Fandom | Twelve-year-old Cameron Bippen was  looking forward to attending Tampa Bay Comic Con, but had to miss the event due to unexplained seizures. Following his release from the hospital, Cameron's neighbors in Riverview, Florida, threw him his own comic convention, complete with costumed guests and a visit from members of the Tampa Bay 501st Star Wars Legion. [Fox 4 News]

Publishing | Janelle Asselin discusses her work as a comics editor and now as the head of Rosy Press, which publishes the anthology Fresh Romance. She has a bit of advice for would-be editors — make sure that's what you really want to do: "Being an editor isn’t a back door to the thing you really want to do – if you try to go about it that way, you don’t necessarily have a better chance of breaking in AND you risk alienating the creators you work with as an editor. But being an editor is awesome–it takes a combination of an analytical, businesslike mind and a creative mind to really do the job well, because you have to balance things like getting people paid and keeping things on schedule with giving story and art notes. It’s perfect for someone like me who loves books and comics but doesn’t necessarily want to be the one executing the ideas." [Women Write About Comics]



Creators | Ben Hatke, whose Zita the Spacegirl trilogy was a big hit with younger readers, talks about his new book Little Robot, and shares a preview. [Hero Complex]

Creators | Liz Suburbia discusses her graphic novel Sacred Heart, a story about a town where all the adults have disappeared; it was originally serialized as a webcomic. [Paste]

Creators | Filmmaker Jack Baxter and artist Koren Shadmi talk about their new graphic novel Mike's Place, the story of a Tel Aviv bar that was a place where people from all over could relax, mingle, and listen to music — until it was targeted by a suicide bomber. Baxter, who was in the bar at the time, wrote a screenplay about the bombing, but First Second's Mark Siegel suggested he make it a graphic novel instead. Gan Glanzman, the co-owner of Mike's Place and a character in the book, also gives his perspective. [Haaretz]



Creators | Michel Chikwanine was 5 years old when he was kidnapped by militants, taken away from his home village in the Congo, and forced to serve as a child soldier. Now he has written about his experiences in a graphic novel Child Soldier, which is due out this month from Kids Can Press. [Quill and Quire]

Comic strips | Departing Washington Post comics page editor Donna Peremes talks about what you will — and won't — see on the funny pages. [Comic Riffs]

Comic strips | Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County 2015 is now being carried by the syndicated comics site GoComics, in addition to appearing on his Facebook wall. Alan Gardner notes that the GoComics strips seem to be running a week behind the Facebook ones. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Manga | Japanese fans recently voted on the most "traumatizing" manga they have ever read. Interestingly, the top five titles are all older manga. [Crunchyroll]

Retailing | Viera Comics, a comic shop that will open Wednesday in Melbourne, Florida, will feature a wide range of comics as well as coffee and a movie lounge. "I want to try to appeal to people who read comics and geeks like me, but also appeal to people who aren't sure they're comic fans and appeal to first-time readers," says owner Peter Pappas. [Florida Today]