Links: I left my heart in San Diego

We haven’t had a link post in a while because I was busy at San Diego Comic Con. Here’s my roundup of the kids’ comics scene at the con, and here are some more articles and panel reports worth checking out:

Gene Yang and Paul Pope in Conversation
Bongo Comics (publishers of the Simpsons and Spongebob comics)
Richard and Wendy Pini on ElfQuest
Rep. John Lewis on March, the new graphic novel about his life in the civil rights movement
Jeff Smith interviews Faith Erin Hicks
Annoying Orange
Oni Press
Spotlight on Kevin Keller creator Dan Parent
Gene Luen Yang on The Rift
Archie’s Kevin Keller panel
Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics
Abrams ComicArts
Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure
Papercutz to publish two WWE titles

Viz time: I talked to Viz CEO Ken Sasaki about the changes at Viz and the increase in their digital program,. Over at ICv2 there’s a two-part interview with Viz execs Leyla Aker and Kevin Hamric about the state of the manga world from their point of view; part 2 includes a discussion of their children’s comics line, which includes both manga and American-made graphic novels and was recently re-branded from VizKids to Perfect Square—in part, Hamric says, because it may expand to include YA graphic novels.

Here’s a video interview with Archie writer and artist Dan Parent about the gay character Kevin Keller’s first kiss.

Steve Bennett stumbles up on the Daisy and Minnie BFF Magazine and is pleased with what he sees: Formerly annoying female characters re-invented as middle-school besties.

Reviews

Craig Graziano on Axe Cop (Guys Lit Wire)
A Library Girl on Avatar: The Last Airbender, Part 2: The Promise (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan on Bluffton (Bookends)
Jennifer Swan on Boxers & Saints (Reading Rants)
Nick Smith on Dance Class: To Russia With Love (ICv2)
Johanna Draper Carlson on District Comics (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Guinea Pig: Pet Shop Private Eye, Book 6: Going, Going, Dragon! (Comics Worth Reading)
Richard Bruton on vol. 1 of Gum Girl (Forbidden Planet)
Helen on Mercury (Narrative Investigations)
Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan on Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong (Bookends)
Jennifer Swan on Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong (Reading Rants)
Johanna Draper Carlson on The Twin Knights (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal (Blogcritics)

Filed under: All Ages