Comics | Alex Kranz pays a visit to Anthony’s Comics Book Art, a warehouse in New Jersey filled with not just collectible comics but original art from some key moments in the history of the medium: "There are Michael Turner’s pencils for the splash page of Supergirl’s reintroduction in 2005 — her first official appearance in comics, in costume, since 1986. It’s $12,500 of art history Anthony doesn’t mind me handling like a comic fresh from the shop today. And there’s more Super history in his case, like a piece Curtis Swan penciled for John Byrne so Byrne could get comfortable inking Superman before his iconic Superman run. Byrne would be the guy who would change things around so that Clark Kent was the person and Superman the mask, while Swan’s art is the source of all officially licensed Superman products in the U.S." And also Stan Lee's jotted ideas for the name of the character that would become Scarlet Witch. [Gizmodo]

Publishing | Current and former Dark Horse staffers talk about the history of the publisher, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. [Willamette Week]

Political cartoons | Kashmiri cartoonist Mir Suhail has been drawing attention to police violence in his home state with a series of cartoons and digitally altered images of Bollywood stars, Indian historical figures (including Mahatma Gandhi), and even Edvard Munch's "The Scream" with bandaged eyes and faces pocked by the pellets the local police use for crowd control. Suhail made headlines earlier this year when he claimed Facebook deleted one of his political cartoons. But censorship is hard in the digital world: Suhail's altered version of the poster for the Bollywood film "Kashmir Ki Kali" now shows up in Google searches for the film's title, he says. [Hindustan Times]



Creators | As "Love and Rockets" returns in its original magazine-size format, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez talk about the genesis of the comics and where they are now. [The Guardian]

Creators | Kevin Fagan's comic strip "Drabble" was syndicated when he was just 21 years old. Now, 37 years later, he talks about the challenges of keeping a daily comic strip fresh and how his voice has changed over the years. [Provo Daily Herald]

Graphic novels | I interviewed Gene Luen Yang, Dan Santat, Vera Brosgol, Marguerite Dabaie and several other creators about creating graphic novels that depict the lives of second-generation immigrants. [School Library Journal]

Manga | Fed up with freeloading fans, "Gantz" creator Hiroya Oku tweeted out a plea to buy his books — at full price. "This might shatter some kids’ illusions, but no manga creators can keep producing comics if people are just going to read through them at the store without buying them, or buy them from Yahoo! Auctions or used book stores," he said on Twitter. "Creators just can’t do it. But there are so many adults who get their manga that way, even though they know the situation. If you want to support a manga creator, please buy your manga new, at list price, as often as you can." [RocketNews 24]

Advice | Dale Lazarov, who publishes graphic novels under the Sticky Comics imprint, has some advice for aspiring queer comics creators — although most of it applies pretty well to any beginning alt-comics creator. [Geeks Out]

Comics culture | The geek community of Roanoke, Virginia, is gearing up for International Read Comics In Public Day this weekend. [Roanoke Times]

Conventions | With Boston Comic Con coming up this weekend, reporter Ethan Gilsdorf looks at the growth of Boston's three big cons — BCC, PAX East and Anime Boston — and the economic impact they have on the city compared to other conventions such as boat shows or doctors' conventions. This article is a cut above the usual cheerleading piece as it analyzes the conventions from several different points of view. [Boston Globe]