Publishing | Diamond's December numbers for sales in comics shops are out, and the picture is grim. Diamond reports that it sold 89,985 copies of the top selling single-issue comic, Batman: The Dark Knight #1—the lowest number for the month's top seller since ICv2 started tracking the numbers in 2001. In its more detailed dollar analysis, Diamond sees comics sales down and graphic novel sales up for a slight overall increase, both in December and in the last quarter of 2010 as a whole. [ICv2]
Publishing | Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada announced that Nick Lowe has been promoted to senior editor. Lowe edits Uncanny X-Men, Generation Hope and New Mutants, among other titles. [Comic Book Resources]
Publishing | Douglas Wolk boils down the 2010 comics sales data into some easily digested bullet points, for the benefit of those who don't like to spend all day squinting at sales charts. [Techland]
Pop culture | Apparently inspired by Tiger Mask, a character from a manga popular in the 1960s, people in Japan have been quietly dropping off gifts for children in orphanages and other institutions. [Inquirer.net]
Digital comics | Johanna Draper Carlson tries out the comiXology app for the Android OS and is somewhat underwhelmed. [Comics Worth Reading]
Comics | Alan David Doane meditates on Palookaville #20 and the melancholy of Seth. [Trouble with Comics]
Awards | The American Library Association announced its annual youth media awards at its midwinter meeting this week, and the sole graphic novel among the honorees was Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty, by G. Neri and Randy DuBurke, which was a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book, and [ALA]
Awards | In other award news, Barry Deutsch received the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category for Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword. This is the first time the award has gone to a graphic novel. Resistance, by Carla Jablonski and Leland Purvis, was also named a Sydney Taylor Honor Book. [Association of Jewish Libraries]
Creators | Brian Heater continues his interview with cartoonist Tom Hart, focusing mainly on his teaching activities. [The Daily Cross Hatch]
Pop culture | Life imitates art when chess-boxing, which first popped up in Enki Bilal's Cold Equator, becomes a real sport. [Scientific American]