§ In a very nice “rest of the story” note, we learn that last year’s big brouhaha — the case of Nathan Fisher, a high school teacher fired for giving a student a copy of EIGHTBALL to read — has a happy ending for Fisher, as he’s got a new teaching job:

“It feels like a family,” he said when I saw him at Coginchaug on Tuesday morning where I was speaking to students. “It’s like they say. It’s the hardest job you will ever love.”

Fisher is teaching English and journalism and also oversees the school’s online newspaper, the Devil’s Advocate.


§ ICv2 catches up with Kurt Hassler onthe state of Yen Press:

Will this reorganization result in any change in the trade dress of Yen Press titles—i.e. the addition of an Orbit symbol, etc.?
As stated in the press release, Yen Press will continue to develop as an independent imprint. It’s worth pointing out that this is an internal organizational change more than anything and should at a consumer level be largely invisible. The trade dress of Yen’s titles will remain unchanged. The Orbit logo will not be added to Yen titles.


§ Scott Edelman and Irene Vartanoff visit with artist Marie Severin, who suffered a severe stroke earlier this year, but is, thankfully, in high spirits:

After touring Marie’s new apartment and catching up, we spirited her away for lunch at a nearby diner (which is where you see us above), followed by ice cream sundaes at Carvel, after which we returned to her place for yet more gossiping and a leisurely walk in the sunshine along the paths around her building. Marie was her usual crazy self, her spirit undiminished by last year’s stroke and her sense of humor still intact, leaving our stomachs aching from laughter.


§ Jillian Tamaki is wild about CAT-EYED BOY, as all discerning souls should be.

This is some seriously freaky shit, people. Buy it now. It’s so exciting and thrilling… I mean, when’s the last time you read something and exclaimed “OH MY GOD!” aloud? It reminded me of being a kid and being absolutely titillated to read about sex or violence in a book… you can hardly believe someone has printed this! And you’re READING it!


§ Peanuts power: Cartoonist Charles Schulz is #2 on the top earning dead celebrity list, with $33 million. Elvis is #1 and Heath Ledgeris #3.

§ The Hollywood Reporter has a long look at the current job duties of “Showrunners”, the front man (or, occasionally, woman) for your favorite TV shows. Such duties increasingly include running the comic book offshoots of said shows:

“Shows need to exist on multiple platforms in order to survive,” Kring says. “You have to have a face on the Internet and various platforms, iTunes or Hulu. We have publishing and merchandising and comic books and online content. It’s a much bigger playing field than just quietly putting your show on the air each week.”

With their profiles raised, the showrunner is now beholden to various shareholders, giving media interviews and taking meetings with underlings in addition to the usual writing-producing tasks.


§ We recall Kevin Somers as a very nice guy when he was a very talented artist, but he has gone over to the dark side:

Kevin Somers, who has done illustrations for test preparation materials and comic books, said he was considering applying to the I.R.S. because the agency had been so nice when his freelance work dried up a few years back and he fell behind on his taxes. “The idea of the I.R.S. being ominous and threatening got turned around in my mind,” he said. “I see the I.R.S. as a way to help people.”



§ Cartoon types, including P. Bagge, discuss Alan Greenspan.

1 COMMENT

  1. Congrats to Coginchaug, best wishes to Marie Severin, and yes the I.R.S is a way to help people. Why, you could call the I.R.S. five separate times and get five different helpful answers to the same question! (That’s the kind of help they gave me when I dealt with my late father’s taxes.)

  2. That’s too bad about Marie’s stroke, but it’s good to hear that she’s still up in spirits and her usual self.

    Her importance to the comic book world means that she really deserves her own post though, not mixed in with this mish-mash of other news stories.