Creators | Indian cartoonist Aseem Trivedi's turn on in the reality show Bigg Boss seems to have ended badly: Trivedi was tossed off the show, perhaps due to political pressure, and his political commentary did not make the final cut. In true reality-show fashion, he left in a cloud of acrimony, saying that his fellow contestant Salman Khan "overstepped the bounds of decency" with another cast member, Sapna Bhavanani. And apparently the producers did not deliver on their promise to allow him to use the show as a platform for his views: "I and Sapna were constantly talking about corruption and women`s empowerment inside the house, but after coming out, I was zapped to learn that none of those things were telecast. ... These guys lied to us. We were told - `you will not have to do any naach gana [melodrama] and you will just have to put forth your views on revolution, society and corruption.` But it was all humbug!" [India TV News]



Creators | Iron Man writer Kieron Gillen distinguishes his hero from a superhero like Superman: "You want to see what toys he chooses to bring. The suit allows him to fly and zap and be strong, but it's not really about being Superman. Being Iron Man should feel in the graininess of the book that this is about a guy who builds something that allows him to build something." [USA Today]

Creators | Ellen Forney discusses her new graphic memoir Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me, and how she reluctantly moved from a compilation of stories about other people to an account of her own experience with bipolar disorder. [Publishers Weekly]

Creators | Rick Kirkman discusses the popularity of his newspaper comic Baby Blues, which has been running for 20 years now, and his plans for a collected edition. [The Arizona Republic]



Creators | Robot 6 contributor J. Caleb Mozzocco talks to Steven Weissman about his Barack Hussein Obama, a fanciful compilation of comic strips that is pretty much the opposite of those Bluewater bio-comics. [Comics Alliance]

Comics | Tom Spurgeon interviews Gabe Fowler, the owner of Brooklyn's Desert Island comics shop and one of the organizers of the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival. [The Comics Reporter]

Conventions | Applications are being accepted for panels at next year's Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2), and the first guest has been announced: Kevin Smith. Heidi MacDonald muses a bit on the show's place in the comics convention world as it prepares for its fourth year. [The Beat]