This Week in Comics Journalism - January 15, 2022

So this is a bit later than we would usually want but I have a semi-good excuse. I had errands to run this morning and then was going to head home just after lunch to post this when out of nowhere, an old friend texted me and asked if I wanted to meet up at the comic shop. He didn’t say it but he could have added "...just like we used to when we were kids."  It took me a while to get down there so we didnt hang out at the comic shop long (he had already dug through the back issues and I had just been there last Wednesday) but comics are an old connection we have, reading them, collecting them, trading the, and eventually shopping for them together at comic shops. We hadn't talked really in years and connected back together just before the pandemic hit. But after all this time and all the years, it was nice to bond together at the comic shop.

Just like we used to when we were kids.

• Have you met Graeme McMillan?  If you haven't read his byline anywhere before, then you're missing out?  He's one of the best journalists covering comics today.  He's been a staple at The Hollywood Reporter for a while now but even better yet, he's started a newsletter- Comics FYI. He's only a few issues into it so far but it's definitely worth checking out.  
• The Judges for this year's Eisner Awards have been announced. So now officially begins our season of handicapping the awards, starting with the nominations.  Even money that Ed Brubaker ends up in the nominees somewhere.

• Own an original Dan Clowes comic.  No, not one that he created but one that he collected.  Chicago Comics has purchased his collection and the Chicago Reader has the lowdown on it.

Before he became a cartooning titan, Clowes was just a kid blowing all his cash on weekly comics releases. Now, a couple thousand of those issues are in the basement of Chicago Comics. “These are mostly things I bought out of rote obligation/OCD during a period in my teen years when I bought basically every comic coming out,” Clowes says via e-mail. “My best friend worked at a newsstand on Lake Park and was able to get everything at a discount.”

In related news, I really need to get into the city and hit Chicago Comics soon.  I want one of these like Gollum wants a ring.

• It's a week late but I really just wanted to post the above caption.  Jeff Lemire signs an exclusive deal with Image Comics to publish his new forthcoming books through them.  His Substack and Dark Horse projects are safe where they are for now, he says.  
• Chloe Maveal writes about one of our favorite comics of all time, the original Justice League International, over at Neotext Review. Guy Gardner is definitely not the hero we need, but he's probably the one we deserve.
• What the heck was Eternals about? Keith R.A. DeCandido (that's a great name) writes about it for Tor.com. Warning: there be spoilers.
• Ryan Carey writes about The Unbearable Lightness Of Being : Karen Shangguan’s “Quiet Thoughts” for his blog, Four Color Apocalypse. I have the review copy of this 2021 Avery Hill release sitting in my queue, and this has reminded me I need to open it up.
• For Solrad, Carrie McClain writes about the gods lie and the burden of growing up too soon.