Archive Page 2264
May 2026
Jeff Smith gets Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award – National Cartoonists
...Named for Terry and the Pirates creator Milton Caniff, this award is bestowed by unanimous vote of the NCS Board to recognize a lifetime of outstanding and accomplished work. Born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Smith grew up immersed in comic strips, comic books, and animation. Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, read to him every Sunday by his father, sparked his passion for cartooning and inspired him to learn to read. He was further influenced by Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge comics and Walt Kelly’s Pogo, developing an appreciation for expressive character work and the storytelling power of the comics medium..."
Giant copyright infringement lawsuit in Southern District of New York– Daily Cartoonist
Meta illegally torrented millions of copyrighted books and journal articles from pirate sites and mass scraping of content from the internet...."
"Almost 90% of comics creators who earn income from traditional publishing do not earn the national living wage from their comics work" – The Bookseller
Obit of Frank Stack – The Comics Journal
For decades Stack straddled the fences of academia, fine art and comics; he produced countless oil and watercolor paintings, etchings and prints, and taught generations of students at the University of Missouri, where he taught art and printmaking from 1963 until 2001 when he became professor emeritus. During those years, he also contributed many beautiful comic book pages to a number of publications, often going under the pseudonym "Foolbert Sturgeon."
Bob Hall profile – Lincoln Hastings MSN
"Sylvia" cartoonist Nicole Hollander has died – Chicago Tribune
Maltz Museum of Jewish History exhibition "Icons in Ink: The Jewish Comics Experience" – MSN Plain Dealer
...A 1940 Plain Dealer strip shows Superman fighting giant robots for the first time. The first issue of “American Splendor” hangs from Cleveland’s Harvey Pekar, a pioneer in autobiographical comics. Other sections highlight Peter Kuper (Spy vs. Spy) and Brian Michael Bendis, one of the biggest names in contemporary comics..."
"Zines as an antidote to AI alienation" – Seattle Times
You might associate zines with the late ’90s and early 2000s, when mainstream corporate media was at the height of its power. Under the weight of what, at the time, felt like an oppressive monoculture, artists created handcrafted booklets of essays, fiction, comics, photos, collages and virtually any other form of individual artistic expression that could be printed on paper, documenting their passions and frustrations. Created and often distributed by hand, zines stood in direct contrast to the glossy magazines of the time for their idiosyncratic perspectives..."
Is Absolute Batman coming in DC's compact format? – Bleedingcool
What if your kid will only read graphic novels? – MSN Conversation
Research shows reading graphic novels leads to improved reading and comprehension skills for all students. And studies demonstrate that children and teenagers who read graphic novels have improved, more positive attitudes towards reading..."
"Japanese media giant Kadokawa is planning to expand its retail presence in the US" – Comicsbeat
Article talks about and has photos of a "Manga Spot" store in New York City.
Announcements for the 80th Annual National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards – Ceremony August 6-8th in Columbus, OH
Story at National Cartoonists
Interview with Gerry Conway, 1981 – The Comics Journal
Zatanna #1 at top of week's bestsellers – Bleedingcool
Obit: Yoshitiharu Tsuge 1937-2026 – The Comics Journal
Tsuge began drawing rental manga regularly around 1955, immediately following his professional debut. He published several Tezuka-influenced works with the publisher Wakagi Shobo, such as Ai no Kurabe and Senshi no Kanata. Most of these were semi-historical adventure stories. Senshi no Kanata told of a plucky young boy joining the Imperial army to rise in status in the chaos of the late Edo period. Like many manga artists, Tsuge also drew shojo girls’ comics. Ai no Kurabe depicts a girl who becomes entangled in a strange fate while searching for her deceased father. Drawing shojo was not as prestigious as making shonen boys’ comics, so the barrier of entry was lower. It was common for novice artists to get hired to do shojo comics in recognizable, sellable styles. The pay was not great...."
"Rental Manga" is a commerical library-style system requiring small fees in order to borrow manga comics. It originated in the post-World War II economy of Japan where the purchase of books was difficult for a wide swath of the population, and so "kashihon" (book rentals) came into being. The United States had a similar system of paid "circulating libraries" and small shops which would rent out books until the concept of municipal "free' libraries and cheaply made paperback book publishing replaced them during the 20th centuy.
Photos from the NY Saratoga ComiCon – Yahoo News
Free Comic Book Day in Jackson, Mississippi – WLBT
Free Comic Book Day in Lima, Ohio – Yahoo News
All the "Free Comic Book Day" titles being handed out – Comicbook
"Evangeline Lilly slams Disney" – Total Film
Has Absolute Batman's sales impacted the sales on other books? – Something
Profile of Scott Hanna – WFMZ
Is there "Superhero Fatigue"? – Nerdist
...few superhero movies have performed the same way they did in the late 2010s. But one person who doesn’t believe in superhero fatigue is DC Studios co-head Peter Safran. That’s the one who’s not James Gunn."
IMAX profits of 2026... not like 2025 – Hollywood Reporter MSN
Action film not doing so well: family films and horror on the upswing – Straits Times
25 years of "Free Comic Book Day" – Mercury News
Back-issue management, inventory and gaining new readers for comics – Comicsbeat
"46 Comic Shops With Free Comic Book Day 2026 - Events This Saturday" – Bleedingcool
New cover for second printing of Superman/Spider-Man crossover – Comicbookmovie
The best comic book stores in America? – AOL News
Strongest comic book market in The South? Knoxville – Knoxville News-Sentinel
Tucked into the foothills of the Appalachian and Smoky Mountains is a comic book market that’s far more active than most people would expect...."
Gerry Conway 1952–2026
Born Gerard Francis Conway
"..Influential comic book author who co-created dozens of characters for DC and Marvel, among them The Punisher, Ms. Marvel, Firestorm and Power Girl, and some of the most impactful Spider-Man stories ever published...." – MSN Hollywood Reporter
The prolific comic book writer who co-created characters such as the Punisher, Ms Marvel, Jason Todd and others – MSN Los Angeles Times
"A comics legend" – MSN Deadline Hollywood
James Gunn talks about Gerry Conway – Yahoo Coming Soon
Gerry Conway has died – Bleeding Cool
What did Scott Snyder expect with Absolute Batman? Not what happened – Bleeding Cool
Record-breaking sale of Pikachu Illustrator card for $16.5M by Logan Paul – MSN Hosted
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Interview with Frank Quitely – The Comics Journal
UK comics creator Barrie Tomlinson has died – Daily Cartoonist
Increasing popularity of "horror manga" – Publishers Weekly
Frank Stack has passed away
Interview with Frank Stack from 1995 – The Comics Journal
Obituary – Daily Cartoonist
Obituary April 2026 – Millard Family Chapels
Frank Stack, artist, cartoonist, educator, and pioneer of underground comics, passed away..."
About the graphic memoir Opioids & Organs by Arizona O’Neill coming in May – Montreal Gazette
Get into the Public Domain archives that are online at Graphic Chatter
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Original page May 2, 2026