Fans | When Lan Diep was sworn in as a member of the San Jose (California) City Council, he carried an appropriate prop: a replica of Captain America's shield. “I already had my group swearing in, and that was official. That one goes to the state,” Diep explained. “And I had this really cool shield that I never get to show anybody. One of the most patriotic things that you can do is get involved in democracy.” The California lawyer is a longtime comics fan whose collection also includes a chunk of Kryptonite and a working Ghostbusters trap. [The Washington Post]

Political cartoons | Malaysian political cartoonist Zunar will miss the first-ever museum exhibition of his works because he's banned from leaving the country while he awaits trial on sedition charges. Both Zunar and Kenyan cartoonist Gado are featured artists in the Cartoon for Peace exhibition at the Maison du Design de Presse in Morges, Switzerland. [Free Malaysia Today]

Comics | Abraham Reisman uses the premiere of the "Riverdale" TV series as an opening to look back at the changes at Archie Comics over the past few years, including darker storylines and the rebooting of the flagship property. [Vulture]

Creators | Douglas Wolk profiles Becky Cloonan. [Oprah.com]

Creators | Egyptian surgeon and writer Kirollos Bahgat discusses his latest work, "The Egg Man," which he calls "the first philosophical comic book in Egypt": "It is similar to popular American comic art; however, it uses sarcasm and philosophy to tackle the daily life situations and shed light on many current problems including corruption, the struggles of youth, the unqualified education system, as well as our distorted knowledge and culture." Bahgat has some interesting thoughts on the parallels between superheroes and villains and political trends in his country. [Daily News Egypt]

Creators | I interviewed Sarah Glidden about her graphic novel "Rolling Blackouts," which describes a trip through the Middle East with a group of independent journalists who were reporting on the lives of refugees in the area. The book is an in-depth look at how journalism is practiced on the ground and also an enlightening look at the refugee situation; while the specific cases are a bit dated (the trip was taken in late 2010), much of what she observed still holds true today. [Smash Pages]

Creators | Catana Chetwynd talks about her comic "Catana Comics," published on Instagram, which chronicles day-to-day life with her live-in boyfriend. [The Huffington Post]

Manga | Vertical Inc. has licensed the one-volume manga "She and Her Cat," by anime director Makoto Shinkai and artist Tsubasa Yamaguchi. It's adapted from the short anime of the same name, which was Shinkai's first animated work. As he told me in 2012, Shinkai burned it onto CDs and distributed it by hand at Comiket, the big Japanese fan convention. It won the 2000 DoGA CG Animation contest and was picked up by a commercial distributor. The manga adaptation was done last year and ran in Kodansha's "Afternoon" magazine. [Crunchyroll]

Museums | Jackie Sheckler Finch pays a visit to the Thurber House, home of "New Yorker" cartoonist James Thurber. [Kankakee Daily Journal]