Comics

(Newser) - Life as an independent comic artist is never easy. It's even harder when you’re legally blind, the Washington Post reports. Baltimore's Andre Campbell, vision-impaired since birth with a retinal-degeneration condition, has only sold about 100 copies of his company’s comics since the mid-'90s. But the artist, who idolizes the sightless superhero Daredevil, keeps plugging his Alpha Agents comics at conventions—blindly, some might say. More »

(Newser) - Bruce Wayne appears to have fought his last crime. This week’s Batman #681, the conclusion of the ominously titled Batman RIP story, sees Batman ( spoiler alert ) apparently blown up on a crashing helicopter, in a confrontation with a villain who may or may not be his father. But no body is ever shown, and DC Comics is sending mixed signals about whether this is indeed the end of our hero. More »

(Newser) - Cartoonist Garry Trudeau has put his newspaper clients in to a bit of a pickle, the Washington Post reports. In a bid to stay current, Wednesday’s installment of "Doonesbury"—written a week in advance—will show characters reacting to a Barack Obama victory. The choice is “a rational risk assessment,” Trudeau said. Replacements are being made available to papers who’d rather not chance it. More »

(Newser) - What do Freddie Mercury and a Jean-François Millet painting have in common? Both have been used to describe wine in The Drops of the Gods , a Japanese comic series that’s quickly becoming the go-to wine literature in Asia, reports the New York Times . Customers tend to ask for wines featured in the comic, leading wine sellers to snap up each issue. More »

(Newser) - Pop culture can’t get enough of Sarah Palin right now: The vice-presidential candidate will grace the cover of Tales From the Crypt ’s next issue, reports the New York Daily News . In a swipe at Palin's book-banning inquiries as Wasilla mayor, she brandishes a hockey stick at three of the horror comic's ghoulish regulars, saying "Didn't we get rid of you guys in the '50s?" More »

(Newser) - Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, the genius behind “Bloom County,” will retire his current strip, "Opus," on Nov. 2, the Washington Post reports. "With the crisis in Wall Street and Washington, I'm suspending my comic strip to assist the nation,” Breathed joked in a statement. "I call on John McCain to join me." The artist has penned syndicated comics for 30 years and will concentrate on writing children's books. More »

(Newser) - A trio of unlikely challengers has angered Walt Disney Co. by arguing that an early version of Mickey Mouse is no longer copyright-protected, the Los Angeles Times reports. Disney has won a $500,000 lawsuit against ex-employee Gregory Brown, who uncovered old film credits that he says invalidate Disney's claim to a 1920s version of Mickey. A law student later took up Brown's case in a class paper. More »

(Newser) - Bob Thompson is a self-professed “prose guy,” but still can’t ignore the biggest trend in publishing: graphic novels. Thompson sets out for the Washington Post to discover how literature that uses word balloons can be book world's sole growing sector. He discovers that many “little see-saws” tipped at once to start the revolution—most notably, in comic theoretician Scott McCloud’s words, “Comics. Got. Better.” More »