Comics | Rupp's Comics in Fremont, Ohio, will display a rare comic this weekend as part of the store's 22nd-anniversary celebration: Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48, published in 1933, is the first comic book to contain a single original story (as opposed to several strips, or a compilation of reprints from newspapers). The new format was not an immediate success, and the series was canceled after just one issue. [The News-Messenger]

Creators | It's old but it's good: The Comics Journal dips into the archives for a 1989 interview with Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson. [The Comics Journal]

Creators | John Porcellino reflects on 25 years of King-Cat Comics. [du9]

Creators | Mark Millar wants to establish a film studio in Scotland to produce movies based on his comics. [Daily Record]

Digital comics | The Japanese mobile games firm DeNA has just launched a free manga app that will carry previously unpublished series in English and Japanese; a Chinese version is in the works as well. The app launched with 28 series and plans for three to five new episodes a day from manga published by Kodansha and Shogakukan, two of Japan's biggest publishers. The starting lineup includes an Attack on Titan spinoff, which should draw in the curious. [The Japan Times]

Manga | Shaenon Garrity writes about two horror manga by Suehiro Maruo, Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show and The Strange Tale of Panorama Island. [Anime News Network]

Marketing | Conner Crooks, who handles social media for the manga publisher Seven Seas, talks about his job, his brief time on 4Chan, and what has learned about manga in his five months on the job. [Organization Anti-Social Geniuses]

Publishing | Sparkony Entertainment, a graphic novel publisher startup in St. Louis, Missouri, is testing a new way to raise money: It's soliciting directly from accredited investors under new rules recently approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sparkony plans to publish fantasy, science fiction and thriller graphic novels and eventually make them into animated films. [St. Louis Business Journal]

Conventions | Zainab Akhtar reports on the U.K.'s Thought Bubble festival. [The Comics Journal]

Conventions | Paul Turney files his report on the Short Run Small Press Fest. [The Comics Journal]