Comics | David Harper examines why Marvel and DC remain important -- "indispensable," even -- despite the ascendance of creator-owned comics. “Opposite to what it was before where you’d form yourself in your own comics and then graduate to the big companies, now the big companies are going to form you in order to graduate you to your own comics,” Marcos Martin explains. “That’s why I think Marvel and DC are indispensable. They’re great. That means there is an industry. We need that industry in order to bring creators and form them so they can at one point put together their own stories.” [Sktchd]
Comics | Gabriel Roth writes about his daughter's love of superhero comics -- particularly Tiny Titans, in which the humor depends heavily on knowing DC continuity -- and his mixed feelings about that: "A 4-year-old is just starting to realize how much she doesn’t know. Her mother and I have taught her the very first things, This is a square and You’re allowed to be mad at your baby brother but you’re not allowed to hit him, and left her to figure the rest out for herself. And now I’ve introduced her to the DC Comics universe, 80 years of secret identities and arch-nemeses, endless false detail about a fabricated world in which nothing happens but crime and crime-fighting, and for a child hungry for information it functions as a kind of cognitive narcotic, lighting up her brain’s centers of curiosity and comprehension without providing anything of value. I didn’t want to read Tiny Titans to her anymore." [Slate]
Creators | Middle school librarian Esther Keller interviews G-Man creator Chris Giarrusso: "I didn’t think I had set out to make comics specifically for kids, but I soon discovered that everyone regarded my work as comics for kids, and that suits me fine." [Good Comics for Kids]
Creators | Michael DeForge discusses meeting Charles Burns (and forcing him to eat a butter tart), how he came to work on Adventure Time, and more. [Sequential Pulp]
Creators | In a radio interview, Child Soldier author Michel Chikwanine talks about his experiences after being kidnapped in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [CBC]
Creators | Three LINE Webtoon creators, Jung Seok Woo, Faza Meonk and Sweta Kartika, discuss their comics. LINE Webtoon, a webcomics platform that originated in Korea but has since gone global, launched in Indonesia in April. [The Jakarta Post]
Creators | Indian cartoonist Shaji Mathew staged a novel protest about the dilapidated condition of the local bus stop in Pathanamthitta, Kerala: He stood in front of the station and drew cartoons about the problem. [The Hindu]
Manga | Vania Prodanova discusses the anime and manga scene in Bulgaria, where money is scarce and the market is small, but interest is high. [Organization Anti-Social Geniuses]
Characters | Dhee, whose name means "wisdom" in Bengali, is the first lesbian character in Bangladeshi comics. [iDiva]
Retailing | Lockport, New York, has a new comics and coffee shop, Pulp 716, which features historically accurate coffee from different eras and a record player that patrons are invited to use to play their own records. Oh, and also, comics! [WKBW]