“I wanted my work to appear as it did in the beginning, alone, without a raging public forum affixed to it. It was like looking at a work of art with the walls about it scrawled densely with graffiti.”

 

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Recently posted to our homepage:

• R.C. Harvey restates his definition of comics, reigniting his grudge match with Scott McCloud on the subject.
• International comics: Fredrik Stromberg looks at the best Swedish graphic novels of 2010.
• Rob Clough reviews the anthology Werewolf!!!, edited by Penina Gal, Josh Rosen, Betsey Swardlick and Nick Patten.
• More classic Playboy cartoons, courtesy of Tom Crippen.
• Over at The Hooded Utilitarian, “Kinukitty” reviews the yaoi manga Stray Cat, Richard Cook presents a historical gallery of comics covers featuring Santa Claus, and Alex Buchet continues his series on comics’ influence on language.

And in the news…

 

Above the Fold

 

Life in interesting times

• DC Comics colorist Adrienne Roy died December 14 after losing a year-long battle with cancer. She was 57 years old.

 

• The Belgin cartoonist Marc Henniquiau, best known for illustrating the BD series Alix, died yesterday at the age of 52.

 


Detail from the cover of Eiki Eiki’s Dear Myself.
• Pro-censorship Tokyo metropolitan assemblyman Masatsugu Mihara “has outraged manga fans by publicly exposing and then ridiculing a BL mangaka who put her name to an anti-ban petition sent to him.”

 

• The Finnish comics shop Pitkämies is calling it quits.

  (Link via the Daily Cross Hatch.)

 

• Here’s further commentary on the financial difficulties facing Berkeley, California shop Comic Relief, courtesy of Frances Dinkelspiel and Rich Johnston.

 

• Devil’s Due Publishing founder Josh Blaylock asks whether February 2011 will be a funnybook massacre for the Direct Market.

  (Link via Heidi MacDonald.)

 

Today’s Format Wars^TM report

• Japanese comics publisher Square Enix has begun offering online rentals of its works:

  Through the new service, SQUARE ENIX aims to provide a global audience with easy access to localized versions of its popular manga titles through streaming. Also, through cooperation with regional localization/publishing companies, SQUARE ENIX will endeavor to promote both print and online versions of its manga titles globally. Furthermore, it is the company’s aim for the official online distribution service to serve as a deterrent against illegal downloading and piracy.

 

• Vaneta Rogers talks to ComiXology CEO David Steinberger about his company’s ongoing expansion into the Android smartphone platform.

 

• Brigid Alverson frets over Apple’s “walled kingdom of digital comics.”

 

• Lori Henderson looks at some recent good and bad ideas in the digital-comics market.

 

 

 

Profiles

 

• Nicolas Verstappen on Kan Takahama

  How did I miss this interview with the author of Monokuro Kinderbook? More importantly: Why haven’t we seen an English translation of her work in five years?

 

Also

• David Farrier on Jamie Hewlett
• Georgina Maddox on Harinder Singh
• Dan Berry on Nicola Streeten
• Dan Berry on Thom Ferrier
• Dan Berry on Hugh Raine
• Dan Berry on Ste Hitchen
• Mike Rhode on Dan Nokes

 

Reviews

 

• J. Caleb Mozzocco on Picture This
  
  ©2010 Lynda Barry.

  “Throughout, aesthetic and philosophical questions are asked, meditated on and answered, only the answers are either personal — This is my answer, what’s yours? — or open-ended. Here‘s a catalog of the types of doodles Barry makes, and you can make, if you want.”

 

Also

• Katherine Dacey and David Welsh on Ayako
• Chris Mautner on The Zabime Sisters
• Win Wiacek on Toys in the Basement
• Bill Sherman on Dungeon Monstres Vol. 2: Heartbreaker
• Sean T. Collins on H Day
• Christopher Allen on John Byrne’s Next Men #1
• Robert Greenberger on The Good Neighbors: Kind
• Paul Montgomery on Orc Stain Vol. 1
• Andrew Wheeler on Cairo
• Brendan Wright on various titles

 

Commentary

 

• Paul Gravett on Moebius

  “From sci-fi fantasies to gritty westerns, welcome to the incredible double life of Moebius and Jean Giraud, the two sides of one of France’s most brilliant comics geniuses.”

 

Also

• Mark Seifert: The man who helped start both Marvel and DC
• Katherine Dacey on Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight
• Tom Spurgeon: My very own personal WildStorm
• Tom Richmond: R.I.P. original artwork
• Sam Leith: Grant Morrison, The Invisibles and the comics that put novels in the shade
• Thomas Katers: Lightning doesn’t strike twice
• Larry Cruz: Webcomic moments of 2010
• David Allen Jones: Best comics of 2010
• Alex Carr: Holiday gift guide
• Timothy Hodler: “Comic book” is still more popular than “graphic novel”

 

Comics and Art

 

• Ger Apeldoorn: Klaus Nordling’s Pen Miller
  

  “Much has been written these days about the first artists to compose the whole page as a visual unit, such as Jack Kirby or Mort Meskin. Together with Will Eisner, Nordling was one of the artists promoting the use of the title lettering in the splash page. I guess Eisner started it, but there seems to have been a rivalry about who could come up with the cleverest design. And my money isn’t necessarily on Eisner. The comic book industry lost a great artist when Nordling decided to do something else in the early fifties.”

 

Also

• Sam Henderson (one, two): Punch, November 1961
• Golden Age Comic Book Stories: A Little Annie Fanny Christmas
• Ger Apeldoorn: Fitz Wilkinson’s gag cartoons
• Doug Wheeler: Archibald Chasemore’s “The Coming of Christmas”
• Peter Richardson: Graham Ingles’ “Shoe-Button Eyes”
• Jason Turner: The explorer
     (Link via Michael Buntag.)
• Grant Snider: Leaf Wars
• Dean Haspiel: Harvey Pekar
     (Link via Mike Rhode.)
• Jesse Hamm: Eight superhero maids a-milking
• Allan Holtz: More early George Herriman cartoons
• Mark Anderson: Prince Valiant mini cards
• Dan Zettwoch: Don’t-ask-don’t-tell carnival sideshow signage

 

Multimedia

 

• YouTube: Howard Cruse draws a holiday picture
  

  The author of Stuck Rubber Baby walks you through the creation of his season’s-greeting card for the year.

  (Link via Alison Bechdel.)

 

Events Calendar

 

Today:

 

• Dec. 20 (Naga City, Philippines): The Bikol Komiks Convention takes place at Mudbugs on Penafrancia Avenue. Details here.
• Dec. 20 (Arlington, VA): Cul de Sac creator Richard Thompson will be signing books and meeting readers at the One More Page Bookstore on Westmoreland Street, from 7-9PM. 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?)