Retailing | Shares of Barnes & Noble rose 5.5 percent Wednesday, to $21.69, following the announcement that the bookseller plans to split into two companies, one for its retail stores and the other for Nook Media. Barron's suggests those plans could buoy stock prices for a while, as long as the company doesn't change its mind (again) about the split. The magazine also notes the possibility that an outsider buyer could make a bid for the retail stores before the split takes place, leaving Barnes & Noble with the Nook, which will be combined with the company's successful college-bookstore operations. [Barron's]
Manga | Inspired by a line of T-shirts featuring the work of the manga artist Jiraiya, Guy Trebay talks to Anne Ishii and Chip Kidd about the popularity of hard-core gay manga, such as the work of Gengoroh Tagame, in the United States. [The New York Times]
Creators | Meg Lemke interviews Esther Pearl Watson about her graphic novel Unlovable, based on a diary Watson found in a gas-station bathroom. Watson named the 13-year-old girl who wrote the diary "Tammy." "'Tammy' talked about friends, this whole cast of characters, and she tried to choose between two guys, which one she would go out with. She would sneak out of her bedroom window to hang out with these delinquent kids who you just knew were using her. And you wanted to yell advice at her — That doesn’t mean he likes you, he wants something else! Listen to your mom!" [The Paris Review]
Creators | John Romita Jr. talks about moving to DC Comics to draw Superman. [Comic Riffs, CNN]
Creators | Neal Adams takes questions from readers. [io9]
Creators | Kara Barrett discusses The Bargain, her Kickstarter-funded graphic novel about a salesman who has sold his soul and has 48 hours to get it back. The book is available digitally on comiXology. [NewsOK]
Retailing | Dennis Barger and Robert Bowman, co-owners of Wonderworld Comics, just sold 700 longboxes of comics in a single transaction. The bulk sale came about because they leased some new warehouse space and decided they would rather sell the comics than move them. Barger wouldn't say who the buyer was, but he did say it was a "major retailer." [The News-Herald]
Retailing | Wichita, Kansas, has a new comics shop: Alternate Dimensions, which is open on a limited schedule at the moment following a soft opening. [Wichita Business Journal]
Conventions | Jim Steranko and Green Lantern artist Darryl Banks will be guests July 6 at All AmeriCon in Warren, Ohio. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
Conventions | The second Ocala Comic Con takes place this weekend; it's the creation of two 25-year-olds who went to Tampa Comic Con a few years back and thought "How difficult could this be?" [Ocala.com]