Dan is lost in Japan without internet access, apparently, and can't contribute to the blog while he's there—or so he told me in an e-mail very late last night. Hey, wait a minute! That doesn't make sense. I think I'm getting played... Anyway, once more into the breach.
Ryan Holmberg does it again, turning in another essential entry in his "What Was Alternative Manga?" series. Everything you never knew you wanted to know about Japanese mid-century crime and pulp fiction—and their relation to manga.
Elsewhere:
Ken Quattro at the Comics Detective used a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain FBI material regarding their investigation of Lev Gleason, and his possible ties to the Communist party. And he lays it all out for us here. (Thanks, RB.)
Over at the Guardian, six big-name cartoonists—Peter Kuper, Bryan Talbot, Posy Simmonds, Ariel Schrag, Martin Rowson, and Lynda Barry—name and discuss their own personal favorite comics artists. Their comments are brief, but sometimes surprising. Rowson and Barry's commentary in particular might be considered fighting words in some households.
Rob Clough writes a ginormous survey covering the entire range of Swedish comics published by Top Shelf a few years ago.
Finally, Matt Seneca attempts his version of a Tucker Stone special, writing rapid-fire on the latest superhero shenanigans.
