World Comics

Douglas Wolk is blogging about Judge Dredd . The author of "Reading Comics," has presented us with several specialized comics blogs in the past -- like his amazing 52 Pickup analyzing all the metadata of DC's 52 -- but now he's wading right in to the world of the ultimate law, and one of Britain's most popular native characters:

We hadn't seen this formally announced anywhere but we might have missed it: ICAF, the annual meet-up for international comics scholars, will be hosted at CCS this year. The conference will be held September 29-October 1, and spotlight the American Bande Dessineé Society.

Ludovic Debeurme'sLUCILLE hits these shores this week, and it's a stunner. In France, this hefty (500+ page) graphic novel about two teenagers from troubled families coming of age together was a major literary event, crossing over even with non-comics readers, and Top Shelf's English version is very faithful to the original.

A collected edition of MALINKY ROBOT, Sonny Liew's charming series about two urchins in a city full of giant robots, is coming out in August, and here's the cover. Liew is the artist of MY FAITH IN FRANKIE, Marvel's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, and many other fine comics; he also edited two volumes of the Eisner-nominated LIQUID CITY, the Singapore comics anthology.

If you were to guess where the first real world village of the lovable blue folk known as Smurfs would spring up, you probably would not say Abu Dhabi -- or maybe you would, as they seem to be one of the few countries with money to burn on a project like a Smurf Village.

A private commission Via

More great Canadian cartoonists were honored Saturday, with the presentation of this year's Joe Shuster Awards at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo with...

Via Yesterday's Papers, aging goodness from Knockout.

Jean-Christophe Menu, a founding member and driving force behind the French art comic powerhouse L'Association, has left the organization following a series of shake-ups and disruptions, including a workers strike. Bart Beaty has the best analysis of what it mean for L'Asso, Menu and French comics in general.

An update on what you can and can't bring into and out of Canada, and how to avoid getting your comics seized by the Canadian government. Also, Gahan Wilson and why hotels in San Diego will soon cost even more.

Toyko prefecture's law restricting sales of material deemed "harmful" to minors under the age of 18 has selected its first list of titles to be considered for the ban, Anime News Network reports. The law, which has been revised a few times and goes into effect July 1, has been met with an outcry from publishers and creators.

In spite of the dramatic international intrigue Sparkplug Comic Books and its affiliates faced at the Canadian border on the way to TCAF last weekend, we managed to simultaneously invade a whole other continent at Stockholm Sweden’s 11^th Annual SPX Festival. Sparkplug was honored to be invited to the festival for the 3^rd year in a row along with many other hella distinguished international guests.