Creators | Novelist and X-Club writer Simon Spurrier recounts how he gave up his seat on a panel at last weekend's London Super ComicCon to creator Tammy Taylor, in the spirit of "Panel Parity": "Paul’s idea is that you can’t expect true gender parity in comics unless you create the conditions to facilitate it. Even if one has to dabble in positive discrimination, even if one must expect outraged cries of 'tokenism!,' 'political correctness gone mad!,' 'patronising cockcentric condescension!,' it’s worth it. So Paul created a movement he called 'Panel Parity' in which he planned to exercise the only real power he has – like any of us in the weird world of industry conventions – to make a difference. Paul pledged that whenever he’s invited onto a panel which doesn’t feature at least 50% women, he’ll surrender his own seat to a female speaker. Even if that means tracking down someone less 'well-suited' to discussing the topic at hand than himself. Even if it means disappointing people in the crowd who travelled to the show specifically to see him talk. As long as Said SheGuest is able to contribute in some way to the conversation, Paul feels her presence on stage is more valuable than his own. Which is a brave and important and splendid thing to say." [Simon Spurrier]
Publishing | Responding to entreaties from fans worldwide, the digital manga site JManga dropped its regional restrictions Tuesday and announced it is going global, although readers reported that some individual titles were greyed out. JManga is run by a loose association of 39 Japanese publishers, and business manager Robert Newman had asked fans to convey their wishes for the site to go global via Twitter and Facebook. [Okazu]
Legal | Hearings resumed Tuesday in the Malaysian cartoonist Zunar's lawsuit against the Malaysian government. The cartoonist was arrested and held for 24 hours on the eve of the release of his book of political cartoons. He was never charged, but the police confiscated the books; his lawsuit seeks monetary damages, but he also hopes it will deter them from pursuing future actions against cartoonists and journalists. [Committee to Protect Journalists]
Piracy | Chris Meadows presents a number of responses to a recent Oatmeal cartoon about piracy, expressing several points of view. Favorite quote: "Relying solely on yelling about what’s right isn’t a pragmatic approach for the media industry to take. And it’s not working. It’s unrealistic and naive to expect everyone to do the “right” thing when the alternative is so much easier, faster, cheaper, and better for so many of them." Also, the point is raised that one commentator's "entitlement" is another's "consumer power." Interesting stuff. [Teleread]
Manga | Here's a new twist on digital distribution: Yuusuke Murata, creator of the popular sports manga Eyeshield 21, has been posting short episodes of a new manga on Twitter. [Anime News Network]
Manga | Diamond's Previews talks to legendary Dark Horse manga editor Carl Horn, who discusses what's selling these days, the popularity of digital manga, and what titles he would recommend to non-manga readers. [Previews]
Retailing | Tom Spurgeon and his readers hold an informal roundtable on the question of what back-issue sales will look like in a couple of years. [The Comics Reporter]
Creators | Chris Roberson discusses his work on the IDW Publishing series Memorial. [Bloody Disgusting]
Creators | Collaborators Tyler Jenkins and Kurtis J. Wiebe talk about their new Image Comics series Peter Panzerfaust. [Calgary Herald]