§ ICv2 has a two-par interview with First Second’s Mark Siegel:

What were your big hits for the second half of 2007 through the holiday season?

Laika and Robot Dreams have had all sorts of interesting things happen for them (Laika is Nick Abadzis and Robot Dreams is Sara Varon). It’s a delightful thing to see happen. It’s kind of interesting that these are both sort of on the young side; Laika is getting shelved a lot in the teen sections but it’s not necessarily meant that way. And Robot Dreams definitely appears very young at first glance, but then many of the reviews caught on that it has strange, unexpected depth to it. Those have been really pleasant surprises. Both reviewed very well, and there’s a lot of interest. There were a lot of invitations for Nick Abadzis; he spoke at the Smithsonian, he’s been all over the place, and on the radio. That’s been a fun thing to see take off.

In part two, Siegel talks about projects for 200, including, a new book written by Gene Yang and drawn by Derek Kirk Kim called Second Lives; Genius by Steven Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen; and The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert, a non-fiction book about a photographer who goes to Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders.

§ The Daily Cross Hatch talks to Charles Berberian and Philippe Dupuy:

What was the catalyst for these solo projects?

CB: Phillippe had some difficult issues that he had to deal with, on a personal level. I couldn’t get involved with them. So it was a step further into what we did ten years ago, which came out as Maybe Later. In that book we drew our own pages, but this was a matter of going through hard times, and he was really into that difficult moment.

PD: There are just some subjects that you have to deal with alone. When a subject is good to work on together, we work together.

§ Anthem Magazine interviews Gary Panter:

Maybe some cartoonists make money from their cartooning. Cartooning does not supply any meaningful amount of my income. I have to do commercial art. I think of my self as a painter. If my wish came true, people would buy my paintings and then i could afford my hobbies: cartooning and playing guitar. As it is, I have always had to do commercial art to survive.