§ Burlington, IA art teacher Tony Onesto owns 70,000 comics and “each one is wrapped in plastic with cardboard support” we learn in this informative report.

§ The Guardian of the UK is launching a new comics contest called the #OpenComics project for non fiction comcis from around the world.

We’re looking for interesting untold stories from around the world. The subject you choose is up to you – we simply want to see stories that you think are important and that are best told through graphic storytelling. It could be a weighty international issue such as freedom of speech and human rights, or it could be a more personal story about your community or something that affects you as an individual.


The judging panel is pretty stellar: Joe Sacco, Bianca Jagger, Paul Gravett, Amruta Patil; John Dunning and Benjamin Dix.

§ Speaking of the Guardian, this story that the Washington Post’s Michael Cavna wrote about the gender parity we now find in the geek world was revamped a bit for the Guardian, and Cavna managed to make me sound intelligent, as I’m quoted frequently. Hey, mom, I’m in The Guardian!

The stereotype persists, despite being as archaic as a codpiece packed in Spandex. When the pop-culture circus comes to town, the thinking goes, the immature, soft-tissue male emerges from his parents’ basement and treks to the showroom floor, geeking out to collectibles and comic art almost exclusively with members of his same chromosomal tribe. Now, in 2015, we may not have sufficient data on how many nerds reside on subterranean floors at parental expense, but we do know this: as the geeks have inherited the Earth in more recent years, the gender balance of fandom has shifted markedly. And this year, at the 46th Comic-Con International in San Diego, parity was upon us.

§ Area man works at Marvel! A local newspaper profiles Marvel’s video games creative director, Bill Rosemann:

After almost 15 years as an editor at Marvel, Rosemann has moved from the East Coast to the West Coast to take on the role of creative director for Marvel Games, which develops video games based on Marvel characters. “Basically, right now my job is based on the knowledge of the characters that I have,” he says from his office on the Disney Studio lot where Marvel Studios is located. “I’m there to make sure that it is authentically right. That the [game] characters have the Marvel look, the right costumes and that they have the right superpowers.”

§ Tom Spurgeon has a LOT of work to do!

§ I know no one wants to read about San Diego Comic-Con any more, but I can’t resist linking to 6 Great Social Media Food Moments From San Diego Comic-Con 2015 which includes a link to this epic instagram:

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§ Robert Stanley Martin has an oddball project over at The Hooded Utilitarian, a look at what comics were released month by month in the 40s This post linked to includes September 1944 to December 1944. The thing you will notice is that by comics were pretty diverse, as far as content and genre went. It really is only the early Direct Sales Market where superhero comics were the only game in town.

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§ Also at THU, RM Rhodes chides Grant Morrison for saying Heavy Metal Magazine was punk. Morrison, you may recall, is now editor of the magazine, and I think he told me this when I interviewed him, too, which is, to be blunt, an odd statement because the magazine is called HEAVY METAL and HEAVY METAL and punk were mortal enemies. Anyway, Rhodes has a tumblr where he posts pages from the original run of the magazine and it is actually way more prog rock/stoner than anything. Also, gorgeous. That’s a page above from The Creator by Herikberto, c. 1987.

§ Max From “A Goofy Movie” Is Now Insanely Hot

SDCC Growth Infographic
Image Created by Shirts.com

One more Comic-Con infographic, made in the shape of a tree ring.

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