Conventions | Three-day tickets went on sale this week for New York Comic Con. Confirmed guests so far include Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Mike Mignola and Josh Gates. [Collider.com]
Publishing | The revelation that DC's newly reintroduced Green Lantern Alan Scott is gay has moved Christian comic publisher Art Ayris, who is also the executive pastor of a Baptist church, to announce that his company Kingstone Media won't be including gay characters in its lineup: "If Kingstone is the only comic book company in America doing it, we will stand for the things God says are godly and stand against things that clearly fall under the category of sin." [Baptist Press]
Retailing | The Avengers movie seems to be bringing new customers into comics stores looking for Marvel titles, at least in Maryland. Pullbox requests for Marvel comics are also up, suggesting some of the uptick is from existing customers. [The Star Democrat]
Creators | A.J. Lieberman talks about his new miniseries Harvest, the story of a rogue surgeon who goes from a life of sex, drugs, and surgery to the shadowy world of black-market organ transplants: "He's supposed to help some of these unfortunate people in this Robin Hood way, but even that is going to go pretty bad." [USA Today]
Graphic novels | Russ Kick, editor of The Graphic Canon, goes in depth in about how the book came together, how he chose the works to be included, and how different artists approached the material. [Country Life]
Graphic novels | Some teenage inmates have collaborated on a graphic novel advising their peers on how to stay out of trouble — and passing along things they wished they had known when they first went behind bars. The idea is not only to produce a self-help manual to reduce recidivism but also to improve the literacy skills of the co-authors, and perhaps help them to get jobs and stay out of trouble on their release. [The Globe and Mail]
Graphic novels | Jonathan Liu looks at a handful of graphic novel memoirs, including Harvy Pekar's American Splendor and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. [Geek Dad]
Manga | Shaenon Garrity takes a fond look at X/1999, by the feted manga team CLAMP. [Anime News Network]
Comics | Pop star Katy Perry is the latest entertainer to get the Bluewater treatment; the company will produce an unauthorized bio-comic about the singer as part of its Fame series. [MTV Newsroom]