Manga | The widow of Barefoot Gen creator Keiji Nakazawa, has found 16 pages of penciled notes and sketches for a possible sequel to Nakazawa's semi-autobiographical account of living through the Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath. Before he died in December, Nakazawa donated the first 16 pages of the projected volume to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum; this is the outline for the second set of pages. The new story would have taken Gen to Tokyo to become a manga creator, just as Nakazawa did in real life. [Anime News Network]

Comics | Glen Weldon, who writes about comics for National Public Radio, explains why he, as a gay man, won't be reading Orson Scott Card's issues of Adventures of Superman: "DC Comics has handed the keys to the 'Champion of the Oppressed' to a guy who has dedicated himself to oppress me, and my partner, and millions of people like us. It represents a fundamental misread of who the character is, and what he means. It is dispiriting. It is wearying. It is also, finally, not for me." [NPR]

Creators | Meanwhile, Card's local newspaper asked Jeff Parker, another contributor to the Adventures of Superman anthology, what he thought of the controversy. After pointing out that people can buy the stories individually in digital form, he added, "I know a lot of people don’t like to see an icon like Superman at the center of controversy, but really, it’s kind of perfect. He’s a modern myth, a symbol of justice and that the public would argue issues of justice in relation to him means Superman is not only still relevant, but important." [Greensboro News-Record]



Retailing | A van careened off the street Sunday morning in Dearborn, Michigan, knocking over a fire hydrant and sliding across a parking lot before crashing through the wall of the building that houses Green Brain Comics and Stormy Records. The stores will be closed until at least Tuesday. [Dearborn Patch]

Creators | The video is available of Mark Waid's Tools of Change presentation on digital comics. [Forbidden Planet]

Creators | Elliot Elam interviews Gilbert Shelton, creator of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Wonder Warthog, in his Paris studio. [The Comics Journal]

Creators | Wilfred Santiago, the creator of 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente, talks about the graphic novel he is working on now, Michael Jordan: Bull on Parade. [Chicago Tribune]

Creators | The local paper profiles Golden Age comics artist Allen Bellman, who was hired by Timely Comics (now Marvel) to draw Captain America and also drew the Patriot, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner. [News-Leader.com]

Creators | A reporter visits a classroom where cartoonist Dave McDonald, creator of iHamster Sam, is helping kids draw comics in order to learn history, as part of a four-day artist-in-residence stint. [Aiken Standard]

Graphic novels | Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, the authors of Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, post the transcript of their discussion of Ludovic Debeurme's Lucille, which was held at the Brooklyn Public Library in fall 2011. [Drawing Words and Writing Pictures]

Conventions | Sean Azzopardi reports on Angouleme International Comics Festival from a creator's point of view. [Forbidden Planet]