* I can't recall seeing a bunch of interviews with Jiro Taniguchi, so this one might be worth a run through some on-line translation device if you're a fan. He has a movie coming out, and he's very positive about the results. (The embedded video is the trailer, not the interview.)
* Kim Thompson talks about publishing David B., which Fantagraphics is doing with the brand-new The Littlest Pirate King. The only thing better than reading Kim Thompson on comics generally is reading Kim Thompson on an admirable European cartoonist specifically.
* Jason Wood take the cancellation of Thor: The Mighty Avenger to ask the question on a lot of folks' minds: "Can the Direct Market sell all-ages books?" He pulls in some industry folks for their answers as well. My hunch is that the DM can sell all-ages work but usually doesn't, just as it doesn't sell significant numbers of most books of any kind and tends to focus its (relative) hit-making powers on a specific category. I think there's also a structural problem in that more and more quality kids' work is going to be published in the collected form, while comics stores tend historically to do really well with books that are serialized in comics form first. Also: there's a lot of material coming out. I think a certain amount of over-publishing makes it hard to build a specific aspect of a retail business. Now, all that said, I genuinely think there's potential for growth there, in part because I imagine some retailers do well with that kind of material and the work being published continues to improve across the board. I'm also a little bit dubious that TTMA really functioned as an all-ages book in the way that term is usually employed, but that's a post for another time.
* there's a fine line between comics companies that constantly surprise me and those that just sort of confuse me, but I have to admit I was amused by this. This set of superhero photos isn't from a comics company, but I was still sort of confused.