From Cover To Cover

Jules Fieffer, more on Diamond’s Bankruptcy, Angoulême Pre-Reads, and More— The Comic Bookmarks January 26th, 2025

Your comic links for the last week of January

Jules Fieffer, more on Diamond’s Bankruptcy, Angoulême Pre-Reads, and More—  The Comic Bookmarks January 26th, 2025
Festival Internationale De La Bande Dessinée 2025 poster by Frank Quitely

I’ve got a head cold so not in the headspace to ramble on here so lets’ just dive into the links for the week. Hopefully, I’ll be back next week with the usual rambling.

Previously on FC2C

Taking the Plunge into Paul Chadwick’s Concrete: Depth
The story of a man whose brain has been put into an alien body is the stuff of B-level science fiction, the b/w movies that we used to be able to watch on Saturday afternoons. And there’s plenty of that in Concrete: Depth but it’s not the only type of story that Paul Chadwick wants to tell.

Headlines

Writer, cartoonist Jules Feiffer dies at 95 - The Comics Journal
After drawing and writing everything there was to draw and write, Jules Feiffer passed away at the age of 95.

One of the truly great cartoonists of 20th century has passed left us.

I recently participated in this @fastcompany.com roundtable interview about political cartooning in a broken media landscape. I have to say, the sample art that they chose from my comic for the feature image is perfectly timed. (Paywalled, but you can view intro) www.fastcompany.com/91262247/i-w...

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— Jen Sorensen (@jensorensen.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM

A fantastic interview with Barry Blitt, Josh Ohman, and Jen Sorensen about the current state of the business of editorial cartooning.

Dark Horse takes seriously the allegations against Neil Gaiman and we are no longer publishing his works. Confirming that the Anansi Boys comic series and collected volume have been cancelled.

— Dark Horse Comics (@darkhorse.com) January 24, 2025 at 8:50 PM

That’s to be expected.

Angoulême 2025 : l’organisation du Festival à nouveau sur la (...) - ActuaBD
À quatre mois du renouvellement de son contrat avec l’association qui en détient la licence d’exploitation, 9eArt+, la société qui gère le Festival International d’Angoulême de la bande dessinée (FIBD), dirigée par son délégué général Franck (...)
Grand Prix d’Angoulême 2025 : Catherine Meurisse, Alison Bechdel et Anouk Ricard en lice | BoDoï, explorateur de bandes dessinées - Infos BD, comics, mangas
Qui succédera à Posy Simmonds ? Réponse le 29 janvier.
Angoulême 2025, retour sur une très belle sélection pour la 52e édition du 30 janvier au 2 février
On ne va pas bouder notre plaisir. On a suffisamment dit que la sélection officielle des albums en lic au Festival d’Angoulême ne reflétait pas vraiment

A trio of Angoulême stories, including the 3 finalists for this year’s Grand Prix. That festival kicks off this week.

Comic Sites on Comic Sites

Business

The OTHER Diamond Comics is going strong in India
There is ANOTHER Diamond Comics and it’s India’s largest comics publisher, I learned this week, among other things

Never knew that there was another Diamond Comics in the distribution business.

And speaking of Diamond…

The rise and fall of a Maryland-based comic distributor monopoly
Hunt Valley’s Diamond Comic Distributors had a monopoly in the industry, yet slip-ups during the pandemic and delayed deliveries pushed it into bankruptcy last week.

And I know that there’s any number of places I could go to get Brian Hibbs’ thoughts on this but to bring him into this piece at the end and have him drop a bomb like Diamond’s bankruptcy is “cataclysmic” and then not to into the whys and wherefores of that statement really feels like hit-and-run journalism.

Interviews

HELLBOY Creator Mike Mignola Talks His Creepy New Graphic Novel, BOWLING WITH CORPSES
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola talks about creating an all-new supernatural world in Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown.

Considering that Mignola “retired” a number of years ago to paint and do whatever, I’m thrilled there’s a new and fresh book from him.

A Chat with Lena Atanassova, Editor-in-Chief of TOKYOPOP
Rebecca Silverman talks to Atanassova about her history with TOKYOPOP, the publisher’s LGBTQ+ imprints, and how they’re trying to maintain readers’ trust.

Honestly, Tokyopop isn’t on my radar right now— too much had history surrounding the brand. But I do like that Atanassova addresses that in this piece.

Reviews & Features

Reflecting On My Relationship with Comics In 2024
A reflection upon comics, politics, and just where I’m at

This piece is written by Ritesh Babu, not Joe McColloch (although McColloch is referenced so maybe there’s where this bookmark is picking up his name.

Here’s a tough read by Ritesh Babu. Not tough as in it’s not well written but tough because it‘s making us (particularly those of us in the United States, I think) examine the damage we’ve done in the world. And Babu brings that up because it has impacted his connection to comics in the past year.

I just reread the piece as I’m writing this. Trump talks a lot about how eduction is teaching kids not to like America. He’s wrong that it’s not the education system that’s doing it but it’s our actions that are doing it.

Proud American: Preacher, reconsidered
Part one

This has been a series I’ve been thinking of revisiting, only ever having read through the whole thing once in trades years after it concluded. My memory of Preacher is there is a lot of stuff I liked in it and a lot of stuff I didn’t care for. And I always felt like the stuff I didn’t care for was what other people really liked the series for.

I also like how Pellnat, a cartoonist himself, has traced Steve Dillon’s images on tracing paper instead of using images directly from the books. He talks about how he wanted to get a feel for Dillon’s line more than just a photocopy reference to it. This is something that I’ve thought about for a long time and wondered by there aren’t more critics trying to do something similar (myself included.) It’s one of the reasons that when time permits it, I like to use actual pictures of the books I’m reading than grabbing images off some digital preview of the books. It’s more tactile that way. Of course, sometimes it’s just easier to do a Google Image Search and find the preview images.

Mister Miracle #7: The Form of Freedom
By T. Trewhella Mister Miracle #7 is a comic by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer. A flat thing of paper and ink. But it is also, as with so many great pieces of art, a window – not only to “The Worl…

I think these Jack Kirby comics may read a bit differently now than they did 10 or 20 years ago. Maybe even differently than they did a month ago.

Classic Comic Compendium: ETERNITY GIRL is a deeply personal story built with metaphysical ideas
Eternity Girl spun out of DC’s Young Animal Milk Wars crossover, combining a personal story with metaphysics.

d. emerson eddy has been diving into DC’s Young Animal’s imprint. I don’t think I lasted much beyond the Milk Wars crossover (which I wrote about here) but have wanted to revisit Vissagio’s work in that line.

The Legend of Kamui Manga Review | Yatta-Tachi
The Legend of Kamui is a grand work of historical comics that will give you back as much as you’re willing to put in.

I’ve started this book and wow! I’m not too far in it but the storytelling in it is mesmerizing. And I don’t really think I’ve gotten to the main story yet— just still in set up for it.