Comic-strip book reviews are the new YouTube book review! Alison Bechdel reviews A Pocket History of Sex in the Twentieth Century by Jane Vandenburgh for the comics-loving New York Times.
§ J.K. Parkin has a nice article on comics that were never finished or ended under unusual circumstances. There are old time classics like MIRACLEMAN AND modern day marvels like AQUA LEUNG.
§ World without Borders©? Too easy! Todd Allen imagines a world without a direct market:
I want to emphasize, this is not written for the express purpose of fear mongering. This is a look at what might happen if a few current industry trends are taken to their logical conclusion. I’ve discussed these scenarios with a few publishing professionals (both comics and “traditional” book publishing) and the consensus is this could happen if things break wrong. I’ll be running three parts to this: the Doomsday Scenario (here), “Webcomics in a Post-Direct Market World,” and “Graphic Novels in a Post-Direct Market World.”
§ Brit kids mag The DFC has been canceled, but some of the comics creators are banding together for something called Super Comics Adventure Squad! The blog includes a report on “The Thing”, a one-day small press comics show that was held in London this past Saturday.
§ Who will buy…R. Crumb’s underwear? It’s worth noting that the Crumb undies (Crumdies?) are currently going for more than knickers from Nick Cave and Jarvis Cocker, to name but two. Fergie’s underpants top the list — clearly, bidders are hopeful that the skivvies have already been peed in. [Thanks to Giancarlo for the link.]
