Devin’s Comics NEWS Digest - January 10, 2025
The best ones are the old ones.
Happy New Year, everyone! This is the Comics NEWS Digest, an aggregation of all the top comics and comics-related stories that caught my attention that I thought you might enjoy reading. I post these two weeks after every regular newsletter.
NEWS
Every once in a while, I learn of a comics-related news story only after posting the NEWS digest and I end up kicking myself. Such was the case with this Comics Beat story about Diamond Comic Distributors having “a very bad few weeks.” Are they still having a bad few weeks, nearly a month later? We can look to this same publication’s report on comics sales for 2024. I’m guessing things have improved, but not by much. Scholastic doesn’t seem to be doing well, either, according to data from ICv2. This might look like a bleak start to 2025, but ICv2 also published Rob Salkowitz’s “Top Comics Business Stories of 2024,” which paints a picture rosy enough to justify my personal optimism.
If there are two things I try to update in these digests more often than drama surrounding comics distribution, it’s the use of generative AI and the plague of book bans in this country. Fortunately, Wired magazine has a handy guide to copyright cases about the former and Book Riot has this look at anti-book ban legislation happening in four states. There are still reasons to be hopeful.
Probably the biggest story happened recently with celebrated Washington Post editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigning because of editorial interference in her work. You can read
’ explanation in her newsletter, . The bright side is that trying to silence her has caused her work to be distributed and shared anyway (it’s been “restacked” more than three thousand times on this platform alone at time of writing), including several shows of solidarity from colleagues like this one from Keith Knight.In major collaboration news, it was announced that art spiegelman (Maus) and Joe Sacco (Palestine) are working together on a graphic novel about Gaza. This feels like the perfect team to tackle this topic and however the result turns out, I can imagine it generating a great deal of discussion.
The readership of pirated manga has seen a huge increase, starting in July 2024. I can get behind the slogan “piracy is a victimless crime” in most circumstances, but the reality of a lot of manga creators makes this situation a bit more complicated, since piracy can lead to the worsening of already despicable working conditions. Yes, the real criminals are the publishing companies that create those conditions, but that’s a systemic change that needs to happen and piracy won’t effect it. Support your local library!
Terrible news out of Kenya, as cartoonist Gideon Kibet, better known as Kibet Bull, appears to have been kidnapped over his anti-government artwork.
Interviews & Criticism
When I first started writing about comics and pop culture for a site other than my own personal blog, one of the first stories I covered was the tragic early death of artist Geneviève Castrée. That obituary is no longer available, but this incredible essay about Castrée’s work by Annie Mok was posted back in April and I learned of it this past month.
The Comics Journal published this excellent feature of personal reflections on the work of Kazuo Umezz. I learned too little about Umezz’s work while he was alive, so this article and
’s different looks at Drifting Classroom over at his newsletter have been invaluable.Also at The Comics Journal, David Moses interviewed Michel Fiffe, whose magnum opus Copra is concluding after twelve years.
A couple more interviews with extremely talented people to round out this section: Peter Kuper celebrated the 95th birthday of his friend and mentor Jules Feiffer for The Nation and Comics Beat spoke with Sophie Campbell on the 20th anniversary re-release of the first volume of her comic Wet Moon.
The British Sociological Association published this research article about the School Daze comic created by the Voices through Art project and how it helped autistic children and young people with educational transitions between schools. I haven’t read this comic, and it doesn’t appear excerpted in the article, but it seems like it was very effective.
In other academic circles, the Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia published a critical analysis of Chinese painter Wang Shupeng’s gouache adaptation of Lao She’s short story “Vision.”
Awards
’s Cryptid Creator Corner podcast gave out their third annual Indy Comics Excellence Awards. There were fourteen categories, including Excellence in Writing, Excellence in Artistry/Illustration, and awards for webcomics and crowdfunding.CBR unveiled their ComiCrown Awards for comics released in 2024. They mostly went to the Big Two, though they did have a Best Small Press category. Congratulations to
for winning Best Anthology for Cthulhu Invades Neverland!The Boston Comic Arts Foundation gave their Underground Visionary Award to Denis Kitchen for his life and work in comics.
The Broken Frontier Awards announced their nominations. Voting is open until January 11. Winners will be announced on January 14, 2025 along with the next two names added to their Hall of Fame.
The National Cartoonists Society has opened submissions for their Divisional Reuben Awards. Special thanks to
for bringing this to my attention. The Cartoonists Cooperative is accepting submissions for the 2025 Minicomic Awards. They’ve added three new categories for this year, too, in General Fiction, General Nonfiction, and Humor. The Eisner Awards also are open for submissions for 2025.The prestigious Angoulême Festival has announced its Official Selections for 2025. There are 84 works total, not all of which are available in English yet.
Obituaries
Manga pioneer Macoto Takahashi has passed away at the age of 90 following a lengthy period of hospitalization due to cancer treatment. His career began in 1957 and his legacy can still be seen (if you’ve ever wondered why ballet is so popular in manga, you have him to thank). His art was featured at Paris Fashion Week in 2017.
Cartoonist Merrily Harpur, who co-founded the Strokestown International Poetry Festival and also worked as a painter, has died at the age of 76.
Finally, James “Jim” Hambrick of Metropolis, IL, passed away at the age of 70. Though he didn’t work directly in comics, he was the curator of the Super Museum and was “a passionate advocate for preserving the legacy of Superman.” He helped organize the first San Diego Comic-Con.
That’s all for this month. Did I miss anything? Comment below if I have. Feel free to subscribe if you haven’t already. The Comics Book Club will be meeting again on January 15 to discuss A.D.: After Death. Thanks again for everything.
Happy New Year, Devin!
Thanks for the inclusion of the show!