Museums | The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by George Lucas and slated to open in 2018 in Chicago, has acquired the original art from Robert Crumb's The Book of Genesis. [The Art Paper]

Editorial cartoons | R.C. Harvey writes the definitive piece on the Ted Rall case, rounding up pretty much everything that's been written in the aftermath of the Los Angeles Times' decision to cut ties with the cartoonist. In addition to presenting the evidence and all points of view, Harvey sheds a harsh light on the paper's public statements about Rall and the relationship between the newspaper and the Los Angeles police union. [The Comics Journal]

Comics | Jeet Heer documents the collaboration between Roy Crane and the U.S. government, which offered him plot ideas and story notes for his comic strip Buz Sawyer: "From his creation of the Buz Sawyer strip in 1943 until his death in 1977, Crane was an eager handmaiden to U.S. foreign policy, showing Buz fighting his country’s enemies in Central America, the Middle East, and Asia. From Iran to Cuba to Vietnam, there were few cold war conflicts that Buz didn’t have a hand in." [The New Republic]

Creators | Alyssa Mulliger covers an appearance by Snuffy Smith cartoonist John Rose, who also draws editorial cartoons and runs a children's puzzle feature. [GoUpstate.com]

Creators | Kory Merritt, who's working on a hybrid comics/prose book with Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney, interrupted this interview to rescue a dog that had run into the street. [Rochester Democrat and Chronicle]

Comics | Basic Space is a collection of comics by Indian women describing how they stand up to sexual harassment in public. The anthology grew out of a workshop in New Delhi and was first published in India; the Toronto publisher Ad Astra Comix is publishing a North American edition, which will be funded by a recently concluded Kickstarter. [Take Part]

Manga | The series Gintama will take a two-week break from serialization in Japan's Shonen Jump because of creator Hideaki Sorachi's sudden illness. [Anime News Network]

Comics culture | New Jersey nonprofit Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Center takes donations of comic books and sells them at twice-yearly sales, called Superheroes for Hospice. "We hold on to these collectibles, thinking that we’ll be able to retire comfortably someday, only to realize that the boxes take up a lot of space, and the effort to sell them is a lot more work than we anticipate,” says Spiro Ballas, director of the Superheroes For Hospice fund-raising program. "Selling them to a dealer is always an option, but that usually involves letting them go at wholesale rates. Donating the comic books instead to this cause is a nice alternative that feels a whole lot better." [New Jersey Isn't Boring]

Retailing | Menachem Luchins, who interviewed Joe Field last week about Local Comic Shop Day, is back with a column explaining why he won't be participating: The limited runs are too limited, and the variant covers aren't different enough. And then there's this: "Continuing in that vein, I cannot think of worse timing for an event that’s main 'grabber' is variants. I understand the appeal of connecting LCSD to Small Business Saturday but after placing my orders for November I’m already freaked out about all the variants I’ve got coming. My store has plenty of customers who enjoy a good cover and variants move moderately, but the flood of Marvel #1s, DC themed covers and Image A, B, C, D options already has me doing bizarre math in my head to figure out the pricing. Adding more to that just doesn’t make sense." [13th Dimension]

Retailing | The closing of venerable Chicago comics shop Variety Comics is attracting a lot of ink: This article, by Kristen Thometz, is a real in-depth look at the history of the store, including interviews with co-owner Victor Olivarez and longtime customers. [WTTW]

Retailing | Tim Davis of the Chicago-area store Alternate Reality Comics is using the 65th anniversary of Peanuts as a hook to encourage young readers to pick up comics; he's offering a 20-percent discount on all kids' comics. [DNAInfo]