Culture

On Etsy, anyway; Jill Pantozzi, a recent Pilgrimite, surveys some of the Pilgrim offerings on the craft website. Please don't read too much symbolism into the irony of a post entitled "Scott Pilgrim Lives" with a Day f the Dead figure. It's these contradictions that make life more interesting. Love him or hate him*, he's here to stay.

Here.

The following is a selection of new comics titles due to be published in March 2011. This list is not comprehensive, just what I've discovered browsing the Internet. Below, you'll find selected titles which caught my interest. If you would like to browse forthcoming graphic novels and related books at your leisure, click here. These are not necessarily titles I will purchase, but which I will definitely look at once they arrive at my local comics shop or bookstore. Quite a few reprints, some interesting all ages titles, and even some adaptations and tie-ins. Marvel is pushing a lot of Thor and Captain America titles this month. Not many X-Men titles... is Marvel Comics ignoring X-Men: First Class since it's not a Marvel Studios production? No Super Bowl commercial, very little buzz compared to Thor and Cap, fewer licensees...

Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko is mostly known these days as a cranky recluse who refuses to talk about any of his Marvel experiences, but he's actually an active cartoonist who has an apartment full of art. Jog brings you up to speed with his recent output.

As tweeted by Dave Gibbons, Pat Curley recounts the very beginnings of comics fandom -- a historic confluence of Julius Schwartz, Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas -- and shows that even then the feedback loops of fandom and editorial were closely aligned:

While Beat pal and cartoonist Batton Lash probably wouldn't mind being on MSNBC, this may not have been the context he'd have preferred. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell attempted to go Olbermann last night on Obama Nation, the cartoon by James Hudnall and Lash that runs regularly on the right-wing Big Hollywood website. O'Donnell is not a fan of Lash's cartoon stylings in a comic that mocked Michelle Obama's ongoing battles against American obesity, which some think have gone too far by banning the kind of unhealthy crap that makes life worth living:

Hard to believe it's been a decade since this, one of the very earliest of internerd memes. Someone set us up the bomb. Then this was piquant and fresh. Now it's Tosh.0. Luckily the internet is being used for more useful things, like toppling dictators. UPDATE: As pointed out in the comments, the original flash was made by BadCRC of Tribalwar.com.

While running around Toy Fair, we ran into Wizard's Gareb Shamus, who told us that the new Wizard World Digital will launch February 23 as a free app for iPads, iPhones, and online. It will be ad supported. He stressed that the new incarnation of the magazine will take advantage of all the things you can do on the internet.

MAC's Wonder Woman cosmetics have blurred the line between chic and geek and created excitement among lady nerds everywhere. But it's just not rouge and pomade: You can buy Mike Allred-drawn Wonder Woman merchandise online. We don't need another tote bag -- lordy, we don't -- and yet somehow we need that one.

Joanne Siegel, the widow of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and inspiration for the Lois Lane character, passed away today at age 93. Her death comes only a few days after Jerry Siegel's childhood home in Cleveland, OH was restored and the streets in front of it honorarily renamed Joe Shuster Lane and Lois Lane.

Also in keeping with this special day of love, after a troubling seven-year stretch in which they were separated, Barbie and Ken are together again. Although they had dated steadily since their days as surfers together in Malibu in the early '60s, they gradually drifted apart over the years. After Barbie left Ken for Blaine, another, younger surfer dude, Ken entered an "experimental" period that involved Fire Island, waxing, and watching Glee. But it's been announced -- just in time for Toy Fair -- that these two dolls are really soulmates in vinyl.

It looks like the 32-page monthly comicbook magazine is doomed. Digital comics seem to be following the evolutionary model of MP3s, video-on-demand, and e-books. What can comics shops do to remain successful?