To mark the anniversary, Spiegelman and his publisher, Pantheon, have released MetaMaus, a new book about the making of that seminal graphic novel, which features a lengthy series of discussions with editor Hillary Chute, as well as interviews with Spiegelman’s immediate family and transcripts from his initial conversation with his father, Vladek.

Follow the above link for the interview. The new book MetaMaus: A Look Inside a Modern Classic, Maus (Book + DVD-R)
includes a DVD with a digitized copy of The Complete Maus that is linked to an archive of audio interviews with his survivor father, historical documents, and a wealth of Spiegelman’s private notebooks and sketches.

I’ve missed so much good TV (so..much..) Four days a week I get up before work, and draw for three hours. Sometimes I draw after work, but I try to not to. Did I mention how much good TV I miss? But the trade off is that I get to create something that I own. If my audience is just my wife, or my Mother, it has to be worth it. If it’s wider then that, I’m truly blessed. I’m telling this story just to remind people that being ‘creator owned’ takes discipline, hard work, late nights, early mornings, and so many blank pages that ask the creator who the hell he thinks he is. That blank page is taunting the creator day and night, and for some of you, that’s why you stay on the couch. There’s too much pressure. Too much competition out there. The blank page wins. If you’re a creator and you haven’t started that project that you’ve always wanted to do, this is the best time. The world is changing. Publishing, or better put, “sharing”, is becoming more accessible to everyone. Be encouraged. You have a story to tell, so tell it, even if the first story is just told to yourself, and then eventually your friends and maybe one day strangers. At this early stage of creation, the goal is in the “doing” and less in the achieving.

Via Jason Brubaker (Making Comics)

Harvey’s connection to the library and librarians he loved is described in this last video, as well. But, if you really did read all the way to the bottom of this, it can be assumed that you’re a literate and flexible thinker, someone who also loves his or her own library. No one’s talking about erecting Comics as Art & Literature desks in other libraries yet. It could happen… Joyce would agree. But the truth is, the Estate of Harvey Pekar is pretty much just Joyce with the help of some friends. She can not afford to bankroll this project herself and things would have been so much easier for her if she could have simply sprinkled Harvey’s ashes in the backyard.

If, after all the bills have been paid, there’s any money left over, that cash goes to buy still more graphic novels for the library.

As of this writing the project has raised $3,917 of the $30,000 with 30 days left.

Since I couldn’t ask him these questions on a stage in Sydney, I asked Robert if he’d answer these questions in a post-Sydney interview, to which he graciously consented. I recently witnessed an exchange on an academic forum discussing Crumb’s alleged racism or misogyny (I can’t recall which) where someone, referring to crumb’s own responses to the allegations, said that Crumb wasn’t a very thoughtful cartoonist. I couldn’t disagree more. Not only is he thoughtful about his own craft and art, but has a wide-ranging curiosity, verging on the inquisitorial, about the wider world and the Important Questions. Not that he always has the answers, mind you; but few cartoonists of my acquaintance think more and more deeply about the questions than Crumb does. This interview skims the surface.

‘Santa vs Dracula’ is full color graphic novel about Count Dracula invading Santa Claus’s workshop with an army of monsters (Frankenstein’s Monster, Mr. Hyde, Invisible Man, the Wicked Witch of the West, etc) in order to gain Santa’s ability to enter people’s homes at will. Of course, Santa has his own allies and they aren’t about to give the big-guy up without a fight!

For more information and to pledge visit their Kickstarter page.

Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard Boiled Shaman first appeared in the Fantagraphic series Cud and the Dark Horse series Cud Comics. He later starred in a DC miniseries, drawn by Steve Parkhouse. New pages are posted Mondays and Thursdays.

When not working on the Muktuk Wolfsbreath series, Terry does the comic strip Edge City.

As reported earlier, Forbes magazine will be printing a 60 page graphic novel detailing Steve Job’s introduction to Zen and its influence on his life and work at Apple. They’ve posted four more pages.

Here’s their description of what was posted:

The action takes place in the mid-1980s, after Steve left Apple and went on to start a new computer company – NeXT, which would later be bought up by Apple (and Steve along with it). The narrative flashes back and forward in time, connecting this influential period to other highlights in Steve’s career and exploring the imprint of Japanese design concepts on Steve’s creative vision.

The graphic novel will be published in their Forbes 400 (which might already be on shelves?) and then sometime this fall they’ll release a digital version.

Graphic novelist Susie Cagle has produced a new graphic report for Cartoon Movement entitled, “What Every Woman Should Know.” The report delves into the anti-abortion and woman’s rights in the U.S.

“After visiting several local crisis pregnancy centers, I settled on First Resort as my sort of protagonist,” Cagle says, “as their commitment to being as misleading as possible to the general public was intriguing. The situation in the Bay Area is kind of a microcosm of all the factors at play in this political situation on a national scale.” On Thursday Cartoon Movement will publish a column by Cagle about translating her undercover reporting into comics form.