Operation Ajax and its publishing vendor Cognito Comics got star treatment at this SXSW panel, deservedly so; it’s one of the few emerging graphic-content platforms that I think can really compete with Comixology.

I don’t mean it’s a zero-sum game; Comixology does excellent work, and I’m big on the rising-tide-lifts-all-boats theory when it comes to graphic novel e-publishing. Some market segments will prefer the Comixology interface; some will prefer the Cognito interface. At the end of the day, everyone wins. Though, I admit it: I love that Cognito was inspired to build the Active Reader platform via Torso, co-authored by my brilliant colleague Marc Andreyko.

Catching up on my perpetual backlog, I’m realizing I made label-reading jokes back-to-back…But it’s still so relevant these days, no? Especially for Republican primary voters.

Finder: Voice, the latest chapter in Carla Speed McNeil’s long-running, Eisner-winning sci-fi comic series, is up for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Nice! An update on Bad Houses, her excellent OGN collaboration with Sara Ryan, which I acquired and seriously miss editing, to come soon.

Yes, OK…just pretend it’s “An Easter Clogdancing Spectacular”.

Great news for my 5E colleague Marjorie Braman, as the cream o’ the crop in traditional and digital publishing continue to forge collaborations. What’s 5E, you ask? Search us under Media/News/Publishing on Facebook, like us, and find out.

Well-known: my pal Adam Johnson’s new novel The Orphan Master’s Son is getting big props. Less-known: Adam’s the mastermind of the Stanford Graphic Novel Project, which has produced both a fantastic academic context for GNs and three student-created original graphic novels based on real events — Shake Girl, Virunga and Pika-Don — that are setting new standards for the format.

Panel 3 of “Dread Ringer” was supposed to display the floating text “Message Delivery Failed.” I admit this selflessly, hoping to steer all you young innocents away from the flaming hell of forgetful execution.

Nice hat tip to 5E in Publishing Trendsetter.

More on The Zen of Steve Jobs from psfk.com, via the article “Why The Graphic Novel Will Save Business Journalism”. Browsers of my links will know I consider this an understatement; graphic journalism is on a major upswing, as evidenced by Cartoon Movement, Graphic Journos and the accumulating accolades — most recently from the MEOC Book Awards — to GJ’s Sarah Glidden.