Comics | Ohio drivers moved a little closer to getting their Superman specialty license plate Wednesday as the proposal was outlined for a state Senate committee. The bill, which already passed the state House, is on track to go to the full Senate for a vote before the end of the year. The Siegel & Shuster Society launched the campaign for the plates in July 2011 to honor the 75th anniversary of the Man of Steel in 2013; the character, which debuted in 1938, was created six years earlier in Cleveland by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The original plan for the plates to include the slogan "Birthplace of Superman," that met with objections from Warner Bros., which insisted he was born on Krypton. The legend will now read, "Truth, Justice and the American Way." [Plain Dealer]

Manga | Tony Yao summarizes a recent article from The Nikkei Shimbun that analyzes the readership of Shonen Jump, which is 50 percent female despite the magazine being targeted to boys ("shonen" means "boy" in Japanese). They break down the popularity of series by gender and discuss how the female audience affects editorial decisions. [Manga Therapy]



Creators | The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman talks about the comic and the show, killing off characters, and why comics are cool: "Comics are a fantastic storytelling medium—I think that because there's not a lot of money in the game, there's not a lot of control hampering that creativity and expression, and I think that people are starting to recognize that some of the newest, most original, and coolest ideas are being explored in the comic medium." [GQ]

Creators | Gabrielle Bell discusses her new book The Voyeurs. [Paris Review]

Creators | Batman writer Scott Snyder chats about bringing back The Joker in the newest storyline, "Death of the Family." [Comic Riffs]

Creators | Neil Gaiman talked about Stardust and read an excerpt from his new novel in an appearance this week at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]



Creators | Charles Webb interviews writer Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt about their Western-horror series The Sixth Gun, which is moving toward its final arc. [MTV Geek]

Creators | Writer Brandon Seifert talks about working on the latest iteration of the Hellraiser series, Hellraiser: Dark Watch. [USA Today]

Creators | The Bakersfield College student newspaper interviews one of its alumni, emerging cartoonist Erwin Ledford, who is busy making minicomics and trying to make an impression in the small-press scene. [The Renegade Rip]

Manga | Editor and critic Shaenon Garrity takes a look at five badass shoujo manga— or, as she puts it, "my five favorite shojo manga with awesomely tough characters fighting through awesomely tough situations. Which then catch on fire." [ANN]