Graphic novels | The 70th volume of Naruto topped the June BookScan graphic novel charts, followed by Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and the 23rd volume of The Walking Dead. The rise up the chart by Bechdel's celebrated 2006 memoir can probably be chalked up to its musical adaptation, which opened in January on Broadway and earned five Tony Awards. [ICv2]
Conventions | Lisa Halverstat rounds up some facts about Comic-Con International, including the number of attendees at the first Comic-Con (100), the number of scheduled events (2,040) and the amount of money con-goers are expected to spend in San Diego ($80.4 million, or $619 per person). [Voice of San Diego]
Conventions | Meanwhile, Germaine Lussier catalogs the many hoops fans must jump through to attend Comic-Con, including lotteries for badges, hotel rooms and parking. And once they get there, they have to line up a day or more ahead of time for popular panels. [io9]
Comics | Brian Truitt talks with DC Comics Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras and Co-Publisher Dan DiDio about the company's eight new miniseries, which will put the spotlight on some lesser known characters, including Len Wein's return to Swamp Thing, Amy Chu's take on Poison Ivy and Keith Giffen's all-grown-up version of Sheldon Mayer's classic kids' comic Sugar & Spike, in which the title characters become private investigators. [USA Today]
Creators | Marc Bell talks about his new graphic novel Stroppy, recently published by Drawn and Quarterly: "I was very slow to begin actual work on this book. I did want to make things clearer story-wise because I was sick of being talked about as the guy that makes no sense. I even read a few books about writing storyboards for films and TV to get myself going. I think it did end up clearer than my other works but it also seems it is very hard to escape this piling on in the narrative that usually happens with things I make. So, that’s how it goes!" [The Comics Journal]
Creators | Ron Goulart writes a comprehensive obituary for Leonard Starr, creator of the comic strip Mary Perkins On Stage, who died last week at age 89. [The Comics Journal]
Editorial cartoons | Sri Lankan cartoonist Awantha Artigala drew his first cartoon at the age 9; it made his parents so nervous that they burned it. Smiriti Daniel profiles the prolific cartoonist, who draws 20 to 25 cartoons a week for Sri Lanka's two national newspapers and has won three Cartoonist of the Year awards from the Sri Lankan Editors Guild. [Sri Lanka Guardian]
Kickstarter | Michael Cavna talks to cartoonist Tom Tomorrow about his Kickstarter for a collected edition of This Modern World, which hit the $100,000 mark within hours with a little help from Pearl Jam frontman and This Modern World fan Eddie Vedder. [Comic Riffs]
Superheroes | In a review of the upcoming book The New Mutants: Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American Comics, Lenore Skenazy discusses how superheroes such as the X-Men and the Fantastic Four helped to pave the way for a new era of acceptance of diversity. [The Brooklyn Paper]
Retailing | Curt Griffin, owner of Heroic Adventures Comics in Perry Township, Ohio, discusses recent trends in comics from his vantage point, and his staff and customers chime in as well. [The Independent]