Auctions | An original watercolor by Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson, showing his creations lounging under a tree, fetched $107,000 at auction. [Comic Riffs]

Publishing | David Barnett writes an appreciation for 2000AD, the U.K. comics anthology that turns 35 years old this year: "For a seven-year-old, 2000AD was anarchic and fascistic and funny and frightening and gory and exciting and thought-provoking, all rolled up together. They called it 2000AD, presumably, because no one expected the comic to live that long. But 35 years after the first issue, which had a 26 February cover date, and in the year that Queen Elizabeth II marks her diamond jubilee, 2000AD is still going, delivering (in the magazine's own words) 'thrill power' every single week since then." [The Guardian]



Marketing | Following a couple of Kickstarter campaigns that raked in big bucks for the creators, Gary Tyrrell takes a look not just at the bottom line but also the average amount per contributor, noting that by that measure, Jon Rosenberg's Goats campaign is hot-hot-hot. What makes the difference? Tyrrell sees contributors snatching up the high-value premiums that are limited in number, creating a sense of scarcity: "Takeaway — it’s not just the dollar value (and not undervaluing your work), it’s also making the audience think the equivalent of This is a limited-edition, con-exclusive variant which they fear they’ll have to buy on eBay after at tremendously jacked-up prices." [Fleen]

Manga | Foodie manga is a category all its own, and manga expert Jason Thompson looks at some unusual examples of the genre, including Jiro Taniguchi's The Lonely Gourmet and the super-niche Ekiben Hitoritabi, a manga about a man who travels the country trying out train station bento-box lunches. [Anime News Network]



Comic strips | R.C. Harvey delves into the history of Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, which had its origins on the sports pages. [The Comics Journal]

Commentary | Jones sees the DVD of Frank King's home videos, included in Vol. 5 of Drawn and Quarterly's Walt and Skeezix collection, as a desperate move by a publisher that wants to include supplemental material but has used up all the good stuff. What's next? "At this rate, Vol.6 will contain a 3,000 page fold-out family tree of King’s ancestors, all the way back to mitochondrial Eve. For Vol. 7, Chris Ware will come to the house of each and every person who buys a copy, and deliver a ten hour presentation on King’s life and technique. (The first twenty minutes is the formal presentation; the remainder is a protracted bout of self-effacement and apologising from Ware.)" It spirals downward from there... let's just say Joe Matt gets mentioned as well. [Let's You and Him Fight]