Legal | Three assistants of the Malaysian political cartoonist Zunar were arrested last week for selling his books. They were set up near the Putrajaya courthouse, where opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is on trial for sodomy, a charge Ibrahim claims is politically motivated. In a press release, Zunar said the three assistants were "investigated under The Sedition Act, Penal Code and Printing and Press Act" and released on bail. It has only been a month since a Malaysian appeals court overturned a government ban on two of Zunar's books. [Cartoonists Rights Network International]
Creators | Garry Trudeau discusses his portrayals of different presidents, and politics in general, in Doonesbury and Alpha House. [The New York Times]
Creators | Jules Feiffer talks about Lauren Bacall, living on Long Island, and working on his first graphic novel, Kill My Mother: "The book is about 148 pages of art. And since I had never done this sort of work before, I have to tell you, all 148 pages, before I started, were terrifying to me. I was so consumed with my lack of qualification to do this. ... I had to stop work once in a while because it took such an emotional toll on me." [Newsday]
Creators | Captain America writer Rick Remender talks about Sam Wilson as the new Sentinel of Liberty, race and diversity. [Vox]
Creators | The hook in Jerrod Dodson's Terror Klowns is not just that it features evil zombie clowns, it's that it features evil zombie clowns taking over an actual place — Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to be precise — and includes local landmarks. [PA homepage]
Creators | South African creator Luke Molver discusses his comic Remember Emma, which premiered at the KA-BLAM! festival in Durban. His take on sexism in comics: "Just from a business standpoint it's ridiculous because the market is halved. In my own work it took me a lot longer to learn how to draw girls - probably because they scared me and I suspect they still do." [Times Live]
Creators | A retrospective of the work of Indian political cartoonist Sudhir Tailang opened with life-size cutouts of the politicians who have been his frequent targets. Tailang grew up reading The Phantom, Blondie and Tintin, and had his first cartoon published at age 10. [Indian Express]
Comics | From Maus to Chick tracts to Ms. Marvel, A. David Lewis counts down 20 "most essential" comics about religion. [FaithStreet]
Graphic novels | Jillian Steinhauer reviews Greg Farrell's On the Books, a first-hand account of the attempts by the staff of New York's legendary Strand bookstore to unionize. [Hyperallergic]
Conventions | Mike Ciriaco reports on last weekend's LGBT-focused comics and pop culture convention, Bent-Con. [FrontiersLA]
Retailing | Kaboom Test Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, complements it line of regular comics and toys with rare items such as a copy of Fantastic Four #1 signed by Stan Lee and original animation cels from Disney movies. [KQRE]