Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* Yan Basque walks folks through the involvement and eventual final-round fade of Essex County in the Canada Reads contest, linking it up in a way that if you hadn't been following this story at all you could probably get 98 percent of it here.

* how on earth did I miss an announcement that Dark Horse is going to be collecting Crime Does Not Pay and how did Dark Horse let me miss this announcement? That is a significant brick in the great wall of comics one should see. It looks like a best-of rather than a more ambitious effort, so a lot will depend on the execution, but it'd be nice to see a book of that material done well.

* not a lot of comics covers featuring a guy going Florentine style with a knife and a straight razor. Just sayin'.

* not comics: I enjoyed this piece at Robot 6 on Al Columbia detailing what he did with the work for Big Numbers #4, although I'm confused that it's talked about as brand-new information -- I thought this information had been out there for years, periodically endorsed and then not endorsed by the principals.

* I forgot to link to this commentary from Robert Stanley Martin about Jeet Heer's piece on Art Spiegelman. I don't agree with the sentiment, but the only thing on point I had to add when it was sent to me in an e-mail is that Spiegelman was that it seemed to me there were complaints about Speigelman being named Grand Prix winner -- using the one-hit wonder argument, or extolling the virtues of a favorite European artist -- but these were in places like comments threads on news items and among artists, not so much published "hold on there" articles.

* Between Friends, Tolstoy, and a secret to life.

* the early 1990s were very, very strange mainstream comics art wise. Speaking of mainstream comics, Mick Martin concludes his list of all things awesome about the Hulk, although since there's no Crackerjack Jackson I'm not sure how to process it.

* I disagree with Neil Gaiman that on-line distribution of material that's not the person's to distribute is best described as lending someone books; I think it's more complicated than that, and that these complications push that act away from people lending books and to a place where I believe the author's wishes should hold sway. There's also a matter of degree, the same way that in college you could check out the library's copy of a textbook or look over a friend's shoulder in class if you needed to, but a professor Xeroxing a text for all 30 students would seem different. The reason I bring this up, though, is that I'm surprised to hear, at least via anecdote, that so many people apparently learned about their favorite author by borrowing a book. I first encountered the vast majority of my favorite authors by having someone tell me about them or reading a review and then going out and buying the book. Maybe I need less mingy friends?

* the joys of out of print manga.

* I've bookmarked this Donald Phelps piece about Barney Google for consumption over a bowl of cereal later this morning. Phelps can be a struggle for some readers -- I'll admit to fighting my way through a piece or two -- but the critical insights seem to me worth it, and once you get used to his rhythms you'll likely appreciate how he turns unique phrase after phrase.

* finally, a bit of not-comics: a pair of independent filmmakers have announced their intention to make a documentary film about Lynd Ward. I would like to see a documentary about Lynd Ward, so this makes me smile.
 
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