Censorship | Police confiscated 200 copies of Malaysian cartoonist Zunar's latest book, which lampoons the prime minister's wife, as they were being transported to a book launch party on Saturday. Zunar, who was charged last week with sedition and held for three days because of a comment he made on Twitter, said every time he's arrested, police raid his printer. Nonetheless, he encouraged the attendees at the launch party to order his books online, and said that ultimately, attempts to suppress him will backfire on the Malaysian government. [The Malaysian Insider]
Censorship | Sepideh Jodeyri, who translated Julie Maroh's Blue Is the Warmest Color into Persian, is facing a strong backlash in her native Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death. Said Jodeyri, "I’ve been declared persona non grata in my own country. An event organised [in Tehran] for my recent poetry collection And Etc was cancelled, the organiser was sacked from his job, my publisher was threatened with having his licence suspended and interviews were withdrawn, all because of the negative publicity in the conservative media around my translation of Maroh’s book." [The Guardian]
Creators | June Thomas covers Lynda Barry and Matt Groening's discussion of their friendly rivalry, which started when they were in college, presented onstage last week in Brooklyn. [Slate]
Creators | Zack Soto, creator of The Secret Voice and Ghost Attack and publisher of Study Group Comics, talks about his work schedule, which is complicated at the moment by a new baby, and his work process, and how he selects creators for Study Group. [Darling Sleeper]
Creators | The University of Pennsylvania's student newspaper profiles alumnus Charles Soule, who divides his time between practicing law and writing comics. [The Daily Pennsylvanian]
Comics | Abraham Reisman looks at the strange history of Harley Quinn, who has her roots in a dream sequence on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. [Vulture]
Copyright | Noah Berlatsky explains why copyright laws make some older comics inaccessible to readers; as a result, he had to turn to pirated editions of the early Wonder Woman comics in order to research his book, Wonder Woman: Feminism and Bondage. [Pacific Standard]
Awards | Jill Lepore's The Secret History of Wonder Woman has won the New York Historical Society's American History Book Prize. "The book pushes forward the frontiers of knowledge around the story of women’s rights as it retrieves crucial but forgotten history," said N-YHS president and chief executive Louise Mirrer. [The New York Times]
Academia | Christopher Murray looks at the rise of comics studies in the United Kingdom, including the masters' program at Dundee University, which he founded. [The Guardian]
Festivals | The Zine Machine, a zine festival in Durham, North Carolina, this coming weekend, will feature a variety of zines, including Everett Rand's Mineshaft, which publishes comics by Robert Crumb and others. [Indy Week]