201506100400.jpg

§ Zainab Akhtar’s essential Comics & Cola site now has a Patreon. You know what to do and you’d better do it.

§ Former Marvel and DC staffer Christine Slusarz passed away on Monday at the age of 49 and she is fondly remembered by many people. Scott Lobdell offered some thoughts:
Over the last few days you may have read some memories from different industry people who had the good fortune to work with and know Christine over the years (okay decades) at either of the two companies. Certainly, anyone who knew her can tell you what a great job she did… … but the other constant you’ll read over and over again is Christine was one of the sweetest, most supportive and generous people they’ve ever met. So many people will tell you she was their first friend when they started their job — because Christine reached out to them in the hallway or at lunch or at a party, always there to make the new person feel welcome.


It isn’t just the biggest jobs that makes a difference.

§ Yet another convention that was held this weekend was the first New South Festival in Austin. Robert Boyd has some photos and thoughts. It looks like a good show, but it was held outdoors and Austin in June can be a bit sticky I think. A lot of sunhats in evidence.

201506100352.jpg

§ I am kind of fascinated by this comics strip by John Scully that has the exact same punch line strip every day. And it runs on GoComics. Now how did that work out?

§ Sean Kleefeld found some boxes of comics on the street a few weeks ago…and it turns out someone is just putting their comics out on the curb, and Kleefeld having the compulsion to not leave comics on the street that so many of us have, he picked them up and went through them, and does some ratiocination on the results:

Do you recall a few weeks ago when I found six long boxes of comics out by the curb? What I didn’t mention here on my blog was that a week later I found another six long boxes. Then last week, I saw another six out by the street, although by the time I was able to get back there with a car, they were gone. But last night, I came across another five boxes, which I was able to pick up. That’s 23 long boxes in total, in case you’ve lost track. Of the 17 that I picked up, they were primarly Marvel and DC, mostly dating from the early 2000s to about 3-4 years ago, but there were a number that went back to the mid-1980s. All of them were in excellent condition, many of them bagged and boarded. Doing some back-of-the-envelope math, I figure the guy (I’m assuming it’s a guy, judging by the contents of the collection) spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000 on these over a five-to-ten year period. From what I can tell from the collection, he was mostly just buying new stuff off the racks as it came out to the tune of $150-$200 a month (that is, most of the major titles both Marvel and DC would put out) with an ocassional bulk purchase of some 1980s runs.


§ This link has been getting some play on sites with far greater traffic than this. Basically it’s an author going HAM one one middling review on GoodReads that shows why YOU SHOUL D NOT COMMENT ON REVIEWS OF YOUR WORK EVER.

Valerie, I’m not humiliated. At all. I’m sticking up for my work that I create, and defending it against those who try to suppress the consciousness of humanity, which is exactly what you’re doing right now. And I WANT you to avoid my work. It’s not meant for people that would leave a 1 star review and defame the work of someone who didn’t attack them. You’re immoral for defending this 1 star review.


EVER EVER EVER
§ Artist Sean Gordon Murphy is offering an apprenticeship, and submissions are open.

§ I don’t always link to reports of panels I moderate, but this one by Jemal Flores on the Comics Are Awesome panel at BookCon is kind of cool because it captured the gag with Jenni Holm that we set up. Basically, Jeff Smith, Raina Telgemeier and Ben Hatke, the other panelists, all drew one of their characters, and then Holm got up and…did something else. I get flustered by any stagecraft beyond showing slides, but this one worked out, mostly thanks to the showmanship of the panelists. Comics are awesome and so are panels with these creators.