Publishing | U.K. comics distributor Impossible Books will close up shop on Feb. 28, after two years in the business. On their blog, owners Camila Barboza and Taylor Lilley explained they simply don't have the time and energy for the enterprise any longer. They are putting their titles on sale in the meantime, and Zainab Akhtar has some recommendations for bargain-minded readers. [Comics & Cola]
Crime | Daryl Cagle's website, which hosts a lot of editorial cartoons, went down last week after being hit by a Distributed Denial of Service attack. Cagle tells Alan Gardner that his site gets attacked by hackers fairly frequently, but the latest was different in that the only goal was to take down the site. Gardner speculates it may be related to cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad and Charlie Hebdo. [The Daily Cartoonist]
Comics | Dave Phillips takes his 7-year-old daughter to a comic shop with dismal results: "Something clicked. Something that had never really clicked with me before, but through her eyes, I got it – where were the superheros for girls that weren’t quite so overdeveloped and under-dressed?" The retailer's well-meaning suggestions (Hello Kitty, Monster High) don't go over well, but the readers suggest some good titles in the comments section. [IT to the D]
Comics | Caitlin White, on the other hand, explains why 2014 was a great year for women in comics, with plenty of examples. [Bustle]
Creators | Scott McCloud talks about making comics, making comics about making comics, and his new graphic novel, The Sculptor. [Publishers Weekly]
Creators | Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto interviews his hero, Blade of the Immortal manga-ka Hiroaki Samura. Warning: spoilers for both series. [Mangabrog]
Creators | Mike Lynch pens a brief appreciation, with illustrations, of 20th-century cartoonist and illustrator Gluyas Williams. [Mike Lynch Cartoons]
Commentary | Mark McKinney, editor of the journal European Comic Art, cautions that most non-Parisians lack the context necessary to really understand Charlie Hebdo; he discusses some of what we are missing and encourages comics scholars to continue writing about it. [Berghahn Books]
Commentary | Along those lines, Josselin Moneyron looks at a year's worth of Charlie Hebdo covers and discusses the meaning of the cartoons and the politics behind them. [The Hooded Utilitarian]
Fans | Jeet Heer writes about novelist John Updike's love of comics. [The Paris Review]
Conventions | This mid-weekend report on the Victoria (Texas) Comic-Con includes interviews with one cosplayer, one comics creator (Chris Garrett), and one gamer, which is a pretty good balance as articles like this go. [Victoria Advocate]
Exhibits | "Comics at Columbia: Past, Present, and Future," which closes on Jan. 23, looks at the many points of connections between Columbia University and comics creators. [Columbia News]