Retailing | ICv2 analyzes the August direct market numbers and comes up with some interesting patterns: While the market as a whole is up, the number of comics with sales of more than 1,000 has been declining; sales dropped a bit for most ongoing comics series in the Top 25, but strong sales of Before Watchmen and two annuals more than compensated for that; and graphic novels sell in far lower numbers than comics, but because many of them are backlist titles, the numbers still increase from year to year. ICv2 also posted lists of last month's Top 300 comics and graphic novels. [ICv2]
Publishing | Yet another big publisher spawns a graphic novel imprint: This time it's Penguin, whose Berkley/NAL division will launch a graphic novel imprint, InkLit, next month. Helmed by former DC vice president and Yen Press co-founder Rich Johnson, InkLit will publish both original graphic novels and adaptations of prose works. The line will begin with Vol. 1 of Patricia Briggs's Alpha and Omega, which collects the trades published by Dynamite; the second volume will be all new material. Also in the works are books by Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Sage Stossel. [Publishers Weekly]
Publishing | In the latest in a series of posts about publishing, First Second marketing director Gina Gagliano talks about how long it takes a graphic novel to go from concept to finished book — and what the publisher is doing during the year or so after the creator turns in the finished pages. [First Second]
Retailing | San Francisco retailers Brian Hibbs (Comix Experience) and James Sime (Isotope Comics), among others, talk about digital comics and the state of the industry. [Golden Gate Xpress]
Creators | The day after winning Harvey Awards for Daredevil, writer Mark Waid, penciler Paolo Rivera and inker Joe Rivera chatted on video about the series and their awards. [MTV Geek]
Creators | The Dearborn, Michigan, newspaper covers a weekend appearance by Geoff Johns at the Arab American National Museum, where he held a workshop for kids on creating comics, and hosted a question-and-answer session about the introduction of Simon Baz, the first Arab-American Green Lantern. [Press & Guide]
Creators | Ronald Wimberly, the creator of Prince of Cats (Vertigo), talks to David Brothers about comics process, cultural influence and Shakespeare: "One of the things I like about Shakespeare's work is how there's a narrative in his application of language as well as in the story of the characters. I chose to mix it up because the mix is what a large part of the process was about. I wanted the language to reflect what I was doing. I wanted Shakespeare's original work to come in like a sample." [Comics Alliance]
Creators | Keith Giffen discusses his plans for DC Comics' He-Man and the Masters of the Universe miniseries, which he suggest could become an ongoing. [USA Today]
Review | Artist Ben Towle (Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean) reviews Jessica Abel and Matt Madden's Mastering Comics from a creator's point of view. [Publishers Weekly]
Comics | Academic Ben Saunders, the founder of the undergraduate minor in Comics and Comics Studies at the University of Oregon and a 2000AD fan from childhood, discusses Judge Dredd with critic Douglas Wolk. [Dredd Reckoning]
Comics | Lori Henderson, the mother of two teenagers, explains Homestuck for the uninitiated. [Good Comics for Kids]