Diamond Comic Distributors

Publishing | John Jackson Miller profiles Diamond Comic Distributors to mark its 30th anniversary, offering a timeline of major events in the company’s history. [Comichron]

Conventions | Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai and AdHouse Publisher Chris Pitzer both report on their experiences at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. [Angoulême]

Retailing | Dark Horse Publisher Mike Richardson will give the keynote address at this week’s ComicsPRO Annual Membership Meeting. [NewsOK]

Retailing | Hypno Comics will open Saturday in Ventura, California. [Ventura County Star]

Wolverine: The Best There Is #3

Comics | David Brothers explains why Wolverine: The Best There Is is indeed the best Wolverine story of 2011: “Rather than being a story where Wolverine is the absolute best there is at what he does, and what he does is tear through anyone and everyone with ease, we get a story where Wolverine is forced to slow down, change his tactics, and think things through before really getting loose (because we have expectations for Wolverine stories, of course).” [4thletter!]

Commentary | Kristy Valenti looks at Habibi and Paying for It, two brown-covered graphic novels about male sexual obsession, a genre she dubs “dick lit.” [comiXology]

Creators | Zippy creator Bill Griffith is the guest on the video interview show Mr. Media Radio. [Mr. Media Radio Interviews]

Suicide Squad #6

Creators | Writer Adam Glass talks about the new story arc in DC Comics’ Suicide Squad that focuses on Harley Quinn. [USA Today]

Analysis | Nicolas Labarre looks at a particularly interesting six-panel sequence from Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher. [Comics and the U.S. South]

Digital | The Vietnamese Communist Party may think they can censor provocative comics like Killer With a Festering Head, but tech-savvy teens know better. [The Washington Post]

Comics | John Parker looks at Spawn through the lens of history: “For those read the comic during its initial publication, the Spawn Compendium is a virtual time machine, whooshing us back to the joy and confusion of our teens. For entirely new readers it must be like studying artifacts. Spawn is the quintessential ’90s comic, inseparable from the trends and events that lead to its creation, and its subsequent impact on the industry.” [ComicsAlliance]

Comics | William Cardini discusses his work on Rub the Blood, the ’90s Image tribute project edited by Ian Harker and Pat Aulisio. [The Daily Texan]

Comics | KC Carlson talks about the long-in-development The Judas Coin by Walt Simonson, which he got a sneak preview of when trapped at the Simonson house during an ice storm. [Comics Worth Reading]

PunisherMAX #22

PunisherMAX will end with February’s Issue 22, Newsarama reports, ahead of what Marvel characterizes as “a big change” coming to its mature-readers imprint.

Although the conclusion follows January’s “final brutal confrontation between the Punisher and Kingpin,” it’s unclear whether this is the planned ending for the series. Writer Jason Aaron told Comic Book Resources in August, just as the current arc was beginning, that, “This is the culmination of the Punisher/Kingpin story, but it’s not my last story on the book. There are definitely plans in place after this next arc, but I can’t talk about them without spoiling what’s coming up.”

PunisherMAX, by Aaron and artist Steve Dillon, debuted in November 2009, following the end of the 75-issue run of the original mature-readers Punisher series (retitled The Punisher: Frank Castle during its final year). PunisherMAX and Deadpool MAX are the imprint’s only current monthly series.

News of the title’s end arrives just a day after CBR reported that X-23 will be canceled with January’s Issue 20. It’s the latest in a string of abrupt cancellations at Marvel that includes Alpha Flight, Victor Von Doom, Destroyers, Iron Man 2.0 and All-Winners Squad.

Update (5:47 p.m. PT): Aaron commented on Twitter, writing, “PUNISHER MAX is ending, the way I always intended it. It was not canceled.”

Punisher MAX #1

Today’s episode of G4′s Attack of the Show confirmed what’s been rumored for more than two months: that writer Jason Aaron and artist Steve Dillon will take on Marvel’s Punisher.

According to “Fresh Ink” host Blair Butler, the two creators will relaunch Punisher MAX with a new No. 1 issue in November. The current mature-readers title, the awkwardly named The Punisher: Frank Castle MAX, appears to be ending in September.

The new series reportedly will feature the debut of Bullseye and Kingpin in the MAX universe — can that be right? — with the first story arc focusing on the rise of Wilson Fisk through the ranks of the criminal underworld and the role Frank Castle plays in his ascent.

Word of the Aaron-Dillon teamup began circulating in early May after colorist Matt Hollingsworth listed “Punisher starting with issue #75,” along with the creators’ names, under the “Current Comics Work” header.

Dillon previously worked with Garth Ennis from 2001 to 2003 on the Marvel Knights imprint version of The Punisher, and later drew the Bullseye: Greatest Hits and Punisher vs. Bullseye miniseries. Aaron, who’s best known for his work on Scalped, Wolverine and Ghost Rider, wrote last year’s Punisher MAX X-Mas Special.

Update: You can watch the “Fresh Ink” segment here.

Marvel.com now has more details in an interview with Aaron: “The [Marvel Universe] Bullseye doesn’t work in the MAX Universe. You can’t have a guy running around in a costume killing people with toothpicks and playing cards. We’re not going to see that, but it’ll still be true to what we know about Bullseye.”