Fandom | Al Sanders started collecting comics when he was in grade school, at one point selling plasma to support his hobby. . Over the years he amassed a collection of 5,000 comics, all from 1990 or earlier, including such popular titles as Batman and X-Men. But all good things must come to an end, and with his daughter Rose heading to college next year, Sanders has decided it's time to sell his collection. He's heading this weekend to Emerald City Comicon, where he hopes to turn the comics into cold cash. He's not being totally mercenary about this, however: "I just hope someone can enjoy them, as much as me." The report indicates Sanders believes his collection is in mint condition; he may discover otherwise once he talks to dealers at the convention. [12 News]
Awards | The National Cartoonists Society has announced the nominees for this year's Reuben Awards: The three creators nominated for the top prize, the Silver Reuben, are Mark Tatulli (Lio), Terri Libenson (The Pajama Diaries) and Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine). Giant Days, Prez and Squirrel Girl were nominated for best comic. All three of the graphic novel nominees are from Dark Horse: Ethan Young's Nanjing: The Burning City, Jonathan Case's The New Deal, and Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba's Two Brothers. And two Dave Kellett comics were nominated in different divisions: Drive in online long-form comics and Sheldon in online short-form comics. [Comic Riffs]
Legal | Charles Brownstein, executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, talks about the history of the fund, which was established in 1986, and some of the cases it has been involved with over the years. [Blastr]
Creators | Faith Erin Hicks discusses her new graphic novel The Nameless City, which is set in a fictional world based on ancient China: "Most of my stories have been set in modern times, a lot of them in high schools, and I was pretty burnt out on drawing school lockers. My editor makes fun of me for this. Like, I got sick of drawing school hallways and decided to draw complicated historical Chinese houses instead. What was I thinking?" [Hero Complex]
Creators | Ben Schwarz writes about Peter Arno's double life as New York socialite and New Yorker cartoonist. [Vanity Fair]
Manga | The manga market has rebounded with the help of three breakout hits — Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul and One-Punch Man. I talked to several publishers who said the backlist is looking pretty robust as well. [Publishers Weekly]
Digital comics | Karen Walsh reviews Covers, a digital comics app for Windows products. [GeekMom]
Festivals | Heidi MacDonald follows up on rumors that there won't be a Comic Arts Brooklyn this year. [Publishers Weekly]
Conventions | Colin Noble reports on last weekend's Edinburgh Comic Con. [Down the Tubes]