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§ As this year’s Halloween costumes fade into history, some say it was Lebron’s It clown that won Halloween, some say it was Bruce Willis as one of the Grady Twins from The Shining. But most felt that Gwyenth Paltrow with her head in a cardboard box was the best. It references the movie Se7en because, um, well…if you haven’t seen the movie, let’s just say that people like to put boxes around their heads.

But I think it was cartoonist Bobby Timony (The Night Owls) who won Halloween with his, convertible werewolf costume.

The image was posted on Imgur and has millions of views. It is indeed quite clever. I was chatting with Timony at a con and her showed me one of his other costume ideas that was also utterly brilliant but I’ll let him unleash it on the world.

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§ Alex Dueben has a very extensive two-part interview with Katherine Collins that’s quite frank about her difficulties and the rejection she faced in the comics industry. As Arn Saba, Collins wrote and drew Neil The Horse (the reprint is just out in the US this month from Conundrum), a multi layered cartoony comic in a time that was frowned upon. So that was one form of rejection. The other was when Collins came out as a transwoman in the early 90s. Some of this is hard to read, but there is a happy ending:

So I’m having my renaissance and it’s the biggest surprise of my life. I am so grateful that these people wanted to find me and wanted to recognize my work. I honest to god thought that my work had been completely forgotten, was never going to be exhumed, and that nobody was ever going to hear the name of Neil the Horse again, or Arn Saba, or Katherine Collins. I had written it off. I thought, okay, my life’s over. I was just trying to hang on until I could die, basically. I had almost no reason to be alive. This completely changed my life.

 

§ Here’s an article from the BBC about how political cartoons in the UK are a boys club:

Out of nearly 180 cartoons featured in last year’s edition of Britain’s Best Political Cartoons not one was drawn by a woman.
It was flicking through a copy of the book that first highlighted the gender imbalance in the industry for Ella Bucknall, an illustrator currently studying at Camberwell College of Arts in London.

This realisation prompted her to start Whip, a magazine of political cartoons by women, to give them a platform that didn’t exist elsewhere.

Luckily, publications like The Whip are trying to balance things out.

§ Eight comics for November, via Abe Riesman at Vulture.

§ Here’s a WEHT story I meant to follow up on: California was rescinded a law that some say would have killed booksignings.The law was aimed at counterfeit celebrity autographs but would have put onerous demands on bookstores to authenticate signed books:

Petrocelli, as well as other California booksellers, argued that the paperwork involved to meet the new law would make selling copies of autographed books too expensive. Book signings are an important part of booksellers’ business model, with Book Passage, for example, hosting more than 800 signings a year. Faced with the lawsuit and opposition from booksellers, California governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that exempted books from the law, after which the PLF dropped its lawsuit.

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§ There was no new Emily Carroll horror webcomic this year, alas, but she’s put out Cat & Countess, a sketchbook of her horror characters:

Cat & Countess Cat & Countess is an art book featuring 20 high res pin-ups of two of my most recent horror characters (a cat and a countess, respectively), including images which have never before been shared online. Contains mild nudity & blood/gore.

 

§ IDW has launched a new website for its Artist’s Editions line, and it’s sharp. It includes listings of all the Artist Editions, videos and more. And my god, there have been a lot of there. You would go broke and have no place to put a coffee table if you owned all of these.

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§ End Times: There is apparently a thing called the Geek Fitness Market, and it is growing. While my first idea was tiny weights for people who are about to have sand kicked in their face by a bully, that idea is body shaming, and it really involves a Han Solo yoga mat. Because nothing says inner peace like being encased in carbonite. Anyway, a writer at Vice tried out Nerdstrong Gym, which is located in, you guessed it, Los Angeles. What on earth:

David, the trainer overseeing the class, made good on the promise in the gym’s name and injected ample nerdy commentary into his instructions. While correcting my form on a kettlebell exercise, David suggested I shout “I have the power,” and channel He-Man raising his sword.My classmates geeked out along with David, and ran the full spectrum of nerdiness. Everyone from long-bearded Central Casting Dungeon Masters to unassuming corporate types were represented in the classes I attended.

What the…Honestly I can’t even wrap my mind around this.

§ Media corner: There is one Marvel tv show that people are not racing to put on air. The New Warriors. The Wrap reports that Freeform dropped the show, and its looking for a new network. This really wouldn’t bother me a bit since there are 53 other comics themed TV show to fill out your day, but New Warriors includes Squirrel Girl, so let’s hope for the best.

§ A scene that would have made it clear that Valkyrie is bisexual was dropped from the final cut of Thor Ragnarok. Director Taika Waititi says a glimpse of a women leaving Valkyrie’s room because it distracted from exposition. Because exposition is so important. Right.