Conventions | MorrisonCon and the Las Vegas Comic Expo aren't the only comic conventions this weekend (more on them shortly): There's also Wizard World Ohio Comic Con in Columbus, and Asbury Park Comic Con in New Jersey. Last year, Wizard took over Mid-Ohio Con and turned it into Wizard World Ohio Comic Con, and on the eve of this year's event, the local alternative weekly looks at how the event has changed and what to expect. Meanwhile, Saturday's Asbury Park Comic Con gets back to basics: "The problem that I have with the big comic conventions is that they’ve turned into pop culture conventions and it’s anything goes —anything from video games to wrestlers and bands, stuff that has nothing or very little to do with comics. What we want to do is bring it back to what brought us all together — our passion for comics," says co-founder Cliff Galbraith. The event, which is being held in a rock club/bowling alley, features such comics guests as Larry Hama, Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Dean Haspiel, Seth Kushner and Reilly Brown. [The Other Paper, Asbury Park Press]



Creators | Michael Cavna interviews Neil Gaiman just moments after the acclaimed writer accidentally sent a photo of his wife's bottom to his mother-in-law. Gaiman manages to tweet and talk at the same time and chats a bit about the books he's working on, a young-adult graphic novel, an adult novel, and a Sandman miniseries. [Comic Riffs]

Creators | Guest DJs Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez bring their favorite tracks NPR's Alt.Latino music show. [NPR.org]

Creators | Jeff Parker talks about Red She-Hulk, who is getting her turn in the spotlight, and how she is related to Betty Ross: "My opinion is that like her dad, she's still Betty, but at the far other end of her personality spectrum. That's my favorite portrayal of Hulk too, the idea that he's the same guy, but his head is all full of testosterone and rage and gamma energy so he can't think very rationally, he can only lash out. THAT SAID, there will be duality at play, and big inner conflict." As for Carlo Pagualayan's art, Parker says, "You can expect a beautiful woman who can convincingly knock down a building. Which is really, really not easy to do." [Me and You and a Blog Named Boo]

Creators | Chicano cartoonist Lalo Alcarez, creator of the daily strip La Cucaracha, talks about his experiences as the son of immigrants and how that shaped his politics and his cartooning, how Latinos really view the presidential candidates (and their ads), and the argument that broke out two weeks ago during a panel at the Editorial Cartoonist Convention. [Voxxi]



Digital comics | Madefire, the digital-first publisher that launched earlier this year with direct-to-iPad comics from Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons, among others, introduced an iPhone app yesterday. The app allows creators to resize text, word balloons, etc., so the comics are easy to read on the small screen. [Venture Beat]

Publishing | Gina Gagliano continues her inside look at graphic novel publishing with an account of the many steps a book goes through in the acquisition process, from initial submission to final contract. [First Second]

Webcomics | Larry Cruz talks to Henry Kuo, who developed the webcomic-finding aid Just the First Frame — as advertised, it shows just the first frame of a variety of webcomics, and if you like it, a click brings you to the site. [The Webcomic Overlook]

Digital comics | Ngomik is a small startup in Indonesia that sells digital comics to smartphone users, and its customer base increased tenfold, to over 53,000, in just one year. The key seems to be that they work with phone carriers, which makes payment seamless. Also, they have a big library of comics. [Tech in Asia]