§ At CBR, George Khoury summarizes the history of comics in the direct sales era. Clip and save!

“Nobody was happy about that, I guess,” Steve Geppi recalled about the Marvel/Heroes World era, “Especially the way it was communicated, or it wasn’t communicated. We found out kind of covertly. But that said, you could argue that in my particular case, although I would have not planned on it, it worked out, because their mistake led to a lot of other things happening that led to our position today… they had no capability. With due respect to Ivan Snyder (head of Heroes World), who was a friend of mine, there was a double mistake that Marvel made. Number one, if they were going to buy a distributor, they bought the wrong one. Mainly because, no disrespect to Ivan, he was a very good, small, regional distributor, but the capabilities you need to do it nationally, they didn’t have that infrastructure. And then secondly, when they announced they were only going to carry their own product and nobody else’s, it was a mistake, because even all of Marvel’s volume isn’t enough to justify a nationwide distributor.”

§ du9 interviews Shaun Tanwhose THE ARRIVAL was one of the very best graphic novels of 07.

§ Also at CBR, Todd Allen looks at libraries, and branding and pokes around in more of Platinum’s public filings.

§ Pittsburgh Live profiles artist Ed Piskor
“I just sort of like the Robin Hood aspect of it,” Piskor says. “Living in my head all the time, I develop a romantic vision of things. I’m sure it’s not exactly the way it really is. But I see these guys as evening the scale when it comes to treating people like consumers. These guys can see what’s behind the crap. It’s a prankster-ish kind of thing that I find appealing, because I have no respect for authority in a lot of ways.”
§ Meanwhile Tim Lasuita profiles legendary inker Joe Sinott.

§ Across the ocean, Malaysian artist Milx profiled.

§ Race and printing in PEANUTS

§ Ouch! Dan Nadel lays the smack down on Shooting War.

§ Area artists spotlighted:

Tony Harris stood outside the room in the Museum of Arts and Sciences where his work as a comic book artist was being set up for display.

He wanted to describe what it means to have an exhibition called “The Art of Macon Comics,” featuring his work and that of fellow local artists Craig Hamilton and Ray Snyder, but the right word escaped him.

Finally, he found the right word.

“Validation!” he said. “That’s the word I was looking for.”