Comics in mainstream news
What are journalists for non-comics-centric media writing about our passion? Let’s take a look:
- Lots of not-quite-closeted comics geeks inhabit mainstream newsrooms, and the San Francisco Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub is no exception, as he "comes out" during WonderCon weekend with a nice overview of how the comic industry and wider entertainment world have interacted of late. Inside Bay Area’s Mike Antonucci also takes the opportunity of the con’s opening to cover the current state of the industry, about which he doesn’t seem terribly hopeful as he interviews Joe "Free Comic Book Day" Field, retailer / crusader Brian Hibbs and Brad Meltzer.
- WonderCon also captured the attention of OregonLive’s Steve Duin, who writes about the Mark Evanier/Gerard Jones panel on how comics history intersects with gangsters. Seamy, seedy and worth a look!
- Meanwhile, the Washington Post’s David Segal isn’t yet over the New York Comic Con, as he reviews the deal between Deepak Chopra and Virgin Comics (Chopra was apparently recruited by his son Gotham, an editor at Virgin who has one of the best comic-related names I’ve seen in awhile).
- On a somewhat related note, Indiantelevision.com previews the Frames convention in Mumbai on March 26-28, featuring a look at "look at the process of moving From Comics to Animation. One of the old means of kid’s entertainment; comics is a powerful tool of story telling. Comics are very effective in imparting cultural and social values to kids besides being highly entertaining. Now animation is the modern way of story telling, which can serve as direct extension of comics."
- The Kids Love Comics Day reported here earlier is in full swing today in Harrisburg, notes PennLive’s Patriot News.
- Lastly, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is surveying readers about comic strips, listing 14 of the comics they run that are "on the chopping block" and asking folks to rank them in order of preference. Your turn to game the system in favor of, say, June Brigman’s work on Brenda Starr, not that I’d ever suggest such a thing.
For those "process wonks" out there, two good blog posts that shouldn’t be missed: Steve Gerber 
The British Film Institute is celebrating 100th anniversary of the birth of Hergé (Georges Remi) with an evening of English-language versions of the live action 1961 film Tintin and the Golden Treasure. The showing also includes rare footage of Hergé speaking in English about his creation (from the 1975 BBC programme Them and Us: Belgium) and Tintin as a Mastermind subject (BBC 2004). 
Before you give your hard-earned money to Gary Groth and Kim Thompson for their recently announced Fantagraphics Legal Defense Fund, you should know a few facts about publishing companies and their insurance obligations. Fact #1: It is highly unlikely that a company the size of Fantagraphics isn’t covered by a standard publishers insurance policy for lawsuits precisely like the one they now find themselves entangled in with author Harlan Ellison.
Keep an eye on your bandwidth, comics folk — if Cory Doctorow or Mark Frauenfelder or any other contributor to the must-read "Directory of Wonderful Things" site 
"Now, pay attention, 007. 
