Janelle Asselin

In 1978, a group of A-list comics creators calling themselves the Comic Book Creators Guild gathered together to attempt to unionize. Members of this group included Paul Levitz, Neal Adams, Jim Shooter, Frank Miller, Walt Simonson, Chris Claremont, and more. One of the things the group did was put together a list of recommended rates for publishers, which CosmicBookNews posted last week. The union ultimately didn't work out, and the saddest thing is that the very reasonable rates they posted still aren't hit today by many publishers, even adjusted for inflation.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund just announced their new tool, the Comics Connector, a resource for educators and librarians to help them find comic professionals willing to speak with students and others. This is a great service that helps increase the access that librarians and educators have to people in the comics industry, and it may help get introduce comics to more people.

ComiqueCon is a brand new comics convention happening this year in Dearborn, Michigan on November 7th, 2015. Its focus is on female comic creators, and they've lined up guests including Alex De Campi and Mairghread Scott. The convention is also crowdfunding a fairly small amount of money to help with paying for the cost of bringing special guests out to attend. It seems like an interesting convention that will hopefully bring something new to the table.

Cartoonist Kel McDonald, who we’ve interviewed in the past about her work in webcomics and her early adoption of Kickstarter to fund print comics, just launched a new Kickstarter campaign for her comic The Better to Find You With. This project is unique in that McDonald is funding a print edition for a comic that will later be released as a webcomic, but for around a year, it will be print-only.

Annie Goetzinger's Girl in Dior is, unsurprisingly, a love letter to designer Christian Dior, both as a person and as a designer. The illustrations lovingly recreate many of his designs from the presentation of his first collection all the way up to the designer's death. The styles that Dior created changed women's fashion for the post-war era, taking women from more functional, simple clothing, back to more elaborate designs. Goetzinger's historical research is impeccable, but it's her art, and, more specifically, the way she illustrates clothing, that makes Girl in Dior so impressive.

In a leaked email between Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter and Sony CEO Michael Lynton, Perlmutter offered up three examples of terrible female-led super hero films - Elektra, Catwoman, and Supergirl - as part of what some have theorized was a conversation about why not to do more female-led super hero films. There's a lot of speculation involved, but nonetheless it's an interesting email from Perlmutter that has a few possible interpretations.

Jonathan Fetter-Vorm and Ari Kelman's Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War is a fascinating look at one of the biggest events in United States history, with particular focus on the war's impact on individuals. The book is released today, May 5, on the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and it's an interesting comic in which the creators tell a compelling story. The vignette format the creators chose can be a difficult one to get readers invested in characters, but they pull it off. They also pull off some great commentary on the treatment of African-Americans before, during, and after the war, which of course affects our society even to this day.

Last year, we hit up some conventions to start a sketchbook full of comic book character selfies. We got some amazing interpretations of characters like the Hulk, Gambit, Poison Ivy, Mr. Fantastic and Spawn from artists like Amy Reeder, Edwin Huang, Zander Cannon, Jim Rugg, Tony Fleeks, Spike Trotman, Jamal Igle and more. But that's just the start of the sketchbook; there are plenty of pages for some lucky winner to fill up with more selfie sketches this con season. That's right; we're giving this sketchbook away!

Well-known comics artist Gene Ha is currently running a Kickstarter for his original graphic novel, Mae, about two sisters who end up on an unexpected adventure. According to Ha, it's a comic made for a broad audience from young adults on up. The project is already completed, and is just waiting for funding to be printed and shipped. That means we can show you an exclusive preview of Mae while you still have time to back the project!

Designer Jason Thompson is currently running a Kickstarter for his tabletop game Mangaka: The Fast & Furious Game of Drawing Comics, where players draw a comic through the course of the game. It's a fascinating idea that combines two interests that often overlap; comics and tabletop gaming. The description makes it seem like the game moves at a breakneck pace, and is more about creative storytelling based on the cards you pull than on displaying impressive art skills, which means I might actually be able to play.