Creators | In an interview to be published in Japan next Friday, Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto says he plans to spend some time with his wife and child, and take a long-delayed honeymoon, before starting his next series. And as he is about to turn 40, he hints that he may not be up for another weekly series. [Anime News Network]
Comic strips | The first color Sunday funnies appeared on Nov. 18, 1894, in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. David Shedden observes the 120th anniversary of this innovation with a look back at some popular comic strips and footage of New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia reading the funnies over the radio during the newspaper strike of 1945. [Poynter]
Comic strips | In a somewhat less-upbeat article, Scott Meslow analyzes why current newspaper comics are so blah and discusses what can be done about it. [The Week]
Auctions | Two dozen original cartoons by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin will go under the gavel this week; the stash includes one of his Willie and Joe cartoons from World War II. Mauldin served in the Army, and as his son Nat said, "He didn't draw these from some office in New York. He drew them there — in the middle of it. They knew that this guy was three foxholes over." [ABC News]
Creators | Len Wein explains how the "Lost Episode" issue of Batman '66 came to be. It started with a call from writer Harlan Ellison: "He called me and said that he was going through some old files and had found this old outline [for the Batman television show] that had never been produced so we called DC and said 'are you interested?' and DC being sane said 'Yeah!' Then he said someone’s got to do a script off my outline and I immediately said 'well, I’m available, that sounds like more fun than I could possibly have.' He said 'Done!' and he said he was going to call DC and see if it was okay and then an hour later I get a call from DC asking if I’d like to write this." He also talks about how the Batman show literally saved his life. [The Kindle Post]
Creators | The husband-and-wife team of David Finch and Meredith Finch discuss their take on Wonder Woman. [The Kindle Post]
Creators | Ramón Pérez, creator of the webcomic Kukuburi and artist for Jim Henson's A Tale of Sand, Hawkeye and The Amazing Spider-Man: Learning to Crawl, talks about working with and without a script, collaborating with writers, and why he isn't on Kickstarter. [Sequart]
Creators | Andrice Arp interviews Simon Hanselmann and for some reason intersperses the text with photos of Garfield creator Jim Davis. [Gridlords]
Manga | Manga Giren, the Japanese Parliamentary Association for manga, anime and games, which is largely made up of councilors for the Liberal Democratic Party, met for the first time Thursday and was briefed on the current state of the industry by an all-star slate of creators and executives, including Tetsuya Chiba (Ashita no Joe), Hideaki Anno (Evangelion), Ken Akamatsu (Negima!) and Shueisha senior managing director Kazuhiko Torishima. The association was formed to lobby for tax breaks for the industry and to relaunch the International Media Art General Center, an international hub for "cool Japan" culture that was announced in 2007 but abandoned in 2009 when the LDP lost power. [Crunchyroll]
Reviews | Paul Morton looks at The Best American Comics 2014 and discusses not only the contents but how it differs from its predecessors. [The Millions]
Retailing | Mesa Comics of Mesa, Arizona, has opened with a new location and a new co-owner; original owner Joe Clark has teamed up with new co-owner Michael Girard, who brings his experience with games into the mix. The new store will offer not only comics and graphic novels but also game tournaments, custom printing, and a space for designing cosplay costumes. [East Valley Tribune]