Welcome to another Sunday Readings, where I link you to some things that I found interesting over the past week or so. Hopefully, you'll find them interesting, too!
*--Leading off is Brent Schenker's article that appeared on The Beat not too long ago, offering research data that shows women are nearly 50% of comics readers. Someone tell Cartoon Network, eh? Something very telling here: Shenker shouts out Marvel for understanding female fans are there and launching books accordingly. None of this addresses the "comics are more than those things you get on Wednesday" problem, but it's a strong start.
*--Speaking of that perception problem, Panel Patter Pal Ben Towle just destroys it in this short and succinct post addressed at those who think there are no more kids comics. Someone please tell all those people buying Smile and Drama they aren't really reading comics. Just go ahead and try it. Let me know how that works out.
*--In the spirit of Valentine's Day, Bryant Dillon pens a love letter to Dark Horse Comics over at Fanboy Comics. It's very much a fanboy sentiment right down to "squee-ing", but the sincerity is heartfelt.
*--Raighne Hogan, publisher of 2D Cloud, interviews Virginia Paine, the publisher of Sparkplug Books.
*--Retrofit Comics profiles one of its 2014 creators, Antoine Cosse.
*--I'm a big fan of Zainab Akhtar, who runs the Comics & Cola blog. Here's Zainab's list of 20 graphic novels to look for in 2014. So many good choices on there!
*--Finally, a plea for a second Judge Dredd movie by Steph Mernagh. Please listen, Hollywood! The first movie was one of the top five comics movies of all time for me, just a bit under Avengers, mostly because I never thought I'd live to see an Avengers movie done well. It's easily the most inclusive superhero movie I've ever seen and features a future that--gasp!--isn't just white and strong female characters abound. Which is exactly why we'll likely never see a sequel and instead get a "reboot" that "fixes" the problems by appealing to jerks. Damn it.
I should have been linking creator Valentines and Anti-Valentines, but I've been trying to stop spending so much time on Twitter. Sorry about that. But I do have two cool pieces of art for you:
*--Lewis Trondheim draws Calvin and Hobbes.
*--Paul Smith kills it on a Doctor Strange commission.
That's what I was looking at. Did I miss anything? Share a link in the comments, please!
Sunday Readings 02/16/14
