I recently discovered The Variants. It is a web video series about a staff at a comic shop. It’s is kind of a mix of Clerks and The Guild. So far, it’s alright. There are a few funny lines and situations.

So Marvel is on the iPhone by partnering with several different app companies. Nice idea, but do I really want to read a full size comic on such a tiny screen? Where are you Apple tablet with Longbox?

Another print magazine “dies.” This time it’s the indie snob’s favorite ranter, The Comics Journal. It will cease regular publishing (it will come out twice a year) and its website will become it’s main publishing outlet. While I was an on and off reader of TCJ, I see this as a necessary evil. The money for printed entertainment is drying up. These days, publishers have to make hard choices to either switch to digital or cut back on print quantity and/or quality.

Not Comics: The new Weezer album is pretty good. It has hints of all their previous albums. While not on the level of Blue or Pinkerton, it has a bunch of fun and catchy songs. Though the Lil” Wayne rap and the Indian signing are…umm…different? Favorite song so far: Tripping Down the Freeway.

Comic-Con 2010 4 days passes have sold out in record time. I bet the day hotels come avaiable you’ll see geeks all over the world screaming at their computer screens.

Work In Progress a blog that shows animations of various stages of comic art.
(In Spanish, but enjoyable even if you don’t speak the language.)

To all the people who told you comic rot your brain as a kid, show them this study.

And people say people don’t read comics. Well 1 in 10 readers ain’t bad.

The Comics Journal releases their 300th print edition. At first, they put all of the issue online for free. Then they pull it without notice 24 hours later.

Robot 6 gives a new reader’s guide to  Osamu Tezuka, “the God of Manga”.

Vertigo show off some preview images of Peter Bagge’s upcoming release “Other Lives”.

At Webcomics.com, Brad Guigar has been giving critiques of Webcomics’ site designs.

Japanese manga publisher Shueisha (corporate parent with Shogakukan of North American manga publisher Viz Media)  will be releasing some of more popular manga on mobile phones.