Culture

Cosplayers rejoice! The theme at this year's Victoria Secret fashion show was superheroes!

Dear god, it's so cute. We were unaware of the trend of teeny weeny libraries in little playhouses, but then we never look up from our backlit world. This one was designed by artist Colin McMullan on the classic New England library plan, and appropriately enough, it's located on a corner in Williamsburg. The collection within includes books, zines, newspapers, and comics -- in this case, Jesse Moynihan's FOLLOW ME.

This has nothing to do with comics, but it is good to note the passing of our natural world. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has declared the western black rhino extinct. One of four sub-species of the black rhino, it was considered especially vulnerable to poachers who hunt the rhino for its horn, believed to contain medicinal properties.

Last year, R. Crumb announced he wouldn't be working for the New Yorker any more after one of his covers was rejected with no stated reason. Now VICE magazine's Nadja Sayej has unearthed the cover as (of all things) the illustration for a bookmark in the Danish catalog from the Venice Biennale art show. It was for a story on gay marriage and shows what may (or may not) be a drag king and drag queen applying for a marriage license.

Alexa at Ladies Making Comics has a delightful report up on an event at Books of Wonder with Trina Robbins and Golden Age cartoonist Lily Renée, who is the subject of a new biographical comic written by Robbins. A nice reminder that "Women in Comics" didn't start last month, last year, or even the last decade!

The featured guests for this Decembers Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival have been announced, and it's pretty spectacular: CF, Jack Davis, Phoebe Gloeckner, Lisa Hanawalt, Chip Kidd, David Mazzucchelli, John Porcellino and Brian Ralph. If you are like us, you are most excited about the chance to meet the legendary Jack Davis, who was not only an EC Comics mainstay, but one of the original MAD artists and one of the most influential illustrators of the 60s and 70s with his unmistakeable "bigfoot" style. So YEAH. Amazing.

Cartoonist/journalist Susie Cagle has a full report on the events on the night of her arrest along with 100 other Occupy Oakland protesters, from the fires at the barricades to jailhouse indignities.

On October 21st, Stephen Bissette from The Center for Cartoon Studies met up with Oliver Goodenough from The Vermont Law School to discuss Jack Kirby and his relationship with Marvel Comics. The Comics Journal put the audio up and it is a good listen with a nice James Sturm introduction

Will LA ever get a good comics show? It seems as elusive as a football team. This weekend saw first time show Comikaze unfold at the LA Convention Center, scene of much heartache over the years. Held just one week after the Long Beach Comic Con, Comikaze still was a sell-out, according to IGN, but first hand reports were very mixed.

Hey, Beat Fleeters! Guess what time it is!

Cartoonist Susie Cagle -- who was previously teargassed during another confrontation -- was arrested as part of the Occupy Oakland protest on Wednesday night. Cagle was not there as a protester, but as a reporter, covering the scene for Spot.us. According to Cagle's father, Cagle was arrested despite having a prominent press pass and the arresting officer actually knowing her and her work. After being held overnight at Santa Rita Jail, Cagle was released, and charged with the misdemeanor of "present at raid." On her twitter stream she mentions she's currently trying to retrieve her wallet and housekeys from the Oakland police.

Following up news of Monday's arrest of Steve "The Dude" Rude on charges of assault and violating a restraining order, Tom Spurgeon got further details of the night in question from Rude's wife Jaynelle. It seems that on Halloween evening, Steve was outside, in costume, giving out Halloween candy, when barking dogs in a neighbor's yard distracted the Dude, which led him to throw rocks at the fence in front of the dogs. The owners of the dogs -- who had previously obtained the restraining order against Rude -- came out and an argument ensued, which ended with Rude physically shoving one of the neighbors and ripping his shirt off. Rude then returned to handing out his Halloween candy until the police showed up and arrested him.