Coming to a trolley station near you; just in time for Comic-Con: https://t.co/To2XF2MEIb pic.twitter.com/Lczypb2nj7— The Union-Tribune (@sdut) June 29, 2016
Conventions | The San Diego trolleys will get a new look for Comic-Con International: They will be fully wrapped in ads for comics-themed TV shows. The ads bring in about $300,000 to the Metropolitan Transit System, and advertisers see them as a good way to get the message out to their natural audience: "The trolley train wraps are very effective because they allow you to have fun with your marketing and also are constantly in motion, giving your campaign strong circulation to reach a wide range of fans," said Angela Courtin, chief marketing officer for Fox. Fun fact: It takes eight hours to wrap a single trolley car. No statistics were available on how long it takes to unwrap it after the con. [San Diego Union-Tribune]
Creators | Mark Russell, who scripted DC's satirical series Prez, talks about his work on their reboot of The Flinstones. When they first approached him, his response was "I kind of hate 'The Flintstones,'" and when they were OK with that, he said, "I knew from the beginning that it would be a satiric, edgy response to 'The Flintstones.'" The new series debuts next month. "It’s a critique of the suburban values that the original 'Flintstones' and [precursor] 'The Honeymooners' were about," Russell said. "[The comedy] absorbed the values of the time and used them as a backdrop for broad humor." Artist Steve Pugh, on the other hand, enjoyed the show; as a child growing up in the gritty British industrial town of Birmingham, he saw it as a "ray of light" in an otherwise grim world. [Comic Riffs]
Characters | Graeme MacMillan looks at the history of Tarzan's many appearances in comics form. [Hollywood Reporter]
Comics | The Indonesian industrial rock quartet Koil is the latest band to jump on the comics bandwagon; the musicians will star in a comic, Koil: Dragonian Warriors, that will debut at Pop Con Asia 2016 in August. [Jakarta Post]
Libraries | The organization Valhalla is similar to the women retailers' group The Valkyries; it's a "safe space" online for women who are librarians, museum curators, and bookstore employees and are interested in comics. It's a resource for librarians who are interested in doing graphic novel programming or library cons, and it's also a place where women can discuss comics without feeling like they have to pass a superhero trivia test to join in. [American Libraries]
Libraries | The International Pacific Union, a Japanese-founded college in Palmerston North, New Zealand, has the country's largest publicly available manga collection—at 1,400 volumes it dwarfs the 200-volume collection at the Auckland public library. [Stuff]
Comic Strips | Dick Tracy meets Dick Tracy parody Fearless Fosdick (created for Li'l Abner by Al Capp) in a wacky funny-pages crossover this week. The two meet up to battle Evil-Eye Fleegle, another Li'l Abner character. The comic is edited by Denis Kitchen, who had the idea for the two detectives to meet. [ICv2]
Retailing | Fat Cat Comics of Johnson City, New York, is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and Tawna Lewis, who started out working in the store and later became the owners, discusses some of the changes that have occurred over the years—including a shift in focus and a name change, from Fat Cat Books. [Press & Sun-Bulletin]
Retailing | Dave's Comics, in Richmond, Virginia, is going out of business with a final sale on Saturday. Owner David Luebke died recently at the age of 61. The store had been in business for 34 years. [Richmond Times-Dispatch]