Good morning! It’s been an eventful couple of weeks. Let’s start with the most important:
Kate Beaton’s sister is sick, and needs support. She’s struggling with a very aggressive form of cancer, and it’s severe enough that they’re pursuing special clinical trials. Kate provides some further explanation here:
I wrote this out, I hope not to regret it, I hope it doesn't invade her privacy, people have been extremely generous without any conditions and I love you for it, and others had questions, and I couldn't sleep pic.twitter.com/tI1lElEApu
— Kate Beaton (@beatonna) November 16, 2017
Please do what you can for the Beatons—if you can’t donate, please spread the word. Cancer is an absolutely horrific thing for a family to endure.
Eddie Berganza is finally out at DC Comics. After being outed as a harasser years ago, Berganza had somehow remained protected and secure in his editorial position at DC Comics, either by indifference or active interference from his direct publishers. Given that Dan DiDio once deleted his Twitter account rather than answer questions about Berganza’s continued employment, the latter seems like a safe bet. It seemed like nothing was ever going to be done, until Jay Edidin, Jessica Testa, and Tyler Kingkade published a massive exposé at Buzzfeed. Given the kind of reach Buzzfeed has, it wasn’t long before the news about Berganza was picked up by Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and others—big enough publications to draw the eye and the ire of DC’s parent company, Warner Bros. Our own Corinne McCreery covered the news in more depth here.
The same day that Berganza was fired, Marvel decided, “Hey, let’s get in on this harasser action,” and hired Ron Richards. Newsarama provided a very brief write-up here, and failed to mention that Richards has been accused by multiple sources of harassment, and since his hiring at least one person has gone on the record regarding his behavior. Marvel has yet to make any public comment on the matter.
That’s not the only change afoot in the House That Disney Bought. Marvel has announced that C.B. Cebulski will be replacing Axel Alonso as Marvel’s new Editor-in-Chief. Alonso’s departure is said to be mutually agreed upon, which strikes me as interesting terminology. I’m sure it’ll make for a great chapter the next time someone writes a history of Marvel Comics. Cebulski is being largely hailed as a good choice, though—he’s built a reputation as a generally professional sort with a good eye for recruiting new talent. Also, no one seems to have any stories about him being a sex pest, which is good! Two in a single week would probably be too much even for Marvel.
Do you wish you knew more about economics? Author Robert Reich has you covered with his new book, Economics in Wonderland. Reich gave an interview to NPR where he expounded on his history with cartooning and his desire to bring a better understanding of the subject to the masses. It’s an interesting read, and it’s nice to see cartooning branch out in ways like this.
Kickstarter is getting into the direct artist support field with the relaunch of Drip as a Patreon-like service, allowing fans and consumers to support creators directly. Initially founded by a music studio, Drip was purchased a couple of years ago by the folks at Kickstarter. Presumably the interim has been spent reworking the service to provide a competitive model for Patreon, and they’ve started the service with some pretty noteworthy creators—Feminist Frequency and Spike Trotman (Founder of Iron Circus Studios) can both be found on the site.
Medium is launching Spiralbound, a new comics and illustration section on their site. This is Medium’s second recent attempt at branching into such content—they originally hosted The Nib, then shuttered that service in 2015. Matt Bors was able to save the name and take it with him elsewhere, proving that there’s definitely a market for it—perhaps that has changed Medium’s mind on the viability of such a project?
Next, perhaps you’ve been giving WWAC a bit of a wide berth during our recent site troubles? If so, welcome back! Here’s some things you might have missed:
- Rosie Knight’s new series about licensed X-Men books,
- Pubwatches for Oni, Boom, and Valiant,
- A write-up of Basara and its statements on gender, and
- A look at some of the offerings from last month’s SPX!
Finally, here are a couple of smaller tidbits:
- Here’s a sampler of that Jim Davis Squirrel Girl content, if that’s something that interests you.
- Seven Seas will be re-publishing the classic manga Claudine in a fancy edition.
That’s all I’ve got for you this week—it feels good to be back!
