Item: Who created the graphic novel? I found these two posts about Will Eisner extremely fascinating. Eisner, the creator of The Spirit and a comics educator, is often credited as the inventor of the graphic novel and the first to use the term. In fact, his 1978 collection of short stories, A Contract With God, had many precedents in terms of long-form comic books and the term “graphic novel” has been traced back to 1964 and fanzine publisher Richard Kyle. Eisner denied having heard of Kyle but now it seems, according to new research by Dr. Andrew Kunka, that Eisner was first introduced to the term from Jack Katz in a letter from 1974. Kunka’s blog post links to a post by Ken Quattro featuring the transcript of Eisner’s testimony in the infamous Wonder Man case. It turns out that the stories Eisner told over the years about the creation of the Wonder Man character for publisher Victor Fox and the subsequent lawsuit by DC for infringing on their Superman trademark were less than true.
Item: The Danish actor who inspired the creation of Tintin has died.
Item: The Calgary Expo has snagged Mike Mignola for their show next summer.
Item: The Globe and Mail’s holiday gift guide includes seven giant comics art books, including Marc Bell’s Hot Potatoe and the Abrams horror comics anthology The Horror, The Horror.
Item: Tangles author Sarah Leavitt is interviewed by the Book Chat Madam in this podcast. Bonus: Lynda Barry loves Tangles.
Item: For completists, this review of Palookaville 20 by Kirstie Patterson has a short slideshow that includes an image from the creation of Seth’s Northstar Talking Picture House. Bonus: If you wondered about the band featured in Seth’s diary comic in PV20 (you know, the band that performed “traditional Greek music” with a “hip novelty edge” in Calgary), wonder no more.
Item: Jillian Tamaki interviews Hellen Jo. Also, elsewhere on her blog, she reads comics on the toilet and spots Lynda Barry at the YWCA. Bonus: Derik Badman talks about Skim at the Hooded Utilitarian.
Item: New Michael DeForge stuff. New minicomic about a snowman (S.M.) and a preview of his Marvel Comics Strange Tales piece.
Item: Missed it. Harvey wins Montreal book prize. Google trans.
Item: Svetlana Chmakova, Paul Pope, and Craig Thompson lead a workshop.
Item: Scott Pilgrim bridges the hipster/geek divide?