Graphic novels | The long-running Belgian comic Blake and Mortimer, created by Herge contemporary Edgar P. Jacobs and currently the work of Yves Sente and Andre Juillard, will get a prequel. The series launched in Tintin magazine in 1946, and when they re-read the first episode, Sente and Juillard found themselves asking a lot of questions — so they answered them in their latest volume, The Staff of Plutarch. [Agence France-Presse]

Creators | Kelly Sue DeConnick discusses her new Image Comics series Bitch Planet. [Paste]

Creators | HOW magazine interviews artist Kody Chamberlain (Punks, Sweets). [HOW]

Comics | Al Asker writes about the history of comics and comics creators in Boise, Idaho, the current scene, and the genesis of the crowd-funded, locally produced anthology Tarzan and the Comics of Idaho, which features work by Dennis Eichhorn, Charles Soule, Steve Moore, Dame Darcy and other Idaho creators. [Idaho Magazine]

Creators | Ed Stein, who recently retired from his syndicated comic strip Freshly Squeezed, is launching a webcomic, Sleeper Ave., about the history of Waco, Texas, and his own personal experiences growing up there. The strip will be a mix of Stein's personal experiences, including growing up Jewish in a heavily Christian town, and the events of the times, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, and desegregation. [Waco Tribune-Herald]

Best of the year | The Guardian's list of the best graphic novels of the year is very different from those in American publications, as some of the titles mentioned, such as Nina Bunjevac's Fatherland, haven't been published in the United States yet. Roz Chast's Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? is there, though. [The Guardian]

Best of the year | Tim O'Neil and Oliver Sava round up the best ongoing and special series of 2014. [The A.V. Club]

Best of the year | Alex Abad-Santos dubs Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie's The Wicked + The Divine the best comic of 2014. [Vox]

Graphic novels | Dominic Umile provides a bit of context for Richard McGuire's Here. [Dominic Umile]

Manga | Japan's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guide has published its list of the top 20 manga for female readers, compiled from surveys of 400 professionals in the field; unlike the manga that made the guidebook's male readers list, none of the series on this list are licensed for publication in the U.S. [Anime News Network]

Awards | U.K. cartoonist Brian Adcock is the recipient of this year's Political Cartoon of the Year award. [EDP24]