They stacked up like cordwood.

new spirit 2§ Eddie Campbell looks back at his own contribution to the Spirit:

For the second issue, April 1998, in which the 10 page Gaiman/Campbell piece appears, Eisner himself provided the cover, but it was the only issue for which he did so. And while it was neat to see him put his mark of authority on our story, Eisner’s late comic book covers always look too much like the Marvel formula to be entirely enjoyable. And also, somebody is always biting somebody else’s clothes.

§ Vaneta Rogers pokes around the potential impact of the rumored Apple tablet with Andy Ihnatko.

§ Shaenon K. Garrity looks back on 300 issues of The Comics Journal and observes one of the great coelacanths of the comics world

TCJ’s next most notable feature is, of course, the Ken Smith column, which has graced the back pages for over twenty years without ever having anything to do with comic books, or, for that matter, reality. Smith is, to put it simply, Ignatius J. Reilly, except that he saved Gary Groth’s life in ‘Nam or something and has been rewarded with a somewhat public platform for his ten-dollar-word-padded Miniver Cheevy rants about the decline of modern culture, said decline having begun, in Smith’s estimation, roughly around the time the Greeks let their women go outdoors. In his inaugural column, did Smith quote both Kierkegaard and Keynes? Did he type, non-ironically, the sentence, “Ah Yeats, where are you when we need you?” He did indeed. But let it never be forgotten that he once wrote a column entitled “Modernism in My Pants,” and for this we should, as Smith would put it, proffer a modicum of the gratitude all-too-seldom exhibited in this hollow age of value-neutral ideologues and chattering dullards, an age foolishly hostile to the wisdom, the crowning virtuosity of the philosopher-saint.


§ You maybe have missed last week’s update on Alan Moore and Marvelman :

Alan Moore: After being initially informed by Neil’s lawyer, I had to think about it for a couple of days. I decided that while I’m very happy for this book to get published—because that means money will finally go to Marvelman’s creator, Mick Anglo, and to his wife. Mick is very, very old, and his wife, I believe, is suffering from Alzheimer’s. The actual Marvelman story is such a grim and ugly one that I would probably rather that the work was published without my name on it, and that all of the money went to Mick. The decision about my name was largely based upon my history with Marvel—my desire to really have nothing to do with them, and my increasing desire to have nothing to do with the American comics industry.


§ Prof. Henry Jenkins, the king of transmedia studies, lists his personal Graphic novel recommendations. [Via Sean Kleefeld]

§ Matt Fraction is profiled in the LA Times, with a snappy picture and all.

§ It’s from long ago, but Sequential has a thorough roundup of Toronto Fan Expo links, including an interesting one from Tara Tallan

Now, the strange thing about the Small Press area is, the actual comics there are far outnumbered by the fan-art prints, cosplay accessories, and other handmade items. This is a stark change from what I used to see ten years ago, when the Small Press area was full of self-publishers like myself. Perhaps this is because Fan Expo is trying to be an All-Things-To-All-People kind of show, with areas for horror, gaming, and anime in addition to the comics, and the Small Press area is the catch-all section for all the artists of all the different mediums. But as I said, I haven’t been to any of the other big comic shows lately, so I don’t know if this trend is just a Toronto thing or if it’s an industry-wide thing.


§ Business news: A look back at ADV Films, what they did and what they didn’t.