Today, as on every Tuesday, the inimitable Joe McCulloch is here with his weekly guide to the best-sounding new comics in stores—and a look back at some of the comics being promoted as the best of the '80s.
Meanwhile, elsewhere:
—News. On Saturday, shots were fired into a Copenhagen cafe during an event titled "Art, Blasphemy, and the Freedom of Expression", killing one and wounding three others. It is believed to have been an attempt on the life of Swedish artist Lars Vilk, who drew a caricature of the prophet Muhammad in eight years ago. The suspected gunman (who also attacked a synagogue on the same day) was later killed by police.
Sepideh Jodeyri, the Iranian poet who translated Julie Maroh's Blue is the Warmest Color into Persian, claims she has been the target of a smear campaign for her "support" of homosexuality. “An event organized [in Tehran] for my recent poetry collection And Etc was cancelled," Jodeyri told The Guardian. "The organizer was sacked from his job, my publisher was threatened with having his license suspended and interviews were withdrawn, all because of the negative publicity in the conservative media around my translation of Maroh’s book.”
—Publishing. Horizontal Press, a new very small publisher of contemporary, updated Tijauna Bibles, launched this Saturday.
—Interviews. Darling Sleeper talks to the cartoonist and publisher Zack Soto.
—Reviews & Commentary. Chris Randle is typically excellent in this piece on Richard McGuire's Here.
Paul Gravett writes about his favorite Jack Kirby story, "The Girl Who Tempted Me!"
Duy Tano compares Osamu Tezuka with Carl Barks.
I don't know why longtime comics critic Illogical Volume is pretending not to be a comics critic in this review of Sarah Horrocks' "Bruise", but I am probably missing something.
Bob Temuka reviews the new issue of Love & Rockets.
For some reason, a lot of comics people online got really mad about this admittedly dumb little piece in The Guardian claiming that there haven't been any good cartoonists since Crumb. It's such an inconsequential and flimsy thing that I find the outsize displays of rage in response a little baffling—are comics people that insecure? Or is it just a Twitter magnification effect?
Anya Davidson is a force for good.
—Crowdfunding. Amalgam Comics, a proposed comics store promoting diversity, appears to be a project worth supporting, especially if you live in the Philadelphia area.
