Conventions | The University of Calgary's student newspaper looks at the rapid growth of the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, and the problems that go with it: Last year, ticket holders had to be turned away because the event was over capacity. “Last year it was really a shame that people had so much trouble,” says Lyndsay Peters, owner of Dragon Chow Dice Bags. “We saw a lot of frustrated customers and we talked to a lot of frustrated people. I know there are some people who won’t be coming back this year. But everything we have been told as vendors and everything that has been communicated to us shows that they are taking it very seriously this year.” This year's convention will be held April 26-28. [The Gauntlet]
Awards | The jury has been announced for the Doug Wright Awards. [Doug Wright Awards Blog]
Creators | Faith Erin Hicks talks about lean times, her new collection The Adventures of Superhero Girl, and building an audience on the web: “I find that putting my books online allows to me reach a wider readership than just releasing it into the wild, into bookstores. It allows people to become familiar with it, and then hopefully if they like what they read, they’ll actually purchase the book.” [Hero Complex]
Comics | Jon Erik Christianson looks at diversity in DC Comics' New 52, first defining his terms and then doing a count of characters by gender, race, and sexual preference and comparing them to U.S. census data. Spoiler: DC's cast of active characters turns out to be whiter and more male than the population as a whole. [BU Quad]
Manga | I talked with Seven Seas founder Jason DeAngelis about how his company has managed to stay afloat and even grow in a tough manga market. [Publishers Weekly]
Creators | Gary Northfield put together a delightful process post about designing the cover for the Easter issue of the U.K. children's comic anthology The Phoenix. [Stupidmonsters]
Creators | Not satisfied with a successful career as a jet dragster racer, Elaine Larsen decided to create a comic about her "alter ego," Blaze, and she held a contest with $8,000 in prize money to find a script writer; she will be hiring a artist as well. [Horizons]
Comics | Cartoon Books will publish a complete edition of Jeff Smith's RASL in September 2013. [ICv2
Publishing | David Steward II, managing director of Lions Forge Comics, talks about his plans for the digital comics startup. [The St. Louis American]
Retailing | Gary Loring, owner of Gary's Comics and More of Morgantown, West Virginia, talks about his "Smurf blue" shop, the wide range of people that come by, and the lengths he will go to to get a comic: "If its out there, we can probably get it. If it’s out of print, we used to go do a little time-traveling to get it, but that got expensive." [The Daily Athenaeum]
Conventions | Kids Comic Con, helmed by Archie writer Alex Simmons and featuring an amazing lineup of creators, will take place May 11 at Bronx Community College. [Publishers Weekly]