And so they are; as I mentioned last week, I am so tired of writing about controversies in comics, I just want to concentrate on THE COMICS for a few days…but in order to do that we must wrap up some controversy news. But then IT’S ALL COMICS.
§ Wonderful comics! CBR is rolling out its Top 50 Female Comic Book Writers and Artists list as voted on by CBR readers. First, writers #21-25 and artists #21-25. Some surprises on the lists, but all good, and I look forward to the countdown. The next lists should be up by the time you read this. That’s Rumiko Takahashi above.
§ It is only a matter of time before another nerdlebrity dies at a comic con (I believe the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, was the first.) But that person won’t be Mini Me Verne Troyer, who collapsed after a seizure at the Heart of Texas Comic Con in Waco but is reported to be fine now.
Troughton was warned by his doctor not to exert himself, but he didn’t listen, and died of a heart attack while ordering breakfast. If you are told by your doctor not to exert yourself, do not go to a comic con because they are exhaisting.
§ All off Darling Sleeper’s cartoonist interviews listed on one page.
§ The late great comics editor and writer Archie Goodwin is being inducted in the Hall of Fame of his high school and here are some of the reasons he’s always known as the late great Archie Goodwin.
§ Alex Dueben directs us to two recent interviews:
Rhianna Pratchett on Tomb Raider, comics, video games and Doug TenNapel on Nnewts, VeggieTales, Armikrog.
§ The Comic Con India award nominees have been announced. Above it the cover to one of the nominees.
§ Here’s a cute story from PW about a teenaged cartoonist who has gotten a lot of attention for a self published work: Christine Mari Inzer and her book Halfway Home.
All this began in the summer of 2013, when fifteen-year-old Christine Mari Inzer traveled alone to Japan to rekindle her interest in her mother’s culture—her mother is Japanese and her father is American—illustrating her travels along the way. Leaving her parents and siblings for eight weeks, Inzer stayed with her mother’s parents in Kashiwa, a small city outside of Tokyo. She also traveled to attractions like the Zen temple Ryōan-ji in Kyoto and the Asakusa district in Tokyo. The resulting graphic memoir shares moments of vulnerability, appreciation for family, culture shock, and adaptation, creating a humorous and contemplative travelogue beyond her years.
§ I forgot to link here to this excellent report on the London Super Comics Convention by Steve Morris.
§ Some of these links are oooooold, but I liked this story about football player Israel Idonije and his comic book company. Why do more football players than any other kind of professional athletes start comics book companies? I don’t have a good answer for that.
§ I also meant to link to this interview with the showrunner of the Indiana Comic Con—the last show had crowding issues but it isn’t going to happen again.
Q: In 2014, the convention ran into some unexpected hiccups. Would you care to talk about that?
I think the biggest and most commonly referenced issue we faced was the overcrowding. It was our first year in Indianapolis, which was sort of untested waters for our company. We did not anticipate the amount of people that would show up, and when everyone filed into the hallway there wasn’t much we could do but try our best to keep them organized.
§ After a year, Evan Dorkin has finished the final issue of The Eltingville Club. There’s a lot in the whole post about being a creator in mid career, making a living, stalled projects (Beasts of Burden, sniff sniff) and more so go read the whole thing.
§ OKAY Controversy Wrap-Up section:
§ The Outhouse continues its up to the minute coverage with a full report on Valerie D’Orazio’s plans to quit twitter after some truly gross threats. What is wrong with you people?
§ Marvel’s EIC Axel Alonso discussed the Sims/D’Orazio thing and the Ron Wimberly thing in his weekly address:
Alonso: In his Nib cartoon, Ron posed a question, “Is this racist?”, casting a shadow over his editor and, by extension, Marvel. Here’s what happened: The issue in question was “Wolverine and the X-Men” #10, a jam book that featured 8 different artists — 14, if you include colorists — one of whom was Ron Wimberly. The editor simply asked Ron to match the skin-tone that had been established for the character — Melita Garner, a Latina — on previous pages. She would have done the same if Ron had made Melita’s skin too light. To suggest that the editor or Marvel was uncomfortable with the character having dark or darker skin flies in the face of who we are and our history. Just last night, Sana Amanat, Marvel’s Director of Content & Character development appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Nightly Show” to speak about the growing diversity of our publishing efforts. We are the home to Storm, the Black Panther, Miles Morales [Ultimate Spider-Man], Sam Wilson [the All-New Captain America], Robbie Reyes [the All-New Ghost Rider] and Kamala Khan [Ms. Marvel], and our ethnically diverse staff of editors spans the color chart Ron cites in his Nib cartoon. I am Mexican-American, so that makes me #caa468.
§ ALSO, Joshua Rivera has my favorite wrap-up on the Betgirl cover.
§ Not comics: Google is not a charity, just FYI.
