Georgia retailer Gordon Lee, who was at the center of several infamous comics censorship cases has died at age 54. Lee was the owner of Legends, in Rome, Georgia, and set off a very long CBLDF case when a Free Comics Book Day copy of ALTERNATIVE COMICS #2 was passed out that contained rather insignificant and non-sexual frontal male nudity. The case was notable for the zealousness of the prosecution and the time and money spent. You can read all about it in the CBLDF link above.
§ Artist Ronald Wimberly = good stuff. We’re also fond of his Gratuitous Ninja tumblr.
§ A few weeks ago we mentioned a famous lecture by philosopher Alan Watts, and here’s the comics version by Gavin Aung Tan. Thanks to reader FM for the link.
§ This list of The six most criminally ignored comics of 2012 is all spot on, but we’re most baffled by the lack of love for the conclusion to Carol Tyler’s You’ll Never Know Trilogy:
You’ll Never Know Book 3: Soldier’s Heart by Carol Tyler. Those of us that have viewed Tyler as a great, underrated cartoonist, the arrival of her three-part saga about her father and the damage wrought on him by World War II was not only met with high anticipation, but also the hope that it would be a work that would garner her greater recognition. Yet while the first two volumes received some praise (and a couple of Eisner nominations) the release of the third and final volume doesn’t seem to have met with much attention (beyond a sizable interview with Tom Spurgeon). While Tyler’s discursive, homey storytelling style might not appeal to everyone, she proves in these pages she is a cartoonist capable of producing sequences of exquisite beauty and deep emotional heft. It’s a book — and a series — that deserves more attention than it’s gotten so far.
There’s still time to note that one of our most observant and perceptive cartoonists has finished a life work. So get to it!
§ This is left over from the holidays but Heben Nigatu’s Why The “Fake Geek Girl” Meme Needs To Die is definitely the last word on this subject, complete with the memes you need to make your point.