Conventions | The organizers of the Supanova pop culture festival in Melbourne, Australia, triggered a social-media firestorm after removing a comic by artist Scarlette Baccini from her table because of explicit sexual content. The festival has a strict ban on pornography, and other adult material must be kept sealed and away from children. One of the organizers stopped by Baccini's table, flipped through her Jesus Reloadeth'd, and saw a drawing of two men having sex, so he removed the comic. Baccini posted about the incident on Facebook, triggering accusations of homophobia against the event organizers. However, they responded that the issue was the explicitness of the image, not that it depicted two men. [SameSame]

Digital comics | After being locked out of his comiXology account for a day, Shaun Huston has some thoughts on ownership and loss of digital comics: "The investment that one makes in digital comics is, despite their commodity form, purely about use. That is the only “profit” to be made from buying comics on comiXology and once that profit has been realized, for many titles, there is little to nothing left to be lost. By contrast, my monthly print comics, though many of them sit in the garage, are nonetheless protected against loss not only by being sealed into boxes, but by being bagged and reinforced by boards." [Pop Matters]

Creators | Writer Matt Kindt talks about his work on Valiant's crossover title Unity. [IGN]

Creators | Writer Peter J. Tomasi talks about his Robin Rises: Omega one-shot. [Hero Complex]

Editorial cartoons | Being a political cartoonist in Northern Ireland during The Troubles was a tough gig, as both Ian Knox and the late Rowel Friers could testify. Peter Crutchley uses excerpts from several sources to give a behind-the-scenes look at how the cartoonists struggled to balance commentary with sensitivity toward the victims. [BBC News]

Creators | The Chinese comics team Chen and Li, who started out doing propaganda about rural life, talk about being tortured during the Cultural Revolution because they were comics creators -- including being burned with their own comics. Later on they made comics about their own experiences, which they hope they will be able to collect and publish someday. [Global Times]

Comic strips | Life imitated art at LeTourneau University recently, when students made their own real-life Rube Goldberg contraptions. [Longview News-Journal]

Conventions | Utah Gov. Gary Herbert kicked off Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience on Thursday with a press conference; the con is expected to draw 100,000 attendees over three days. [The Daily Herald]