Culture

With this week's release of the biggest GN of the year, the 500K print run WIMPY KID IN CABIN FEVER, Ward Sutton has combined two huge news topics for "Diary of a Wimpy President" which is available at the BostonGlobe.com , but only if you are a member of the site. Which will cost you 99¢, which all things considered, is pretty cheap for an online newspaper. Let's not be cheapskates here, people. But for those without access, here's a peek.

These Defenders don't mess around. Also, call me nuts, but on the off-chance that this just happened to be the first comics book I ever picked up, I'd rather just read a big old caption explaining who these groovy characters are than read dialog like, "Namor will not let your gamma-radiation based mutation take over, Banner!" Although considering that this is a '70s comic, they probably ALSO said something like that inside even though there was a caption.

The insides are even better.

They don't make 'em like this any more.

In case you were not on Twitter orFacebook in comics circles this weekend, Frank Miller, evidently tired of being asked when Sin City 2 would go into productions, decided to set up a diversion by airing his feelings on the Occupy Wall Street movement in a calm, reasoned editorial that did not contain ad hominem attacks:

The most revealing development in the Siegel case since I last wrote for The Beat involves a check. Not the check issued to Siegel and Shuster in exchange for the Superman copyright, but one that DC has apparently* not written--payment to the Siegel family for Grant Morrison’s relaunch of Action #1.

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.