We are lazy and tired so here are other things for you to read:

§ Chris Butcher explains everything you need to know about yaoi — and most of us need to know a lot!

§ Related: Boston Edge on the Canadian habit of seizing gay comics at the border.

§ Can anyone help Andy Runton with his Leopard woes?


§ Franklin Harris examines copyright issues in LOEG: BLACK DOSSIER.

§ The Satchel Paige page celebrates the new graphic bio by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso. Paige lived befoe the era of steroid! It’s good clean fun! Bonus: Site created by Andrew Arnold.

§ The Cinncinati Enquirer examines cartoon bands from the Archies to the Gorillaz.

§ John K. analyzes a Chuck Jones cartoon.

There have been many good interviews at Newsarama lately, sometimes hard to find because of the site’s chaotic, 2001-era front page.

§ A rare interview with Jules Feiffer:
F: I was a young man and had ambitions, so I was on the make, as everyone was. I was on the make for my career, I was on the make sexually, on the make in every possible way that everybody my age was also on the make. I was part of a generation; I identified with that generation, and I was curious about what made us all tick. I was also outraged by the politics of the time, the acquiescence to the oppressiveness of the times and the willingness of people to be censored, or to self-censor. And if you read the mass media or the mainstream magazines like the New Yorker you didn’t seem to notice anything going against the grain. Certainly you never saw it in cartoons, although there were some brilliant cartoonists, but they weren’t touching on the subjects.
§ Frederik Schodt discusses the importance of Tezuka:

FLS: It’s probably hard to find a direct analogy to Astro Boy, or Tetsuwan Atomu, in American culture. In the sense that Astro Boy helped kick start the manga and anime revolution in Japan, and is now an almost universally recognized character, I suppose he might be close to Mickey Mouse. Astro Boy is still widely visible in Japan, through merchandising of manga, anime, and licensed goods such as toys, stationary, and so forth. He is also used in the advertising of everything from bank securities to home security systems. And at sports events in most Japanese schools, the theme song to the original 1963 Astro Boy anime series is usually played to liven things up. Astro Boy is by no means a dead or moribund character. In 2009, as many already fans know, the Hong Kong and Hollywood-based company, Imagi, is also scheduled to bring out an all CG Astro Boy feature film.

Likewise, a rare, in-depth interview with PERRY BIBLE FELLOWSHIP’s Nicolas Gurewitch, who usually plays interviews for laughs, however here the interviewer’s dogged technique finally makes him break down and play it straight:

NRAMA: You mentioned Gary Larson as an influence – did you ever see his animated special, Tales from the Far Side? That was also a case of taking a gag strip and doing it in animated form.

NG: I did see the cartoon, but I didn’t think it worked as well as the strips. Those cartoons were meant to be seen in frames, and they were more effective in that format. I think the strips have an endearing effect on you that animation doesn’t allow. I think animation gets you ready to see the next thing. Animation is like a perpetually-moving thing, so you’re always expecting something more, so when you’re confronted with a static image, there’s a violent push to appreciate what you’re given. That’s what I love about a lot of Far Sides. You’re confronted with an image, and you’re pushed to have a reaction to it. Animation rarely uses that, and can rarely be used for that, because of all the activity, all of the motion, which sets up the expectation that the comedy comes from that. That’s not what The Far Side was about.

BONUS: Vulture lists the 10 Best cinematical destructions of New York. WHy is it ALWAYS NEW YORK???