Many links

“When Earth-2 Comics first opened their doors and I stepped in, I knew this store was something special,” said Johns. “Since then, I’ve been amazed by what Carr and Jud have built. I’ve wanted to get into the retailing side of the industry for years, to learn about and support the backbone of comics. And there are no better partners I can do that with than Carr, Jud and Earth-2. Plus, now I can harass Bob Wayne. A lot.”

From the beginning Batwoman was planned as queer. “With Kate,” says Rucka, “that was an administrative decision from on high, there was a choice made: You know, the time has come. We’re gonna take arguably the most recognizable symbol that we have — that’s the bat — and we’re going to associate it with a character that from the start is going to be known as gay. It’s not going to be an after-school special story, we’re not going to do a pull back the curtain and duh-duh-duh, it’s from the word go. What we want is a new member of the bat family: We want this character to be female, viable and strong and among all those things she is also gay. And that is part of the character-making, right, as opposed to an evolving self-discovery story.”

8:37pm: So I guess I officially don’t understand Dan Brereton. After pulling his NOCTURNALS books from Oni (…and I think Dark Horse too? No?), then self-publishing a nice omnibus collection of some of his older work, he is now at Image with the second collection of his work, meaning that there’s an orphan self-pub’d vol-1 HC floating around out there… and about 75% of all comics retailers are seeing this omnibus collection NOCTURNALS VOLUME 2 (p150) for the first time, cuz now it’s in the Image section. With no accompanying relist of volume 1. Which means 75% of retailers are just gonna skip this, because they “can’t get the first volume”. It’s tough out there for creator-owned work, I know that. I’ve got ENORMOUS sympathy for Mr. Brereton, and I really like NOCTURNALS too. But I look at something like this and just shake my head. I don’t get these decisions at all.

On Friday, I had three scheduled events: two interview sessions and a meeting with the Mayor of Barcelona. The first interview was with SpainComics.tv and Rosanna Walls, a popular Spanish actress. She interviewed me at the President Obama tribute art display, where my work from “Amazing Spider-Man” #583 was displayed. Rosanna didn’t speak much English so we had a translator help us out. Soon after, the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, stopped by the President Obama art display where I met him – along with all sorts of photographers, videographers, and security! Mr. Hereu was very pleasant and very interested in comics. Apparently, he attends the Barcelona con every year and stops by the many booths and displays to meet and greet publishers and creators. I’m sure he shakes hands with quite a number of comic book fans. I cannot recall any political figure showing up to an American show, at least no one that I’ve met.

FINGERMAN: I think it was more industry. I’ve always had I think an odd place in the world of comics. On the one hand, I think I’m a pretty well-known quantity. On the other hand, I think I occupy strange real estate in the world of comics. I think some of that is because I do jump around. Every project I do is different than the last. I’ve never created a consistent body of work. I’ve certainly never had an ongoing character long enough. I do things and I burn them through and then I move on. I don’t know. Maybe restlessness will be the theme of this interview, but I definitely want to try different things.

“’Webcomics’ is a huge topic and I plan to keep it pretty broad. I’m very interested in the business side of things and how people can make the webcomics model work, as well as evolving platforms such as iPod Touch, Kindle, etc. And I’m also very interested in the creative side of things—how people do it. I plan to have the column be a mix of material—interviews, reviews, and the occasional think piece.”

The comic has the straight-faced sincerity of a middle-school science film, along with the unintentional goofiness. That’s part of the fun, and it doesn’t diminish the comic’s ability to inform. Noodles are just the starting point for an intriguing examination of innovation and globalization. I’m of the mindset that people might be eating better without innovations in dehydration technology and convenience foods, but even I found myself admiring the initiative and effort of Andou and his underlings. And if I want to celebrate artisanal production of locally grown foods, I can always crack open a volume of Oishinbo from Viz.

Many of those now living without a permanent roof over their heads have cell phones in their pockets or laptop computers at their hips. While people living in shelters and alleys have found it difficult to cross social divides, the digital divide seems to disappear on the streets. Nearly all homeless people have e-mail addresses, according to Michael Stoops, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. “More have e-mail than have post office boxes,” Stoops said. “The internet has been a big boon to the homeless.”