* Christopher Butcher presents a long, reasoned and compelling list of reasons why I’m really glad I didn’t go to the 2010 New York Comic Con. Given that Butcher is one of the driving forces behind the Toronto Comic Art Festival, the man knows whereof he speaks, and it behooves the NYCC people to listen. Comic book shows need to be about comics, first and foremost, or else, why bother? I’d give my left nut to be able to afford to go to TCAF or MoCCA next (or any) year, but I wouldn’t go to SDCC or NYCC if you paid me to, based on the available evidence suggesting I would be nothing more than aggravated and miserable throughout the entire experience, because so much of the focus is on things other than comic books and the writers and artists that create them. I try to get to every Albany Comic Con that I can because it’s affordable, it’s within easy driving distance, and it’s about comics.

* At Comics Comics, Jog looks at this week’s most interesting new releases. My pick of the week would be The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn’t Want You to Read! published by Abrams ComicArts, a dense, entertaining  and informative collection of 1950s horror comics that includes a DVD of an anti-comics documentary from the same era.  At The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon also takes his weekly look at the new release list.

* Comic Book Resources has a report on the Harvey Pekar panel at the recent New York Comic Con. The upcoming posthumous release Cleveland sounds nothing less than awesome.

* The Paris Review has a long interview with cartoonist R. Crumb (via Dirk).

* Uncomics: TWC’s Christopher Allen looks at Neil Young’s newest album.

* Uncomics: Remember to wear purple today.

— Alan David Doane

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