Links: Toon talk, Mouse Guard, and more

At Graphic Novel Reporter, John Hogan interviews Francoise Mouly, the founder of Toon Books, about her work as editor of that line and as art editor of the New Yorker. And speaking of Toon Books: There’s an app for that.

Sweet Union ‘Toonists interviews Ben Towle, whose most recent work is Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean.

Heidi MacDonald looks at some recent research on boys’ lagging reading skills and discusses how comics can help. A lively discussion follows in the comics section.

Archaia Comics has announced a Mouse Guard anthology miniseries, in which a number of different artists (Ted Naifeh, Jeremy Bastian, Alex Shiekman) will create their own Mouse Guard stories, with Mouse Guard creator David Peterson providing the framing tale.

Jason Little discusses his experiences with Motel Art Improvement Service, which was originally going to be published as a YA graphic novel by Little Brown and then was pulled when someone realized there was sex in it:

According to people I’ve spoken to who know about these things, there is tons of sex in YA prose novels, but the written word is an abstracting tool for sex. But when it’s drawn, it instantly becomes vivid, and it freaks people out. John Waters, after he did Serial Mom, vowed ‘I’m never going to do another PG-13 movie again.’ So that’s the kind of attitude I’m taking.

(Image at link may be NSFW.)

Eric Federspiel checks out this week’s new releases at Out from the Comic Shop.

Previews: Udon Entertainment has a nice sampler of vol. 1 of Mega Man ZX. And the Archie folks have some previews of upcoming comics.

Reviews

Nicola on Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker (Back to Books)
Brigid Alverson on Bo Obama: The White House Tails (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Richard Bruton on Glister: The Family Tree (fictions)
Brigid Alverson on Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye: Hamster and Cheese (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Elizabeth Bird on Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye: Hamster and Cheese (A Fuse #8 Production)
Guy_Jen on The Incredibles #7 (Geeks of Doom)
Connie on vol. 1 of The Lapis Lazuli Crown (Slightly Biased Manga)
Richard Bruton on MeZolith (fictions)
Lori Henderson on vol. 2 of Nightschool (Manga Xanadu)
Tom Flinn on Prime Baby (ICv2)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Spell Checkers (Read About Comics)
Richard Bruton on The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics (fictions)
Julie Opipari on vol. 1 of Twilight: The Graphic Novel (Manga Maniac Cafe)
Cory Doctorow on Zeus: King of the Gods (Boing Boing)
Greg McElhatton on Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework (Read About Comics)

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