It was a relief to see French cartoonist Maurice Sinet — pen name Siné — acquitted of charges of “inciting racial hatred,” brought by The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, at the court in Lyon earlier this week. Siné was fired from his long-time employer, the venerable French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, last […]

The fabulous online comics community Scans Daily has been shut down, one assumes by its host LiveJournal. The reason, apparently, was copyright infringement — ie. posting scans whole issues or close to whole issues of new comics on the site. Seeing some of his work there got comics writer Peter David riled, and he informed […]

The picks of the week from around the web.
Long time since last picks. Haven’t had as much time to surf as normally. This week, however, I have a bunch of comics stuff on my mind.
Du9: “Sibylline retrouvée” & “Le Grand recit fantastique.” Fine two-part article by David Turgeon on the never collected, late Sibylline stories […]

I really should start paying more attention to online comics. Last fall I picked up the 2007 French book edition of Christopher Hittinger’s Jamestown because I found the drawings thrilling at first leaf-through. I’ve only now managed to read it, and I enjoyed it immensely. Turns out, of course, that it’s been available online since […]

Winshluss’ Pinocchio was the big buzz book of the Angoulême festival this year and it came as little surprise that it ended up taking the Fauve d’Or award — the festival’s prize for comic of the year, and one of the greatest distinctions of its kind. It’s an impressive package — a large hardback book […]

I dag er der fernisering på en dobbeltudstilling af de to tegnere, Michael Rytz — of BLÆK fame — og Claus Ejner — prima tegneseriemøver i galleriverdenen — i De Danske grafikeres hus, Sølvgade 14, København. Det er fra kl. 16.00 og udstillingen løber til 15. marts og er åben torsdag-søndag 13-17.

OK, so the prize for weirdest political moment this week goes to the tag team of Gordon Brown and David Cameron, disagreeing in public over the age of Titian when he died. In what in itself is a revealing moment of bizarre self-conception, Brown apparently compared himself to Titian last month, saying the master did […]

Today is the 200th anniversary of the great pioneering scientist Charles Darwin’s birth. May his wisdom prevail!

Illustrations: David Levine, left 1998, right 1973, (copyright New York Review of Books)

Check in here, for the spectacle that is the Bunker’s photo reportage from the Angoulême festival.
Above: Chris Ware signing at the Angoulême booth.

The official announcement is a few days old, the news even older, but I just wanted to note with considerable jubilation that the national galleries of London and Edinburgh have jointly secured the first of the two crown jewels of the Bridgewater collection, Titian’s Diana and Actaeon, for the public by raising the £50 million […]

So, I’ve finally made it home after a three-leg train journey from sunny southern France to an England blanketed in powdered snow and plagued by traffic delays. We were long gone when the prize winners and the Grand Prix were announced, but thanks to a friend on the spot, we learned that Blutch took the […]

Last night’s party at City Hall ended abruptly, with the presidential portrait torn down and stomped upon by an exuberantly out of control underground publisher. The crowds cheered, the bar shut, lights went on, and we exited with a bottle of Hennessy.
Saturday night always delivers.

… Masters of comics: Chris Ware & Daniel Clowes…