movie world — the Batmobile, costumes, Stormtrooper helmets — and how a lawsuit over Mike Tyson’s tattoo could have put all of DC’s characters into the public domain. [The Beat]

Creators | For the past few years, the Pizza Island studio in Brooklyn has been home to seven of the brightest stars in comics these days: Kate Beaton, Domitille Collardey, Sarah Glidden, Meredith Gran, Lisa Hanawalt, Deana Sobel and Julia Wertz. Now they are turning in the keys and heading their separate ways, and Laura Hudson talks to all seven about what their plans are for the future. [Comics Alliance]

Creators | In a video of a presentation at the Fantagraphics bookstore, writers Mark Long and Jim Demonakos discuss the origins of their graphic novel The Silence of Our Friends (illustrated by Nate Powell), which is based in part on Long’s memories of his father, who was a white reporter covering the civil rights struggle in Texas in the late 1960s. [Graphic Eye]

Bucko

Creators | Jeff Parker and Erika Moen talk to Lauren Davis about the end of their webcomic Bucko, which wrapped up last week after a year. Here’s Moen on their collaborative process: “Parker asked me in the beginning what kind of story I’d like to draw, and I told him I enjoy drawing 20-somethings going on misadventures. And then, of course, Parker borrowed liberally from the flotsam and jetsam of my life, such as the name ‘Bucko.’ ‘Bucko’ is my nickname for my brother and has been ever since we were kids. I don’t even think about it, when I answer a call from him I start with ‘Hey Bucko…’ Parker liked that so here we are. The rest of the collaborative process was Parker giving me completed pages and me responding ‘Parker, I can’t draw that, people will lynch me!!’” [Comics Alliance]

Publishing | Tom Spurgeon talks to editor Michael Catron, who has just returned to Fantagraphics after several years’ absence and is already working on a variety of different projects. [The Comics Reporter]

A Batmobile replica from Gotham Garage

Legal | A judge refused to dismiss DC Comics’ lawsuit against Gotham Garage, a manufacturer of custom-made Batmobiles, ruling that the design of Batman’s vehicle is indeed copyrightable. DC sued the California company in May for copyright and trademark infringement, claiming Gotham Garage is confusing the public into thinking the cars are authorized products. The manufacturer asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the U.S. Copyright Act affords no protection to “useful articles.” The judge disagreed, ruling that Gotham Garage “ignores the exception to the ‘useful article’ rule, which grants copyright protection to nonfunctional, artistic elements of an automobile design that can be physically or conceptually separated from the automobile.” [The Hollywood Reporter]

Legal | Nancy Hass provides a broad overview of the legal battle at Archie Comics that pits Co-CEOs Jon Goldwater and Nancy Silberkleit against each other for control of the 73-year-old company. Silberkleit, who spoke briefly to Hass before a New York judge issued a temporary restraining order last month, called claims that she’s threatened and harassed the publisher’s employees and vendors “completely untrue.” [The Daily Beast]

comiXology

Digital | Four of the 10 top-grossing iPad apps for the past week were comics apps: comiXology’s Comics, DC, and Marvel apps and the Viz Manga app. [Media Bistro]

Digital | Alan Gardner gives the Pearls Before Swine iOS app a rave review but questions whether other creators will have the chutzpah to make videos of themselves, as creator Stephan Pastis does, and cross the line from creator to performer. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Passings| Wolverine and the X-Men writer Jason Aaron remembers Mike Pandel, a long-time employee of A Comic Shop in Orlando, Florida, who died this week following a traffic accident. [Jason Aaron]

Retailing | Christopher Butcher has some advice for fans who are outraged by the high price of “out of print” books at online bookstores: The book may not really be out of print, and it may be available a lot cheaper somewhere else. [UDON Entertainment]

Janelle Asselin

Comics | Former DC Comics editor Janelle Asselin discusses the work she did for her thesis on the subject of women and comics, how to bring in more female readers and more. [DC Women Kicking Ass]

Comics | Martha Cornog shares a list of 25 recommended graphic novels for African-American History Month. [Library Journal

Webcomics | In the days before the Super Bowl, Larry Cruz looks at a handful of sports-themed webcomics. [The Webcomic Overlook]

Comics | U.K. publishers are relying on nostalgia and escapism to bring new readers to the action title Strip Magazine, which runs old and new comics, and is expanding its distribution from comics stores to newsstands (as well as its iPad app). [BBC News]

Grimjack #1

Commentary | Rajan Khanna looks back at the 1980s independent comic Grimjack, by writer John Ostrander and artist Tim Truman. [tor.com]

History | R.C. Harvey delves into the history of the long-running newspaper strip Mary Worth and the controversy over whether or not it was the successor strip to the Depression-era Apple Mary. [The Comics Journal]

Advice | Colleen Doran has some resources and advice for freelancers and creative artists on how to deal with one of the biggest challenges of the creative life: Finding affordable health insurance. [A Distant Soil]

Fandom | CBR contributor TJ Dietsch details how he bound his single issues of Justice League into hardcovers. [United Monkee]

One Piece, Vol. 46

Crime | An energetic thief stole all 64 volumes of One Piece from a Japanese bookstore by stuffing 10 volumes at a time in his duffel bag. As One Piece is the most popular manga in Japan, he could have gotten a good price for his booty at a used manga store, had the forces of law not intervened. [Kotaku]

Legal | Michael Cavna talks with cartoonist Susie Cagle about being taken into custody again over the weekend during Occupy Oakland protests. [Comic Riffs]

Creators | Kiss member Gene Simmons still remembers the postcard he got from Stan Lee as a kid. [Noisecreep]

Comics | Jeff Parker and Erica Moen’s webcomic Bucko has reached its last panel, but Parker says a book is on the way, and there will be “exciting news” at Emerald City Comic Con. [Parkerspace]

Creators | Patrick Smith interviews Jeremy Whitley, co-creator of Princeless, an all-ages comic that has been getting good word-of-blog lately: “I think you’ll see as story progresses that fight scenes especially get pretty comical. In fact, I think that things like the lampooning of outfits and fairy tales and princess culture are the important heavy lifting of Princeless. They make adults who have lived with this stuff go “YES! THAT!” but hopefully kids who are seeing this stuff for the first time will be conditioned to see those sorts of things as ludicrous from an early age. It’s hard to get bs past kids on stuff like that anyway.” [Spandexless]

Jill Thompson, by Seth Kushner

Creators | Jill Thompson reminisces about modeling for P. Craig Russell and talks about her work on Wonder Woman, Sandman, Finals, and the all-ages comic Scary Godmother in a wide-ranging interview with Christopher Irving. [Graphic NYC]

Creators | Mike Jasper, co-creator of In Maps and Legends, talks about his love of fantasy and his experience launching the comic on Zuda and then moving it to other digital programs when Zuda folded. Fun fact: Although they have been working together for two and a half years, Mike and his collaborator Niki Smith have never met in person. [Graphicly Blog]

Comics | Funky Winkerbean fans rejoice: Tom Batiuk will release the first volume of collected Funky strips earlier this year. Readers who are familiar with the current depressing storylines will be surprised by the earlier strips, which are much more light-hearted and in fact quite funny. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether

Comics | Greg Rucka discusses plans for the collection edition of the webcomic Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether, and with a variety of digital and print formats on the table, asks readers what they would prefer. [Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether]

Graphic novels | The American Booksellers Association has published a list of the best selling graphic novels in independent bookstores for the two months ending Jan. 22. [Bookselling This Week ,via Graphic Novel Reporter]

Graphic novels | Paul Gravett lists some tempting graphic novels due out in March. [Paul Gravett]

Webcomics | The collaborative site Act-I-Vate celebrates its sixth anniversary today. [Acti-I-Vate]

Review | Robot 6 contributor Christopher Mautner reviews Government Issue: Comics for the People, 1940s to 2000s, which he finds as dreary as its subject matter, despite a few high points: “Easily the best comic of the bunch is Walt Kelly’s “Pogo Primer for Parents”, a visual lecture on the importance of properly monitoring your child’s television habits that is so charming and funny that it only serves to underscore how drab and lifeless all the other excerpts are by comparison.” [The Comics Journal]

Spawn #26

Legal | Neil Gaiman comments briefly on the settlement agreement that ends his decade-long legal dispute with Todd McFarlane over Medieval Spawn, Angela and Cogliostro, and a handful of derivative characters: “The main thing is, I feel like an awful lot of good things have come out of it. … I think the various decisions, particularly the [Judge] Posner decision, were huge in terms of what the nature of dual copyright in comics is. What is copyrightable in comics is now something that there is a definite legal precedent for. There were a lot of things that were … misty in copyright [law] that are now much clearer. And it’s of benefit to the creator.”

While the details of the settlement are confidential, it’s known that Gaiman and McFarlane now share ownership of Spawn #9 and #26, as well as the first three issues of an Angela spin-off series. [Comic Riffs]

Susie Cagle

Legal | Cartoonist Susie Cagle, who has been covering the Occupy movement, was arrested again over the weekend and subsequently “unarrested” during protests in Oakland, California. Cagle wrote on Twitter that an Oakland police officer “charged and grabbed my arm, threw me so hard it was numb for 5 minutes.” She said she was also told by an officer her release was a “favor.” [The Daily Cartoonist]

Conventions | Comic-Con International has released its complete special guest list for the 2012 convention, which takes place July 12-15 in San Diego. The list includes Mark Waid, John Romita Jr., James Robinson, the Hernandez Bros., Paul Levitz, Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Nate Powell and Becky Cloonan, among others. [Comic-Con]

Creators | Writer Jim Zubkavich says that in its first week as a webcomic, Skullkickers had more unique visits “than all three printings of Skullkickers #1 combined.” He says he hopes that “a combination of web page view ad payouts, print comic sales, digital comic sales, trade sales and convention sales will work together to keep the series running strong so I can tell the entire story I have planned.” [Fleen]

A.D.D.

Creators | New-media expert Douglas Rushkoff discusses his graphic novel A.D.D., a cautionary tale about the importance of media literacy: “The whole trick in turning something from non-fiction to fiction seems to be less about predicting imaginary scenarios than it is about making the unseen reality visible. So really, what you need to do is come up with visual, identifiable characters and circumstances that depict what’s actually going on in a way that we can see it.” [The Huffington Post]

Creators | Girls co-creator Joshua Luna discusses his new comic, Whispers. [Biff Bam Pop]

Creators | Peter Milligan talks about Red Lanterns and the introduction of a human character to their ranks: “He’s an important new character shot through with pathos, one whose vestigial humanity — and unusual powers — will be key when Atrocitus is trying to save the Red Lantern Corps from destruction.” [USA Today]

Scam #1

Creators | Joe Mulvey talks about his new comic Scam, the trials of being a solo creator, and promoting an indy title. [Graphicly]

Creators | Although there is no official word on the topic, speculation is running wild in New Jersey that 19th-century cartoonist Thomas Nast has been denied admission to the New Jersey Hall of Fame for the third year in a row due to objections to his anti-Catholic cartoons and crude caricatures of Irish immigrants. [NJ.com]

Review | Ron Richards takes an advance look at Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. [iFanboy]

Review | Rob McMonigal gives us the birds-eye lowdown on The Show Must Go On, a collection of Roger Langridge’s pre-Muppets work. [Panel Patter]

Manga | While a manga’s popularity on 4chan might not be a selling point in the United States, a Japanese author is touting her manga (which is scanlated over here) as “a smash hit on the overseas version of 2chan!!” [Kotaku]

Angoulême

Conventions | Wim Lockefeer lines up the exhibits he’s looking forward to at the 39th Angoulême International Comics Festival, which begins today in Angoulême, France. [The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log]

Legal | Cartoonist Albert Lekgaba was sketching the proceedings of the Botswana Court of Appeal when security officers asked to step out of the courtroom, confiscated his work, and told him he could not draw in court, “especially if the judges were present.” When the judges learned of this, however, they informed the court registrar that sketching is indeed allowed, and they ordered that Lekgaba be readmitted to the courtroom and his sketches returned to him. [The Botswana Gazette]

Passings | California newspaper cartoonist John Lara has died at age 56. [Coastline Pilot]

Creators | Heidi MacDonald sums up a number of recent posts on piracy and the creative life in one mega-post, and a lively discussion follows in the comments section. [The Beat]

Eisner Awards

Creators | Tom Spurgeon cast his votes for the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame, and he urges other readers who are qualified (or who think they may be qualified) to do so as well: “The way I look at it, a Hall of Fame is a cultural document that has a chance of surviving decades into the future when things like our on-line text jeremiads and late-night hotel room conversations about what’s valuable in the medium will have long faded from memory. It’s worth having whatever small input one can have on something like that, particularly as time will also drive any objections we have from relevance.” [The Comics Reporter]

Creators | Frank Cho is so busy these days that he has decided to postpone the release of his miniseries Guns & Dinos: “I want to apologize to all my fans out there who were eagerly waiting for this book. But with only half the book done and no time to complete it, it’s only fair to reschedule the release date when the mini-series is completely finished. Fear not, I’m planning on releasing it before the year is out.” [Apes and Babes]

Retailing | Retailer Chris Brady, owner of 4 Color Fantasies in Rancho Cucamonga, California, explains why he embraces digital comics: It brings new readers to the medium, and his comiXology storefront pays him 15 to 30 percent of cover price without much effort on his part. [The Press-Enterprise]

Daredevil #8

Comics | Colin Smith sees Mark Waid’s Spider-Man/Daredevil crossover as everything a good comic should be — smartly written, accessible to new readers and grounded in reality despite the fantasy elements: “Waid’s super-people are always individuals before they’re crime-fighters, and for all the fun of the roof-running and the holographic illusions, it’s the moments of betrayal and sadness and self-deception which stay with the reader after the comics have been put away.” [Too Busy Thinking About My Comics]

Comics | Warren Ellis gets an advance copy of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga #1 — yes, the one with the breastfeeding on the cover — and finds it good. However, he also worries that the market may not be mature enough for the book, both because of its length and its juxtaposition of different types of elements. [Warren Ellis]

Creators | Sean T. Collins interviews horror comic creator Julia Gfrörer: “I’m most interested in making art about feelings and experiences that are hidden or obscure, uncomfortable to talk about, frightening to even think of. It should be challenging for me to create, and for you to consume. I guess that it often comes off as overwrought and melodramatic, but like the song says, I can’t come through half-stepping.” [The Comics Journal]

Comics | Larry Cruz celebrates Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, which he admits has a “stodgy” feel but nonetheless boasts glorious art and a gripping story in an unusual format. [The Webcomic Overlook]

Review | Matthias Wivel takes a look at the Fantagraphics edition of Carl Barks’ Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes. [The Comics Journal]

Review | Philip Shropshire reviews the second volume of Ed Piskor’s phone-hacker comic Wizzywig, which takes the protagonist on a through-the-looking-glass trip through the criminal justice system. [Comics Forge]

Nancy Silberkleit

Just a week after Archie Comics Co-CEO Jonathan Goldwater sued to remove Nancy Silberkleit as a director and co-CEO, a New York judge has barred her from entering the company’s offices, or performing any work for the 73-year-old publisher.

The temporary restraining order was issued by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich in response to charges that Silberkleit ignored a Nov. 28 injunction prohibiting her from “harassing, yelling at or abusing” anyone at Archie’s headquarters or having any contact with staff and vendors regarding matters other than those required by her employment contract.

Goldwater’s lawsuit insists “the ink was barely dry” on Kornreich’s previous order when Silberkleit violated it by having unnecessary contact with staff. According to the New York Daily News, Silberkleit acknowledged under oath Tuesday that she contacted freelance writers about participating in an anti-bullying comic announced last week.

“I thought it was a good idea to do a book about bullying, because I’m right here in the midst of it myself,” she testified. “I’m the one being harassed and abused here.”

Issuing the new order ahead of a Feb. 2 contempt hearing, Kornreich didn’t mince words: “She is not to do anything for Archie Comics Productions.”

The decree is only the latest twist in an increasingly bitter struggle for control of the company that came to light in July, when Archie sued Silberkleit, seeking to remove her from its Mamaroneck, New York, offices because of what it described as “inappropriate and offensive language and behavior.” Silberkleit, who stepped into the co-CEO role in 2009 following the death of her husband Michael Silberkleit, son of co-founder Louis Silberkleit, is accused of a pattern of threats and harassment that Archie claims amounts to “a pervasive, hostile work environment which is seriously and substantially impairing the company’s operations.”

Silberkleit, who as co-executor of her late husband’s estate, controls a 50 percent stake in the company, has denied making threatening or demeaning comments that might jeopardize Archie’s operations. She ontends Goldwater is a chauvinist who seeks to “gain complete corporate control of the company.”

Goldwater, son of Archie co-founder John Goldwater, owns 25 percent of the company’s shares and represents the other 25 percent held by the estate of his late brother, leaving the board of directors deadlocked on such key matters as outside investors. According to Goldwater’s lawsuit, Silberkleit has “repeatedly and emphatically said that she would never agree to any dilution of the Silberkleit 50 percent equity interest at any price and under any terms, conditions or circumstances.”

Her control of her late husband’s shares is in dispute, however, as the children from Michael Silberkleit’s first marriage are contesting their father’s last will, written while he was dying of cancer. Eugene Zuriff, an attorney named in that will as co-executor of the estate, also began proceedings earlier this month to strip Nancy Silberkleit of her authority to represent those shares.

“Whether Ms. Silberkleit, Nancy Silberkleit is really the person who should be here or even representative of the families is a huge question,” Kornreich said during an August hearing. “At this point it is questionable who owns the Silberkleit shares, but the company, frankly, is in chains. As far as I can see, if, in fact, Ms. Silberkleit stays, the company will probably be destroyed, which she doesn’t seem to care.”

Persepolis

Legal | The trial resumed today, if only briefly, in Tunis for the president of a Tunisian television network accused of “insulting sacred values” when he aired the adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. Tensions were so high in the courtroom that proceedings were postponed until April. The Oct. 7 broadcast resulted in an attempted arson attack on the network’s offices and the arrest of some 50 protesters. Nessma TV President Nebil Karoui, who apologized in October, is charged with “insulting sacred values, offending decent morals and causing public unrest” because of the outrage triggered by a scene in Persepolis showing God, which is prohibited by Islam. [AFP]

Organizations | Stumptown Comics, the organization that puts on the Stumptown Comics Fest every year in Portland, Oregon, has added three new members to its board: Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Charles Brownstein, Boilerplate co-author Anina Bennett and editor Shawna Gore. [Stumptown Comics]

Awards | The First Fictions literary festival and the publisher Myriad Editions announced the winner of its First Graphic Novel competition: Gareth Brookes, whose graphic novel The Black Project will be published next year by Myriad Editions. Blogger Richard Bruton notes that the shortlist of seven graphic novels was so strong that one judge, Bryan Talbot (Alice in Sunderland) felt they were all “worthy of publication.” [Forbidden Planet]

The Massive

Creators | Brian Wood talks about his upcoming Dark Horse series The Massive. [Biff Bam Pop!]

Creators | Shane Houghton and Matt Whitlock discuss their work on BOOM! Studios’ Peanuts comic book. [Biff Bam Pop!]

Creators | In an interview tied to the upcoming release of the George Lucas film Red Tails, Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder (who worked on the film) reflects on his life in comics and the end of Boondocks: “My issues were totally about: one, I just burnt out on the strip and the deadlines were brutal. Two, I didn’t feel like there was much of a future in print. I thought I needed to quit because I saw the newspapers slowly going away. I didn’t want to be caught off guard. I felt more comfortable being a screenwriter, and as I learned how to become a producer, it seemed like a more natural fit for me than cartooning.” [Comics Alliance]

Goliath

Creators | Tom Spurgeon talks to Scottish writer and artist Tom Gauld, whose Goliath, which retells the Biblical story of David and Goliath, is due out from Drawn & Quarterly in a few weeks. Gauld’s work is not well known in the U.S., but he deserves to be; it’s worth clicking over just to see the art. [The Comics Reporter]

Creators | Writer and editor Shaenon Garrity makes her list of the best cartoonists of her generation, by which she means cartoonists born in the 1970s. That’s a fairly broad range and includes Craig Thompson, Gene Yang, and Chris Onstad, among others. [comiXology]

Creators | Michael Cavna interviews CW Cooke, the writer of the Steve Jobs bio-comic — the Bluewater one, not The Zen of Steve Jobs — about the challenges of writing about such an iconic and polarizing figure. [Comic Riffs]

Criticism | Sexism in Tiny Titans? It’s different from the type you find in adult comics, but J.L. Bell notices that the girls do a lot of babysitting—and the boys do almost none. [Oz and Ends]

Retailing | Darrin Williams, owner of Comic Envy in Asheville, North Carolina, answers questions about comics, why he became a retailer and his approach to Free Comic Book Day: “It’s a program that started about 10 years ago, and each year it has been the biggest day of the year for me. Ostensibly, it is designed to promote comics in general and get new readers in. All the publishers put out ‘free’ books, but it still costs the shops. I try to go pretty deep, but I run out of books. I think it’s successful, and I try to do stuff above and beyond. I’m working on a puppet show and lining up a kid-friendly band. I want it to be an event.” [Asheville Citizen-Times]

Friends With Boys

Comics | Faith Erin Hicks discusses the role of “acting” in comics: “I remember when I was drawing the final episode of my old webcomic, Demonology 101 (the 5th episode). That episode ended up being something like 100 pages more than all the other episodes, because that was when I started to explore the idea of acting in comics. I wanted to spend time on characters’ emotional reactions and inner thoughts in the comics, so everything ended up being much more decompressed. I had to give space to the characters, so they could react to a cruel/funny/sad comment by another character, or silently work through their inner struggles. That episode was the first time I connected drawing comics with the idea of myself as a director: the characters were my actors and I was directing them in a performance. And it was up to me to make sure that their performance supported the story to the best of my ability.” [Friends With Boys]

Comics | The Mindless Ones annotate the gigantic last issue of the pre-New 52 Batman Incorporated. [The Mindless Ones]

Creators | Gary Mann posts an appeal for help for colorist Tom Ziuko, who is facing serious health problems with no insurance and limited financial resources. [20th Century Danny Boy]

Commentary | David Brothers recommends Giannis Milonogiannis’ Old City Blues, which is now available on comiXology. [ComicsAlliance]

Events | Floating World Comics in Portland, Oregon, will host artwork from Emi Lenox and Natalie Nourigat beginning Feb. 2. [Floating World Comics]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this morning postponed a vote on the PROTECT IP Act, a controversial anti-piracy bill that, along with the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act, drew widespread online protest just two days earlier.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House  Judiciary Committee, quickly responded to the announcement by shelving SOPA “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

The delays appear to be indefinite, with Reid suggesting that PIPA sponsor Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) redraft the proposed legislation, saying in a statement, “There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved.”

“I encourage him to continue engaging with all stakeholders to forge a balance between protecting Americans’ intellectual property, and maintaining openness and innovation on the internet,” Reid (D-Nevada) continued. “We made good progress through the discussions we’ve held in recent days, and I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks.”

In his statement, Smith added: “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

PIPA, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011, was originally scheduled for a procedural vote on Tuesday in an effort to break a rarely used hold imposed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon). Introduced May 12, the Senate bill, like its House counterpart, would give the U.S. government and rights holders the ability to block access to “rogue websites,” particularly those outside the country, dedicated to copyright infringement and counterfeit goods.

SOPA, introduced Oct. 26 by Smith, seemed headed toward approval by the House Judiciary Committee in December after more than 20 amendments designed to address concerns voiced by technology experts and civil liberty advocates were overwhelmingly rejected. Smith had tentatively planned to revisit the bill next month to consider what has been characterized as watered-down versions of his original legislation.

Critics have charged the sweeping powers amount to censorship, as rights holders would be able to demand a website remove content without having to prove it’s theirs. If the site owners don’t respond within five days, the host would either have to take down the entire website or face a potential lawsuit. SlashGear’s primer also points out that SOPA would permit conflicts of interests that favor large companies.

Megaupload

Legal | The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI on Thursday shut down the popular file-sharing site Megaupload, seized $50 million in assets and charged its founder and six others with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy that’s cost copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. The FBI has begun extradition proceedings in New Zealand to bring company founder Kim Schmitz, aka Kim DotCom, to the United States. He and three other associates are being held without bail until Monday, when they’ll receive a new hearing. Three others remain at large. They face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

News of the shutdown was met with retaliation by the hacker collective Anonymous, which attacked the websites of the Justice Department and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Founded in 2005, Megaupload allowed users to anonymously transfer files like movies and music and, certainly on a much smaller scale, comic books. The Hong Kong-based company, which reportedly employed as many as 155 people, is said to have made $175 million from ads and premium subscriptions. According to the indictment, DotCom, whose assets apparently include a fleet of cars, took in $42 million from the operation in 2010.

Before Megaupload was taken down, the company posted a statement on its website claiming that allegations it facilitated massive breaches of copyright are “vastly overblown”: “The fact is that the vast majority of Mega’s Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch.” [USA Today, The New York Times, CNET]

J.M. DeMatteis

Piracy | In response to recent conversations about the Stop Online Piracy Act, comics writer J.M. DeMatteis shares his thoughts on comic book piracy: “The bottom line — my bottom line, anyway — is this: If you’re enthusiastic about a particular creator, buy his or her work and then let others know about it. If you spread the word via file-sharing, it’s not much different than loaning a friend one of your books or CDs. Just as I once became an obsessive fan after taping my friends’ vinyl albums, many of your friends will become fans who’ll spend their hard-earned money on actively supporting that creator’s work.” [Creation Point]

Creators | Lynda Barry will be the spring artist in residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [University of Wisconsin-Madison News]

Creators | Movie producer and former Marvel Studios President Avi Arad chats briefly about his new manga The Innocent: “I’ve been in the world of comics all my life, and specifically into Japanese comics in the early days, before manga attempted to penetrate this market. I wanted to do The Innocent a long time ago. It stayed with me quite a while. Once I got out of Marvel Comics, it was one of the things on my bucket list to do a manga. I had an idea and I followed it, and here we are.” [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Dancer #1

Creators | Nathan Edmondson discusses Dancer, his upcoming Image Comics miniseries with artist Nic Klein about a retired assassin and his ballerina companion on the run from a sniper in Milan. [USA Today]

Creators | Jennifer Anderson spotlights Oil & Water, the new Fantagraphics graphic novel by Steve Duin and Shannon Wheeler that examines the impact of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf. [Beaverton Valley Times]

Creators | Collaborators Kurtis J. Wiebe and Tyler Jenkins talking about their upcoming Image/Shadowline series Peter Panzerfaust, which reimagines Peter Pan and the Lost Boys as Nazi resisters during World War II. [USA Today]

Publishing | Dave Ferraro and Patrick Markfort discuss the small publisher Sparkplug in their latest podcast. [Comics-and-More]

Legal

Legal | A teenager was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison for his role in the July 2010 theft of a valuable comic collection from an elderly Medina, New York, man, who later died of a heart attack. Eighteen-year-old Juan C. Javier, who pleaded guilty last fall to attempted second-degree burglary, is one of seven people whom police say were hired by businessman Rico J. Vendetti to break into the home of Homer Marciniak to steal his comics. Marciniak, 77, awoke during the burglary and was beaten, suffering only cuts and bruises. However, he had a fatal heart attack later that day. Eight people, including Vendetti and Javier, were indicted in November 2010; the indictments were dismissed against four of the accused so the U.S. Attorney could charge them with murder under federal law. [The Daily News]

National Cartoonists Society

Awards | Michael Cavna talks with National Cartoonists Society President Tom Richmond about the addition of the Online Comics Strips category to the prestigious Reuben Awards: “This is definitely a “first step” in recognizing online cartooning in the NCS divisional awards. It’s been discussed and explored for several years, and there are a lot of challenges involved. I picked the brains of several big names in online comics, and worked with the board to try and come up with criteria for eligibility that were in keeping with the other divisions and the NCS rules. This is what we came up with.” [Comic Riffs]

Digital comics | Comics and religious apps account for the 10 top-grossing iOS book apps this week. [eBookNewser]

Digital piracy | Bryan Young consider who should shoulder the blame for comics piracy: “Comic publishers need to understand why people are doing it and address the issues. People are pirating these comics, right or wrong, because they don’t believe they should be paying the same price as for a print copy of a comic. It’s as simple as that. The average comic book, in print or digital, costs about $2.99 per issue. With print, you have printing costs, shipping costs, wholesale costs and everything else to contend with to turn a profit. It makes sense that they’re priced the way they are. But a digital comic? Digital comics have far less overhead.” [City Weekly]

Thief of Thieves #1

Creators | Entertainment Weekly chats briefly with Robert Kirkman about Thief of Thieves. [Shelf Life]

Creators | Young artists should have a five-year plan, Sean Gordon Murphy firmly believes, rather than sitting around tweeting and waiting to be discovered. He offers some concrete steps, some of which are counterintuitive: “With a little bit of effort, could you write a C+ story? Of course you could! C+ is better than most comics. We deal in an industry where characters fight crime in their underwear — don’t be intimidated into thinking you couldn’t put together a half decent script if you tried.” Writing is not only an asset for the beginning artist, he points out, it also helps them become planners. [deviantART]

Comics | Oliver Sava considers what makes a good all-ages comic: “The best titles have elements adults can latch on to as well. Roger Langridge’s The Muppet Show is one of the best humor comics published in the past decade, using the comic-book form to capture the spirit and energy of the television series. Each issue has an overarching plot broken up by one- or two-page comic strips depicting the show’s different sketches, and Langridge’s experience with adult humor on titles like Fred The Clown keeps the jokes from being too infantile.” [The A.V. Club]

Wonder Woman in Cooky La Moo on Broadway

Hostess Brands, whose quirky full-page ads for Twinkies, CupCakes and Fruit Pies were a hallmark of American comic books from 1975 to 1982, is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as early as this week.

The Wall Street Journal reports the move will be the second significant court restructuring for the wholesale baker and distributor, which employs about 19,000 people and carries more than $860 million in debt. The Irving, Texas-based Hostess, formerly Interstate Bakeries Corporation, has been struggling since it emerged in February 2009 from four years of bankruptcy proceedings. High labor costs and rising prices of sugar, flour and other ingredients are being blamed for its financial woes, which include more than $50 million owed to anxious vendors.

Although the company’s brands include Drake’s, Dolly Madison and Wonder Bread, it’s perhaps best known — certainly to comic readers of a certain age — for its Hostess line. The snack cakes became a staple of American comics during a seven-year advertising campaign that featured such characters as Aquaman, Archie, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Iron Man and Spider-Man in one-page adventures in which Hostess products played a key role.

In the aptly named “Fruit Pies for Magpies,” three would-be thieves are distracted by (you guessed it!) Fruit Pies, providing Batgirl with an opportunity to lasso them. In another installment, Captain America saves Nick Fury from the steely grip of “the Trapster’s goon” by hurling his Fruit Pie-covered shield at the criminal. And then there was that time Captain Marvel lured a giant flea market-eating flea — let that soak in — into a net by using Twinkies as bait.

Tomorrow’s Heroes has an archive of 204 Hostess ads, if you’re looking to kill a little time.

The Institute for Liberty, an opponent of healthcare reform that characterizes itself as “an aggressive defender of the rights of individuals to pursue the American dream,” has launched a television ad called “Disney’s Dark Side” that accuses the company of hypocrisy: Although the House of Mouse contends it’s “protecting Florida’s family-friendly image,” IFL argues it’s more concerned with these resorts encroaching on Walt Disney World’s market share.

“The truth?” the TV spot’s narrator says. “Disney’s so-called family-friendly image includes profiting from licensing comic book characters to online casinos.”

That’s certainly true. An online search for “Marvel casino slots” brings up countless results — including, plainly enough, Marvel Slots, which provides information on games featuring Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, Ghost Rider and Fantastic Four. Blade, Daredevil and Elektra also have their own slots (as you can see in the image above). Of course, it’s not only Marvel: Warner Bros.-owned DC Comics has a deal with Cryptologic for online slots featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Sandman, Watchmen and Green Lantern, among others. There’s also one based on Mike Mignola’s Hellboy.

But neither Warner Bros. nor Dark Horse has a dog, or a resort, in the South Florida casino fight. You can watch the TV spot below.

“DISNEY’S DARK SIDE”: New TV Ad Exposes Disney’s Hypocrisy on Gaming, Doubletalk on Family Values

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2012 — The Institute for Liberty (IFL), a Washington-based advocacy organization, today launched “Disney’s Dark Side,” a television advertisement highlighting the company’s hypocrisy in opposing legislation currently under consideration in the state legislature that would allow for the construction of destination resorts in South Florida while bringing important reforms to Florida gaming laws.

“Disney has taken the public position of being morally opposed to gaming, while quietly profiting from the licensing of cartoon characters to online casinos,” said Andrew Langer, president of The Institute for Liberty. “Disney’s opposition to the construction of new, job-creating destination resorts has nothing to do with protecting Florida’s family-friendly image, and everything to do with protecting its own bottom line and stomping out any potential competition. That goes against the basic principles of free markets.”

Langer continued, “Disney recently laid off 1,400 Florida workers, but is earning billions in profits. Now it’s spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby against job-creating private investments, at a time when nearly one million Floridians are out of work.”

“Disney’s Dark Side” Script:

Why is Disney opposed to a $6 billion investment to help jumpstart Florida’s economy?

They say they’re protecting Florida’s family-friendly image.

The truth? Disney’s so-called family-friendly image includes profiting from licensing comic book characters to online casinos.

And while Disney’s shareholders rake in the profits, they’ve cut 1,400 Florida jobs.

Disney isn’t protecting Florida. They’re protecting their bottom line.

Let’s jumpstart Florida’s economy creating tens of thousands of jobs by allowing destination resorts.

The Institute for Liberty is a non-profit policy organization, involved in grassroots activism. It focuses on small business, entrepreneurship, and federal public policy. You can find out more on the web at http://www.instituteforliberty.org and www.disneydarkside.com.

Richard Alf

Passings | Richard Alf, who as a teenager fronted the money for the first three years of San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con, the annual event that later became Comic-Con International, passed away Wednesday from pancreatic cancer. He was 59. Alf, who co-chaired the first convention in 1970 and became chairman the following year, later opened Comic Kingdom in North Slope, a business he sold by the end of the decade. [U-T San Diego, Mark Evanier]

Conventions | iFanboy, San Francisco’s Isotope Comics and Grant Morrison are teaming up for MorrisonCon, which will feature “A once in a lifetime opportunity to see Grant Morrison and 9 hand picked comic creator superstars, all together for one weekend, one time only.” They’ve released few details so far, but the website says it’ll occur next fall. [MorrisonCon]

Awards | Comic-Con International is now accepting submissions for the 2012 Eisner Awards, which will be presented in San Diego in July. The deadline for submitting materials for consideration is March 6. [CCI]

Legal | Former comics retailer Michael George, who was convicted of the 1990 murder of his first wife and given a life sentence in November, has asked the judge to acquit him or order a new trial. George’s lawyer filed documents last week that claim there was weak evidence and improper tactics during his second trial. They also plan to appeal the case. [WDIV]

Dragon Lady Comics

Retailing | Toronto’s Dragon Lady Comics will close in early February after nearly 34 years in business, a move the store’s manager attributes to rising rent and slowing sales. [The Joe Shuster Awards, blogTO]

Creators | Brandon Graham delves into his process for Prophet, the upcoming Image Comics relaunch of the old Rob Liefeld property. [Warren Ellis]

Creators | Collaborators Shane Houghton and Matt Whitlock chat briefly about BOOM! Studios’ new Peanuts series. [LA Weekly]

Comics | Chad Nevett provides a supplemental reading list for the Joe Casey-written Vengeance, for anyone “wanting to know the background on various characters and concepts Joe Casey is using in that series.” [GraphiContent]

According to a recent Radiolab Podcast, in order to get a 5.2-percent tax cut on Marvel’s imported action figures, the company’s lawyers successfully argued the toys represent “animals or other non-human creatures (for example, robots and monsters)” as defined by the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, a tome that determines tariff classifications for all goods imported into the United States.

Confused? There’s a lot of legalese involved, so here’s the way it breaks down: There’s a distinction between two categories of products imported into the U.S. “Dolls” are toys representing humans, whereas “toys” represent non-humans. While dolls are taxed at 12.8 percent, toys are taxed at just 6.8 percent. Two shrewd trade attorneys noticed the distinction and successfully argued to U.S. Customs officials that Marvel’s licensed products don’t represent human beings.

“We actually went down there. We had a meeting and brought samples of all the figures,” trade lawyer Sherry Singer told Radiolab. “We had 60 or 80 figures. We tried to convince them that these figures [did not represent human beings].”

The court cases, which began in 1993, went on for 10 years. Apparently a large part of the legal argument had to do with the X-Men not being, strictly by tariff classification, human. Oddly, the fictional governments of the Marvel Universe are usually the ones to claim mutants aren’t human — but in the real world, the government was the one defending the humanity of mutants while Marvel was opposed to the idea.

Even X-Men director Bryan Singer weighed in on the mutants versus humans issue during the podcast. “In the X-Men universe, humans are very often out to get the mutants, dismissive of mutants, fearful of the mutants, liquidating them, experimenting on them,” he said.

The judge’s ruling actually stated that all Marvel heroes were actually classified as non-human, not just the X-Men. I guess that means Super-Soldiers, gamma-irradiated scientists, billionaire philanthropists/playboys and thunder gods will all get a tax break when the bulk of The Avengers merchandise hits the U.S.

Last year, former Sonic the Hedgehog artist Ken Penders announced that he had retained the rights to all the characters and story lines he created while working on the comic (from issue #11 to #135), which is published by Archie Comics. Penders has sued the game companies Sega and Electronic Arts, claiming copyright infringement, and Archie Comics has sued Penders, asking the court to make a declaratory judgment on the rights question; that case is scheduled to go to court next month. It looks like a long shot, but if the court finds in Penders’s favor, Archie will be in a pickle, as they have not only reprinted those issues in digest form but also continued the storylines Penders originated, using the characters he now claims to own. (I reached out to the Archie Comics folks but they had no comment.)

In the meantime, Penders is keeping busy: He just revealed a redesign of Julie-Su, Lara-Su’s mother, for the graphic novel series he is working on, The Lara-Su Chronicles. It’s going to be an odd series, because even if the court decides that Penders should have the rights to the characters he created while working for Archie, they won’t give him the rights to Knuckles or Sonic, so the cast will be all supporting characters. On the other hand, it would be an interesting alternate universe for Sonic fans. Stay tuned!

Friedrich filed the lawsuit in April 2007, shortly after the release of Columbia Pictures’ Ghost Rider movie, accusing the studio, Marvel, Hasbro and other companies of copyright infringement, false advertising and unfair competition, among other counts. The film grossed $228 million worldwide; a sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, will be released in February.

The writer asserted he created Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider in 1968 and, three years later, agreed to publish the character through Magazine Management, which eventually became Marvel Entertainment. Under the agreement, the publisher held the copyright to the character’s origin story in 1972′s Marvel Spotlight #5, and to subsequent Ghost Rider works. However, Friedrich alleged the company never registered the work with the U.S. Copyright Office and, pursuant to federal law, he regained the copyrights to Ghost Rider in 2001.

But The Associated Press reports that on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled Friedrich gave up ownership to the property when he endorsed checks that contained language relinquishing rights to Marvel’s predecessors. The judge said the writer signed over all claims to the character in 1971 and again in 1978 in exchange for the possibility of more freelance work for the publisher.

“Either of those contractual transfers would be sufficient to resolve the question of ownership,” Forrest wrote. “Together, they provide redundancy to the answer that leaves no doubt as to its correctness.”

“The law is clear that when an individual endorses a check subject to a condition, he accepts that condition,” the judge ruled, contending her finding made it unnecessary “travel down the rabbit hole” to determine whether Ghost Rider was work for hire.

Diary of a Zombie Kid

Legal | Antarctic Press has agreed to stop selling Diary of a Zombie Kid and Diary of a Zombie Kid: Rotten Rules under the terms of a temporary restraining order issued Wednesday by a federal court. Wimpy Kid Inc. is suing Antarctic for trademark infringement, among other things, claiming that its Diary of a Wimpy Kid parodies are too close to the real thing. Antarctic CEO Joe Dunn signed the temporary restraining order, signifying that Antarctic agreed to it; the two companies are negotiating a settlement, according to court papers. One interesting tidbit: Diary of a Zombie Kid sold all of 850 copies in comics shops in August, while the first printing on the latest Wimpy Kid book was 6 million. [ICv2]

Retailing | The auction for the inventory of Arizona retail chain Atomic Comics announced last week has been moved to Jan. 10. [Sierra Auction Management]

Comics | Bayou Arcana is a new anthology of Southern Gothic horror comics with a gender twist: All the comics are written by men and illustrated by women. There are some pretty broad generalizations in this article — “There is a certain sensitivity that you find in women’s art that just does not appear in a lot of guys’ work,” says the project editor, James Pearson — but the project itself sounds interesting. [The Guardian]

Publishing | Jim Salicrup, editor-in-chief of Papercutz, discusses the publisher’s line of all-ages comics: “If the Big Two say that the audience for all-ages comics isn’t there in the comic book stores, they may be right, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be created. As I said, some stores are very interested in developing this market, and certainly there is more material (mostly graphic novels) now available than there has been in many years. Papercutz, which was started by publisher Terry Nantier and me, has now been around for seven years, and although it has been a major struggle at times, there seems to be more and more openness to comics for all ages. You may wonder why stores would be reluctant to attract new customers, but in these difficult times, trying to simply survive may distract many a store.” [Bleeding Cool]

Steve Niles

Creators | LA Weekly has a lengthy profile of 30 Days of Night creator Steve Niles: “I don’t know why I like horror. Everyone always asks me that. I think it’s a big release. We work out our fears by being scared. Horror guys, we work out a lot.” [LA Weekly]

Creators | Kurtis J. Wiebe and Riley Rossmo discuss their Image Comics horror series Green Wake. [Fangoria]

Creators | The local newspaper profiles Kennebunk, Maine, creator Sarah Searle, who incorporated real events and people into her graphic novel Under the Apple Tree, which is set in Kennebunk in 1943. [Seacoast Online]

Creators | Richard Bruton interviews mother-and-son comics team John and Patrice Aggs about their latest graphic novel The Boss. [Forbidden Planet blog]

Comics | Robot 6 contributor J. Caleb Mozzocco questions the wisdom of DC Comics developing new properties based on Alan Moore and David Gibbons’ Watchmen, given the reluctance of readers to embrace characters outside the DC Universe. [Every Day Is Like Wednesday]

Smile

Graphic novels | Librarian Robin Brenner runs the numbers to see which graphic novels circulated the most in her library over the past year; some of the results surprised her. Library circulations are an interesting contrast to sales charts, and I suspect they are a truer reflection of what children and teens are reading as kids generally don’t have a lot of money to spend on comics. [Good Comics for Kids]

Retailing | The Newark Post profiles local comic shop Captain Blue Hen, which has a “pay for A’s” incentive for school kids: Earn a dollar credit at the store for every A on your report card. [Newark Post]

Sales charts | John Jackson Miller has posted the last 20 years’ worth of Diamond end-of-year lists on his site, chronicling the best-selling comics for each year. He’s also set up a page with just the No. 1 best-selling comic and graphic novel for each of those 20 years. [Comichron]

Cosplay | HBO reality TV star and brothel owner Dennis Hof plans to open a brothel outside Las Vegas with a science fiction theme. The “alien cathouse” is expected to open early next year, and Hof has recruited Heidi Fleiss, former Hollywood madame and a reality star herself, to plan the costumes and decor, calling her his “chief alien design queen.” [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

TheWrap reports the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston by Wimpy Kid Inc., accuses the San Antonio-based publisher of using a title and cover design “confusingly similar” to those of the Wimpy Kid books in an obvious attempt “to confuse the public into believing that defendant’s books are additions to such series.” Read the lawsuit here.

Created by Fred Perry and David Hutchison, the August-debuting Diary of a Zombie Kid follows Bill Dookes, a fifth-grader whose mother volunteers for medical research only to bring home a mysterious zombie virus that leaves her son with “skin problems and body chemistry changes that make puberty look like a walk in the park” — not to mention a growing appetite for brains. A sequel, Diary of a Zombie Kid: Rotten Rules — an apparent nod to Kinney’s second book Rodrick Rules — is set for release in January.

Kinney’s six-book Wimpy Kid series, presented as the journal of middle-school student Greg Heffley, has sold more than 52 million copies in North America alone since its 2007 debut and spawned two movies and numerous merchandising tie-ins, including clothes, toys and games.

The complaint accuses Antarctic of trademark infringement, copyright infringement, false designation of origin, trade dress infringement, trademark dilution and deceptive trade practices, and asks the court to permanently enjoin the publisher from further infringement. Wimpy Kid Inc. also seeks triple damages, in addition to attorney’s fees and Antarctic’s profits from Diary of a Zombie Kid.

Antarctic Press Publisher Joe Dunn declined comment to the Boston Herald, saying, “Obviously, I would love to talk about it and give my side of it. However I’ve been advised not to say anything.” His attorney said the publisher will be answering the complaint “promptly.”

Susie Cagle

Legal | Cartoonist Susie Cagle, who was arrested last month while covering Occupy Oakland, says she has been cleared of all charges by the Oakland Police Department. The Society of Professional Journalists sent a letter to the Oakland police condemning the arrest, which ultimately assisted in getting the charges dropped. The letter called out the department’s crowd management policy, which says, “Even after a dispersal order has been given, clearly identified media shall be permitted to carry out their professional duties in any area where arrests are being made, unless their presence would unduly interfere with the enforcement action.” [Fishbowl LA]

Conventions | San Diego City Council approved a plan to have San Diego hotels pay for a $520 million convention center expansion. The plan moves to a second hearing in January and requires a vote of two-thirds of the hotels that cast ballots for approval. [NBC San Diego]

Retailing | Mesa, Arizona, comic store Evermore Nevermore has closed after a little more than two years. Co-owner Bob Leeper blames the recession and light evening traffic downtown. [The Arizona Republic]

Retailing | Duff Franco, owner of Earth 383 Comics & Games in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, has launched a campaign to save the store following a break-in that resulted in the loss of most of his gaming stock. He plans a gathering on Dec. 17 to solicit ideas from customers on how to keep the shop open. [The Daily Advance]

Marvel

Creators | Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso and Editor Jeanine Schaefer discuss female characters and creators at Marvel, with Alonso noting why it’s important for the publisher to hire creators from a variety of backgrounds: “In following the discourse about women and minorities in comics, the one thing I see brought up so often is the idea that people don’t see gender. ‘Oh, I don’t see gender,’ they say, ‘I just want good stories.’ There’s an idea that actively looking to hire women is counter-intuitive to good stories; the simplified version of this is ‘hire good writers, regardless of gender.’ Of course, I agree that the people we hire need to be good at this, first and foremost. But what this argument misses, in implying (and sometimes outright stating) that actively hiring people with different life-experiences is somehow creatively bereft, is that having a variety of viewpoints is the best way to not only tell better stories, but to grow your market, so that you can continue to tell those stories.” [ComicsAlliance]

Creators | The Comics Journal posts an interview with comics legend Jerry Robinson from 1994 about his life and career. The creator of the Joker, who passed away this week, is also remembered by Ty Templeton, Peter David and the Hero Initiative’s Jim McLauchlin. [The Comics Journal]

Organizations | Diamond Comic Distributors helped the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund raise almost $30,000 through a retailer membership drive. [CBLDF]

Conventions | WonderCon, scheduled for March 16-18 in Anaheim, California, has announced several additional special guests, including Jim Lee, Mark Waid, Art Adams and Joe Hill. [Comic-Con International]