Publishing | Papercutz, which has had an extremely successful program of LEGO graphic novels based on the Bionicle, Ninjago and Legends of Chima properties, is losing that license to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, which will have its own graphic novels in bookstores by the end of this year. Papercutz reveals it will continue to publish Bionicle and Ninjago through the end of this year, and Legends of Chima through mid-2016. [Publishers Weekly, ICv2]

Passings | Fred Fredericks, who drew the Mandrake the Magician comic strip from 1965 to 2013, has died. In addition to his daily newspaper work, Fredericks drew comics for Western Publishing and Marvel. [ComicMix]

Publishing | Last week, ICv2 published an interview with Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson and his manga team about Dark Horse manga; this week the website follows up with the non-manga part of the conversation, in which Richardson discusses the company's mix of different types of comics, the changing audience, and life after Star Wars. [ICv2]

Publishing | Vertical Inc. announced at last weekend's Genericon that it has licensed Inio Asano's manga A Girl on the Shore. Asano's solanin, published by Viz Media, was nominated for Eisner and Harvey awards, and his Nijigahara Holograph was published by Fantagraphics last year. A Girl on the Shore was published as two volumes in Japan, but Vertical's edition will be a one-volume omnibus. [Anime News Network]

Creators | Cerebus creator Dave Sim reportedly checked himself in to the emergency room Monday afternoon after suffering severe stomach cramps. It's unknown as of this morning whether he's been admitted to the hospital. [A Moment of Cerebus]

Comics | Amy Chu and Gilbert Hernandez talk about their stories in Vertigo's new anthology Strange Sports Stories. "I start out a lot of my stories with young people," Hernandez said, "and I've always loved to mix the mundane with a science-fiction element — sometimes it's a surreal element, sometimes it's hard science. You're hanging out with a bunch of friends and surreal things happened when you were a kid that you can't really explain but you accept them — they become part of growing up but you never find out what the reason for what it was." [USA Today]

Comics | Luke Plunkett looks back at Valiant's 1990 Legend of Zelda comics. [Kotaku]

Characters | Noah Berlatsky ponders the significance of Wonder Woman's lasso, which seems to have lost some of its power over time. [The New Republic]

Fandom | Blogger Cheryl Lynn, founder of the Ormes Society, talks about the importance of promoting diversity in nerd culture: "Having a mentor that has forged the path you wish to travel is important not only to have someone to provide feedback and support, but to show that what you wish to achieve can and has been accomplished. When your sister has already done it, you believe it is possible for you as well." [Black Girl in Media]

Academia | Nick Sousanis wrote his doctoral dissertation in comics form, and it's going to be the first comic ever published by Harvard University Press, under the title Unflattening. Appropriately, the thesis is about learning to think in new ways. James Sturm of the Center for Cartoon Studies weighs in with his opinion about the wider uses of comics. [Inside Higher Ed]