Creators | Renowned artist Steve Rude has announced that money raised from an online art and comics auction has enabled he and his family to keep their home: "When I saw the bread coming in after Gino made her announcement (this was unbeknownst to the oblivious Dude), I was, and still am, in a mild state of stupefication. The outpouring of generosity was clearly far beyond what Gino and I could've asked for. Your contributions poured in from all corners of our planet; the sizeable backstock of comics and Dude related 'higher reading paraphernalia' were ordered by the spit-load; and Erik Larson bought his complete Next Nexus 3 issue! All said, we saved the house." The Nexus creator is still working to regain his financial footing, so he's selling 2011 calendars and, soon, a new sketchbook. [DudeNews]
Creators | Stan Lee will receive his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Jan. 4. [Mark Evanier]
Comic strips | Cartoonist Jim Davis has issued an apology for an ill-timed Garfield strip that appeared on Veterans Day. The strip, which appeared in newspapers on Thursday, featured a standoff between Garfield and a spider, and referred to "an annual day of remembrance" called "National Stupid Day." In a statement, Davis explained that the strip was written almost a year ago, "and I had no idea when writing it that it would appear today — of all days." [CNN, The Daily Cartoonist]
Conventions | Wizard World Austin Comic Con kicks off today at the Austin Convention Center. [The A.V. Club Austin, KXAN]
Retailing | Citing the economy, Words and Pictures will closes its location on the University of Calgary campus after 20 years. [The Gauntlet]
Retailing | Max Mitchell profiles Cosmo Cassetta, owner of Cosmo’s Cards & Collectables, one of the few remaining comic stores in the Bronx. After 20 years in business, Cassetta is thinking about retirement. [YourNabe]
Best of the year | Molly McIsaac makes her selections for the best manga of 2011. [iFanboy]
Creators | Moebius will make a rare U.S. appearance on Nov. 20 as a speaker at the CTN Animation Expo in Burbank, Calif. [Hero Complex]
Creators | Jef Catapang profiles comics artist and TV host Francis Manapul. [Canadian Immigrant]
Creators | Warren Ellis discusses his tools of the trade. [Warren Ellis]
Comics | David Brothers wades into this week's announcement that J. Michael Straczynski will leave as writer of Superman and Wonder Woman and focus on a sequel to the Superman: Earth One graphic novel. [4thletter!]
Comics | An assistant professor of English at Indiana State University presented a lecture Thursday called "Batman's Dark Night of the Soul: Space and the Spatial in Arkham Asylum," focusing on Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum. [Indiana Statesman]