April 30, 2005
Harvey Awards Nominations Announced
Released to the press to take advantage of that mid-Saturday afternoon (???) rush of on-line media traffic, the Harvey Awards were announced by their current administrators the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.
The Harveys are named after the great
Harvey Kurtzman.
To be blunt, I think the Harveys can be untrustworthy because they are nominated by open ballot -- which I prefer -- but their spotty record over the last few years means it's hard to trust the voting bloc. I think more people are voting now, but still, if you have someone at a company really making sure that their artists and creative people vote, you can have these huge one-year spikes for certain companies or certain comics.
Taken just as awards, and off the top of my head, I'm surprised that Identity Crisis received an award for content. I'm also impressed that
Indy Magazine, an on-line publication, received its second and deserved major award nomination of the season.
I will format from a more official list when it's not Saturday.
Best New Talent
Samuel Hiti -- End Times/Tiempos Finales (La Luz Comics)
Christopher Reilly -- Puphedz (Brillig Productions)
Andy Runton -- Owly (Top Shelf)
Leslie Stein -- Yeah, It Is (Alternative Comics)
Bryan Lee O’Malley -- Scott Pilgrim (Oni Press)
Best New Series
Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist (Dark Horse Comics)
Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days (DC Comics/Wildstorm)
Or Else (Drawn & Quarterly)
Owly (Top Shelf)
1602 (Marvel)
Best Letterer
Daniel Clowes -- Eightball (Fantagraphics)
Todd Klein -- Wonder Woman (DC Comics)
Seth -- Palookaville (Drawn & Quarterly)
Dave Sim -- Cerebus (Aardvark-Vanaheim)
Richard Starkings -- Conan (Dark Horse Comics)
Best Writer
Brian Michael Bendis -- Daredevil (Marvel)
Daniel Clowes -- Eightball (Fantagraphics)
Alan Moore -- Promethea (DC Comics/Wildstorm/America’s Best Comics)
Christopher Reilly -- Puphedz (Brillig Productions)
Judd Winick -- Green Arrow (DC Comics)
Best Artist
Charles Burns -- Black Hole #12 (Fantagraphics)
John Cassaday -- Planetary (DC Comics/Wildstorm)
Darwyn Cooke -- DC: The New Frontier (DC Comics)
Juanjo Guardino -- Blacksad 2 (ibooks/Komikwerks)
Jaime Hernandez -- Love and Rockets (Fantagraphics)
Best Cartoonist
Kyle Baker -- Plastic Man (DC Comics)
Daniel Clowes -- Eightball (Fantagraphics)
Batton Lash -- Supernatural Law (Exhibit A Press)
Bryan Lee O'Malley -- Scott Pilgrim (Oni Press)
Jeff Smith -- Bone (Cartoon Books)
Best Cover Artist
Charles Burns -- Black Hole (Fantagraphics)
Juanjo Guardino -- Blacksad (ibooks/Komikwerks)
James Jean -- Fables (DC Comics/Vertigo)
Scott McKowen -- 1602 (Marvel)
Humberto Ramos -- Spectacular Spider-Man (Marvel)
Best Single Issue or Story
Batman: Room Full of Strangers (DC Comics)
Black Hole #12 (Fantagraphics)
Dogs and Water (Drawn & Quarterly)
Identity Crisis #1-4 (DC Comics)
Eightball #23 (Fantagraphics)
Puphedz (Brillig Productions)
Supernatural Law #101 (Exhibit A Press)
Best Domestic Reprint Project
Krazy and Ignatz (Fantagraphics)
B. Krigstein: Comics (Fantagraphics)
The Last Heroes (ibooks/Komikwerks)
Marge's Little Lulu Vol. 1 (Dark Horse Comics)
The Complete Peanuts 1950-52 (Fantagraphics)
The Spirit Archives Vol. 14 (DC Comics)
Best Continuing -- Limited Series
Eightball (Fantagraphics)
Identity Crisis (DC Comics)
Love and Rockets (Fantagraphics)
The New Frontier (DC Comics)
Supernatural Law (Exhibit A Press)
Best Inker
Charles Burns -- Black Hole (Fantagraphics)
Danny Miki -- Ultimate Fantastic Four (Marvel)
Andy Parks -- Green Arrow (DC Comics)
Seth -- Palookaville (Drawn & Quarterly)
Steve Leialoha -- Fables (DC Comics/Vertigo)
Best Colorist
Daniel Clowes -- Eightball (Fantagrahpics Books)
Laura Martin -- Astonishing X-Men (Marvel)
Patricia Mulvihill -- 100 Bullets (DC Comics/Vertigo)
Stefani Renee -- Ant (Arcana Studio)
Dave Stewart -- DC: The New Frontier (DC Comics)
Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work
American Elf: Sketchbook Diaries of James Kochalka (Top Shelf/James Kochalka)
Bone: One Volume Edition (Cartoon Books/Jeff Smith)
Clyde Fans: Book 1 (Drawn & Quarterly/Seth)
Locas (Fantagraphics/Jaime Hernandez)
R. Crumb's Kafka (ibooks/Komikwerks/Robert Crumb & David Zane Mairowitz)
Special Award for Humor in Comics
Kyle Baker -- Plastic Man (DC Comics)
Jimmy Gownley -- Amelia Rules! (ibooks/Komikwerks)
Roger Langridge -- Fred the Clown (Hotel Fred)
Christopher Reilly -- Puphedz (Brillig Productions)
Johnny Ryan -- Angry Youth Comix (Fantagraphics)
Best Anthology
Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventure of the Escapist -- Dark Horse Comics (Diana Schutz, Editor)
Fight #1 -- Image Comics (Kazu Kibuishi, Editor)
Kramer's Ergot #5 -- Gingko Press; Sammy Harkham, Editor
McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13 -- McSweeney's Books (Chris Ware, Editor)
Nickelodeon (Comic Book Section) – Viacom/Nickelodeon (Dave Roman, Editor)
Best Graphic Album of Original Work
Blacksad 2 -- ibooks/Komikwerks (Juajono Guardino, Juan Diaz Canales)
Carnet De Voyage -- Top Shelf (Craig Thompson)
Jimbo in Purgatory -- Fantagraphics (Gary Panter)
Owly -- Top Shelf (Andy Runton)
Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1 -- Oni Press (Bryan Lee O’Malley)
Best Syndicated Strip or Panel
Doonesbury -- Garry Trudeau (Universal Press Syndicate)
Tom, the Dancing Bug -- Ruben Bolling (Universal Press Syndicate)
Maakies -- Tony Millionaire (Self-Syndicated)
Mutts -- Patrick McDonald (King Features Syndicate)
Underworld -- Kaz (Self-Syndicated)
Special Award for Excellence in Presentation
In the Shadow of No Towers -- Pantheon
McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #13 -- McSweeney’s Books
Mr. X Collected -- ibooks/Komikwerks
The Complete Peanuts 1950-52 -- Fantagraphics
Valerian: New Future Trilogy -- ibooks/Komikwerks
Best American Edition of Foreign Material
Blacksad 2 -- ibooks/Komikwerks
Buddha -- Vertical Inc.
Metabarons -- Humanoids Publishing
Persepolis 2: Story of a Return -- Pantheon
Valerian: New Future Trilogy -- ibooks/Komikwerks
Best Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation
Comic Art Magazine -- M. Todd Hignite (M. Todd Hignite, Editor)
Comic Book Artist -- Top Shelf (Jon B. Cooke, Editor)
The Comics Journal -- Fantagraphics (Gary Groth and Dirk Deppey, Editors)
Indy Magazine -- Alternative Comics (Bill Kartalopoulos, Editor)
Men of Tomorrow -- Basic Books (Gerard Jones, Author)
posted 6:52 pm PST |
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CR Week In Review
Top Stories
The week's most important comics-related news stories, April 23 to April 30, 2005:
1. Stan Lee's case stemming from a clause in a 1998 employment contract that allowed him to claim a chunk of movie and licensing profits
was settled with Marvel for an undisclosed sum. If you really need to get into figures, Marvel was only too happy to talk about
the funding deal for a slate of Marvel produced movies.
2.
Acclaim characters bidding ends in wild fashion.
3.
High-bid, high-concept fever, if only of the stay at home for a half-day variety.
Winner of the Week
I would say cartoonists with a real-world issue hook, some level of accomplishment, and the ability to put together a serious book proposal.
Loser of the Week
Disney comic book fans in Europe, with the passing of translator/editor
Erika Fuchs (Germany) and artist
Romano Scarpa (Italy) being felt this week.
Quote of the Week
"Repeat after me,
Kill Bill fans: Referentiality itself is not an intrinsic aesthetic value. Empty referentiality, going through the motions, doesn't make a motion picture, give cinema the gift of sight -- or insight." -- the fine essayist Ron Rosenbaum straining against his seat belt and
offering up a nugget or two of comics-applicable thought.
Via The Beat.
A collector's Romano Scarpa sketch.
posted 7:29 am PST |
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April 29, 2005
The Comics Reporter at the Pulse
An analysis of how clause 4f in Stan Lee's 1998 employment contract, a clause that just resulted in a huge settlement for Lee, got in there in the first place.
posted 10:11 pm PST |
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Newsarama: Acclaim Characters Go to Trio, Not John Taddeo, in Final Outcome of Wild Bidding Process
Matt Brady right on the story. No, I haven't heard of any of those people, either. After the eyebrow-raising news that a bidding process some thought was going to top off in the quarter million dollar range surged to $925,000, it comes as only a slight surprise that former mainstream company cog and one-time Crossgen property bidder John Taddeo failed to make good on his winning bid. The prize: a group of characters from a company that didn't survive the 1990s, reduced in number because several had legal claimants outside the group. It's hard to imagine anyone makng a publishing go with what's left at these stakes, although stranger things have happened and one supposes there's always the wildcard of development money.
posted 7:19 am PST |
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Erika Fuchs’ Contributions Lauded
Here's a much nicer
English-language appreciation of editor and translator Erika Fuchs' contributions to comics history than what I was able to muster the other day. I think I may even prefer "Dagobert Duck" and "Tick, Trick and Track" to their English-language versions.
posted 7:07 am PST |
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Cartoons Should Be More Respectful
I probably mention this too frequently, but I find
opinons like these regarding newspaper cartoons a bad sign for the future vitality of that expression of the comics art form. It seems like the reading community should be way beyond shock and dismay that a strip or editorial cartoon might make a strong statement with which we disagree, and those votes in support all seem to come out of a place of agreement with the opinion rather than principle. Maybe I'm just hyper-sensitive.
posted 6:31 am PST |
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Media Launch for Marvel’s Troops Book
I think
this is the best of the articles I've seen about the Marvel effort to send a special-made comic book to as many troops as would want them. The move is no doubt sincere on Marvel's part, and certainly consistent with recent efforts the company has made in this arena. In glossing over earlier reports, I hadn't noticed that Marvel will be putting three million (!) of these into normal circulation channels in order to benefit the Fisher House Foundation, which indicates to me a Diamond warehouse manager or two should have made the podium for yesterday's photo op starring Captain America and Donald Rumsfeld. A normal-channels book kind of strikes against early speculation that the free army-version of the comics would become ramp-up high collectibles, although I guess that's still a slightly unsettlng possibility (I shudder to think of the verfication method).
It's good PR for Marvel, too, although it doesn't seem cynically timed on either end. I don't know, even if you think this stuff is odd when compared to the stance you remember Marvel's comics taking in relation to the Vietnam War, it's hard to offer criticism of charity work. I have to ask, though, about the cover: shouldn't the non-military-background superheroes have their hands over their hearts rather than giving a salute?
posted 6:15 am PST |
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Quick hits
Spiegelman to the Academy of Arts and Sciences
Profile of Dimona Comix Group
Comic Books Potentially Not a Joke
Oliphant Accused of Vilifying Arabs
Pearls Before Swine Gets Political (Sort of)
Critical Dissection of Juicy Mother
Demonakos New Image PR & Marketing Guru
April 28, 2005
Stan Lee Settles; For $10 Million?
I guess
that first round victory was a knock-out after all, as
wire reports claim that Stan Lee and Marvel have settled on a November 2002 suit brought by Lee against Marvel seeking they pay him 10 percent from movie and related monies according to a clause in a 1998 contract. It was largely believed that due to the crushing victory of that first round decision, combined with Marvel's flush state and desire to continue in the movie business without a PR albatross in the shape of its own public spokesperson, and Lee's desire not to be in litigation with his longtime employer for a second longer than he had to, settlement was inevitable no matter how much public smack Marvel's lawyers talked about appeals. In fact, the case went to a mediator to make that possible.
The wire reports say the terms were undisclosed, but
concurrent business reports seem to indicate a corporate post-it where Marvel essentially notes "Took $10 million from cookie jar to pay Stan Lee." Original estimates bandied about in gossip among industry folk were that Stan might settle for somewhere in the $10-$25 million range.
I was reminded by reader Alex Chun this morning about the differences between mediation and arbitration, which I knew, but made the mistake anyway because I suck. It's fixed now.
posted 7:35 am PST |
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I Would Go See A Stingray Movie…
What do you do if you're a really big company with Hollywood on the brain and you're stuffed full of licensing dough? I would rent DVDs and nap a lot, but I'm not Marvel, who threw their hat
into the movie production game, signing a distribution deal wth Paramount and announcing an ambitious line-up of potential features and basic cost scenarios. I think that's my favorite part, that you can basically describe movies now by saying "I'll be making whatever it is at about this amount of money."
I know jack-all about movies, even less than I know about comics. It might be interesting to see what this does to character generation within the company's various titles; Marvel seems hellbent on orienting everything towards the movies and licensing even now, what with their run of "strong female leads" Not that any have been a hit so far, but since when does something have to be a hit anywhere else to become a movie success? Saying Marvel has a finite number of filmable characters seems true to me but only if they follow the
Spider-Man model. Follow the
Men in Black formula, in that the resource gets treated in no way as a pre-sold property, and the number of produceable fantasy movies seems to grow by dozens. I guess another outcome of this deal could be that Marvel gets even more neglectful-tenantish on the comic book direct market.
The capraciousness of the movie business makes projecting success or failure past next Monday morning a sucker's game, really, and with the comic book division showing it can make a profit even when Ron Perlman's people were running up and down the hallways on motorcycles toting flamethrowers or whatever, I'd say the comics stay fundamentally the same even if this turns into a disaster.
Maybe a more beneficial sign for comics readers is that Marvel seems more comfortable these days exploiting its older material in high-end book productions, which has led to books like the 30-plus-issues-full
Fantastic Four Omnibus. Not only should that material remain in print, but ascribing value to these could be the first step -- of many, many, many steps -- in making things right with the creators.
posted 6:57 am PST |
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Official Offended by Godfather Imagery
If you ever want a good example of the confluence of dull ideas and angry over-reaction that may squeeze the already-shrinking editorial cartoon field more and more over the next two decades: According to a report that ran last night on a Canadian news site 1) Someone was dim enough to use
Godfather-movie imagery to depict the actions of a government official of Italian descent. 2) The official, having gained what one would guess is an upper hand in the press by pointing out the lack of imagination behind the cartoon,
is looking into litigation.
posted 6:49 am PST |
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Quick hits
Nick Anderson Profiled on Fresh Air
Sanderson Continues Eisner Memorial Report
European Comics Shows Common Enough To Have Themes
Tintin Suite to Be Performed
Spirou Gears Up For Issue #3500
April 27, 2005
Erika Fuchs, 1906-2005
The Disney translator and editor Erika Fuchs
died on Friday in Munich. She was 98 years old. Fuchs was the first and longtime editor in chief of the German edition of
Mickey Mouse. Her extremely lively and inventive approach to translation -- changing references, tweaking names, and employing for the Disney comics a descriptive style of speech that was neither high-brow nor guttural -- not only allowed the comics to be popular in Germany and made Fuchs a much-appreciated part of Disney comics history but broke rules of language in ways that are now common in German slang. If I'm reading the obituaries correctly, she served in her position from 1951 to 1988.
Other major media obituaries for Fuchs can be found
here and
here. A great photo of Fuchs with the late, legendary Carl Barks can be found
here. A wikipedia entry touching on her contributions to language can be found
here.
My thanks to Bjorn Wederhake for the information.
posted 8:49 am PST |
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Editor Lmrabet Banned From Journalism
Deep in
what reads like a general profile of satirist and journalist Ali Lmrabet appears the news that the Moroccan government has recently fined him $6000 and banned him from journalism for 10 years, this time due to comments Lmrabet made in a magazine interview about West Saharan refugees.
Lmrabet had just received permission last month to launch a new magazine.
Lmrabet became a well-known figure in Morocco in 2001 when his magazines Demain (French language) and Doumain (Arabic) became critical of Morocco's royal family and other government officials. In May of 2003 Lmrabet was sentenced to four years in prison and a hefty fine for publishing a critical photo montage and a cartoon by the artist "Khalid." At that time he became a rallying cause within the international journalism community. Lmrabet was pardoned and released in January 2004, but obstacles in re-starting his career have kept him an important, ongoing test case for freedom of the press in the Arab world.
posted 8:22 am PST |
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League of Seedy-Looking Gentlemen?
A man suspected on child pornography charges due to ownership of manga titles in 2003 claims membership in secret organization fighting that very problem, but was unable to give too many other details.
"Secrecy is the key to their existence," the unemployed office-seeker told the U.K. press.
posted 8:20 am PST |
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Go, Look: Editorial Cartoon Slideshow
posted 8:18 am PST |
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Acocella Snags $250,000 for Memoir
The
New York Post picks up on a bidding war for cartoonist
Marisa Acocella's
Cancer Vixen book, from the work that originally appared in
Glamour, which resulted in a quarter-million dollar advance. With news that Bernice Eisenstein received roughly the same for her
I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors, one would assume that publishers have seen the
Maus and
Persepolis cartooning on the wall and have become receptive to issues-oriented memoirs, or other comics projects with a relatable hook.
This article has former Black Eye publisher Michel Vrana listed as designer on the Eisenstein project. Vrana was a small but significant influence on the look of comics starting in the middle 1990s.
posted 8:14 am PST |
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Comics on Various YALSA Lists
It's always sort of interesting to see what comics appear on mainstream group recommendation lists, because they usually defy conventional wisdom prevalent within the field you're talking about. You can find a couple comics-inclusive lists
here and
here on Young Adult Library Services Association portion of the American Library Association web site. I have no idea what to make of this other than wow, there are a a lot of lists here.
posted 8:11 am PST |
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Quick hits
Stan the Man Backs Alternative Textbooks
It's the Anti-Pope Cartoon Round-Up
Manga Downloads to PSP Reports Mini-Boom
Alvarez' Yenny Signs With Ucomics.com
Peter David Returns to Career-Starter Spider-Man
Namibian Newspaper Cartoon Supports Computer Program
Local Publisher Project Profile: Complete Peanuts
Local Cartoonist Profile: Mike Wolfer
Wisconsin Cartoonist Attacks Potential Cat Shootings
April 26, 2005
Mark Fiore Wins RFK Cartooning Prize
The interesting thing about
Mark Fiore's win of this year's cartooning prize from the RFK Memorial organization is that the work cited turns out to be the very animation-heavy on-line material
Fiore offers rather than the more staid print material. This makes for a notable win for an on-line resource and provides fuel for speculation on what exactly constitutes comics work.
posted 12:03 pm PST |
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Newsarama Analyzes Sale: Taddeo to Pay $925,000 for Acclaim Characters
Newsarama on the ball
with more details about the sale of Acclaim characters to former minor industry, including a purchase number that seems about four times higher than what had been asserted, and a brief mention that cartoonist and illustrator Barry Windsor-Smith may able to assert rights to one of the characters.
posted 11:51 am PST |
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Cesar Civita, 1905-2005
The prominent Argentine publisher Cesar Cevita
died in Buenos Aires on April 9 at age 99. He was born in Milan and held a management position at Mondadori. Fleeing fascism in 1938, Cevita emigrated to Argentina where he would build the publishing house Editorial Abril, featuring the work of artists like Hugo Pratt and Hector Oesterheld. He had a wife and three children.
posted 11:47 am PST |
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Arbitrary Worldwide Box Office Race
As of April 24 at
Box Office Mojo
Frank Miller's Sin City: $67,263,575 and counting
Garfield the Movie: $198,602,094
Writers Joe Casey and Matt Fraction discuss one of those movies
here.
posted 11:42 am PST |
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Koh Woo-young, 1939-2005
Animation writer and cartoonist Koh Woo-young
died Sunday in Koyang from complications related to cancer. He was best known as the author behind the historical epic
History of the Three Kingdoms (
Samgukji), and also did other serials, wrote for animation and performed some editorial cartooning. He had also been a partner in
a recent free comics weekly venture.
posted 11:39 am PST |
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Quick hits
Troops to Get New Avengers Comic
Scott McCloud Links to 24 Hour Comic Day Stuff
Eric Burns on Free Hosting for Mild Content Offer
Brian Fairrington to Replace Ritter in Phoenix
Newsarama: Pittsburgh Con News "Buzz"
Mainstream Writers Finally Getting Due
Weeklong Festival Includes Train Exhibit
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