Legal | Artists from around the world are drawing in support of Tunisian cartoonist Jabeur Mejri, who is serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for posting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad online. Just two weeks after Tunisia adopted a new constitution that protects freedom of expression, Jabeur's supporters have launched a "100 Cartoons for Jabeur" website and released a statement saying, "While freedom of expression and conscience are guaranteed in this founding text, the continued detention of Jabeur Mejri is contrary to the spirit and the text of the constitution." [Yahoo News]
Publishing | Andrews McMeel's AMP! division will publish Reading With Pictures: The Graphic Textbook, a collection of graphic stories on a number of topics, including math, history and social studies, that is designed to fit into the Common Core standards. The creators involved include Roger Langridge, Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey. While this is big news for Reading With Pictures, the organization behind the book, it's also an interesting move for AMP!, which has been focusing on kid-friendly reprint collections of its parent company's newspaper strips. [The Beat]
Awards | Nominations are now open for the British Comic Awards. [British Comic Awards]
Creators | Matt Fraction walks interviewer Garrett Martin through his comics, stopping for some commentary and reflection on each one. This is just the first part of a two-part interview. [Paste Magazine]
Creators | Tim Gibson discusses his Moth City one-shot, The Reservoir, which is done quite differently from the rest of the series. [13th Dimension]
Creators | Nathan Edmondson talks about his new Black Widow series, part of the Marvel NOW! initiative: "We stand on the shoulders of giants and Natasha is a character with an endlessly fascinating and terrifying past. The films have only added to her stardom and mystique, throwing ever more a spotlight on her. At the end of the day, though, we embraced her as we knew her and set out to tell a story that was all our own and with all our own aesthetic." [13th Dimension]
Creators | Tim Hodler interviews Tim Hensley, creator of the graphic novel Wally Gropius and, more recently, Ticket Stub. [The Comics Journal]
Graphic novels| Zainab Akhtar lists her 20 most-anticipated graphic novels of 2014. [Comics and Cola]
Comics | Nevin Martell takes a look at the intersection of comics and food, now and in the past. [NPR]
Manga | Shin Kibayishi, creator of The Drops of God and Kindaichi Case Files, will launch a new manga, Shinjuku DxD, on Feb. 27. The suspense series will be carried on the digital MangaBox app, which includes many series in English, although there has been no announcement that this one will be translated. [Anime News Network]
Exhibits | The City of Pittsburgh and the Toonseum have collaborated on a Black History Month exhibit titled "Beyond the Funny Pages: The Works of Art and Life Captured in Comics," which features three creators with ties to the area: Orrin C. Evans, Jackie Ormes and Clarence Matthew Baker. [Pittsburgh City Paper]
Conventions | Megan Purl interviews seasoned con-goer Susan Seal, who has put together a quick list of tips for first-time attendees of Wizard World New Orleans Comics Con. [NOLA Defender]