Conventions | The inaugural Salt Lake Comic Con, which sold 50,000 tickets in advance of the Sept. 5-7 event and reportedly drew an additional 20,000 attendees, has rekindled discussion about a new mega-hotel in downtown Salt Lake City Utah. The proposed $350 million project, which would have been funded in part with tax dollars, was narrowly defeated by the state legislature in March. [Fox 13 News]

Creators | Art Spiegelman talks about his life and work, touching on writing vs. art, how Maus came into being, and his lack of depth perception: "I don't really see stereo, so it's not good for getting in and out of cars, but when I draw something, it looks real." [NPR]

Creators | Stan Lee compares Spider-Man actors Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, theorizes about why women like Iron Man, and comes up blank when asked which celebrity he would like to create a superhero alter ego for: "Howard Hughes isn't around anymore. Right now, nothing comes to mind. I don't think Donald Trump would make a good superhero." [The Huffington Post]

Creators | Captain Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick talks about the comics-writing life. [Casper Star-Tribune]

Comics | Robot 6 contributor J. Caleb Mozzocco interviews Chris Duffy, editor of the anthology Fairy Tale Comics, just out from First Second. [Good Comics for Kids]

Creators | Charles Forsman talks with Robot 6 contributor Chris Mautner about his work, including the acclaimed The End of the Fucking World, as well as his job as publisher of Oily Comics, which has allowed him to forgo a day job. [PennLive]

Creators | Brandon Soderberg talks to Josh Bayer, creator of Raw Power and Rom; the second issue of the latter debuted over the weekend at the Small Press Expo. [The Comics Journal]

Creators | Freelance manga letterer Annaliese Christman talks about her work, and how it differs from lettering American comics: "With manga, I’ve never had to draw any speech bubbles, but the vast majority of the time I spend on each volume involves retouching art around the sound effects I create. The purpose of the job is pretty much the same, but the steps to the final product are a little different." [Organization Anti-Social Geniuses]

Creators | In an interview done just before SPX, Mike Rhode talks to English professor and minicomics creator Michael Wenthe. [Washington City Paper]

Conventions | Lili Carre reports in on her experiences at the Helsinki Comics Festival, mostly with photographs of the different works she saw. [Kettle of Fish]