Retailing | Online retail giant Amazon will open its first brick-and-mortar store this morning in Seattle's upscale shopping center University Village. Called simply Amazon Books, the store features between 5,000 and 6,000 books, from bestsellers to Amazon.com customer favorites. "Amazon Books is a physical extension of Amazon.com," Jennifer Cast, vice president of Amazon Books, said in a statement. "We’ve applied 20 years of online bookselling experience to build a store that integrates the benefits of offline and online book shopping." As The Seattle Times notes, the opening arrives with a dose of irony: For years Amazon has been able to undercut most other retailers largely because it didn't have any physical locations. [The Seattle Times]



Creators | Heidi MacDonald looks at the fascinating phenomenon of indie comics creators, such as Michael DeForge, Lisa Hanawalt and Nathan Bulmer, getting day jobs with Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and the like. The reason, she explains, is that modern animation is less about technical skills and more about storyboarding, which is very close to making comics. "It’s a very classic way to make a cartoon, and the best way," says Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar. "If someone is going to storyboard on my show they’ve got to be able to write as well as they can draw. It’s a rare skill, but indie comic artists have that skill." [Slate]

Digital comics | With the advent of Apple TV and Disney's new streaming subscription service in Europe and the United Kingdom, industry watcher Rob Salkowitz speculates that the streaming model may become more popular for digital comics — including new comics, which are mostly sold the old-fashioned way, one at a time. [ICv2]

Creators | Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, who make comics under the name Metaphrog, talk about their newest project, an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's The Red Shoes and two other stories, which was recently published in the United States by Papercutz. [Creative Scotland]



Creators | Twin brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá talk about their newest project, Two Brothers, based on a Brazilian novel about twin brothers. [Comic Riffs]

Creators | Amy Schulz Johnson, daughter of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, reminisces about her happy childhood and explains how growing up with her attentive and clean-living parents prepared her to join the Church of Latter-Day Saints. [Deseret News]

History | Warren Bernard discusses his new book, Cartoons for Victory, a collection of World War II cartoons by Charles Addams, Harvey Kurtzman and others — many of them from Bernard's personal collection. [Vulture]