Graphic novels | The National Arts Council of Singapore has withdrawn a $8,000 publication grant for Sonny Liew's graphic novel The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, a biography of the Singaporean comics pioneer that depicts some tumultuous events in the nation's history. "We had to withdraw the grant when the book The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye came out because its sensitive content, depicted in visuals and text, did not meet our funding conditions," said Khor Kok Wah, senior director of the literary arts sector of the NAC. He did not specify what the "sensitive content" was, but the book makes satirical references to Singaporean politics and history. The publisher, Epigram, will return the $6,400 that was disbursed already and will cover the NAC's logo on the book cover with a sticker. The book will be published next year in the United States by Pantheon. [Straits Times]



Graphic novels | Zippy creator Bill Griffith is working on a graphic memoir, Invisible Ink, about his mother's affair with a well-known cartoonist. The book will be published by Fantagraphics. [ICv2]

Publishing | Heidi MacDonald reports on a symposium on French graphic novels that took place just before this week's Book Expo America. The event included comparisons of the French and American comics markets as well as the move to publish more French comics in the United States. [Publishers Weekly]

Political cartoons | Chinese cartoonist Wang Liming, who's living in Japan because he is afraid he will be arrested if he returns to his native country, says he believes the Chinese government is running a smear campaign against him, and has shut down all his social media accounts, because he drew a cartoon of President Xi Jinping as a steamed bun. [Christian Science Monitor]



Documentaries | Film critic and journalism professor Gerald Peary spent years tracking down the identities of the people who inspired the iconic Archie Comics characters, and his documentary about them will premiere this weekend at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. [The Cambridge Enterprise]

Creators | Cynthia Rose reviews Catharsis, the new book by Luz, one of the surviving Charlie Hebdo cartoonists. [The Comics Journal]

Creators | When Patti LaBoucane-Benson, the director of research, training, and communication for Native Counselling Services of Alberta, decided to publish her research on the lives of indigenous people, she chose the graphic novel medium to do it, creating a fictional story, The Outside Circle (House of Anansi), that embodies many of the issues facing First Nations people in Canada. [Edmonton Journal]



Manga | Amazon Japan has removed the manga Paradise of Innocence (Mujaki no Rakuen) from its listings of print books, and has labeled it as unavailable on Kindle as well. While no official reason is given, it's possible the manga was removed because it falls afoul of Tokyo's Youth Healthy Development Ordinance. The series, published by Hakusensha, is about a loser-ish young man who, after being mocked by the more successful women at his class reunion, travels back in time to when his classmates were young girls. [Anime News Network]

Events | Long Beach, California, Mayor Robert Garcia will give a talk on “DC Universe 101: Comic Book Mayhem” at this year's IdeaFest. [Long Beach Press Telegram]

Exhibits | The City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport, Connecticut, has an exhibit of original and reproduction art titled "A Lifetime of Making Comics," dedicated to the late Dondi creator Irwin Hasen but also featuring work by other local artists Chance Brown, Frank McLaughlin, and Mort, Brian and Greg Walker [CT News]