New York Comic Con weekend arrives, as it inevitably does, which, in the esoteric calendar of this week’s links, below, means we’ve hit the part of the year marked “if it isn’t done by now then it ain’t getting done, chalk it up as a loss and try again in 2026” — the big players from 2025 are a-rumbling on, namely Diamond bankruptcy spiraling and AI lawsuit maneuvering, so let’s see what else the field has to offer in the meantime, as a treat.
— Katherine Lam (@katherinelam.bsky.social) 2025-10-06T01:38:46.502Z
This week’s news.
• PEN America launched this year’s Banned Books Week with a look at the normalisation of book bans in the United States in 2025, as a recent spike in state and locally lead book bans were joined at the federal level by Executive Orders issued from the office of President Donald Trump.
• Kickstarter United, the union of Kickstarter employees, founded in 2020, announced strike action at the end of last week, after contract negotiations with management failed to reach a resolution, with the bargaining committee looking to gain protections of a 4-day work week and minimum salary requirements for employees. The union is not calling for a boycott of the platform, which was used in 2024 to raise $46.5 million for comics projects alone.
• Ahead of tonight’s prize-giving ceremony at New York Comic Con, the Harvey Awards announced this year’s class of inductees to the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame, with honours bestowed upon John Byrne, Peter David, Patrick McDonnell, Wendy Pini and Richard Pini, and Barbara Shermund.
• Manga history news, as Tezuka Productions shared that three previously unknown storyboards, that appear to have been the work of Osamu Tezuka, have been found at the company’s original artwork repository, representing the biggest discovery of unpublished works from Tezuka since the mangaka’s death in 1989.
• Distribution news, as ICv2 shares the announcement that Free Comic Book Day has been acquired from Sparkle Pop LLC by Canadian company Universal Distribution; and libraries distributor Baker & Taylor, which has been in business almost 200 years, is currently in the process of closing down operations, according to reports out this week, following the collapse of an acquisition deal by ReaderLink Distribution Services last month.
For quite some time I've been working together with @oni-press.bsky.social developing a new logo (plus an additional ... "creature") It's been great working with them again and the result is STRONG!!!!!
— Patrick Crotty (@picturecrotty.bsky.social) 2025-10-06T23:39:28.666Z
This week’s reviews.
TCJ
• Richard Pound reviews the skillful communication of Melissa Mendes’ The Weight — “One of the book’s real pleasures is seeing how Mendes’ style has evolved over the past decade. The simple but evocative line drawings of those early books are now embellished with layers of inkwash that bring a richness of depth and texture to the everyday details of mid-century rural America that drip from every page. From empty diners and weatherboard houses to dirt roads and railroad waiting rooms, she clearly has a real affinity for this long-vanished world, which she conjures with enormous care.”
• Tegan O’Neil reviews the technical virtuosity of Yvan Alagbé’s Misery of Love, translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith — “This is a story of passion and hatred, bigotry coiled like a worm at the core of an unhappy family, spoiling every human interaction it touches. These are dark recollections, racism, estrangement, and lust all caught up together in a ball of painful associations. It demands full and astringent engagement from the reader. Despite moments of hope and occasional flashes of joy, there is no levity.”
• Nicholas Burman reviews the intimate absurdity of Marc Torices’ Cornelius: The Merry Life of a Wretched Dog, translated by Andrea Rosenberg — “It is a pleasure to indulge in Torices’s talents as an artist. His work in animation surely helps him in bringing his worlds to life with precise mise en scène, and an adroitness when it comes to using colour to imbue the pages with atmospheres and emotional impact. Narratively, the work revels in its own ridiculousness, as well as the ultimate portrayal of its central character as a pathetic figure, misunderstood by a public that misinterprets his tears, and declares him a “mensch!””
AIPT
• David Brooke reviews the violent return of Jimmy Palmiotti, Dan Panosian, et al’s Marvel Knights: Punisher #1.
• Joe Jones reviews the solid start of Stephanie Phillips, Giada Belviso, et al’s Binary #1.
• Kevin Clark reviews the tabletop trappings of Jeremy Whitley, Bayleigh Underwood, et al’s Strange Tales #1.
• Jonathan Waugh reviews the crossover fun of Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Juan Samu, et al’s Harley Quinn x Elvira #1.
• Diane Darcy reviews the familiar beats of Scott Snyder, Javier Fernández, et al’s DC K.O. #1.
• Collier Jennings reviews the unique elements of Meghan Fitzmartin, Lisa Sterle, et al’s Mary Sue #1.
• Nathan Simmons reviews the monstrous fun of Tim Seeley, Ferro Pe, et al’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Godzilla #1.
• Chris Coplan reviews the satisfying layers of Henry Barajas, Rachel Merrill, et al’s Death to Pachuco #1; and the initial gimmick of Chris Condon, Daniel Noah, Dave Chisholm et al’s High Strangeness – Book One: 1967.
The Arts STL
Sarah Boslaugh reviews the breathless pace of Sole Otero’s Witchcraft, translated by Andrea Rosenberg.
Autostraddle
Nic Anstett reviews the transcendent experience of Mattie Lubchansky’s Simplicity.
The Beat
• Clyde Hall reviews the thoughtful treats of Chris Condon, Daniel Noah, Dave Chisholm et al’s High Strangeness – Book One: 1967.
• Jordan Jennings reviews the fascinating surreality of James Tynion IV, Michael Avon Oeming, et al’s Red Book #1.
• Jared Bird reviews the fun experimentation of Image Comics’ Super Creepshow Special #1.
• Khalid Johnson reviews the stellar approach of Tini Howard, Jose Jaro, et al’s Marian Heretic #1.
• D. Morris reviews the ambitious storytelling of Christopher Priest, Joe Quesada, et al’s Marvel Knights: The World to Come #3.
• Zack Quaintance reviews the interesting choices of Matt Kindt, David Lapham, et al’s The Hero Trade; and the careful considerations of Henry Barajas, Rachel Merrill, et al’s Death to Pachuco #1.
Blogcritics
Jeff Provine reviews the iconic cartooning of Tom Gauld’s Physics for Cats.
Broken Frontier
• Andy Oliver reviews the excellent gateway of Janne Marie Dauer’s The Big Spill (mini kuš! #132).
• Edward Picot reviews the visual accomplishment of Dawn Brown’s Gracie’s Ghost.
• Lydia Turner reviews the satisfying stew of Ollie Wollerman's Bean Jr.
Four Color Apocalypse
Ryan Carey reviews the thoughtful craft of Paul Kirchner’s The Bus 3, and the scrawling relatability of Lily (Basil) MacLachlan's Kratom Burger #1.
From Cover to Cover
Scott Cederlund reviews the winning sweetness of Caroline Cash’s Adventure Time: The Bubbline College Special.
House to Astonish
Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #38, X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture #1, and Deadpool/Wolverine #10.
The New York Times
Sam Thielman reviews the thoughtful delights of Ben Passmore’s Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance.
Yatta-tachi
• Borealis Capps reviews the evocative eroticism of Aneido’s Now No One Lurks Beneath The Snow.
• Masha Zhdanova reviews the confusing ambiguity of Aneido’s The Murderer And Her Runaway Desire.
deep sea dream
This week’s interviews.
TCJ
Alex Dueben interviews Melissa Mendes about The Weight, familial and personal inspirations, title origins, and Mirage internships — “The story was always going to be Edie's, and I definitely had that ending in mind the whole time. Well, actually, originally I had planned for the book to span Edie’s entire life from birth to death, and for this ending to happen in the middle. But after getting feedback and nudging from Tom [Devlin], I changed some things about it, and now I feel good about ending it where I did. I realize now that, like in all novels, it's ok for the character to go on living and not write about it.”
AIPT
• Chris Hassan speaks with Jason Loo about X-Vengers, bringing Avengers into Age of Revelation, and what makes a good leader.
• Chris Coplan chats with Sweet's Kenny Meyers about the digital platform's aims, and lessons learned from previous attempts to pick up the ball dropped by Comixology.
• David Brooke talks to Mark Evanier about The Essential Peanuts and the process of curating 75 years of Schulz’s strip for the book, to Comixology’s Jeff DiBartolomeo about upcoming projects, and to Chris Ryall about adapting Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis for the printed page.
Anime News Network
Jeremy Tauber interviews Chika Mizube about Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! and real-life culinary inspirations, and mamakari about Plus-Sized Misadventures in Love! and societal pressures in Japan.
The Beat
Taimur Dar speaks with Gene Luen Yang about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the generational nature of the TMNT franchise, and turtle personality traits.
Fanbase Press
Barbra Dillon talks to:
• Ryan Claytor about Elephant Eater Comics Annual Dispatch and the joys of newspaper formats.
• Melissa F. Olson about Archaic and centring the story on a family unit.
• Patrick Coyle about Bixby Grant, Private Eye: Fangs & Brimstone and cliffhanger closure.
• Andy Nordvall about Bad Future and the hope at the core of dystopian fiction.
• Louis Southard about Laugh Riot and the importance of maintaining hope.
• Nihaarika Negi about Hunger and famines in India while the country was under British rule.
FreakSugar
Jed W. Keith interviews Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones about Dracula: Book III, true villains, adapting a classic text, and the joys of Bram Stoker’s source material.
The Hollywood Reporter
Borys Kit speaks with Patrick Horvath about Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, the continued expansion of the series, and reader support.
Hollywood Soapbox
John Soltes talks to David Leopold about Hirschfeld’s Sondheim, curating the book, the size of the finished product, and Al Hirschfeld’s processes.
El País
Iker Seisdedos interviews Alison Bechdel about Spent, the genesis of the book, reuniting with characters from Dykes to Watch Out For, and current political worries.
Steven Heller speaks with Raymond Biesinger about 9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off and the violation of having your creative and professional rights infringed.
Publisher’s Weekly
• Amanda Ramirez talks to Trung Le Nguyen about Angelica and the Bear Prince, believing in the compassion of your readers, and approaching different story structures.
• Tiffany Babb chats with Oni Press’ Hunter Gorinson about the publisher’s rebrand and adapting to a changing market.
Solrad
Lara Boyle interviews Paul Karasik about adapting Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy, the challenge of translating from one medium to another, and attending the Yaddo artist’s retreat.
VTDigger
Marion Umpley speaks with the Center for Cartoon Studies’ James Sturm about the Center’s 20th birthday and its growth and evolution during the preceding decades.
Passion
— Chloe Brailsford (@comixbychloe.bsky.social) 2025-10-05T15:34:08.917Z
This week’s features and longreads.
• Here at TCJ, Ilan Manouach writes on the history of desert island cartoons, and the attempts to recontextualise these forms, as found in The Cubicle Island Pirates, Microworkers, Spambots and the Venatic Lore of Clickfarm Humor — “The irony was clear: while I had set out to better understand the alienating mechanics of platform labor, I was uncovering the very same structures within my own practice as a comics artist.”
• Also for TCJ, our esteemed Editors provide an excerpt of Max Huffman’s Dogtangle, which hits shelves in November — “I want you to imagine a dog: courtesy of Fantagraphics, here is an excerpt from Max Huffman’s Dogtangle, out next month, which is arriving sooner than you can imagine.”
• For The New York Times, Sam Thielman and Gabriel Gianordoli present a visual profile of Emil Ferris, documenting Ferris’ My Favorite Thing is Monsters, and the art with which the two volume tome is in dialogue.
• Over at The Beat, Ricardo Serrano Denis reports from New York Public Library’s new ‘¡WEPA! Puerto Ricans in the World of Comics’ exhibit, and the record of comics history presented therein.
• Nora Hickey and Amaris Ketcham shared a fresh edition of Autobiorgraphix’s book club, this time out covering Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell’s The Joy of Snacking, and the complexities inherent in humanity’s relationships with food.
• Transform and roll out with the Mindless Ones, as this week’s newsletter, amongst other topics, continues a history of British comics with an eye to the UK Transformers periodicals of the previous millennium.
• Paul O’Brien’s survey of the villains of Daredevil continues, for House to Astonish, as we move on from Frank Miller’s run into an issue from Larry Hama and Klaus Janson, and the singular appearance of Willow.
• From the world of open-access academia comes a special issue of the Journal of American Folklore, edited by Erin Kathleen Bahl and Andy Kolovos, with wide-ranging focus on folklore, comics, and graphic storytelling, which seeks to initiate discussion on the potential of comics for the field of folklore studies.
• Elsewhere, in Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics, Charles Forceville writes on Marc-Antoine Mathieu’s → (aka Sens), analysing the way in which readers understand the comic, to explore the interrelation between visual communication and cognition.
• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, for The Daily Cartoonist, currently celebrating its 20th year of publication, as this week continued a banner year for new and interesting drawings of one President Donald Trump.
I'd like to request a late checkout
— Cosimo Galluzzi (@cosimog.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T18:41:13.755Z
This week’s audio/visual delights.
• Ben Katchor hosted the latest meeting of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, as editors Paul Buhle and Abigail Susik discussed Surrealism, Bugs Bunny, and the Blues, a new anthology of the writings of Franklin Rosemont, and Rosemont’s history with the Chicago Surrealists
• The Small Press Expo released a handy playlist of recorded programming from last month’s festival, including Tom Gauld and Kevin Huizenga in conversation, spotlight talks, panel discussions, live readings, and more.
• Henry Chamberlain welcomed Mary Shyne to Comics Grinder, as they spoke about You and Me on Repeat, artistic influences, comics making processes, and the gift/curse of social media in contemporary cartooning careers.
• Gil Roth was joined by Tom Tomorrow for the latest episode of the Virtual Memories Show, as they spoke about Our Long National Nightmare, Kickstarting the collection of This Modern World strips, the importance of mailing lists, and some more discussion of maintaining a presence online in 2025.
• Calvin Reid and Meg Lemke convened to discuss some recent starred reviews for Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come, alongside an interview between Heidi MacDonald and Carla Speed McNeil on McNeil’s new book Settlers of the Storm Worlds.
• Brian Hibbs welcomed Gus Gordon to a recent meeting of the Comix Experience Graphic Novel Club, as they spoke about Into the Bewilderness, making the move from newspaper cartoons to children’s books, and learning from the classics.
ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, I PROMISE.
— BAKER (@fuckyoubaker.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T00:18:32.718Z
No more links, just steaming bowls of chunky root vegetable soup after a long walk in fresh air.
Area Man Has Far Greater Knowledge Of Marvel Universe Than Own Family Tree https://ift.tt/BrNkopX
The post Here’s Hoping You’re Swell — This Week’s Links appeared first on The Comics Journal.
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