Interview: Jeff Kinney
Nine years ago, game developer Jeff Kinney started to write the diary of a boy named Gregg Heffley. A few years after that, he began to publish the story on the website FunBrain.com. Charles Kochman picked it up for the Harry N. Abrams imprint, Amulet Books, and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid phenomenon was on.
Since then, Kinney published a sequel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules and, this month, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do it Yourself Book. A third story, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Last Straw is due in January.
The series has a passionate following. Like Harry Potter, the books attract kids (who may be too young for Rowling’s longer novels) who can’t wait to read them. Bookstores plan parties around new volumes.
Jeff was in Baltimore for the recent Comic-Con, where Abrams sold advance copies of the new Do It Yourself book. We spoke with him at the Harvey awards, where he was nominated in eight categories, including Best New Talent, Best New Series, Best Writer, and Special Award for Humor. He lost in every category, but he had the longest lines at the show, as kids waited an hour and more for his autograph.
ComicMix: I read your books this week. Sorry I’m a little late, but my kid is grown. They’re really fun. I met your mom today. I saw the line for your signing, which was thrilling.
Jeff Kinney: Thank you very much. I had no idea if it was long or short. I just sat there and signed.
CMx: Was this your first comic convention? I know you’ve done book conventions.
JK: I’ve done a few others. Actually, I got my book picked up at New York Comic-Con two years ago. And I just wandered around with a manuscript and lucked into meeting Charlie Kochman, who picked it up on first sight. He took a look at it for maybe 30 seconds and said, “This is what we want. This is why we came here.”
A few years back, Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón came up with the novel idea of retelling the 
in comic book form.
Considering the amount of massive blockbusters that have disappointed the fans this year, it is safe to say that all of your expectations will be met going into this movie. [[[The Dark Knight]]] delivers on so many levels that it becomes hard to critique it, and all that’s left is pure childlike enjoyment for approximately two hours.
, this film takes place shortly where we left off: Batman is patrolling the streets, crime is on the rise, and more and more “masked vigilantes” are stepping up to try and take out the [[[Batman]]]. Wayne Manor is still destroyed, so all of the caped crusader’s hijinks are based out of a new penthouse apartment, which is a nice change. Batman’s gal Rachel Dawes (originally played by Katie Holmes) returns, this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. This time, instead of Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy filling the evil quota as Ra’s Al Ghul and Scarecrow, respectively, we get the late Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart as The Joker and Harvey Dent, which of course means we get to see a little Two-Face!
Joann Sfar, one of the major lights of the current European graphic novel scene, has written or collaborated on more than one hundred books, but probably his most famous and acclaimed work is the original [[[The Rabbi’s Cat]]], which won the prestigious Jury Prize at the Festival International de la BD d’Angouleme (Angouleme International Comics Festival).
What to do with Doctor Strange?
