Events The Canadian publisher Arcana Studio is founded. February February 6: Marvel Enterprises and Electronic Arts announce a multi-year agreement in which EA will develop a new generation of fighting video games, pitting Marvel superheroes against a new, original set of EA heroes. February 20: Erik Larsen becomes the new publisher of Image Comics, replacing Jim Valentino, who stepped down. March March 10: After 27 years of continuous publication Dave Sim's Cerebus the Aardvark ends 300-issue run. April April 21: Top Cow Productions launches its new property, Proximity Effect, with the first of two free online issues (at Best Indoor Signs Houston, TX | Interior Signs Retail, ADA, & More); the second issue was to premiere on May 26. A 96-page trade paperback collecting the series, with additional anthology stories and a new cover by Marc Silvestri, would be released June 30. April 21: In Groningen, the Netherlands, the Dutch Comics Museum (Nederlands Stripmuseum) opens its doors. It will exist until 2019. April 24: Nat Gertler and About Comics organize the first annual 24 Hour Comics Day, after a 1990 initiative by Scott McCloud. On this day, comics creators around the world are invited to spend the day making a 24-hour comic. Many comic book stores support this event by setting up space for participating artists to work on their comic. It attracts many writers and artists, working both in print and web media. April 26: Cartoonist Jim Scancarelli has the character Phyllis Wallet, wife of Walt, pass away in Gasoline Alley. April 30: Dutch comics artist and illustrator Joost Swarte is knighted in the Order of Orange-Nassau. May May 9: Sam Linthout, son of Belgian cartoonist Willy Linthout, commits suicide at age 21. This will motivate Linthout to draw a graphic novel about his grief: Years of the Elephant. May 19: At the instigation of Kees Kousemaker, owner of the Amsterdam comics store Lambiek, the first buildings of the Stripheldenbuurt in the Dutch city Almere are inaugurated. This is a district where all street names are named after famous comics characters and cartoonists. June With issue #1595, Comics Buyer's Guide changes its format from a weekly tabloid to a monthly squarebound magazine. In addition, in hopes of enhancing newsstand sales, CBG adds a price guide for contemporary comics as well as other new features intended to make the magazine more appealing to those with an avid interest in comic