Three items of note. First of all, Viz will be publishing a new collection of essays, interviews, memoirs and manga by the one and only Hayao Miyazaki. Entitled Starting Point: 1979-1996, the book goes on sale Aug. 4.

The book will cover the first-half of Miyazaki’s legendary career, during which he rose from humble beginnings to create some of the most seminal animated features ever made, including Nausica Of The Valley Of The Wind, Castle In The Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Porco Rosso, as well as his launch of Studio Ghibli. A fitting introduction is offered by John Lasseter, the Chief Creative Officer at Pixar and Walt Disney. Ponyo is Miyazaki’s newest feature film and will be released by Walt Disney in North America this August.

• I haven't seen many folks talking about this yet: apparently artist Chris Sprouse is  working on a new Tom Strong series:

Finally, I've been waiting for some sort of nod from the powers-that-be so I can start promoting the upcoming Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom series I've been working on all year. I'd like to show off some art and start talking up the series instead of just teasing and dropping hints. I don't want to give away plot points or spoil the story for anyone, I just love this book want to share some of what I've been doing lately. I know I say this every time I post these days, but, I'll post some art from the series soon...

Click here to see an ad for the first issue.

• Finally, here's another thing I missed: The ASIFA Hollywood-Animation Archive have reprinted a deluxe two-volume edition of  Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman's 1914 cartooning course. The book will be available for sale at San Diego.