“The media, such as newspapers or broadcasters, may eventually get tied up little by little by law, and citizens may start becoming blind and deaf.”

 

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Recently posted to our homepage:

• Gavin Lees reviews the new CBGB comics anthology.
• GutterGeek‘s Jared Gardner reviews Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Library #20.
• Over at The Hooded Utilitarian, Noah Berlatsky discusses Art Young’s Inferno, faith, and black humor.

And in the news…

 

Above the Fold

 

Life in interesting times

• Here we go:

  The Tokyo metropolitan assembly on Wednesday enacted an ordinance to toughen regulations on the sale of ‘manga’ comic books and anime containing ‘extreme’ depictions of sexual acts, despite claims from writers and publishers that it could breach freedom of expression and stifle creativity.

  (Left: detail from a chapter page for Kaworu Watashiya’s notorious sex-crazed-elementary-schoolgirl manga series, Kodomo no Jikan.)

 

• “Bookstore sales fell 2.5% in October to an even $1 billion, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.”

 

Today’s Format Wars^TM report

• Are United States border authorities seizing computers over the comics they contain?

 

Joe McCulloch: New this week

A look at the best-sounding books scheduled to hit the comics shops today.

 

 

 

Reviews

 

• Graeme McMillan on Stigmata
  
  Possibly ©2010 Claudio Piersanti and Lorenzo Mattotti.

  “It’s [...] fair to say, perhaps, that the art in Stigmata follows the writing — it’s messy and personal and organic and, at times, achingly beautiful — but it does more than that: Mattotti’s line is amazing, so filled with personality and intensity, at once angry and fiercely controlled, and used in the service of some amazing draughtsmanship and visionary visuals.”

 

Also

• Tom Spurgeon on Uptight #4
• Andrew Wheeler on The Storm in the Barn
• Win Wiacek on Blabworld #1
• Sean T. Collins on X’ed Out
• Matt Seneca on various titles

 

Commentary

 

• SANE Journal: First issue now online

  Announcing the debut of a new academic journal devoted to comics.

  (Link via Sean Kleefeld.)

 

• Kristy Valenti: In which I overthink it

  “I was not very much impressed with an introduction to a graphic novel I recently read; it was just a series of e-mails back and forth between three people jokingly passing responsibility along to one another until space and word count ran out. Then, of course, I was asked for an intro (by ComiXology’s own Shaenon Garrity, for her upcoming Narbonic omnibus), and I struggled with it. I still think their intro was terrible, but now I understand some of their (probably not-quite-feigned) reluctance. It was the hardest writing assignment I’ve had in a long, long time.”

 

Comics and Art

 

• Mike Dawson: Troop 142
  
  ©2010 Mike Dawson.

  Dawson’s graphic novel, about a Boy-Scout outing in the 1990s, is now complete and online.

 

Also

• A Journey Round My Skull: Piero Bernardini’s Don Quixote illustrations
• Chuck Wells: Matt Baker’s “Wail of the Devil-Doctor”
• Chuck Wells: Arthur Peddy and Bernard Sachs’ “Monsters of Living Flame”
• Steven Thompson: Russ Heath’s “The Big Wheel”
• Steven Thompson: Fletcher Hanks’ “Moe M. Down”
• Steven Thompson: Russ Jones’ “Special Delivery to Rhea”
• Steven Thompson: Dick Ayers’ “The Avenger”
• Steven Thompson: “Captain Marvel and the Lie Detector”
• Diversions of the Groovy Kind: “Adam… and No Eve”
• Reggie Watts and Seth Kushner: Just riffin’
• Gabrielle Bell: The comics of business
• Johnny Ryan: Cheaters
• Jen Vaughn: Wizard of Oz sketches
• Mark Anderson: 1949 King Features exhibit cards

 

Events Calendar

 

Today:

 

• Dec. 15 (East Lansing, MI): The University of Michigan Flint’s 2010 Comics and Visual Narrative class present their final projects at 21st Century Comics and Games on Grand River, from 5-7PM. Details here.

 

This Week:

 

• Dec. 16 (London, England): Pat Mills and Jenny McDade discuss their years writing U.K. girls’ comics at the London Print Studio on Harrow Road, from 6:30-8:30PM. Details here.
• Dec. 16 (New York City, NY): The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s annual Member Appreciation Holiday Party takes place at the Twins Pub on Ninth Avenue, beginning at 8PM. Details here.
• Dec. 16 (Los Angeles, CA): The Comics and Comics podcast presents its third-anniversary show at Meltdown Comics on Sunset Boulevard. The starting time is a secret. Details here.
• Dec. 17 (Ann Arbor, MI): The University of Michigan Flint’s 2010 Comics and Visual Narrative class will be selling comics and meeting readers at the Vault of Midnight on Main Street, from 4-6PM. Details here.

 

Want to see your comics-related event listed here? Email a link to dirk@tcj.com and let me know. Please include an online link to which I can send people for more information. No sales-only events, please — it’s nice that you’ve marked things down at your store or website, but I won’t be listing it here. (Note: Under no circumstances will I link to a Facebook page. Seriously, what idiot “advertises” their event solely on a website that requires registration to see the advertisement?)