ICE kidnapping five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos has inspired a #Comics4Liam campaign. Will Eisner’s IP is up for sale. The American Library Association has revealed its top graphic novels of 2025.
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Episode Transcript:
Comix Action launches #Comics4Liam.
Eisner IP up for sale.
ALA reveals top graphic novels.
This is Comic Book Club News for February 2, 2026.
Liam Conejo Ramos Inspires #Comics4Liam:
On January 20, five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken into custody by ICE in Minnesota, and brought to a Texas detention facility. This despite him having an active claim for asylum, multiple adults in the house — he was grabbed in his own driveway — available to take custody of him, and also, he’s five years old.
Further breaking the hearts of the world at large, Liam was stolen while wearing a Spider-Man backpack and a rabbit ear hat. While a Texas judge ordered the release of both Liam and his father, and they were returned home Sunday night, the group Comix Action has launched a campaign called #Comics4Liam to celebrate his release, and raise awareness about the hundreds of other children still being held by ICE.
Per the website, the group is, “asking artists to draw pictures for Liam that you think might make this particular boy feel happy and cared for. Maybe drawings of things he might love; maybe pictures of Liam himself as you think he might like to be seen.”
Other guidelines include avoiding images of Liam in danger or sad, no images that include violence or would otherwise by inappropriate for a five year old, no AI usage at all, and a request not to post images on X, formerly known as Twitter.
If you would like to participate with your own art, or buoy up already posted art, you can use the hashtag #Comics4Liam, and include a link to comics4liam.com. There you can find resources to help Liam directly, as well as others being targeted by ICE in Minnesota, Texas, and beyond. Because nobody, Spider-Man backpack or not, deserves to be kidnapped by ICE.
Will Eisner IP Up For Sale:
You — yes, you — could be the new owner of comic book legend Will Eisner’s entire library of intellectual property.
Per the New York Times, after the passing of both Eisner and his wife, the now 70-year-old owners of Eisner’s estate are hoping to sell the entirety of Eisner’s output to a buyer who will keep the name alive. This includes graphic novels — Eisner is credited with creating the art form — children’s books, “instruction manuals for creating comics,” and characters he created, including vigilante The Spirit. And the estate also includes “The Spirit Returns,” a 72-page story by Eisner that has never been published.
While no sale date or price has been set as of yet, the current owners hope that whoever takes on the IP will also try to tackle a Spirit movie or animated feature… And hopefully one more successful than the flop movie created by none other than Frank Miller in 2008.
More on this as it develops.
ALA Reveals Top Graphic Novels For 2025:
The American Library Association has revealed its top graphic novels of 2025, and a few favorites have made the list.
Per ICv2, books that may be familiar to listeners of this podcast include Ginseng Roots by Craig Thompson, Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theater by Tom Scioli, Helen of Wyndhorn by Tom King and Bilquis Evely, and Talking to My Father’s Ghost by Alex Krokus.
The goal of the Top 10 list is to “increase awareness of the graphic novel medium, raise voices of diverse comics creators, and aid library staff in the development of graphic novel collections.”
In addition, the ALA has released its list of best graphic novels for children from the past year as well, with both lists available at ala.org.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And okay, fine, I’ll buy the Will Eisner estate. Should be simple, it’s not like I need to sign a contract with god or anything.
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