Auctions | The original art for two Peanuts Sunday comics, one of them autographed by Charles Schulz, sold for a combined price of $78,200 at auction on June 6. [artdaily.org]
Creators | Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon, who are doomed to be forever yoked by the parenthetical phrase "no relation," reminisce about the days when they were paid for their work in beef, and talk about their digital-first strategy, serializing Zander's Heck and Kevin's Crater XV in their monthly digital magazine Double Barrel before releasing them in print. Mark Waid drops in to praise the Cannons for their digital strategy, saying, "If you let the audience access your material over the Web rather than force them to search — often in vain — for a retail outlet, they’ll be your fans for life." [Minneapolis Star Tribune]
Creators | Writer Jim Ottaviani discuss his new graphic novel Primates, which depicts the lives and work of the three primatologists Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas. The book is illustrated by Maris Wicks. [Hero Complex]
Creators | Writer J. Torres talks about writing the Jinx graphic novels, the challenge of writing a character with a long history, and the differences between Archie and DC readers in the latest comiXologist podcast. [comiXology Blog]
Creators | In an interview conducted at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Taiyo Matsumoto, creator of Tekkonkinkreet and, most recently, Sunny, talks about his life, his work, and why he doesn't go to a lot of events: "I’m neither manga nor bande desinée (Franco-Belgian comics), so it’s a little tricky at Japanese shōnen (genre fiction manga predominantly for boys) events where I don’t fit in with the cosplayers, or in Europe when I’m supposed to be the manga guy." [The Japan Times]
Creators | Paul Gravett talks at length with Enki Bilal. [Paul Gravett]
Conventions | A host of children's comics creators, including Ben Hatke (Zita the Spacegirl), Raina Telgemeier (Drama, Smile), and Jim Ottaviani, will descend on Ann Arbor, Michigan, this weekend for the Kids Read Comics festival at the Ann Arbor District Library. Mike Pawuk talks to one of the show's organizers, librarian Edith Donnell, about what to expect. [Good Comics for Kids]
Comic strips | R.C. Harvey limns the history of the classic newspaper strip Bringing Up Father (a.k.a. Maggie and Jiggs). [The Comics Journal]
Exhibits | The "Peanuts ... Naturally" exhibit at the Lakeshore Museum Center in Muskegon, Michigan, presents aspects of nature alongside classic Peanuts comic strips. The exhibit includes sections on the universe, trees, birds, and other facets of nature. "The idea with this exhibit is that you’re looking at the natural world through the lens of the Peanuts characters," explains curator Krista Menacher. "And Charles M. Schulz kind of had a lot of environmental leanings." [MLive.com]