Conventions | More than 50,000 fans are expected this weekend at Montreal Comiccon, where comics guests include Adam Kubert, Andy Belanger, Becky Cloonan, Bob Layton, Chris Claremont, Dale Eaglesham, Dan Parent, David Finch, Karl Kerschl, Mike Grell and Rags Morales.  Last year's event drew 32,000, but organizers believe the inclusion of celebrity guests will attract significantly more attendees. [Montreal Gazette]

Creators | Artist, writer, and former carnival fire-eater Jim Steranko talks about his career in comics ahead of Nashville Comic Expo, where he will appear this weekend. He talks about learning to read — from comics — when he was a year and a half old, his many adventures outside of comics, and why he chose Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. when Stan Lee asked him which Marvel comic he would like to work on: "I could have nailed Spider-Man or Thor or the Fantastic Four, but that meant following Kirby. I might be crazy, but I wasn't stupid. I pointed to Strange Tales and said I'd tackle the S.H.I.E.L.D. series, which was a Marvel embarrassment — the word 'wretched' comes to mind. I didn't mention it to Stan, but I figured that on this strip, there was nowhere to go but up!" [Nashville Scene]



Creators | Alan Moore discusses his new graphic novel about the fashion industry, Fashion Beast, in a video interview with the BBC. [BBC News]

Creators | Brian Michael Bendis is teaching a course this fall at the University of Oregon, as part of the school's comic book and cartoon studies minor. "It’s the nuts and bolts of how comics are made on a mainstream level and how they’re made on an independent level. Some people think you need a team of hundreds, but you don’t. You just need you and the initiative," says Professor Bendis, who pledges not to try to teach students to write like him but to give them inspirations to follow their own path. [Daily Emerald]

Creators | Artist Sarah Horrocks talks about her comic The Hecate Snake Diaries and her contributions to Adventure Time and Multiple Warheads. [Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire]

Creators | A group of cartoonists, including MAD Magazine contributor Tom Richmond, visited the troops in Bagram, Afghanistan, recently and sketched caricatures of them as part of a USO tour with the National Cartoonists Society. [The Fort Campbell Courier]



Publishing | Abrams ComicArts has a couple of new comics-related books due out this fall: Star Trek: The Original Topps Trading Card Series and Tintin: The Art of Herge. Executive editor Charles Kochman has all the details, including the fact that the Star Trek book includes two actual new cards featuring Sulu (played by George Takei), who was not included in the original run of cards. [ICv2]

Retailing | John Horst, owner of Purple Earth Comics in Huntington, West Virginia, is a collector, just like many of his customers, he says; it's just that his collection is much bigger. And he works hard to make his store welcoming, even to newcomers: "In a nutshell, Purple Earth Comics is a sanctuary for those who like story." [The Parthenon]

Digital comics | Jeffrey L. Wilson reviews Komik, a free, ad-supported comics reader for Android devices that lets you read CBR and CBZ files from your own collection; there's no storefront or panel-by-panel view option. [PC Magazine]