Just Another Whatnot Weekend
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The Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s “Between the Lines” magazine, “Funny War Cartoons,” Brad Meltzer’s Ordinary People, Trademark infringement and Copyright infringement suits, Susette Grove – RIP.
Between The Lines #7
The seventh issue of Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s “Between the Lines” magazine is available now.
[It] leads with an interview with award-winning comic creator Craig Thompson …
Plus: John McShane explores the history of comics in Scotland, both its publishers and creators; and Between the Lines also takes a look at the innovators in American comics, including Jim Steranko and 2026 LICAF guest Bill Sienkiewicz.
Also this issue, writer Robbie Morrison reveals his “Desert Island Comics”; and the team put Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Mainline company and the pitfalls they encountered in the spotlight.
Finn Miles also explores modern indie comics and the rise of Image, which give the world alternatives to the publications of Marvel and DC.
The Festival itself happens later this year.
Funny War Cartoons
The Week headlined its cartoon selection “funny cartoons about the US starting a war with Iran.”
They are not the only one I’ve noticed titling collection of editorial cartoons about The Iran War as “funny” or “hilarious” or the like. More like sad or depressing or introspective.
The cartoonists chosen are not to blame for the headings others choose to describe their cartoons.
“Ordinary People Change the World”
School Library Journal interviews Brad Meltzer who partners with illustrator Christopher Eliopoulos to bring American History to the younger crowd.
It’s been 250 years since the founding of the United States. What does this anniversary mean to you? How has it influenced your writing process and work?
Anniversaries usually bring on nostalgia and sappy moments filled with greatest hits. And there’s a place for that. But at this moment in time, I think we must also examine this American experiment and see where it’s failing. We seem to have lost our compassion, our empathy, our decency. It’s not required in the Constitution. But it’s vital as a culture. That’s the true measure of the American Dream to me—how we treat each other.How do you choose which aspect of American history to explore? What inspired you to launch the “Ordinary People Change the World” series, including the upcoming I Am Teddy Roosevelt (Penguin, Jun. 2026)?
These books have always been for my own kids—to give them better heroes to look up to—heroes of kindness, compassion, and character. Today in America, we’ve lost those hallmarks of character. We need [them] back. We started the “Ordinary People Change the World” series to do just that...
More Brad Meltzer at his website.
One is Not Like the Other
Buc-ee’s, a southeast U.S. gas station/convenience store business has sued competitor Mickey’s because it, like Buc-ee’s, uses a cartoon animal as a logo. Timothy Geigner at Techdirt has the details:
Alright, I think it might be time for a wellness check on the people running Buc-ee’s.
I realize that these chain of gas and convenience stores has a strange cult following in the south. I won’t pretend to understand why that is, but whatever. Unfortunately, the company also appears to be run by a bunch of trademark bullying jackwagons. I’ve referred to Buc-ee’s as the Monster Energy of gas stations, because the company appears to think that trademark law allows it to own the concept of a cartoon animal mascot in any tangential industry. They have bullied and/or sued many, many companies under this premise. Because most of its victims are smaller companies, they have gotten a lot of settlements out of these bullying efforts.
But those settlements don’t make the bullying legitimate…
In Other Copyright News
Connor O’Brien writes for Index on Censorship:
Rebooted British spoof series Spitting Image came under fire recently from the rights owners of Paddington Bear after the character was featured in a video posted to YouTube in July titled “Spitting Image Presents: The rest is Bulls*!t”.
In the video, a parody of the popular The Rest Is… podcast series, Spitting Image’s Paddington drops his soft-spoken upper-class English accent for something more akin to his native South America whilst swapping the marmalade jam for a pile of suspicious white powder.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Al Murray, one of the comedians behind the latest iteration of Paddington on Spitting Image, slated the legal action as “an attack on comedy” going on to say: “In my experience people find you funny taking the piss out of things, until you take the piss out of something they like. Then they don’t find you funny anymore.”
Susette Grove Stone – RIP
Susette Grove Stone (1936-2026) has passed away. From 1950 to 1953 Susette occasionally contributed fashion designs to Edgar Martin’s Boot and Her Buddies Sunday companion panel Boots Cut-Outs.
From a young age, Susette displayed exceptional artistic talent and curiosity. At nine years old, she was invited to attend Saturday art classes at Carnegie Museum of Art, where she studied from 1946 to 1951. During grade school, she applied her creative flair to design dresses for the comic strip “Boots and Her Buddies.”
Her artistic promise led to an invitation to study at the Fine Arts Department of Carnegie Institute of Technology from 1951 to 1954, while she attended and graduated from Glassport High School Class of 1954.
feature image from the Paddington website
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