Today’s example: the Cartoonist Studio Prize, presented as a joint endeavour of Slate magazine’s book review and the Center For Cartoon Studies, currently in its eighth iteration. Year after year, they put together a really strong slate¹ of ten nominees in the category of print, and ten more in web; the shortlists serve as an effective You Should Read This To Keep Up list, and each winner gets one thousand American dollars cash². Folks that you see written about on this page are frequently seen on either list.

This year’s nominees for Best Print Comic are:

• Bttm Fdrs by Ben Passmore and Ezra Claytan Daniels (Fantagraphics)
• Flying Kites by the Stanford Graphic Novel Project (self published)
• Glenn Ganges In The River At Night by Kevin Huizenga (D&Q)
• Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (D&Q)
• The Hard Tomorrow by Eleanor Davis (D&Q)
• Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers (D&Q)
• Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (:01 Books)
• Pittsburgh by Frank Santoro(New York Review Comics)
• Sobek by James Stokoe (ShortBox)
• The Tenderness Of Stones by Marion Fayolle (New York Review Comics)

Part of what I love about the CSP is its utter disregard for length, subject, or genre; if it’s in print and it’s good, it’s on the list.

This year’s nominees for Best Web Comic are:

• About Face by Nate Powell
• Cabramatta by Matt Huynh
• Eat Street Diners Club by Will Dinski
• I Am More Than My Chromosomes by Elísabet Rún.
• Koreangry by Eunsoo Jeong
• Loving My Inner Black Weirdo by Bianca Xunise
• Paranatural by Zack Morrison
• Sleepless Domain by Mary Cagle
• Tiger, Tiger by Petra Erika Nordlund
• Unhealthy by Abby Howard

Again — there’s ongoing series, there’s one-shot autobio/nonfiction, and there’s everything in between. I was a little surprised to see the web version of Unhealthy on the list; not because it’s unworthy — it’s an excellent read — but because it’s only Abby Howard’s half of the longer print version that was a joint project with Sarah Winifred Searle.

If I were part of the jury (and let me stress that I am not), I’d be pulling for Unhealthy, and Laura Dean, which were two of the best things I read last year. But there’s great creators up and down both lists, and as is typical for the CSP, there’s not a name in sight that would annoy me for winning. Congratulations to all the shortlistketeers; the winners will be announced a few weeks.

Spam of the day:

Buy N95 Face Mask and Medical Face Mask to protect your loved ones from the deadly CoronaVirus. The price begins at $1.49 each. If interested, please visit our site:

I didn’t think it was possible to be more pissed off at these bottom-feeding fuckers, but then I noticed the return address on this piece of shit. It was spoofed to appear to come from info (an address that doesn’t exist) at fleen.com.

Like I was going to suddenly give credence to an email claiming to come from a domain I control. That’s just weaksauce.

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¹ I’m so sorry.

² Or about 1.66667 times class money.

Is it BINGO if you fill all the boxes? I mean, any random day I teach I hit everything except Cat, Child, and Glasses Reflection before we’re done with introductions. Gemma Correll remains our most insightful observer of everyday absurdities and I’m so happy that The Nib runs her stuff regularly.

• Speaking of The Nib, editor/supremo/guy that keeps it all running when new media funding gets yanked Matt Bors has a new collection of his editorial cartoons that you can obtain via The Nib. Named for maybe his most famous cartoon, We Should Improve Society Somewhat is 184 pages of Bors at his best, and while it’s available via bookstores or comic stores near you, you should consider picking it up directly from The Nib.

  That’s due to the fact it’s pretty much sold out elsewhere¹, but also because The Nib is where you can add on a sketch/sign option, meaning that Bors will touch your copy himself, guaranteed. While you’re there, take a look at the other Improve Society stuff (your book will come with a sticker!) and back issues of The Nib in print; every sale will get turned into paychecks for cartoonists because shelter-in-place pandemic or no, The Nib is founded on the principle that cartoonists get paid for their work.

• The sixth annual Queer Comics Expo was due to occur 16-17 May, hosted as in years past by the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. Naturally, nobody knows the degree to which travel and congregation will be allowed/advisable in five weeks time, so like other events before (and likely some still to come — looking at you, SDCC), it’s gone virtual.

  Applications are now being accepted for the digital artists alley, streaming content proposals, and merchant participation. If you are looking to exhibit or produce programming, applications are being taken until 11:55pm PDT on Friday, 1 May; acceptances will be on a rolling basis until available slots are filled.

  You might not have thought that a virtual con would need volunteers, but QCE has an application up to compile a list of volunteers for the next physical event, so get your name in early. Finally, admission will be free, but as QCE is in part a fundraiser for CAM, if you attend any part of the remote event (and even if you don’t), please consider dropping some cash CAM’s way.

Spam of the day:

Gibson Gives – Helps Nashville Musicians and Community After Tennessee Tornado

Okay, ordinarily I wouldn’t consider this spam, but the PR shop that sent it to me is abusing Constant Contact’s unsubscribe process. When I click on the unsubscribe link, it claims that the email was sent only to the address that it came from, and when I enter in my email address it claims I’m not part of the mailing list and so can’t be unsubscribed. Pretty crappy behavior, primeprgroup.com, and if I see any more of this bullshit from you I’m ratting you out to Constant Contact. They revoke customer access over nonsense like this.

_______________
¹ Likely due to the disruptions at the distributor level, as the book should have been shipping at just about the exact moment that everything shut down, dammit.

Namely, wash your hands a lot (hot water, plenty of soap and water), don’t touch your face, cover your coughs and sneezes. You know, all the stuff you’re supposed to do in cold season, flu season, and every other season because we are trying to have a godsdamned society you filthy animals.

Yes, I was talking to you. As long as I ride on an ambulance for free, I get to remind y’all to please do your part to not spread the contagion that may kill me. Also, I write about webcomics and have some things to point you towards:

• The Herblock Foundation, which celebrates and promotes the work of the legendary political cartoonist, has announced the winner and finalist of their annual prize for excellence in editorial cartooning. The winner was Michael de Adder of New Brunswick, Canada, who you may recall was entirely coincidentally laid off about two days after running this cartoon.

  The finalist was webcomics’ own Matt Lubchansky, whose work is frequently seen at The Nib, where they are the associate editor and an integral part of the process of producing the finest in nonfiction cartooning today. As a side note, Chef José Andrés was chosen to present a lecture on behalf of the Foundation. Curiously, all three of the honorees are famously willing to get up the nose of Screamy Orange Grandpa, and good on them for it.

• As long as we’re speaking of presidential politics, there’s an opportunity to mix some primo art acquisition with political action. Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, who we at Fleen may have mentioned on some few occasions, is offering up original pencil pages from Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (we at Fleen love that book), with all proceeds going to the Bernie Sanders campaign.

  Full disclosure: unless she drops out, I’m supporting Elizabeth Warren; as far as platforms go, hers and Bernie’s are distinguishable only in degree, and more similar than any other that have been proposed. In terms of what they can actually get accomplished, I think the ultimate legislation that either can expect to enact (with Bernie starting further along and inevitably having to negotiate towards the middle, and Warren starting closer to where either would end up anyway) would be pretty much indistinguishable.

  I’m supporting Warren because I think she has a better chance of executing on her plans¹, but if she decides to drop out I’ll vote for Sanders gladly². I’ve given money to Warren and likely will again, I don’t feel that also giving to Bernie is a contradiction. It’s not like I’ll have any chance to really affect the nomination, seeing as how New Jersey is in the last tranche of states to vote, on 2 June.

  Now grab your copy of Laura Dean, pick out your favorite page(s), and don’t you dare pick any that I did.

Spam of the day:

Solar fountain pump with 4 Nozzle Spray settings to create a relaxing environment.

Is this a bidet thing? If so, I’m curious about the solar aspect.

_______________
¹ Not to be confused with executing Mike Bloomberg’s aspirations which was totally sweet to watch.

² If neither Sanders nor Warren gets the nomination, I’ll do what I’ve done in very nearly every presidential election of my life and vote against instead of voting for.

I believe that I’m on record that Kendra Wells’s contributions at The Nib are rad. I was reminded of this when Wells’s latest hit the web, along with a parallel thought:

Did you know that one of the reasons koalas are threatened in the wild is that they nearly all have chlamydia? And that the current bushfires hit an island that was the home of the only wild population of koalas that weren’t infected?

Yeah, so that HotCelebrityInfluencer up there in the koala bikini definitely has an STI now. And somebody that’s actually using influencer juice to help out with the devastation in Oz has been bounced from her social media accounts after raising more money that Bezos is donating in exchange for nudes. I’m not sure what lesson to draw from all of this but it’s weird where your brain goes after seeing a cartoon sometimes.

In other news, those of you in the San Francisco Bay area will want to think about heading over to the Cartoon Art Museum this weekend, and returning until mid-May; that’s because George Takei’s graphic novel memoir, They Called Us Enemy — about his personal experience being imprisoned in a concentration camp by the government of his country for xenophobic reasons in defiance of Constitutional rights — is getting the featured exhibition treatment.

Once Saturday rolls around and the exhibition opens, you’ll find details on the Current Exhibitions page, and once 18 May arrives and the exhibition closes you’ll find it on the Past Exhibitions page. For the moment, however, you’ll need to read about it here, so:

The Cartoon Art Museum, Top Shelf Productions and IDW Publishing proudly present They Called Us Enemy featuring artist Harmony Becker’s artwork from the acclaimed graphic memoir written by actor, author, and activist George Takei in which Takei revisits his haunting childhood in American concentration camps, as one of 120,000 Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. The exhibition includes an inside look at Becker’s creative process, including excerpts from her reference library and never before seen preparatory illustrations.

This exhibition also features a selection of original artwork from the Cartoon Art Museum’s permanent collection, including comic strips and animation from the 1940s, providing patrons with a snapshot of popular entertainment on the home front during the second World War.

Opening reception — during which there are frequently creators present, along with snacks — details to be announced, but we’ll let you know when we find out. Enjoy the launch, I’d be there except I’m on the wrong side of the country and also I’ve got Richard Thompson tickets for Saturday; it’s been more than 20 years since I’ve seen him live, and near as I can tell his finger have lost nothing. If you’re wondering why I’m talking about a 70 year old guitar virtuoso, it’s because he shares a name with multiple sadly departed cartoon/comics virtuosi. Some names are just blessed.

Spam of the day:

Your Wine is Cold – 15 Premium Wines for 70% off PLUS Bottle Ugly Sweater!

Not only does that topic line make zero sense, the body of the email is touting their Black Friday sale — traditionally, the day after US Thanksgiving (this year, 29 November) — but wasn’t sent until 28 December. Are they trying to get me hooked for Black Friday 2020?

Because a recurring theme of the manchildren that want comics that solely cater to their own preconceptions and prejudices is that anything not wholly reflecting their own identity is unnecessary politics that comics were never sullied with previously, goodness, never, a few items reminding you that politics and art — even comics — are inextricably linked.

• Word comes today that there will be a comics adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five releasing later this year, from artist Albert Monteys, colorist Ricard Zaplana, and oh that’s what he’s been working on this makes perfect sense Ryan North on words.

  A scathingly funny indictment of war, Slaughterhouse Five will anger some people just by existing, but then people like them have been angered by Slaughterhouse Five existing in all its forms for the past fifty years, and will anger other people for the next fifty and beyond. The cohort of people determined not to learn the lessons of war are as unstuck in time as Billy Pilgrim. The graphic adaptation is due in September from BOOM.

• A central part of Slaughterhouse Five is protagonist Billy Pilgrim’s unlikely survival of the the Dresden firebombing, which Vonnegut experienced firsthand. There may be nothing more terrifying than fire so widespread and hot that it alters the normal patterns of weather, physics, and reality around it, becoming a wholly unpredictable and uncontrollable entity in its own right. There’s a reason that Dresden and March 1945¹ are shorthands for destruction beyond comprehension.

  Conflagration need not come from war, but human stupidity will certainly be involved:

  As I type this (on Monday 6 January), 25 people have been confirmed killed by the fires, 7 remain missing. Well over 1500 homes have been destroyed, as well as thousands of other buildings and structures. The total area burnt so far is over 80,000 square kilometres, which is larger than Ireland, almost as large as Austria. These numbers will continue increasing for weeks, as the fires continue to burn, unstoppable in the hottest part of summer, as we suffer the worst drought in recorded history.

  Even in places not directly affected by flames, the smoke from the fires is causing hazardous air quality across much of south-eastern Australia. For over a month now, air quality in Sydney (where I live) has been marginal some days, and officially “hazardous” on many other days. Visibility has been down to 100 metres or so because of thick smoke in the air, the sun shines down with an apocalyptic orange glow even during the middle of the day, and the smell of smoke is everywhere. Ash and burnt leaves fall from the sky, even in the middle of the city. Outdoor surfaces, wiped clean, are covered in a fine gritty ash the next day. Hospital admissions are up around 10-15% because of people experiencing increased asthma and other respiratory conditions. Canberra, which is a long way from any fires, has experienced several days in a row of horrible air conditions, with many institutions and government departments shutting down because it’s too hazardous even inside the buildings for people to work.

  That from David Morgan-Mar (PhD, LEGO®©™ ^etc) from his vantage point in Sydney, on the ongoing fire season in Australia — which started four months earlier than usual, exacerbated by climate change-driven drought and high temperatures. The news from Down Under is heartbreaking, with serious predictions that by the end of fire season in March or April, there may be essentially no non-urban space untouched by the bushfires. Places that I’ve visited and loved may not recover in my lifetime.

  And more infuriating is the now repeatedly demonstrated utter indifference on the part of Australia’s senior governmental officials, starting with their sociopathy-demonstrating Prime Minister. Read the whole thing, get mad, and do what you can to express to your own government, wherever you are, that climate disasters aren’t abstract, they aren’t off in the future after senior officials will be safely dead and thus insulated from their effects, that we are well past prevention of worldwide tragedy, and instead playing a game of mitigation.

• And yet, even in the face of ongoing crisis, small acts of utter optimism and hope in the future take place every day. It’s a couple years late (then again, the documentation is a couple years behind the event), but let’s take a moment to welcome Elizabeth Anna Trogdor Breeden to the world, and to resolve to make her lifetime less stupidly hellish than the current trajectory seems determined to be. Vonnegut had a famous benediction for newborns that’s widely quoted, and I’d like to offer it up to young Trogdor with an addendum: God damn us, babies, we weren’t kind and now it’s all on you. I’m sorry.

Spam of the day:

Xone Phone has a smooth appeal that will turn heads due to its slick surface and pleasing texture. Hold The Vibrancy In Your Fingertips

This sounds like it should be covered by Erika ‘n’ Matt when they come back from their break.

_______________
¹ Please, Ryan, I love your work, but do not also adapt the other great narrative work about World War II firebombings. It’s the greatest piece of art that I never want to experience again.

Hey. How you doing? Have a good set of holidays? Good, good. I spent what was supposed to be rejuvenative downtime fighting a cold which is still hanging on by its bacterial fingertips, so I hope yours was better. 2020 has started out more terrifyingly chaotic — and more quickly — than I’d expected, even at my most cynical. I’ve been pretty buried in the step back from the fight and catch your breath mode that we all have to engage in from time to time, but I’m back to exercising my opinion at lawmakers with specificity and persistence¹. But today, let’s talk comics.

• I cribbed that last bit from the introductory tagline that Brad “Sexy, sexy man” Guigar and “Los Angeles resident” Dave Kellett use at the start of each episode of ComicLab (at least, once they’ve finished up with whatever weirdass random absurdity they have on deck for the cold open), and if you’re not a regular listener, let me direct you to their year-end, best-of-2019 clip show.

  There is absolutely zero useful advice in here — unless you want to get a commercial film crew to stop shooting in front of your house, or possibly to stay married — but there are plentiful hilarious stories and rants, plus Drunk Orson Welles. I advise you not drink anything while listening, because you will end up spit-taking on multiple occasions.

  Oh, and Happy Birthday to LArDK. You had a hell of a 2019 and I suspect 2020 is going to be even better.

• As long as we’re talking about 2019, Heidi Mac over at The Beat has compiled her annual survey of folks in the comics biz looking back over the year and forwards towards the next. As of this writing, the first three parts are up, but you’ll eventually find all of them (there’s usually a half-dozen or more) here. You’ll find the excessively wordy input of a hack webcomics pseudojournalist in Part 1.
• When Tom Spurgeon’s memorial service was announced, word was that in addition to Columbus in mid-December, there were tentative plans to also remember The Spurge in New York in the new year. Those plans are concrete now, with the Society of Illustrators building on 63rd the venue. New York isn’t quite the center of the comics universe it used to be, but there’s plenty of people within daytrip distance of Manhattan, and on the 24th (that’s a Friday), they’re invited to the 3rd floor reception at 6:30pm, and the 1st floor memorial at 7:30pm.

  If you’ve been feeling the absence of Tom Spurgeon for the past two months, I’m going to encourage you to attend if it’s in your means to do so. Don’t feel that you didn’t know him well enough, or that you aren’t important enough — I can tell you with absolute confidence that if Tom knew your work he wanted you to succeed at comics, and if he had no idea who you are, he still wanted you to succeed. I am undecided if I’m going to go again, but I’ll tell you without hyperbole — in these unsettled, fraught times, saying goodbye to Tom among a tiny fraction of the community he loved was a balm.

• When people say that comics is a medium of almost infinite potential, I like to think that some of them are thinking about things like graphic medicine — the idea that comics can help educate people about health and medicine, whether as providers, patients, or policymakers. Cathy Leamy has been ahead of the curve in providing comics in this niche, which has grown to the point that panels and even entire conferences are being organized around the idea; fittingly, it’s via Leamy’s Twitterfeed that I’ve learned of some upcoming events.

  Following last year’s first event in the Boston area, there will be a three-day schedule for the New England Graphic Medicine Conference hosted by Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston; the call for papers ends on 10 January, but given that the topic list contains such areas as artist health, climate change, comics journalism, and The Nib cited as an area of discussion, there’s probably some folks reading this that are what NEGMC are looking for.

  Then, in July, Toronto will host the Graphic Medicine Conference the weekend before SDCC, covering similar territory, with a deadline for submissions on 31 January. Note that GMC presenters are responsible for their own expenses (including conference registration), although they note that [d]iscounted rates and some limited scholarships will be available for students, artists, and others in need; registration info isn’t up yet, so no idea what that might cost you (it appears that in past years, presentation by videoconference was an option).

Spam of the day:

Get better photos with the optical zoom lens with manual focus telescope

No lie, my current phone (a midrange 2019 model) has a better camera on it than any actual physical camera I ever owned, going back to my 35mm film days. I don’t need a doodad to make that differential even greater.

_______________
¹ Truly, I never thought that I would need to have both local and DC offices for my representative and senators on speed dial.

If you didn’t say Me! Me!, you’re very possibly a liar, or perhaps didn’t hear me correctly. Pizza, people!

If you got a hankering for art to meet politics to meet good deeds, then Shing Yin Khor is somebody you want to pay attention to. I mean, also because they produce heartbreakingly beautiful comics that are painful in their truths, wield tools with aplomb, are actively working to bring capitalism to heel, and are small enough to fit in your pocket.

But set all that aside for the moment; when Khor sees people with less, people in need of protection, plans get made and people wrangled in order to make uplifting art for the purpose of helping because godsdammit, somebody’s got to. On a couple of occasions now, pizza-themed art — some of which is patently and wonderfully ridiculous — has been made and auctioned off to support Food Forward LA, which strives to both reduce food waste and reduce hunger. The third iteration of Project Pizza will run on Saturday:

From 10AM to 10PM join artists Shing Yin Khor and Eron Rauch as they host a draw-a-thon featuring a dozen of their talented friends making art and jamming their faces full of pizza.

Grab a slice (one random drawing), a whole pie (10), or even a party pack (30) to share with friends and co-workers. Preorders open December 12th, and we sell out every year, so stop back by to secure your slices!

You can check out a list of artists expected to participate in the live event, and also some of the art that’s been constructed by remote friends and sent in. A full list of participants is at the Project Pizza page, below the pre-order links. It’s not possible to request particular artists, but at the US$100 support level, they’ll try to direct at least one piece by a favorite artist to you. Also, the first 20 folks to send in a hundo or more get a tiny sculpted pizza. And on the off chance you don’t need one or more tiny pizza arts in your home, they’re taking tips as well — that money goes direct to FFLA without the work of shipping you anything.

Look, I know it’s an expensive time of year, that people got crap jobs and little extra money but consider: ten bucks means 45+ kilos of being saved and distributed. The last event raised more than US$4600, and the goal this year is an even five grand, or fifty tons of food. Just think about it, okay? Oh, and if the you-gotta-have-a-PayPal-account thing is a problem for you, here’s FFLA’s direct donations page; you might not get a tiny pizza, but you’ll help a bunch of people not be hungry, and that tastes great.

Spam of the day:

Now ANYONE Can Learn Piano or Keyboard

I dunno. If my mother (lifelong pianist and church organist) couldn’t manage to teach me, I don’t think your revolutionary, spam-based method will succeed.

From Ian Jones-Quartey, About eight minutes ago as I write this:

Hey so @rebeccasugar and I have been a couple for 12 years … and yesterday we got married! To each other!

Oh, hooray! I only met Rebecca Sugar once (at another wedding, as it turns out), but I’ve followed Ian’s work since he was in high school, and known him since his SVA days. He’s a sweet guy, and Sugar is widely and justly known for creating one of the most humane stories of modern times, making countless kids feel like the world is for them, too. Be happy for them, and remember that Steven Universe Future debuts on Cartoon Network in two days.

And because I need to have more than just breaking news in this post, let me note that Gemma Correll is getting an Emerging Artist Showcase at the Cartoon Art Musuem, from 20 December until 29 March. It’ll feature a collection of Correll’s favorite cartoons, including material from The Nib. I first saw her work when The Nib launched, and I’ve been a fan ever since. It says something about how much her sensibilities match mine that, without knowing of my preference for her work, my wife gave me a birthday day last year that was illustrated by Correll. If you don’t know her work, check it out.

Okay, back to being deliriously happy for the bestest young animators in the world. Y’all have a magnificent day.

Spam of the day:
Spammers don’t get to share the day with Rebecca and Ian.

There’s some cool stuff you should know about and I’m going to tell you about them, because that’s just the kind of guy I am.

• Kickstarting today (since late morning EST, if I’ve got my timing right), The Nib (who’re sitting on just a slew of awards and recognition, particularly since their unceremonious dumping by First Look), is producing their second anthology, Be Gay, Do Comics. It’ll feature a plethora of top-tier creators (see the picture up top), with previously-run favorites plus new comics from Matt Lubchansky, Breena Nuñez, the Space Gnome, and more.

  Like the previous Eat More Comics (from goodness! four years ago), it’ll be hardcover, over 250 pages, and undoubtedly super-pretty inside. US$30 and up to get the physical book, about halfway to their goal, delivery in April … the usual stuff going on. Oh, and because it’s something I’ll be looking for, right at the beginning of the project description is the solidarity statement with the Kickstarter Union. Good for Bors & Co.

• Hey, remember we told you about Christopher Baldwin’s Glens Falls (not visible from baldwinpage) like two weeks ago? Of course you do. What we at Fleen didn’t mention then (because we didn’t know it until yesterday) is that in addition to making GF available at TopatoCo, Baldwin is also running the book as a page-a-day webcomic.

  It’ll take a little hunting since it’s not visible in the sidebar at his page (although you really should be reading Spacetrawler there if you aren’t), but it’s there. Go to www.baldwinpage.com/glensfalls and you’ll get the latest page, Monday to Friday. It’s only up to story page 7, so it’s a great time to jump in and get to learn a bit about one place at a particular time.

Okay, done for today. Sore throat, must mainline cough drops. Apply for #ComicsCamp!

Spam of the day:

Someone eaten a swordfish? I’m looking for manual how to cook it.

Let me Google that for you.

I speak, naturally, of the ending of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl with issue #50 in stores today; writer Ryan North, artists Erica Henderson and Derek Charm, colorist Rico Renzi, letterer Travis Lanham, editor Wil Moss, and a series of guest contributors put together the funnest, most heartfelt exploration of what it means to be a hero that the comics rack has seen since … I dunno, All Star Superman #10? And that was down to one perfect page, really, whereas North, et al, have made a habit of producing a better book each and every damn month, all from a character that was pretty much a joke when they started.

This is usually the point that I say my favorite project from favorite creators is the next one, because I always want to see them grow and stretch; in this case, I gotta say I’m going to be a bit wistful for the run of USG, and if it turns out to be a career high for any of the creative team, well that’s something to be pretty damn proud of. From the Kra-van to the pickable-path issue from a love that spanned decades to an elegiac moment of poetry, from a slapstick silent story to lessons on the history and practice of computing and engineering, the book was a wonder. Thanks to all who made Doreen Green the greatest superhero of any shared universe.

• And since we’re talking about people whose stories got better with every installment (I have remarked in similar fashion about Giant Days and Octopus Pie), I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that there are other masterworks getting some love today. The AV Club, as I have noted, has some of the smartest writing on comics, particularly in section editor Oliver Sava. As part of their ongoing Best _____ Of The Decade retrospectives, they took this New Comic Book Day to announce their 25 best comics from 2010 to the present, and oh my are webcomics and those who make them well-represented.

  Right at the top of the list (and I don’t believe that it’s meant to be ranked) is Check, Please by Ngozi Ukazu. It’s joined by the aforementioned Giant Days and Octopie, but also by Tillie Walden’s On A Sunbeam, Blue Delliquanti’s O Human Star, The Nib by Matt Bors and his merry coconspirators, Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton, Smut Peddler¹, and Margot’s Room by Emily Carroll.

  It’s worth remembering that the past decade has been an unbelievably rich time for comics, one where every month brings new work that would have been all time bests just 20 years ago. I could probably think of another 25 off the top of my head, but for now let’s just consider of the 25 listed (and you know the AV Club staffers sweated and fought to get the list that short), nine of them — nearly 40 percent! — were webcomics in their first presentation, or made by people primarily doing webcomics. Our weird, scrappy little corner of the medium has grown by leaps and bounds.

• Speaking of webcomics and their place vis-a-vis traditional comics, is there anybody that’s made so complete a career progression as the indefatigable Jim Zub? He’s the consummate journeyman, hopping to titles that need somebody to reimagine them, or bring a listing vessel home safe to port. Give him a concept and step back, and you’ll get something great, bang on time, and written to the strengths of whichever artists he’s paired with. He’s on a Black Panther team book, and he’s just picked up another that makes 10 year old Zub bounce up and down with joy into alternate planes of vibrational frequency:
  

  As announced earlier today on Marvel’s Pull List preview video – in February 2020 I take over as writer on Marvel’s monthly CONAN THE BARBARIAN series with Rogê Antônio on pencils and EM Gist illustrating painted covers.

  I’ve read a bunch of I’m on _______ now! announcements from Zub and I promise you, none of them — not Avengers, not Baldur’s Gate — has held as much pure, uncut joy for Lil’ Zub with fantastic stories in his brain and stars and his eyes as freakin’ Conan. You can pick up his run starting with issue #13, out in February.

• Finally, Fleen Senior French Correspondent Pierre Lebeaupin sends along some news updates in the world of BD, some of which got lost due to proximity to Quai des Bulles, some of which has happened since:
  Yatuu’s Erika is now in English (the first pages, so far); previous coverage here. It was redesigned for smartphones, interestingly enough (well, Brice did it)

  Also, Rainette resumed from hiatus; previous coverage here.

  As a side note, if anybody is interested in becoming Fleen Senior [your geographical location here] Correspondent and letting us know what’s happening in comics in your corner of the world, drop us a line. FSFCPL got the gig by providing on-the-ground context for what was happening at Angoulême, giving our readers info that nobody else this side of the Atlantic had. We’d be happy to expand to other parts of the Wide World Of Webcomics.

Spam of the day:

Do you know the #1 deadliest health supplement?

Given that thanks to Orrin Hatch, the entire damn supplements industry is essentially unregulated and doesn’t have to prove that what’s in the bottle is what is says on the label, or even that it’s not actual poison, I’d say it’s a tie between every damn last one of them that exempts itself from FDA oversight.

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¹ Specifically, the original 2012 anthology, which kicked off a new era for smut comics, for anthologies, and for Iron Circus. Not mentioned but worth remembering — this is where Spike invented her screw stretch goals, more money raised goes directly to the creators bonus structure, which has been widely copied.