Creators | Scott Chantler, creator of Two Generals and the Three Thieves series of children's graphic novels, will be the first-ever cartoonist in residence at the University of Windsor, in Ontario. [Our Windsor]
Cosplay | Alyssa Salazar, who runs the Tumblr The Hijabi Lolita, talks about combining frilly dresses and headscarves: "There's really no difference, because Lolita is fairly modest to begin with. I could wear this without a scarf." And don't get creepy with her, because she carries pepper spray. [Vice]
Creators | Daniel Maurer tells the story of how he went from ordained minister to drug addict to award-winning graphic novel creator; his Sobriety: A Graphic Novel won a Midwest Book Award in May. Maurer was a Lutheran minister for 11 years before becoming addicted to painkillers and going into a downward spiral that ended with an arrest on felony trespassing charges: "I’d love to say that it was my higher power that led me to treatment, and that's partly true, but it was also the Williams County sheriff’s office saying, 'Mr. Maurer, you can either do treatment or go to jail for three years." Maurer went through recovery and changed professions to writer, teaming up with his cousin, an art student, to create the graphic novel. [MinnPost]
Comics | Serhend Sirkecioglu reports on the comics scene in Turkey and Kazakhstan, talking to comics retailers and creators. It's a small scene, and mostly indie/local, although manga seem to be as popular in the Turkic world as everywhere else. [The Beat]
Creators | Liza Donnelly posts some sketches of her visit to Iceland. [The New Yorker]
Creators | Oklahomans Kevin Stark, creator of the aging superhero Geezer, and Mike Buckendorf discuss their patriotic-themed comics. [NewsOK]
Creators | Danny Boyd, creator of the graphic novel Carbon, which received some attention last year, is dropping plans for a trilogy and turning to IndieGoGo to fund his second book, Salt, because the sales of Carbon are not high enough to sustain it. [The Charleston Gazette]
Graphic novels | Jason Newman takes a look at Ghetto Brother, the story of Benjy Melendez, who helped broker an accord among the gangs of the Bronx in the early 1970s, leading them to trade violence for hip hop. [Rolling Stone]
Conventions | Jane Mai files a comics-format con report from the East London Comic Arts Festival. [Comics and Cola]
Retailing | The local news station profiles the Williamsville, New York, retailer 1811 Comics. [WGRZ]