Publishing | ICv2 posts a three-part interview with IDW Publishing CEO Ted Adams that covers a multitude of subjects, including the company's digital strategy, the Artists Editions, news that Scholastic has picked up its My Little Pony comics, and that the publisher's book sales are up, even though Borders is gone: "The book market used to make me crazy on this returnable basis basically forever. That was never a sustainable business model. Where we are today is we are able to sell product in a reasonable way so that the bookstores get a chance to sell the product and we don’t get these giant returns. " [ICv2]
Piracy | Earlier this year, the Chinese Internet company Tencent inked a deal with Shueisha, the publisher of Shonen Jump and thus the licensor of some of the most popular manga in the world. One consequence of this deal has just hit home with the Chinese reading public: Scanlations are disappearing from the web, and fans are not happy. [Kotaku]
Creators | Marc Tyler Nobleman transcribes a 2006 interview with Batman artist Jerry Robinson, done as research for his book Bill the Boy Wonder, that has never made it to print before. [Noblemania]
Creators | Zak Sally continues his interview with Peter Bagge. [The Comics Journal]
Creators | Stan Lee makes an appearance in Santa Maria, California, in advance of one of his Stan Lee POW!er concerts that will raise money for local veterans' organizations. [Lompoc Record]
Editorial cartoons | Salt Lake City Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley talks about the state of editorial cartoons today, how Kickstarter plays a part, and the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists convention that will take place in Salt Lake City on the weekend of June 27. [City Weekly]
Editorial cartoons | The South African cartoonist Zapiro has stirred controversy with a cartoon of former president Nelson Mandela on his deathbed, saying "I know it's hard but we have to start letting go"; the words were supposed to be removed, but somehow they made it into the online version, which immediately went viral. Zapiro has also taken on the Mandela family squabbles in his cartoons, but his Father's Day cartoon this year showed the former president reading a card that said "Father of the nation." [RFI]
Comics | Batman #21 was the top-selling comic this past week in the Forbidden Planet stores in the U.K. and Ireland, and Superman Unchained #1 came in at No. 2.[Forbidden Planet]
Manga | Owen Aldritt pens an honest appreciation of One Piece, looking at both its merits and its flaws. [The Hooded Utilitarian]
Comics | Vivienne Chow provides a fascinating glimpse of the life of comics creators and animators in Hong Kong, where the number of publications has dropped drastically and digital hasn't picked up the slack. As creators turn to other jobs to earn their living, an interesting shift has occurred, according to Hong Kong Comics and Animation Federation director Alan Wan Siu-lun: "The mode of production has changed from mass production to highly stylised individual creations. Comics were entertainment in the past, but today it's more about the appreciation of creative works." [South China Morning Post]
Comics | Alistair Anderson takes a look at South Africa's small but enthusiastic comics community, which revolves more around reading American comics than growing their own. [Financial Mail]
Comics | What started as a doodle on a lunch bag has turned into a weekly comic with an audience of one: Nashville, Tennessee, architect Mike W. Smith drew a princess on his five-year-old daughter's brown paper bag so she would be able to find it among all the others. She loved it, and it became a daily doodle and then a once-a-week comic that weaves fantastic elements (including a zoo atop a skyscraper) with her everyday life. [The Tennessean]