Creators | Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker received messages from the likes of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Dolly Parton and Prince Albert II of Monaco ahead of his 90th birthday today. The cartoonist, who introduced Beetle Bailey in 1950, still supervises daily work on the strip at his Stamford, Connecticut, studio. [The Associated Press]
Creators | Gene Luen Yang discusses his newest work, Boxers and Saints, a 500-page, two-volume set that examines China's Boxer Rebellion through the eyes of two very different characters. [Graphic Novel Reporter]
Comics | It's the superheroes vs. the poseable figures in DC's new comic DC Universe vs. Masters of the Universe, and they're fighting an updated Skeletor, thanks to artist Ed Benes. [USA Today]
Creators | Writer Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky talk about their new series Sex Criminals, due out later this month from Image Comics. The story is about a couple who can stop time when they have sex, a power they use to commit crimes. Fraction points out that sex in comics often reflects "prepubescent juvenile power fantasies" (hence the chain-mail bikinis), whereas Sex Criminals will feature a more grounded relationship: "The relationship is there, but its about a relationship that's rooted in sex and becomes about love. That's tough to do all over. There's not a lot of Batarangs." [USA Today]
Creators | Writer David Gaider talks about his work on the game tie-in comic Dragon Age. [Kindle Daily Post]
Creators | Rick Parker is putting his collection of his own work up for sale for a cool $1 million, which prompts him to tell a reporter about his artistic odyssey, from creating assemblages of found objects from the streets of New York City through stints with Marvel (drawing the Bullpen Bulletin strips, and the Beavis and Butt-Head comic, among other things), illustrating Dwayne McDuffie's The Road to Hell, working with Harvey Pekar, and his current gig, drawing MAD Magazine-style parodies for Papercutz. [Artholics]
Passings | Wim Lockefeer notes the passing of German cartoonist Christian Moser, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack on Aug. 13 at the age of 47. He was the creator of Die Monster des Alltags (Everyday Monsters), a series of five books that depicted the troubles of everyday life as cartoon monsters, and he was also a magazine illustrator and satirical writer. [Forbidden Planet]
Awards | Professor Katie Monnin writes about her experience as a judge for this year's Eisner Awards, from the perspective of someone who has been an entrant in previous years. [Graphic Novel Reporter]
Conventions | CBS has a photo feature on this past weekend's Singapore Toy, Game, and Comic Convention. [CBS News]
Retailing | The Lakeland, Florida, comics shop Coliseum of Comics is moving to a bigger location in downtown Lakeland, more than doubling the size of the current store. Manager Edward Uvanni says the new location, which is near a record store, should bring in more casual customers: "Generally with people looking to buy comics, most of our customer base is Internet-savvy, so finding us isn't too much of a problem. But it's the people who maybe aren't the hardcore comic buyers, who are more casual, who didn't know we were here because they never thought to look." [The Ledger]
Retailing | Meanwhile, the travel section of the Tampa Bay Times features Tate's Comics and owner Tate Ottati, who started selling comics at the age of 14. [Tampa Bay Times]