Linko! LV

* Some somber links to start the day on: If anyone out there hadn't heard, yesterday was "G Day" – an informal online comics holiday meant to remember both writer Mark Gruenwald and artist Mike Wieringo who both passed away on August 12th. If you can, I always feel reading some of their comics work is the most fitting tribute that anyone can do, but if you've got none available, let me make two suggestions for web browsing that might help keep both men in your thoughts. For Gruenwald, you could do a lot worse than to read I, Zombie writer Chris Roberson's essay on how the man's work impacted modern comics (thanks to Mark Waid for the link). And as with last year, my best suggestion for remember 'Ringo involves browsing through his blog, which his brother lovingly keeps active in remembrance. Lots of great sketches there including the above Superman.

* Some awesome links to continue the day with: In case you've been under some kind of "find my center" self-imposed media ban for the past two weeks, you probably know by now that today is opening day for the hotly anticipated by nerds/possibly overlooked by general audiences film adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim comics by director Edgar Wright. Being one of said nerds, I went and saw the movie at a midnight showing last night even though I'm on vacation in our nation's capital, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Anyway, if you're looking for some web media to pump you up for the big night, you could do a lot worse than CBR's own Scott Pilgrim Hub where every article we've written on the movie and comics is gathered in one place or Robot 6's Scott Pilgrim tag which holds a lot of links and news on related media/events/products/news. And to be extra selfish (even for someone who just linked to his own work site twice) for a minute, I'd love it if you checked out my video interview - with O'Malley from Comic-Con where I hope I'm not too awkward (video here if the embedding is too awkward):


* Moving along with my new "let's look at comics journalism/criticism I read this week" format, I know one thing my eye was drawn to was Vaneta Rogers' interview with WildCats writer Adam Beechen at Newsarama. Yeah, I know that this sort of thing (posted on CBR as well as the 'Rama) doesn't qualify as hard-hitting journalism by a long stretch, so haters please move on. But I wanted to call attention to Rogers' story for two reasons: 1) She has got to be one of the nicest people in comics, and I'm saying this as someone who has never met or interacted with the lady. I just know from reading her interviews how much she seems to enjoy the job and how much people seem to enjoy talking to her about their stuff. That's on display here, and coming from someone who feels his own interviews could be a lot more informative and readable, her conversational style in enviable. 2) I actually talked to Beechen about that very book for a story that should go up on CBR next week, so I took extra notice to see the kinds of things Rogers asked that I hadn't. There's no better way to learn how to do my job better than to compare notes with those doing the EXACT SAME THING. Hope you dig mine when it goes up.

* Tom Spurgeon's Ten Thoughts on the end of "Cathy" is great in that way that makes you look at a piece of the comics marketplace and a specific work of comics that almost never crosses your mind. Although it is crazy, even years before I followed anything that could at all be considered writing or media about the comics, I had a very clear conception of "Cathy" as a strip loved by many women and equally despised by many men (and not exclusively in either case, I might add). It's end leaves a big legacy and even a bigger gap in papers with or without strong comics sections.

* Speaking of that gap, I found it rather convenient (for my purposes at least) that Spurgeon picked Rina Piccolo's "Tina's Groove" as a potential replacement for many papers since Alex Duben just taught me a lot more about Piccolo's work via his CBR interview with the artist. Alex is someone who doesn't get nearly enough attention for his work, I think sometimes because what he does for us is cover such a wide range of topics. Seriously, his comics knowledge is DEEP, and it pays off big with interesting profiles.


* I'm really not familiar with up-and-coming writer Nick Spencer's work, but I think I'm going to pick up Morning Glories #1 when I make it to a shop this week. Preview of the issue is here.

* I love it when my non comics-reading friends post random web comics on Facebook (thanks, Slayer).

* I'm still not sure how I feel about Mike Illitch's proposed buying of the Detroit Pistons. Illitch is a proud and admirable Detroiter, but having three or four of the city's major franchises owned by one guy will have to have some downsides eventually, particularly if Little Caesar's ever takes a dive. Is the metro Detroit area really that bad of a media market that he's the only one who won't want to move the team out of state?

* Finally, apparently iPhone users have more sex.