The week’s over! You did it again, and in exemplary style. But while you’ve been off working and living and doing all those things that humans do, what have you missed in the world of comics? With Weekender, ComicsAlliance is here to give you a heads-up on some of the stories that you might have overlooked, and to showcase some great writing on comics for you to enjoy over a deep-fried Mars bar this weekend.

 

INDUSTRY NEWS

We'll start this week by turning our attention to Egypt, a politically-unsettled country that has seen a huge spike in comics readership and comic creation as a result. If this profile of Mohamed and Haitham Rafaat's newest comic Garage is anything to go by (cover above), Egyptian satire could be fertile ground for new comics.

Writer James Hudnall, a veteran of Marvel and DC, has reached the $15,000 target for his GoFundMe after finding out he needed to have his foot amputated. Maybe we can help push it a little further?

Kushiro, a city in Japan, has wisely decided to turn to Manga for a reputation-boost, paying author Hisa Kyomachi to create a girls' manga series set in the region. Could this become a new trend for comics? If we all band together, we could pay Grant Morrison to set his next series in Glasgow or something.

 

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Death Note and Bakuman creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata have a new project coming out, and this week posted some first color preview pages. Called Platinum End, the series will begin in December as part of Jump Square monthly magazine.

Nominations for the British Comic Awards were announced this week, with Sarah Graley, Rachael Stott, Matt Taylor, Adam Vian, and Christian Ward nominated in the Best Emerging Talent category. Check out the rest of the nominations on the official site. Awards are presented at Thought Bubble in Leeds, which takes place from November 9-15.

 

CONVENTION NEWS

As you read this, the Comics Crossroads (CXC) Festival is going on in Columbus. Overseen by Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter and featuring a number of big-name comics talents, this could be one of the breakthrough new additions to the comics season. Forbes takes a closer look at things in this article.

 

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NYCC is fast approaching, and what most caught my eye is the stellar lineup for VixenVarsity's Diversity in Comics panel (above). David Walker is there, Afua Richardson, Steve Orlando, Mikki Kendall --- that's going to be a barnstorming hour of comics discussion, if this video from the Special Edition panel is anything to go by. It's enough to make me wish I could be there.

 

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WEEKEND READING

Dana Simpson was profiled in the News Tribune this week, as she talks about her Phoebe series. Unicorns are dreamed about, Lisa Simpson is admired --- it's an all-round great interview.

Over at Panels, Charles Paul Hoffman picks at an irritation that I've experienced as well --- the strange release schedule of Lumberjanes. For a series that's so popular, why are the trades released so far apart from one another?

 

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Some sterling work has been done by comics journalists and critics to push beyond the veil of "everything's fine" and expose stories of harassment experienced by comics talent behind the scenes. Of particular note are Marcy Cook's piece at The Mary Sue on comics' culture of harassment,  and Janelle Asselin's piece at GraphicPolicy regarding the behavior of Dark Horse editor Scott Allie, which also includes statements from Allie and Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson. These articles are vitally important to the future health of the industry, and this is a subject that we'll be returning to at ComicsAlliance.

 

NEW AND UPCOMING COMICS

Jonathan Cape has picked up the next graphic novel from Joe Decie, called Collecting Sticks. Decie has been a part of the UK scene for years now, his work somehow improving year-on-year. It's great news to see that he'll be at Cape, with his next book probably launching at some point next year.

This comic from Catie Donnelly, I Know You're Mad, thoughtfully addresses some sincere concerns about depression and the ways it hooks into a person. It's all I've been able to think about subsequently. Magnificent stuff.

 

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It looks as though Tillie Walden --- whose comic The End of Summer came out recently, and which I absolutely recommend --- will be following up with another new work with publishers Avery Hill. I Love This Part is set to be released later this year, at Thought Bubble Festival.

Video game journalist Wil Overton is editing a hypervideogame comic zine called Smart Bomb, and the world is a better place for its existence.

ComicsAlliance's own Ziah Grace tipped me off about Love Machines, a serialized webcomic by writer/artist Josh Trujillo. An anthology about our relationship with technology, issue #5 has only just come out, and it's about "the true story of the world's most famous mannequin, Cynthia, her creator Lester Gaba, and his legendary romance with film director Vincente Minelli." You can read a preview over here. I know what I'm doing with my weekend.

 

PODCASTS

Several webcomics creators have gathered together to form a coalition called Countershot Press, which is working on a series of projects. Kate Ashwin and Robin Hoelzemann are among the talents involved, and it looks as though they'll be doing a regular podcast talking about the creative process. These are some of the most gifted women in webcomics today --- jump on in and learn why!

 

AND FINALLY

You see a lot of stories about comics stores going out of business --- but Gecko's in Hawaii this year celebrated its 28th year, and that's a story worth celebrating. Twenty-eight years! Why, that's older than certain very handsome and well-regarded comics linkbloggers! To celebrate, Hawaii Business ran a profile on the store, run by Ted Mays and his daughter Toni. Long live comics stores!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

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