Passings | French cartoonist Theodor Friedrich Otto Aristidès, aka Fred, passed away Tuesday in a Paris hospital at age 82. He was best known for Philémon, his surrealistic comic about a French farm boy who fell down a well into a fantasy world akin to Wonderland. Fred was awarded the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême in 1980, and had been the oldest living recipient. [L'Observateu de Beauvais]

Creators | John Layman, who's writing  the 900th issue of Detective Comics (No. 19 in the New 52 continuity) talks about his plans for that and his creator-owned series Chew, and contrasts the two: "Well, the cases are weirder in Chew. There is an element that’s the same – you introduce a conflict, and then you have a detective with a certain skill set resolving it. ... Batman’s just happen to be gadgets and fists. I guess if there’s a formula in the skeletal layer, it’s probably the same." [Hero Complex]

Creators | Lucy Knisley, whose graphic memoir Relish is due out this week, reminisces about her childhood love of comics and the places she bought them — a local cigar store and a dimly lit comics shop. Her favorite comic was the original Harbinger: "The books featured a slightly chubby and hilarious female superhero who could fly and not do much else. I loved her. She wore pink leotards and said idiotic things and her teammates called her "Zeppelin," to spoof her superhero name, "Zephyr," but I knew she was the real driving force behind the team. The series was cut short after 20 or so issues, all of which still reside in my collection in mom's basement." [The Huffington Post]

Manga | PictureBox announced it will publish two new manga titles: Gold Pollen and Other Stories, by Seiichi Hayashi (Red-Colored Elegy) and World Map Room by Yoichi Yokoyama (Garden, Travel, Color Engineering). [Anime News Network]

Conventions | Paul Gravett presents a photo-filled con report on this year's Angouleme International Comics Festival. [Paul Gravett]

Comics | Russ Burlingame posts Part 2 of his interview with Ball State University adjunct professor Christina Blanch, who's teaching a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on gender and comics that began this week. [Comicbook.com]

Auctions | A Vancouver man is putting his collection of more than 60,000 comics, compiled over the past 40 years, up for auction this week. [The Province]