Awards | Wiley Miller (Non Sequitur), Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Hilary Price (Rhymes With Orange) and Mark Tatulli (Heart of the City, Lio) has been nominated for the 2013 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. The winner will be announced May 24 during the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Awards dinner in San Diego. [National Cartoonists Society]

Political cartoons | Cartoonist Majida Shaheen refused an interview recently, saying she continues to feel "threats and pressure" over a cartoon she posted on her Facebook page depicting he military wing of Islamic Jihad as a dog. However, Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab says his organization isn't behind them. "No one attacked her officially from the part of the movement. I followed up on the comments on Facebook, and these comments do not express our point of view. We consider her to be merely an unknown artist seeking fame," he said, adding, "Every person has the right to express their convictions. Yet, we were upset with the indecent approach, which is not part of freedom of expression." [Al Monitor]



Creators | Stephan Pastis, creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine and the children's book Timmy Failure, answers some questions with words and pictures. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Creators | The Green Day album Demolicious will feature cover art by Tom Neely (Henry & Glenn Forever). [Green Day Blog]

Comics | Comics sales in India continue to grow, despite competition from other forms of entertainment; this is in part due to the fact that they are easy to find, says Gulshan Rai of Diamond Comics, India's largest comics publisher (not to be confused with the American comics distributor): "Today, we are available everywhere in India. In the remotest areas, on railway stations, bus stands, stations, newsstands, magazine stands — there is no place where you won’t see our comics." [Reuters]

Minicomics | These are really more like micro-comics: New Orleans artist Caesar Meadows makes comics that are about the size of a book of matches, and he made 30,840 of them for the Krewe of Muses to toss from their float at Mardi Gras tonight. [New Orleans Times-Picayune]



Manga | Dark Horse manga editor Carl Horn talks about two upcoming projects, Hatsune Miku: Unofficial Hatsune Mix and Dragon Girl and Monkey King: The Art of Katsuya Terada. [Previews World]

Conventions | Three-day passes for Sacramento Comic Con are sold out, more than a week ahead of the actual event. [Sacramento Business Journal]

Conventions | Kenny Klein reports in on last weekend's Wizard World Comic Con in New Orleans. [The Huffington Post]

Events | Bored with the readers in his school, Jay Berent was looking like a slow learner until his father turned him on to comics. Thirty years later, he is sponsoring a comics exhibit at the Lockport, New York, public library that is stirring up considerable interest in young people. Berent himself sounds a bit like a character from a comic: His family were traveling magicians, he now works as a fraud investigator, and of course, he makes comics of his own. [Lockport Union-Sun & Journal]