Notable Links for 02/23

* Québécoise cartoonist Albert Chartier has died. The only story I was able to find on this passing was this one. If I see another obituary in the coming week I will link to that as well.

* "Reporters Without Borders strongly protested after [Algerian] imams attacked journalists on the independent French-language press as 'apostates' and 'enemies of Islam', singling out cartoonist Ali Dilem of the daily Liberté.

"Several imams called for a boycott of these newspapers during Friday prayers on 20 February. They accused them of sowing discord (fitna) within the community of believers. Algerian television and radio broadcast the sermons, the theme of which is set by the religious affairs ministry." Read more here, courtesy of Reporters Without Borders.

* Former Marvel Comics CFO David Fremed has resigned from his position as CFO of Atari. Fremed served as Marvel's Chief Financial Officer for much of the 1990's, overseeing the company's growth from a $40 million privately held company into a $250 million NYSE traded company. Read more about his departure here, courtesy of Gamespot.

* Heidi MacDonald and The Pulse have scored something of a coup in managing to actually sit down and talk with DC's notoriously private President & Publisher Paul Levitz. Its an interesting interview, and a surprisingly candid one as well - although, it must be noted, Levitz is infinitely more nuanced in what he chooses to say and how to say it than any of his counterparts at Marvel - he manages to give the illusion of candor in some places where he's really not saying much at all. Still, kudos to the Pulse for getting as much out of him as they did. You can read it here.

* So Rich Johnston weighs in on the Image coup de'tat in this week's Lying in the Gutters, but doesn't have much more to add to what Newsarama already said. However, he does spend a little bit more time talking about possible reasons for Image's decision, in particularly the possibly ruinous possibility of Image losing their status as one of Diamond's premiere publishers, with all the perks that entails. At least he only gave it a red light - as I said, only time will tell on this one. Link courtesy of Comic Book Resources.

* Comixpedia takes a comprehensive look at the comics blogosphere here. Link courtesy of Alan David Doane.

* Will Eisner contonues to make just about everyone else in the comics industry look like the lazy slackers they are: he's in his late 80's and he's just now finishing up a new graphic novel exposing the historical fraud behind the infamous "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". Read more here, courtesy of the New York Times.

* Ninth Art has a career overview of Mike Mignola here.

* Since you're already there, take a look at Ninth Art's review of Dupuy and Berberian's JOURNAL D'UN ALBUM, a look at the French duo's unique and often taxing creative process.

* Alan David Doane has Five Quick Questions with Paul Hormscheimer, the cartoonist behind Forlorn Funnies and Mother, Come Home.

* Clobbering Time Cards & Comics of Irvington, NJ are fighting the good fight - they've donated a huge collection of signed comics, first issues and rarities to Aardwolf Comics, to be sold for the benefit of Dave Cockrum. Cockrum, the co-creator of Marvel's "All-New All-Different" X-Men, was recently hospitalized for a variety of conditions, including pnuemonia and various bacterial infections stemming from diabetes. Read more about the donation here, link courtesy of Silver Bullet Comics.

* Ever wonder just how historically accurate the adventures of Asterix & Obelix were in describing the journeys of the ancient Phoenecians? Wonder no more, thanks to the Lebanese Daily Star.

* Comics are being used as one of many tools to combat teen pregnancy and the spread of HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Population Services International (PSI) has launched ”Kikosi”, "a comic book with a teenage character living a positive life". Read more here, courtesy of the International Press Service.

* FunMail has taken the initiative of selling popular comic strips to cell-phone users and providers - and business has unsurpisingly been brisk. Read more here, courtesy of the San Mateo County Times.

* "Marvel Comic's 'X-Men Unlimited' [is] among the 21 eclectic recipients of the Eighteenth Annual Genesis Awards, presented by The Hollywood Office of The Humane Society of The United States (HSUS), celebrating 50 years of protecting animals." Read more here courtesy of Zap2it.com.

* Rocky Mountain News sports cartoonist Drew Litton won first place in a special category for editorial cartooning at the Colorado Press Association's annual journalism competition. Read more here.

* Time's Andrew D. Arnold takes a look at Henrik Rehr's "Tuesday" here.

* "At first glance, the 20-by-30 foot room could pass for a dorm room. Its walls and desks are covered in Marvel Comics actions figures. Superhero figurines rest atop computers.

"But the people who occupy the room are not teenagers, they are investigators with the Wayne County Sheriff's Internet Crime Unit. Posing as teenagers, they surf the Internet from their office in the county jail, accessing chat rooms in search of people trying to arrange dates with minors." Seems like an odd way to get into the minds of modern teenagers, but that's just me. Read more here, courtesy of the Detroit Free Press.

* Finally, everyone and their mothers seems to have taken issue with my recent editorial on superheroes (scroll down to Sunday the 22nd for the original article). I'm not ignoring all the people who have taken the time and energy to reply to my thoughts - really, I'm not - but for right now I'm just not seeing the time to make any sort of lengthy replies on my schedule. Maybe later on in the week I'll get around to doing an omnibus of links for anyone interested in following this debate, but for now, I'll just say I'm flattered to have gotten everyone's panties in a bunch. Really, I am.