Culture

Via Robot 6, word that Heritage is auctioning off an early strip by Charles Schulz that would appear to be part of a developmental period between Lil' Folks and Peanuts, which launched in 1950.

It's a newish comics chat show, set at Brave New World in Santa Clarita with hosts Bryan J Daggett and Atom! Freeman with guests Mark Waid and Andy Khouri, this time out talking about digital comics. The show airs live Tuesday at 7 pm on Justin.tv's Geekweek channel, or on YouTube right this very minute. We'd definitely spend an hour listening to this crew.

Librarians love cartoonists who create books that people of all ages want to actually check out of the library. And cartoonists love librarians who buy their books and shelve them in high traffic GN sections. This great love affair for our times is going even further at this year's American Library Association conference in New Orleans -- organizers are making space available for an Artist Alley for the first time.

We're stretching it this time, but just stick with us.

Comic strip historian and pioneer Bill Blackbeard has died at age 84, it has been reported. Blackbeard had been in a nursing home for some years, and passed away on March 10th. As the outpourings of appreciations have shown, Blackbeard was, perhaps more than any other individual, responsible for the emergence of comic strips and (by extension) comic books as a legitimate source of art to be treasured and preserved on an institutional level.

The Hugo Award nominations for SF have been announced, and they include not only the traditional Graphic Novel category, but a few comic-centric nominations in other categories, notably, SCOTT PILGRIM Vs. THE WORLD in the Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form category. The compleet list below.

The Hugo Award nominations for SF have been announced, and they include not only the traditional Graphic Novel category, but a few comic-centric nominations in other categories, notably, SCOTT PILGRIM Vs. THE WORLD in the Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form category. The compleet list below.

This month marks the tenth Free Comic Book Day. The first debuted during the perfect storm of Spider-Man and Book Expo America New York. Ten years later, we see a plethora of movies based on well-known and obscure comic books, as well as numerous books aimed at young readers. (Of the 37 comics being offered during Free Comic Book Day, at least 21 of 37 are kid-friendly.) Ten years ago, comics were still a sideline medium, garnering some press. Today, there are bestseller lists, and book publishers such as Rizzoli, Abrams, and Random House have joined the burgeoning market dominated by DC, Marvel, and others. I don’t know what was offered back in May 2002. I do remember DC Comics announcing All-Star Batman at Book Expo, but the other titles featured in the first ever Graphic Novel Pavilion are a haze. Perhaps I’ll do a look back. Meanwhile…

Illustrator/animator/visual storyteller Shaun Tan gets profiled in the Sunday NY Times Magazine, the traditional anointing of a major creative figure.

As promised, here are more photos of Stumptown: the comics festival and the parties that just won't quit!

And as we head off to the weekend....via Tyler Walpole at The Gutters

What is the greatest convention moment of all time? It might just be described in this post!