Publishing | Kodansha confirms what virtually everyone has known for quite a while now: that the publisher -- Japan's largest -- is setting up shop in the United States, establishing an office in New York City. Kodansha USA Publishing will launch Kodansha Comics with Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira and Shirow Masamune's Ghost in the Shell, two titles that had been licensed in North America by Dark Horse. The company will focus on translating its sizable backlist, but views original publishing as one of its "eventual ambitions." David Welsh provides a little commentary. [Publishers Weekly]
Publishing | BOOM! Studios has signed a deal with Haven Distributors to distribute second printings of all of the publisher's monthly titles to direct-market retailers. [BOOM! Studios]
Publishing | David Welsh talks with Ed Chavez, marketing manager of Vertical, Inc., about the publisher's latest license acquisitions. [The Comics Reporter]
Conventions | Four-day memberships are available for the 2010 Comic-Con International, but it looks like the Preview Night option already has sold out. With more than nine months to go. [Comic-Con]
Conventions | Richard Bruton files a report from last weekend's British International Comics Show in Birmingham. [Forbidden Planet International]
Conventions | A bit of a dust-up has developed after organizers of Octocon, the Irish science-fiction convention, banned fan and comics journalist Pádraig Ó Méalóid from this weekend's event. They cite his "behaviour at the convention some time ago" and his "online behaviour earlier this year," but refuse to discuss their reasons further. [Forbidden Planet International]
Conventions | Martha Donato, director of Long Beach Comic Con, talks about what went into organizing the event. [Long Beach Post]
Events | The Indiana University student newspaper covers a lecture given on Monday by Scott McCloud. [Indiana Daily Student]
Creators | The Berkeley Breathed/Bloom County Library promotional tour continues. [San Antonio Express-News]
Creators | Cartoonist Jim Davis discusses more than three decades of Garfield, which now appears in 2,500 newspapers. [Telegraph]
Creators | World War Z author Max Brooks chats about his graphic novel The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, which hits stores this week. [Fangoria]
Creators | Artist Tony Harris looks back at his 20 years in comics as chronicled in the upcoming collection Tony Harris: Art & Skulduggery: "It took years, but I think I found my voice as an illustrator. I truly think that when you see my work, it is singular. And I have tried very hard to be original. Of course I had my missteps early on like all young artists. But I am fairly comfortable as an illustrator now. I am nowhere near where I want to be, but I keep working at it. And I have never worked in one style. I try and let the job dictate to me what it needs to look like." [PopCultureShock]
Creators | Brian Heater wraps up his three-part interview with Jason Lutes. [The Daily Cross Hatch]
Comics | The New York Times finally catches on that Archie is marrying Veronica and Betty in a pair of What If? stories. [The New York Times]
Blogosphere | The gang at The Cool Kids Table continues its anniversary celebration by looking at some of the comic-book characters we've lost in the past year. Sniff. [The Cool Kids Table]
Legal | Let's say you're a hip-hop artist-turned-actor being arraigned on tax-evasion charges. What would you bring with you to court? Well, if you're Method Man (aka Clifford Smith) you take ... an Ultimate X-Men trade paperback. And then you make sure don't lose your place while you're actually being arraigned. [Staten Island Advance]