Crime | Federal prosecutors are seeking a lengthy prison term for Colleen LaRose, who was convicted, along with two other people, in a foiled 2009 plot to kill Lars Vilks, a Swedish cartoonist who drew a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed. LaRose, who goes by the online name "Jihad Jane," could face a life sentence, but as she assisted U.S. authorities with several terrorism investigations, they are merely asking that she spend "decades" behind bars. LaRose's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Monday; her co-conspirator, Mohammad Hasan Khalid, will be sentenced on Tuesday. [The Guardian]
Creators | Neil Gaiman, who maintains a highly visible presence on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr -- he has 1.8 million followers on Twitter alone -- is taking a six-month "sabbatical" from social media to focus on his writing. "I feel that I'm getting too dependent on phones, on Twitter," said Gaiman, who began blogging in 2001. "It's a symbiotic relationship. That instant ability to find things out, to share. I want to see what happens when I take some time off." [The Guardian]
Creators | Ron Marz talks about his 25-year career as a comics writer, including his favorite and leas- favorite comics. [13th Dimension]
Creators | G. Willow Wilson discusses Marvel's newest superhero Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel. [The Guardian]
Creators | Paul Gravett profiles prolific British artist Leo Baxendale, whose iconic creations (including Minnie the Minx and The Bash Street Kids) not only entertained generations of schoolchildren but inspired Alan Moore with their "genuine anarchy." [Paul Gravett]
Creators | Janelle Asselin interviews Russian artist Julia Nikitina, who has just finished her first graphic novel Wizard's Journey. [ComicsAlliance]
Creators | Marc Sobel found himself on a train with Ulli Lust right after she won the Ignatz Award for Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life, so he did what any good journalist would do and went ahead and interviewed her, even though he hadn't read the book yet. [The Comics Journal]
Creators | "My mission is to amuse and distract," says cartoonist Steve Brosnihan; that's probably a good mission statement for any cartoonist, but he is speaking specifically about his regular visits to the Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, where he draws sketches for the patients—and encourages them to do their own drawings. [Providence Journal]
Manga | Shaenon Garrity writes affectionately about the long-running detective manga Case Closed; she has the advantage of having read every volume because she is the series' English-language editor. [Anime News Network]
Webcomics | Honda was absent from the Paris-Dakar Rally for 24 years, and now that the car manufacturer is back in the race (held in South America this year), it created a web manga (available in English) about the return. [Crunchyroll]
Retailing | Vaneta Rogers talks to a number of comics retailers about why business was booming in 2013. [Newsarama]