Awards | Were women underrepresented in the first British Comic Awards? With three women and 13 men on the shortlist, some argue they were; Laura Sneddon follows the discussion, including those making that claim and those who responded. [The New Statesman]

Best of the year | Paste magazine lists its 10 best comics of the year, including Hawkeye, Saga and Building Stories. [Paste]

Best of the year | Rachel Cooke focuses on British graphic novels, although a few outsiders creep in as well, for her list of the best graphic novels of 2012. [The Guardian]

Graphic novels | Ryan Fitzmaurice catches the highlights of an academic conference on women and graphic novels held at Bovee University in Michigan. [Central Michigan Life]

Creators | Artist Chris Shy talks about visiting Native American sacred sites and talking with the tribal elder in preparation for illustrating The North End of the World, a historical fantasy about the real-life photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis, who documented the lives of Native Americans in the 19th century. [Pop Candy]

Creators | Chris Sims talks to Scott Snyder about The Joker's return in the "Death of the Family" Batman crossover. [Comics Alliance]

Creators | Nate Pollard interviews Superf*ckers creator James Kochalka. [Verbicide]

Creators | When a student in the United Kingdom asked Mark Crilley to visit, the Akiko creator obliged, flying from Michigan to talk to the class about his work. Fun fact: Crilley, who does how-to videos, is the most popular artist on YouTube. [Mid Sussex Times]

Comics | Stephanie Hill looks at the globalization of comics. [Policymic]

History | Faced with unruly teenagers causing disturbances, tossing petrol bombs, and generally threatening the notion that Cyprus should be under British, rather than Greek, rule, colonial officials in 1956 proposed creating comic books as a counter-influence. This was pooh-poohed by the director of information services, who opined that the real problem was that "Nicosia (the capital) is a dreadfully boring town to live in with its glaring lack of amenities" and the kids had nothing better to do. Maybe that's why the United Kingdom went ahead and granted Cyprus its independence a few years later. [The Irish Independent]