Now that Christmas is upon us—looming like a sea gull about to snatch a fish from the water—it’s a good time to remember how great comics really are. No, not as presents—as marketing tools! It’s no mystery that the long life, and popularity, of the superhero is due to licensing (how many lunch boxes has Spider-Man moved since the 60s), but, as you’ll see below, not even Charles Shulz could deny shilling out his characters. Now that you mention it, I could use a new car… More Dispatch, after the jump.

• I know another end-of-year “best” list. But, this one’s in the Village Voice so it’s, you know, indier.
• According to The New York Times, people still prefer to read their comics on paper. Well, at least until someone invents a device allowing them to read webcomics on the toilet. Oh wait, someone already did.
• Remember when you were a kid: you’d go to the newsstand, pick up a comic, start reading it in the store, and the clerk would yell, “this isn’t a library!” New York Magazine’s Vulture blog feels your pain.
• So, Hellboy 2 is coming out soon. It’s kind of a big deal.

–Ben Gold