Conventions | Convention producer ReedPOP will add Vienna Comic Con in Austria to a growing roster of shows that already includes the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, New York Comic Con, Emerald City Comicon, PAX, OZ Comic Con, Shanghai Comic Con, Star Wars Celebration and Comic Con Paris. It's scheduled for Nov. 21-22 at Messe Wien in Vienna. ”We aim to make Vienna Comic Con the leading pop culture event in Central Europe,” Barbara Leithner of Reed Exhibitions said in a statement. “Fans at Vienna Comic Con will experience unique programs and events, and meet pop culture creatives from all over the world.” [press release]
Creators | Alison Bechdel talks about what it's like to be "suddenly mainstream," what with the success of the Fun Home musical and winning the MacArthur genius grant. [The New York Times]
Creators | Over the Garden Wall was the first original animated miniseries on Cartoon Network, and a one-shot comic based on the series was released last fall. Now BOOM! Studios has announced a four-issue miniseries based on the property, to be published under its KaBoom all-ages imprint. Series creator Pat McHale, who will be writing the comics, talks about how the comics will fit in with the animated series and the challenges of working in a different medium, with different possibilities and constraints. [Hero Complex]
Comics | Cavemen, cavewomen and dinosaurs demonstrate how to destroy enemy tanks in the 1972 U.S. Army publication To Catch a Tank: Big "Game" Hunting Made Easy. [War Is Boring]
Graphic novels | A class of Stanford students, under the supervision of comics creator Andy Warner, spent the past two semesters researching, writing and drawing American Heathen, a graphic novel about Wong Chin Foo, who advocated for the rights of Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. [Stanford News]
Manga | Justin Stroman interviews four manga translators about the joys and challenges of their work. [Organization Anti-Social Geniuses]
Business | Civitas Media, a company with newspapers in 12 states, thought that cutting out the Sunday funnies (and other features, such as color weather maps) would be a straight shot to profitability. The chain was wrong: Sales plummeted, the CEO who made that decision is gone, and now the comics are back and circulation is inching upward again. [Romenesko]
Exhibits | Melissa Starker reviews two exhibits at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, one about shoujo manga and the other focusing on graphic novels by Jewish women. [Columbus Dispatch]
Festivals | Robyn Chapman of Paper Rocket Minicomics posts her impressions of TCAF from a micropublisher's point if view. [The Tiny Report]
Conventions | Robert Mora and DeNae Griffith, organizers of Lubbock Comic Con, talk about how plans for the show came together; it will debut in February 2016. [Lubbock Avalanche-Journal]