Col Cuore in Gola This Week’s Links

3 days ago 8

Clark Burscough | January 16, 2026

The quiet start to 2026 and the wishing to passersby of a happy new year? Over! Get with the times! It’s news o’ clock, and this week’s links, below, are burning daylight, so hop on the back of the TCJ-branded golf buggy, we’ve got legal actions to consider.

— Stephen R Bissette (@stephenrbissette.bsky.social) 2026-01-14T13:31:42.757Z

This week’s news.

• Starting this week with news regarding Hiveworks, previously seen last spring announcing a shuttering of its print and publishing division and experiencing an exodus of various webcomics creators from its ranks for (at the time) undisclosed reasons, as the Cartoonist Cooperative shared a statement from the Hiveworks Artist Guild that alleges unprofessionalism and incompetence on the part of Hiveworks’ management, and misappropriation of funds by the publisher, with an apparent $340,000 worth of debt currently on the books.

• Elsewhere, a lawsuit filed against Cadence Comic Art, and owner Paolo Belfiore, by 17 artists formerly represented by the art dealer, alleging misappropriation of sales revenue and failure to return unsold original art to its creators, appears to have been settled for an undisclosed sum.

• In other ‘original’ art news, the terms for San Diego Comic Con’s Art Show for 2026 raised eyebrows this week, before quickly being changed, with the show this year initially allowing for the exhibition of “material produced by Artificial Intelligence (AI)” before organisers capitulated to a rapid public outcry, and instead insisted that, oh, what they actually meant was that “material created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) either partially or wholly, is not allowed in the Art Show.” Easy mistake to make.

• Our first auction news of 2026, and it’s a record breaker, as the sale last week of a copy of Action Comics #1, once stolen from Nicolas Cage, as a lot of news outlets want people to know to get some of that (presumably hot???) Nicolas Kim Coppola SEO action, has set a new high watermark for sale of an individual comic book $15 million.

• Retail sales of comic books news, as Publisher’s Weekly shared figures from the latest Circana Bookscan report, with graphic novel sales from contributing outlets up 9.2% ICv2’s Milton Griepp predicted a strong showing for the Direct Market in 2025, despite the fallout from Diamond’s bankruptcy, so we’ll see if that upward trend is reflected in comic store sales figures from last year.

• News from the continent, as French magazine Charlie Hebdo had a busy end to 2025 and start to 2026, garnering complaints regarding the publication of a racist caricature of journalist and activist Rokhaya Diallo by cartoonist Riss; and being the focus of a criminal complaint filed in Switzerland regarding the publication of a cartoon by Éric Salch, which appeared to mock the victims of a fire at a bar in Crans-Montana that occurred New Year's Eve.

• In memoriam, remembering those the world of comics has lost, as news was shared of the passing of Sergio Goizauskas, aka Serguei, cartoonist at Le Monde for over forty years, who has died at the age of 69.

• News was also shared of the passing of Dilbert creator and right wing podcaster Scott Adams, who has died of cancer at the age of 68.

#myangerissues

— Wendy Xu (@wendyxu.bsky.social) 2026-01-05T03:47:57.740Z

This week’s reviews.

TCJ

• Kristian Williams reviews the dream logic of Ben Passmore’s Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance “Black Arms is less about Black history than about Passmore's relationship to Black history, the use he personally has made of it, the meaning for him as an individual. It is less a history than a personal essay about the importance of history, to spark rather than exhaust our interest.”

• Doris Sutherland reviews the provocative debut of Josh Simmons’ Annihilator: Rainbow of Death “Yet Annihilator is far from the visceral cartoon gorefest promised by this first salvo. Indeed, at the heart of the issue is a lengthy lecture. A lecture rooted in beat poetry, as befits one given by Cali and Tamerlane; and an illustrated lecture, as befits one drawn by Josh Simmons.”

• Joe McCulloch reviews the particular pleasures of Kevin O’Neill’s Silent Pictures “There has always been a sensuality to the pillowy flesh of O'Neill's characters; it was most pronounced in his chaotic, near-abstract robot comics of the 1980s through Nemesis the Warlock, where pudding dollops of skin were forever surrounded by a million jagged metal edges, but this kind of eros, often disconcertingly independent of what is depicted, never left him even as age pared him down his own color offers a crucial added component.”

• Cail Judy reviews the propulsive fun of Justin Gradin’s Pageant “Initially, the look of Gradin’s cartooning style reminded me of Home Movies from the early days of Adult Swim. That isn’t exactly a compliment. The style felt dashed off when I started the book, characters with odd proportions, absurdity for the sake of being weird. However, Gradin won me over. I came to admire his jubilant linework.”

AIPT

• Diane Darcy reviews the combo setup of Scott Snyder, Javier Fernández, et al’s DC K.O. #3.

• Collier Jennings reviews the multifaceted heroics of DC’s Wonder Woman: Black & Gold 2026 Special.

• Jonathan Waugh reviews the place setting of Tom Taylor, Daniele Di Niculo, et al’s C.O.R.T.: Children of the Round Table #5.

• Maxwell Majernik reviews the tidy plotting of Cavan Scott, Stefano Nesi, et al’s Gwenpool: All-New, All Deadly.

• David Brooke reviews the excellent curation of Marvel Comics’ Logan: Black, White & Blood #1.

• Colin Moon reviews the manic inventiveness of R. Crumb’s The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat.

The AV Club

Madeline Blondeau reviews the grounding empathy of Hisashi Eguchi’s Stop!! Hibari-Kun!, Volume 1, translated by Jocelyne Allen.

The Beat

• Kathryn Hemmann reviews the dark secrets of Abbey Luck et al’s Pig Wife.

• Khalid Johnson reviews the charming sweetness of Francesca Perillo, Stefano Cardoselli, et al’s Where Does the Rainbow End? #1.

• Diego Higuera reviews the hopeful message of Mark Waid, Patricio Delpeche, et al’s Action Comics #1094.

• Jordan Jennings reviews the solid recap of Jed MacKay, Farid Karami, et al’s Avengers #800; and the breakneck pacing of Joshua Williamson, Tom Reilly, et al’s GI Joe #17.

• Sean Dillon reviews the delightful wit of Jordi Lafebre’s I Am Their Silence, translated by Montana Kane; and the admirable attempt of Dan Panosian, Giorgio Spalletta, et al’s Alice Forever After #1.

• Zack Quaintance reviews the genre blending of EPHK’s Harpy; the clunking start of Garth Ennis, Jacen Burrows, et al’s Babs – The Black Road South #1; and the comic timing of Matt Bors, Fred Harper, et al’s Toxic Avenger Comics #6.

Broken Frontier

• Lydia Turner reviews the tonal evolution of Simone Lia’s How to Make Life Better When It Feels Like It’s Getting Worse.

• Andy Oliver reviews the powerful defiance of Mazen Kerbaj’s Gaza in My Phone, and the shortform showcase of Wilson So’s Lotus’ Dream.

Comics Grinder

Paul Buhle reviews the creative connection of Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey’s Coin-Op #10: Wet Cement.

Four Color Apocalypse

Ryan Carey reviews the dynamic briskness of Ansis Purins’ Savage Beast #1, and the fantastic entertainment of Ryan Cecil Smith’s SF Shorts Folio #1 - Serialized Fragments of Supplementary Files.

House to Astonish

Paul O’Brien has capsule reviews of Marvel Comics’ X-Men #23 and Wolverine #14,

Hyperallergic

Dan Schindel reviews the striking moments of Julia Jackman’s film adaptation of Isabel Greenberg’s 100 Nights of Hero.

Social Semiotics

Dennis Liu reviews the interdisciplinary breadth of Sandie Mourão and Karen Bennett’s Multimodal Mediation Through Picturebooks and Graphic Narratives: Educational and Translational Contexts.

Solrad

Tom Shapira reviews the black humour of Hanawa Kazuichi’s Red Night, translated by Ryan Holmberg.

Yatta-tachi

Kai reviews the brisk joys of Minta Suzumaru's Cupid is Struck by Lightning Volume 1, translated by Tristan K. Hill.

New Year card ! Working hard in the comic mines this year 🫶🎸

— Luchie 🍳 (@heyluchie.bsky.social) 2026-01-12T15:46:53.506Z

This week’s interviews.

TCJ

Gabriel Kennedy interviews Grant Morrison about The Invisibles and The Filth, biological metaphors and inoculating readers against the horrors of the 21st century, and punk approaches to magic “The universe likes to dance so you have got to dance and if you dance it dances back. It’s always good to form a dialogue because then once the universe starts dancing with you and weird things start happening, interesting coincidences, synchronicities then you know how to move.”

AIPT

• Chris Hassan speaks with Tom Brevoort about X-Men and Shadows of Tomorrow, next steps for Marvel’s mutants, and lessons learned from Krakoa.

• David Brooke talks to Garth Ennis about Babs and trusting your gut when it comes to blood and guts, and to Jason Aaron about Thundarr the Barbarian and feeling precious about the character.

Autobiographix

Amaris Ketcham and Nora Hickey chat with Eleri Harris and Shay Mirk about Making Nonfiction Comics: A Guide for Graphic Narrative, imparting lessons specific to nonfiction work, and the work of Crucial Comix and the Comic Art Workshop.

The Hollywood Reporter

Borys Kit speaks with Michael Chaves about Corpse Knight, the origins of the project, and the relationship at the heart of the story.

Rolling Stone

David Zane Mairowitz interviews R. Crumb about life in France and technological isolation, Kafka and Kafka, and anti-authoritarianism vs. reactionary stances.

It seems this variant cover was revealed to the world, so I might as well share it here.

— Erik Larsen (@eriklarsen.bsky.social) 2026-01-14T19:34:22.932Z

This week’s features and longreads.

• For TCJ, Lee Keeler writes on personal history with analglyph 3D comics, on the occasion of having an eye surgically removed, due to cancer, and recommends some 3D reading for those lucky enough to be able to experience stereo vision “Losing my eye still has me stunned. By the time the bandages come off and the stitches are out, you can get used to not crying. But when I was able to get around, I went out back and fetched these books out of the garage. And damned if I didn't cry for my paper friends, forever blurry in red and blue. You, my friend, can still focus on such things. Any 3D book will do. It's trash transcendence, but even a plastic journey into the soul is still one worth taking.”

• The death of Dilbert creator Scott Adams got a lot of coverage this week, with obits from AP News, Ars Technica, CBS, Deadline, Forbes, The Guardian, The Hill, ICv2, The Los Angeles Times, NBC, NPR, The New York Times, Variety, and The Washington Post, and all (unsurprisingly) making reference to Adams’ shift into right-wing broadcasting later in life, and the dropping of Dilbert by syndicators and publications after racist statements made during a livestream.

• For Aftermath, Isaiah Colbert sings the praises of Jinsushi’s Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You, and traces out the appeal of the romance manga’s not-quite love triangle.

• Over at Shelfdust, Tim Stevens writes on what makes a Spidered-Man, and why every generation since Peter Parker’s inception will have its successors and pretenders to the crown, and what plants Sean McKeever and Mike Norton’s Gravity in the latter camp.

• For PopMatters, Rodney Sharkey discusses a perceived encroachment of superhero media on budding academics, discussing Seán Kennedy and James McNaughton’s Send in the Clowns! Popular Politics after Neoliberalism, and its sociopolitical study of Joaquin Phoenix’s turn as the Joker/Arthur Fleck in Todd Phillips’ appropriately named Joker.

• Broken Frontier’s Andy Oliver selects a fresh class of Six Small Press Creators to keep an eye on in 2026, showcasing the work of Daisy Crouch, Francis Todd, Jua OK!, Shri Gunasekara, Skai Campbell (AKA Skhoshbell), and Yu-Ching Chiu

• The Mindless Ones implant a fresh newsletter directly into your frontal context, as A Brief History of Comics History encounters John Brown’s Blast!, and considerations are given to Superman and GI Joe.

• Paul O’Brien’s survey of the villains of Daredevil continues, for House to Astonish, as Denny O’Neil introduces into proceedings: a new love interest, the Irish Republican Army, and the Gael.

• From the world of open-access academia, in the Journal of Aging Studies, Kateřina Valentová and Maricel Oró Piqueras writes on the subjects of depictions of aging female bodies and female sexuality in old age to be found in Séverine Vidal and Victor Pinel’s Le Plongeon and Zidrou and Aimée de Jongh’s L'Obsolescence programmée de nos sentiments.

• Mike Peterson rounds up the week’s editorial beat, over at The Daily Cartoonist, as ICE abductions, Presidential abductions, summary execution of civilians, and land grabs all made for just another day in paradise.

Wizard Fern Based off an unused concept design by Tom Herpich

— Charmaine Verhagen (@charmainevee.bsky.social) 2026-01-07T23:06:44.077Z

This week’s audio/visual delights.

• Our selection includes interviews with Ben Passmore about Black Arms to Hold You Up with The Final Staw Radio, Tessa Hulls about Feeding Ghosts with NPR, Jimmy Suzan about Migrasyon with CBC, and Bob Eckstein about Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums and Inspired By Cats with Lou Carlozo for Qwoted.

• Elsewhere on the comics-focused World Wide Web, observing the changing of the year, Off Panel’s David Harper spoke with Challengers Comics + Conversation’s Patrick Brower about how 2025 went for retailers and with Big Clutch Comics’ Shawn Kirkham about some things to look forward to in 2026, Publisher’s Weekly’s More to Come shared their look back on 2025 and preview of 2026, and House to Astonish presented the 14th annual Homies awards for favourite comics from the year just gone.