Snarked 2

Close readers of this weekly interview column will realize that I have interviewed Roger Langridge a couple of times. And I never tire of chatting with Langridge about his storytelling approach. Next Wednesday, November 2, marks the release of the second issue for his Kaboom! creator-owned Snarked series. The series has been building its audience, first through the $1 #0 issue,and then Snarked 1 sold out of its first printing–warranting a second printing. In addition to discussing Snarked, we also got a chance to discuss his recently released The Show Must Go On (BOOM! Studios) as well as his writing the Marvel five-issue limited series, John Carter: A Princess of Mars. If you want evidence why I love interviewing Langridge, the man revealed a slight connection between his work and musician Robyn Hitchcock’s The Soft Boys. After reading the interview, please chime in with which current Langridge projects you’re enjoying the most.

Tim O’Shea: What was the most enjoyable aspect, in the run-up to Snarked’s premiere, of building up the potential reading audience through the Snarked website (Snark Island)?

Roger Langridge: Partly just to see if I could do it, and to try to be creative about what could be done with it. I’m planning to continue putting content up on the site each time a new issue comes out, so it’ll be a constant, evolving thing – but mainly, I wanted to do a letters page, and having somewhere to direct people so they could e-mail us was essential. It helps if there’s some other stuff to look at when they visit, of course!

O’Shea: CBR reviewer Greg McElhatton praised issue 1, in part, noting of The Walrus and the Carpenter “Langridge is careful to keep either of them from being evil; they’re just devious and keeping themselves out of ruin”. How hard is to develop a con man like the Walrus, and still make him endearing to the reader?

Langridge: Well, it’s partly that there’s a tradition of loveable rogues in popular entertainment – Laurel and Hardy, W.C. Fields and Chaplin all played bums or scoundrels, sometimes both at the same time, and my all-time favourite comic characters were all deeply flawed individuals (Scrooge McDuck, Wimpy, Barney Google etc.) – so there’s a lineage. Also, it gives me somewhere to take the characters – something I’m hoping to achieve as the series goes on is to show the Walrus discovering his (few) redeeming qualities through sheer force of circumstance, as he finds himself with no choice but to rise to the occasion. Starting him off as a scoundrel makes that journey a lot more interesting.

O’Shea: When I interviewed you back in June, you were praising the “original and interesting colour choices” by interior colorist Rachelle Rosenberg. What were some of your favorite choices that Rosenberg made and why?

Langridge: Well, the “why” you’d have to ask her, but I like the fact that the palette isn’t always obvious – it’s often quite unrealistic, but striking, and it gives the whole book a bit of extra zing. I don’t know enough colour theory to tell you why it works, but I just know it does!

O’Shea: How early in the development of Snarked did you realize that Princess Scarlett would be a major character in the series?

Langridge: Pretty early on. In observing other popular kids’ franchises, there’s nearly always child characters bang in the centre of it, so it made sense from a commercial point of view; and with spinning off the work of Lewis Carroll, the way a child sees the world is so central to the whole atmosphere he creates that it’s something you can’t really get away from without losing something essential, I feel (Tim Burton obviously disagrees!). Basically, I felt that if I was going to attempt an epic kind of quest story, I needed a character to go on a life-changing journey as part of that – and I don’t think the Walrus and the Carpenter are wired to change in major ways. I expect them to be largely the characters they started out as when we reach the end – maybe with moments of insight gained along the way, but essentially unchanged. Whereas Scarlett’s whole life will be turned upside-down by the end. Ooh, spoilers!

O’Shea: You’re the kind of storyteller that other storytellers respect, do you get satisfaction when creators like Kurt Busiek praise you?

Langridge: Yes, of course, though I have to admit I don’t quite know what I’m doing that people seem to respond to; I feel like I’m still learning as I go to a large degree. But yes, of course it’s gratifying to hear people say nice things about your work, especially when, as in the case of Mr. Busiek, it’s someone who’s written many things I’ve enjoyed myself over the years.

O’Shea: Last month saw the release of The Show Must Go On, I must ask–did the song and dance of Frankenstein Meets Shirley Temple come to you in a dream?

Langridge: I’m not much of a one for remembering dreams, I’m afraid – but the way I was writing back them definitely had a large dollop of stream-of-consciousness built into it. Nice of you to notice!

O’Shea: Sorry if this question has been asked of you numerous times, but in The Show Must Go On, one of the characters is Leppo. Was that character named partially inspired by the Marx Brothers?

Langridge: Actually, I swiped the name from the Soft Boys song (from their 1979 album A Can of Bees) called “Leppo and the Jooves” – Robyn Hitchcock never physically describes Leppo in the song, but that was the mental picture I saw whenever I heard it. (Which isn’t to say that a lot of other things in that story weren’t partially inspired by the Marx Brothers!)

O’Shea: How hard is it to shift gears from writing Snarked to writing John Carter: A Princess of Mars? Would you agree this is a departure from the type of stories you’ve recently been known for writing?

Langridge: Yes, although there are similarities between Carter and Thor: The Mighty Avenger – where one was about a mysterious being trapped on Earth, the other is about an Earth man trapped on a world of mysterious beings, so they’re almost mirror images of one another. And there’s a love story at the centre of both books. So, a departure, yes, but not a totally un-navigable one. I do enjoy the variety of writing different kinds of things – as I said, I feel like I’m learning all the time as a writer, and it’s good to stretch different writing muscles to see if I can do it, and what I can get out of it.

O’Shea: I am not asking to brag about yourself, but how proud and surprised were you when you realized that you have now won back-to-back Harvey Awards?

Langridge: In a way I’m kind of glad I didn’t get this kind of recognition early on in my career, because I’m sure I would have been completely insufferable! As it is, twenty years in, I’d reached the point where I’d pretty much given up on ever winning any awards, so when they happened I think I had a better sense of perspective – grateful, yes, and very surprised, but hopefully not too big-headed about it. I realise it’s a bit of a lottery and I’ve probably had my lot now! I’m extremely thankful to everybody who voted for me. When I told my Dad, he said he was proud of me (this coming from someone who never thought I’d even be able to make a living as a cartoonist!) – which means a lot.

Parker: The Outfit

Darwyn Cooke, Roger Langridge and Daven Stevens’ The Rocketeer: Artist’s Edition led the 2011 Harvey Awards, presented Saturday night in conjunction with Baltimore Comic-Con. Named in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman, the awards are selected by comics professionals, who offer nominations and vote on the winners.

The 2011 Harvey Awards winners are:

Best letterer: John Workman, Thor (Marvel)
Best colorist: Jose Villarrubia, Cuba: My Revolution (Vertigo/DC Comics)
Best syndicated strip or panel: Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau (Universal Press Syndicate)
Best online comics work: Hark! A Vagrant, by Kate Beaton
Best American edition of foreign material: Blacksad, Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido (Dark Horse)
Best inker: Mark Morales, Thor (Marvel)
Best new series: American Vampire, Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo/DC Comics)
Most promising new talent: Chris Samnee, Thor: The Mighty Avenger (Marvel)
Special award for humor in comics: Roger Langridge, The Muppet Show (BOOM! Studios)
Best original graphic publication for younger readers: Tiny Titans, Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani (DC Comics)
Best graphic album — previously published: Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites, Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson (Dark Horse)
Best anthology: Popgun #4, edited by D.J. Kirkbride, Anthony Wu and Adam P. Knave (Image Comics)
Best domestic reprint project: Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer: Artist’s Edition, designed by Randall Dahlk and edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW Publishing)
Best cover artist: Mike Mignola, Hellboy (Dark Horse)
Best biographical, historical or journalistic presentation: The Art Of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets Of Life And Death, Todd Hignite (Abrams ComicArts)
Special award for excellence in presentation: Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer: Artist’s Edition, designed by Randall Dahlk and edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW Publishing)
Best graphic album — original: Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 6: Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, Bryan Lee O’Malley (Oni Press)
Best continuing or limited series: Love And Rockets, Vol. 3, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
Best writer: Roger Langridge, Thor: The Mighty Avenger (Marvel)
Best artist: Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit (IDW Publishing)
Best cartoonist: Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit (IDW Publishing)
Best single issue or story: Daytripper, Fabio Moon and Gabiel Ba (Vertigo/DC Comics)

High Moon

All this month, the creative team of High Moon has been celebrating its third anniversary of entertaining folks. Robot 666 is joining in the celebratory fun today by interviewing artist Steve Ellis. In this email info exchange we delve into the series moving away from ZUDA and growing its audiences through different digital platforms. While he was unable to go into details, I think fans of High Moon will be happy to learn there will some more Western horror in the High Moon creative team’s future.

If you’ve not read High Moon, at their blog the creators posted where to find High Moon: “The first three chapters of High Moon were collected last October by DC Comics. You can order the print collection through your local area comic book shop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Borders.

The entire series is also available digitally through Comixology’ Comics or DC Comics apps for the iPhone and iPad Operating System. You can also download the issues from here – and read them on your computer or import them them into your ipad or iphone. The first issue is free — and every additional issue is just 99 cents!

And finally, for those of you savvy comic reading gamers our there — HIGH MOON is also available through the DIGITAL COMICS store on the Playstation Network for your PSP.”

Added bonus at the end of this interview, instead of answering a question, Ellis asks the readers a question.

Tim O’Shea: This month marks the third anniversary of High Moon. Looking back at the past three years, what have been some of the high points for you?

Steve Ellis: The first high point was meeting David at NYCC and starting the whole process of collaboration and building the working friendship that we’ve built. The rewards of working in comics come in different forms, but the collaborative process is one of the greatest parts of it.

Other highlights include winning the first competition, which while everyone else seems to say was a foregone conclusion didn’t feel that way while we wee in the thick of it. The third major high point is getting to know the fans, building a visual style all my own and really finding an audience that responds to that vision.

Last but not least, being nominated and winning the Harvey Awards. There is nothing more flattering than to be acknowledged by your peers for the work you’ve been dong. So often comic artists work in a vacuum, only interacting with the biz on Wednesday when you go to the shop. Having your work chosen for an award by your peers is an excellent reward, and makes all the studio work even more worthwhile.

O’Shea: How daunting is it for the series to be moving on, with the end of ZUDA as an entity?

Ellis: I don’t know if I would describe it as daunting, it’s really exciting. Watching how well High Moon has done with the new audiences it’s found on the iPhone and PSP has given me more belief in the digital format these digital format and that when we come back with the new material we’ll have an even bigger audience waiting for it. I will miss Zuda for its community of fans though. I think that was one of the highlights of that format. The direct interaction with the fans. It seemed that every day people were coming to the site, reading and commenting and having conversations about the story points, giving their opinions on the weekly events in the comic and really being a part of the series. I think Zuda fostered a wonderful group of fans and contributors and I think in some ways the comics industry is a bit less for its end.

O’Shea: Did you know Drawbridge was going to post some interpretations of the HIGH MOON characters or was that a complete surprise?

Ellis: That was truly awesome. Simon Fraser, who arranges the drawbridge blog, dropped it on me the day they were going to do that as the topic. They put out a new topic everyday on Drawbridge and most days I can’t get my head together to do a piece for it. By the time I figure out a piece I want to do, it’s already the next day. So when Simon told me they were doing High Moon, I found out that morning. It was all I could do to get a piece in there. I have a couple of Drawbridge sketches sitting in my drawer because I was too busy to get them done.

The Drawbridge guys and girls are a fantastic bunch of creators, and it’s really an honor that they’ve asked me to contribute.

O’Shea: What else are you working on?

Ellis: Well, David, Scott and I are still producing the thriller comic, BOX 13, and after some interesting meetings we had at NYCC 20, it seems we’re going to have a lot of new and interesting projects with High Moon coming up.

Plus, there looks like there will some more Western horror in our future very soon.

O’Shea: In a recent tweet of yours, you acknowledged that films sometimes serve as inspiration for your comics. What films influenced High Moon?

Ellis: Oh wow … the first season of High Moon was influenced by Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. Films like The Good, the Bad & The Ugly, High Plains Drifter, The Italian version of Django is also great visual influence on High Moon especially for Mac’s tartan. The widescreen format of High Moon was made for the western. You can get those nice long “pans” across that mimic those long epic shots in Leone films. Not to use pretentious film words, but with High Moon I really tried to keep the same sense of mise en scène from the Leone world.

As the comics have been moving forward, Conroy has moved across the ocean to Victorian England and new influences have come in to play. For visual style I’ve been looking at films like the recent Frankenstein (by Kenneth Branagh, not my favorite film, but the set designs are great), as well as The Prestige, From Hell and other films of that era.

Strangely enough, I haven’t really delved into many monster films for this one, mostly because I don’t want my monsters to be too influenced by other peoples work.

O’Shea: In what ways have you and collaborator David Gallaher helped each other to evolve/improve as storytellers?

Ellis: David and I have spent countless hours sitting in my studio, or in the local coffee shops going over our projects panel-by-panel, page-to-page. It’s a very different work relationship than the traditional comic model. We both have a lot of say in what the other guy is doing. David will sometimes have a very specific vision for how he wants a scene to visually play out and I will have changes or additions to story points and storytelling.

I’ve really learned a lot about story structure and developing character and putting characters through their paces. When we begin working we tend to start with a solid outline, but as the story builds and as we develop pages and the drawing/writing process has begun, there is a lot of back and forth, and frequently the stories take on a life of their own. The final product still has the themes and high points of the outline but the details have often changed somewhat. Usually, when I’m done with a season, I have to immediately go back and read it again because I feel like every season is a journey and by the time I’ve gotten to the end I’ve forgotten where I began.

O’Shea: How has the 31 Days of High Moon gone so far?

Ellis: It’s been great, we’ve been talking to a lot of fans and putting up new art and things from the series and the repines has been fantastic. It’s great to see the outpouring of support we’ve gotten for the book and the continuation of the series.

O’Shea: Were you able to generate a great deal of interest and fun with the High Moon print you all offered at NYCC?

Ellis: The print was a great success. Every one who saw it was really excited about it. I haven’t worked on High Moon in a while, so pulling out The High Moon color palette and going crazy with the ink was great fun. I’m really looking forward to sinking my teeth into the next storyline.

O’Shea: When did you first realize how much enjoyment you got out of drawing monsters (as evidenced by High Moon, as well as your How-To book, Scream)?

Ellis: I’ve always been the “scary” kid, though, I think I really figured out that I was good at drawing monsters when I started working for White Wolf games on their Vampire the Masquerade line.

Monsters are just a blast to draw. I went to the morgue and studied anatomy in college and would come home after drawing cadavers and twist the anatomy into weird freaks of nature in my sketchbooks. Also, I love to look through books of animals and those crazy deep-sea creatures for inspiration. There’s nothing like big teeth, claws, fangs and weird anatomy to excite the imagination.

Monsters have always been a great way to deal with often real issues in a fun, scary, but not “real” way. I think Monsters often personify something we don’t like about ourselves or the world around us and play on our primal instincts. In movies and comics in the past monsters have been used as metaphors for social issues and personal fears. Just look at the way George Romero uses zombies to deal with race, religion and consumerism. The Werewolves in High Moon represent different things to the different characters that interact with or are them. For Mac, the Werewolf inside him represents his fear of losing control, whereas Conroy is more at home with his monster within. He accepts it and uses it, rather than trying to suppress it. For Bell, the monster he becomes is a dark reflection of his gentlemanly self.

Writing and illustrating Scream: Draw Classic Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, Monsters and More, was a fantastic way to share my love of monsters with students who like to draw. Drawing monsters well can be tough, because you need to be able to draw the real world and represent that well enough so that when you twist the world into a monster, its still as realistic and well drawn as when you draw “real life” things.

O’Shea: You’ve been answering all these questions, now you get a chance: What would you like to ask your fans?

Ellis: I want to do a special High Moon piece for the end of the month; so, I guess I’d like to ask them what monster they want Conroy to be confronting on that piece.

Also, I’d like to thank all the fans of High Moon who supported us through the competition and really became a part of what made High Moon great for us and to let them know that more is coming.

To hear Waid tell it in his intro to the CBR post, a combination of nervousness and not hitting certain points hard and often enough led some in the audience — including Sergio Aragonés, who confronted Waid about it — to believe Waid was attacking the very notion of creator ownership of art and defending illegal downloads. In reality, the speech was not nearly as radical, and a great deal more interesting. The most thought-provoking part of it, to my eyes, is the passage in which Waid argues that Internet culture, with the premium it places on distributing content people enjoy to as many other people as possible, has actually reinvigorated the notion that art has inherent value, in cultural terms if not financial ones:

And I’ll tell you why. It’s not because people “like stealing.” It’s because the greatest societal change in the last five years is that we are entering an era of sharing. Twitter and YouTube and Facebook–they’re all about sharing. Sharing links, sharing photographs, sending some video of some cat doing something stupid–that’s the era we’re entering. And whether or not you’re sharing things that technically aren’t yours to share, whether or not you’re angry because you see this as a “generation of entitlement,” that’s not the issue–the issue is, it’s happening, and the internet’s ability to reward sharing has reignited this concept that the public domain has cultural value.

Waid and his audience didn’t have the luxury you currently have, of being able to go through the speech at your leisure when you’re not reaching the end of a long convention day with a few vodkas under your belt. Take advantage, read the whole thing, and let us know what you think.

Harvey Awards

Saturday’s Harvey Awards ceremony got me thinking about the auspicious Best New Talent category. This year’s recipient is Rob Guillory for Chew, which is fairly apt given Guillory’s unique style and ability for this book to catch on the way many have failed.

But back to the award itself. In some industries, the idea of a Best New Talent award is the kiss of death for artists just breaking onto the scene — giving them too much attention too early in their career, akin to a child star trying to grow up in the entertainment industry. But as it turns out for the Harvey Awars’ Best New Talent, they’ve picked some winners. Here’s a list of the winners since the category’s inception in 1990:

Jim Lee (1990): Not bad for a first pick. But you have to remember, at the time Jim Lee was still trying to shrug off being “the guy from Punisher War Journal who replaced Marc Silvestri” on Uncanny X-Men. This is a couple months before the new X-Men series came out.

Julie Doucet (1991): This one is a big change from the previous year’s Jim Lee; Doucet at the time had only done her self-published comic Dirty Plotte and a feature in Robert Crumb’s Weirdo. She did several books after winning the award, but has retired from long-form comics apparently.

Joe Quesada (1992): Long before Quesada was Marvel’s editor-in-chief, or even an editorial figure at Marvel Knights or his own Event Comics with Jimmy Palmiotti, he was an up-and-coming artist working for Valiant. Although he did several books there, it’s his work on Ninjak with the Mucha-inspired linework that really got me to sit up and take notice.

For 1993-1995 the Harveys did away with the category, unexplicably. Is it commentary on the lack of new talent in those three years, or just different priorities? As Marvel would say, “U-Decide!”

Adrian Tomine (1996): The people have a keen eye and noticing talent just coming up. Tomine had just segued his mini-comic into a full-fledged series at Drawn & Quarterly, but hadn’t yet hit the “Summer Blonde” arc that really got people’s attention.

Jessica Abel (1997): Abel had been doing comics for a couple years before she got the Harvey, but around ’97 it all started coming together; she won a Xeric grant for Artbabe, which brought the attention of Gary Groth and the beginning of a long relationship with Fantagraphics. Abel fans should track down her 1999 collaboration with This American Life’s Ira Glass, Radio: An Illustrated Guide.

Steve Weissman (1998): Weissman burst onto the scene under the wing of Jeff Mason’s Alternative Comics with Tykes and the follow-up Yikes! He won the Harvey in 1998 for Best New Talent after being nominated but losing the Ignatz award of the same name to Debbie Drechler.

Kevin Smith (1999): I remember eyes being agog over this one; Smith was one of the first major talents from the film industry who came into comics, and one of Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti’s inspired choices to write Daredevil once they were given the reins to the Marvel Knights line. Besides Daredevil, he was doing some Clerks comics for Image and Oni.

Craig Thompson (2000): This one was a no-brainer; Goodbye Chunky Rice hit the comics scene with considerable thunder, and the Harveys took notice. His 2003 follow-up Blankets cemented it all.

Michel Rabagliati (2001): Probably one of the oldest people to win a Harvey for New Talent, Rabagliati waited until his 40s to jump into comics, but he acted like he’d been doing it for years. His series of “Paul” books is something to behold.

Jason (2002): This award was deserving, but probably came a year or two late — but Mjau Mjau was hard to get a hold of in the States at the time.

Nick Bertozzi (2003): There are several instances where both the Harveys and the Ignatz nominate the same people for Best New Talent — that’s not a problem, though, as they both seem to have good taste. But Bertozzi did the hat trick in 2003 at the Harveys, winning both Best New Talent and Best New Series for Rubber Necker, beating out Fables, Y: The Last Man, X-Statix and others.

Derek Kirk Kim (2004): 2004 was Kim’s year, winning both at the Eisners and the Harveys for his first graphic novel — and also the first time a webcomic artist had won, I believe.

Andy Runton (2005): Runton has become one of Top Shelf’s top tier of cartoonists with his series Owly, which was one of the first widely successful modern “all ages” books in the graphic novel age.

TIE – Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and R. Kikuo Johnson (2006): Let me admit — I hate ties. At the time, the playwright Aguirre-Sacasa was working on Marvel’s second ongoing Fantastic Four series, while Johnson was the ordained new “master class” with his Night Fisher graphic novel from Fantagraphics. Fast forward to now, and they haven’t done much published comics — let’s bug them for more.

Brian Fies (2007): The webcomic comes of age in the eyes of the Harveys, with Brian Fies’ Mom’s Cancer getting several awards this year, and a book collection from Abrams.

Vasilis Lolos (2008): Lolos was, and still is, a relatively unknown commodity in comics. His graphic novel series Last Call at Oni was good, but I remember him most for his mini-comics and the issue of Northlanders he did with Brian Wood. Someone should collect his mini-comics and put them out (hint-hint).

Bryan J.L. Glass (2009): Glass is a talent, no doubt, but my worn copy of Ship Of Fools from the early 2000s says he’s a little late for Best New Talent. He won this on the strength of his Mice Templar series with Michael Avon Oeming, but it was so successful it made people forget about his earlier work, unfortunately.

Rob Guillory (2010): I love it when an artist with an unconventional style gets recognition and approval — from critics, as well as the readers who pay the bills. Guillory’s staked out a unique turf in the pages of Chew, down to the little hidden messages he puts in every issue. Well deserving, and another feather in the cap for Chew.

From her account, Waid’s speech was about the importance of having a public domain, and his point was that, originally, copyright existed to give creators an exclusive right to their work for a reasonable time and then release it to the public domain. “No one would argue that the world isn’t better by being able to see a Renoir for free,” MacDonald quoted Waid as saying, adding, “Now big corporations use copyright extended under the illusion it helps us all. Giving back to public domain helps culture, says Waid.” As for file sharing, Waid says, it’s “legit” to worry about it but “it isn’t going away. We can’t stop it and we’re entering the sharing era.” (All quotes drawn from MacDonald’s tweets.)

After the ceremony, MacDonald reported, Waid and cartoonist Sergio Aragones had some sort of heated discussion, although it ended in a hug. She caught up with Aragones after everyone was thrown out of the bar and did a quick interview:

Paraphrasing here a bit, but Sergio was advocating more for the idea that the spread of free content has devalued content, making it harder for people to make a living at it. He said a couple of things that I tried to jot down, one that (I’m paraphrasing) “quality has to be considered again” and the one I tweeted “If you give everything away for free, you have ruined everything.”

My own take is that they are both right. Technology and the Internet make it easier than ever before to reproduce and share content and, right or wrong, people are going to do it. And revisions to the copyright law have given not just creators but their descendants and faceless corporations the exclusive right to use content for longer and longer terms, a situation that benefits a few at the expense of the rest of us. At the same time, as Aragones points out, taking away the financial reward makes people less inclined to create and sets up a marketplace of the lowest common denominator. The key to the dilemma is that the internet is not quite as flat as people make it out to be; in general, higher quality work attracts a bigger audience, and the more successful creators have managed to monetize that. Dean Haspiel sums it up neatly in the comments to MacDonald’s post:

I’ve been giving away my comix [for free] since 2006 when I launched ACT-I-VATE.com.

I didn’t make a steady living with the stuff I gave away for free but it absolutely helped brand and market my sensibilities and got me paying gigs.

Tokyopop CEO Stu Levy addressed the topic on a more pragmatic level in an interview with Ishaan at Siliconera. He sketched out a pragmatic strategy for pirates that relies on both vigorous defense of property rights and simply making a product that is more appealing than the free stuff online.

We have to provide significant value. That could be in the overall experience — or it could be in some sort of incremental value that is only found in the legal version. Some people suggest that could be “better translations” but I’m not so sure. I think it has to be the overall experience — which is challenging because currently the online scanlation experiences are very nice.

However, they are so flagrant that most likely those sites will have a tough time surviving as-is. The pirates will need to go further underground — and fans may still prefer their versions. But if the legal versions are very easy to use and affordable then hopefully many fans will support the creators by going that route.

And like all publishers in the real world, he picks his battles:

Most music and video piracy is through torrent and other sites which take time and patience. Manga piracy is currently flagrant — you just go to a website and click away. That’s so disrespectful of the creators that, frankly, it’s rude. That’s why legal action needed to be taken.

(Image from the ill-fated Captain Copyright comic; ironically, I can’t find any copyright information or I would cheerfully give proper credit.)

Harvey Awards

Asterios Polyp, Chew, The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures and The Walking Dead were among the titles winning multiple honors at the 2009 Harvey Awards, presented Saturday in conjunction with Baltimore Comic-Con.

The ceremony, hosted by PvP creator Scott Kurtz, also featured the presentation of The Hero Initiative’s first Dick Giordano Humanitarian of the Year Award to Tim Sale and Jerry Robinson, and The Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award to Walter Simonson.

The complete list of Harvey Awards nominees can be found here. The winners are:

Best Writer
Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead (Image Comics)

Best Artist
Robert Crumb, Book of Genesis (W.W. Norton)

Best Cartoonist
Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter (IDW Publishing)

Best Letterer
David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)

Best Inker
Klaus Janson, The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel)

Best Colorist
Laura Martin, The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures (IDW Publishing)

Best Cover Artist
Mike Mignola, Hellboy: The Bride of Hell (Dark Horse)

Best New Talent
Rob Guillory, Chew (Image Comics)

Best New Series
Chew (Image Comics)

Best Continuing or Limited Series
The Walking Dead (Image Comics)

Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers
The Muppet Show Comic Book (BOOM! Studios)

Best Anthology
Wednesday Comics (DC Comics)

Best Original Graphic Album
Asterios Polyp, by David Mazucchelli (Pantheon)

Best Previously Published Graphic Album
Mice Templar, Vol. 1, by Bryan J.L. Glass and Michael Avon Oeming (Image Comics)

Best Syndicated Strip or Panel
Mutts, by Patrick McDonnell (King Features Syndicate)

Best Domestic Reprint Project
The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures, by Dave Stevens; edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW Publishing)

Best American Edition of Foreign Material
The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, by Helen McCarthy (Abrams ComicArts)

Best Online Comics Work
PvP, by Scott Kurtz

Special Award for Humor in Comics
Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5 (Oni Press)

Special Award for Excellence in Presentation
The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures, by Dave Stevens; edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW Publishing)

Best Biographic, Historical or Journalistic Presentation
Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics, by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle (Abrams ComicArts)

Best Single Issue or Story
Asterios Polyp, by David Mazucchelli (Pantheon)

But none of those guests is a television or movie star, a professional wrestler, or a “model,” notes The Baltimore Sun. No, every one of them is actually involved in the creation of comics.

“It doesn’t make sense for our vendors to have these other people there to take up valuable space that would otherwise go to people who do make sense,” convention organizer Marc Nathan tells the newspaper. “… Having fringe sci-fi people, from shows that were popular back in 1972, doesn’t make that much sense to me. That’s not my show, that’s not what I want to do.”

The people you will find at the event include Laura Allred, Mike Allred, Sergio Aragones, Ivan Brandon, Tom Brevoort, Bernard Chang, Howard Chaykin, Ciff Chiang, Mark Chiarello, Frank Cho, Mike Choi, Kevin Colden, Amanda Conner, Ramona Fradon, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Ron Garney, Mike Gold, Michael Golden, Jimmy Gownley, Gabriel Hardman, Tony Harris, Dean Haspiel, Jonathan Hickman, Greg Horn, Adam Hughes, Jamal Igle, Klaus Janson, Georges Jeanty, Dave Johnson, J.G. Jones, Denis Kitchen, Barry Kitson, Scott Kurtz, Erik Larsen, Steve Lieber, the Luna Brothers, Ron Marz, Todd McFarlane, Carla Speed McNeil, Terry Moore, Sean Murphy, Steve Niles, Phil Noto, Denny O’Neil, Ryan Ottley, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jeff Parker, David Petersen, Paul Pope, Eric Powell, Chris Roberson, James Robinson, Don Rosa, Jim Rugg, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, Jim Starlin, Billy Tan, Ben Templesmith, Herb Trimpe, Timothy Truman, Mark Waid, Marv Wolfman, John Workman and Bernie Wrightson.

Exhibitors include Adhouse Books, BOOM! Studios, comiXology, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Top Cow Productions and Top Shelf Comix.

In addition, the 2010 Harvey Awards will presented Saturday evening in a ceremony hosted by Scott Kurtz. Baltimore Comic-Con runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Harvey Awards

The nominees have been announced for the 2009 Harvey Awards, which recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art.

Named in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman, the cartoonist and founding editor of MAD magazine, the awards are selected entirely by creators. Final ballots are due by Aug. 7. Winners will be announced Aug. 28 in Baltimore in conjunction with Baltimore Comic-Con. Scott Kurtz will again serve as master of ceremonies.

The nominees are:

Best Writer
• Jason Aaron, Scalped (Vertigo/DC Comics)
• Geoff Johns, Blackest Night (DC Comics)
• Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead (Image Comics)
• Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3: The Last Straw (Amulet Books)
• Mark Waid, Irredeemable (BOOM! Studios)

Best Artist
• Robert Crumb, Book of Genesis (W.W. Norton)
• Guy Davis, B.P.R.D.: Black Goddess (Dark Horse)
• Brian Fies, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? (Abrams ComicArts)
• David Petersen, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 (Archaia)
• Frank Quitely, Batman and Robin (DC Comics)
• J.H. Williams III, Detective Comics (DC Comics)

Best Cartoonist
• Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter (IDW Publishing)
• Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3: The Last Straw (Amulet Books)
• Roger Langridge, The Muppet Show Comic Book (BOOM! Studios)
• David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)
• Seth, George Sprott (1894-1975) (Drawn and Quarterly)

Best Letterer
• Chris Eliopoulos, Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius stories (Marvel)
• Brian Fies, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? (Abrams ComicArts)
• Thomas Mauer, Rapture (Dark Horse)
• David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)
• Richard Starkings, Elephantmen (Image Comics)

Best Inker
• Oclair Albert, Blackest Night (DC Comics)
• Steve Ellis, High Moon (Zuda/DC Comics)
• Klaus Janson, The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel)
• Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3: The Last Straw (Amulet Books)
• Mark Morales, Thor (Marvel)

Best Colorist
• Brian Fies, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? (Abrams ComicArts)
• Steve Hamaker, Bone: Crown of Horns (Graphix)
• Laura Martin, The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures (IDW Publishing)
• David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)
• Dave Stewart, B.P.R.D.: Black Goddess (Dark Horse)

Best Cover Artist
• Jenny Frison, The Dreamer (IDW Publishing)
• Mike Mignola, Hellboy: The Bride of Hell (Dark Horse)
• Michael Avon Oeming, Mice Templar: Destiny, Part 1 (Image Comics)
• Frank Quitely, Batman and Robin (DC Comics)
• J.H. Williams III, Detective Comics (DC Comics)

Best New Talent
• Kevin Cannon, Far Arden (Top Shelf)
• Rob Guillory, Chew (Image Comics)
• Reinhard Kleist, Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness (Abrams ComicArts)
• Nathan Schreiber, Power Out (ACT-I-VATE)
• Matthew Weldon, New Brighton Archeological Society (Image Comics)

Best New Series
• Batman and Robin (DC Comics)
• Chew (Image Comics)
• Irredeemable (BOOM! Studios)
• Sweet Tooth (Vertigo/DC Comics)
• The Unwritten (Vertigo/DC Comics)

Best Continuing or Limited Series
• Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Amulet Books)
• Ganges (Fantagraphics Books)
• Invincible (Image Comics)
• Scalped (Vertigo/DC Comics)
• The Walking Dead (Image Comics)

Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers
• Amulet: Storekeeper’s Curse (Graphix)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3: The Last Straw (Amulet Books)
• Grown-ups Are Dumb (Hyperion Books)
• The Muppet Show Comic Book (BOOM! Studios)
• New Brighton Archeological Society (Image Comics)
• 3-2-3 Detective Agency (Amulet Books)

Best Anthology
• ACT-I-VATE (act-i-vate.com)
• Flight, Vol. 6 (Villard)
• Popgun, Vol. 3 (Image Comics)
• Strange Tales (Marvel)
• Wednesday Comics (DC Comics)

Best Original Graphic Album
• Asterios Polyp, by David Mazucchelli (Pantheon)
• Book of Genesis, by Robert Crumb (W.W. Norton)
• George Sprott (1894-1975), by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly)
• Footnotes in Gaza, by Joe Sacco (Metropolitan Books)
• Stitches, by David Small (W.W. Norton)
• Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, byBrian Fies (Abrams ComicArts)

Best Previously Published Graphic Album
• A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, by Josh Neufeld (Pantheon)
• Collected Essex County, by Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
• Graveslinger, by Shannon Denton, Jeff Mariotte, John Cboins and Nina Sorat (IDW Publishing)
• Masterpiece Comics, by R. Sikoryak (Drawn and Quarterly)
• Mice Templar, Vol. 1, by Bryan J.L. Glass and Michael Avon Oeming (Image Comics)

Best Syndicated Strip or Panel
• Cul de Sac, by Richard Thompson (Universal Press Syndicate)
• Foxtrot, by Bill Amend (Universal Press Syndicate)
• Get Fuzzy, by Darby Conley (United Feature Syndicate)
• Mutts, by Patrick McDonnell (King Features Syndicate)
• Pearls Before Swine, by Stephan Pastis (United Feature Syndicate)

Best Domestic Reprint Project
• The Best of Simon and Kirby, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; edited by Steve Saffel (Titan Books)
• Humbug, conceived and edited by Harvey Kurtzman and created by Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee and Arnold Roth; edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics Books)
• Rip Kirby, by Alex Raymond; edited by Dean Mullaney (IDW Publishing)
• The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures, by Dave Stevens; edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW Publishing)
• The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly (Abrams ComicsArt)

Best American Edition of Foreign Material
• The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, by Helen McCarthy (Abrams ComicArts)
• Manga Kamishibai, by Eric P. Nash (Abrams ComicArts)
• The Photographer, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier LeFevre and Frederic Lemercier (First Second)
• Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (Viz Media)
• 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz Media)

Best Online Comics Work
• Hark! A Vagrant, by Kate Beaton
• High Moon, by Steve Ellis, David Gallaher and Scott O. Brown
• Power Out, by Nathan Schreiber
• PvP, by Scott Kurtz
• Sin Titulo, by Cameron Stewart

Special Award for Humor in Comics
• Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson, Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse)
• Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3: The Last Straw (Amulet Books)
• Roger Landridge, The Muppet Show Comic Book (BOOM! Studios)
• Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5 (Oni Press)
• Andrew Pepoy, The Adventures of Simone & Ajaz: A Christmas Caper (ComicMix)

Special Award for Excellence in Presentation
• Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics, by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle (Abrams ComicArts)
• The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley’s Cartoons from 1913-1940, edited by Trina Robbins (Fantagraphics Books)
• George Sprott (1894-1975), by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly)
• The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures, by Dave Stevens; edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW Publishing)
• Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster,
edited by Craig Yoe (Abrams ComicArts)
• Wednesday Comics, edited by Mark Chiarello (DC Comics)

Best Biographic, Historical or Journalistic Presentation
• Alter-Ego, edited by Roy Thomas (TwoMorrows)
• Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics, by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle (Abrams ComicArts)
• The Best of Simon and Kirby, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; edited by Steve Saffel (Titan Books)
• The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth, Michael Dean and Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics Books)
• Underground Classics, by James Danky and Denis Kitchen (Abrams ComicArts)

Best Single Issue or Story
• Alec: The Years Have Pants, by Eddie Campbell (Top Shelf)
• Asterios Polyp, by David Mazucchelli (Pantheon)
• Ganges #3, by Kevin Huizenga (Fantagraphics Books)
• George Sprott (1894-1975), by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly)
• Jonah Hex #50, written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, artwork by Darwyn Cooke (DC Comics)
• Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter,by Darwyn Cooke (IDW Publishing)
• Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, by Brian Fies (Abrams ComicArts)

Harvey Awards

Two important notices regarding the top comics-industry awards:

• The deadline to submit nominations for the 2010 Harvey Awards is Friday. So, if you’re a comics creator, you have just two days to email your ballots, as snail mail is probably cutting it close at this point.

• Online voting is open for the 2010 Eisner Awards. Creators, editors, publishers, and owners and managers of comic stores are eligible to vote.

All-Star Superman, Vol. 2

The winners of the 2009 Harvey Awards were presented last night during a ceremony at Baltimore Comic-Con.

Named in honor of the late cartoonist and Mad magazine editor Harvey Kurtzman, the awards recognize outstanding work in comics.

The winners of the 2009 Harveys are:

Best writer: Grant Morrison, All-Star Superman (DC Comics)

Best artist: Gabriel Ba, The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse)

Best cartoonist: Al Jaffee, Tall Tales (Abrams Books)

Best letterer: John Workman, Marvel 1985 (Marvel)

Best inker: Mark Morales, Thor (Marvel)

The Umbrella Academy: Dallas

Best colorist: Dave Stewart, The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse)

Best cover artist: James Jean, Fables (DC Comics/Vertigo)

Best new series: Echo (Abstract Studios)

Best continuing or limited series: All-Star Superman (DC Comics)

Best biographical, historical or journalistic presentation: Kirby: King of Comics, Mark Evanier (Abrams Books)

Best syndicated strip or panel: Mutts, Patrick McDonnell (King Features Syndicate)

Best anthology: Comic Book Tattoo, edited by Rantz Hoseley (Image Comics)

Best original graphic album: Too Cool To Be Forgotten (Top Shelf)

Best graphic album-previously published: Nat Turner, Kyle Baker (Abrams Books)

Best single issue or story: Y: The Last Man #60 (DC Comics/Vertigo)

Best domestic reprint project: Complete Peanuts (Fantagraphics Books)

Gus & His Gang

Best American edition of foreign material: Gus & His Gang (First Second)

Best online comics work: High Moon, David Gallaher, Steve Ellis and Scott O. Brown (DC Comics/Zuda)

Special award for humor in comics: Al Jaffee, Tall Tales (Abrams Books)

Special award for excellence in presentation: Kirby: King of Comics, Mark Evanier (Abrams Books)

Best new talent: Bryan J.L. Glass, The Mice Templar (Image Comics)

Steve Sunu live-blogged the awards presentation for CBR Live!

The full list of nominees can be found here.

NASCAR Heroes #5

Awards | The debate over the 2009 Harvey Awards nominations marches on, with spirited discussion at The Beat (now drifting toward Best Single Issue or Story nominee NASCAR Heroes #5), and an open letter from Joe Keatinge pointing to industry apathy, not ballot-stuffing, as the problem with the process.

Tom Spurgeon, meanwhile, argues it’s time to let the Harveys fade away: “At this point, the Harveys neither provide a strong contrast with the Eisners nor do they do anything uniquely their own the way that the Ignatzes (a small press festival award), the Maisie Kukoc (a cash award for a mini-comics maker), even the Reubens (cartooning in all its aspects, newspaper-focused) do. You could probably save the Harvey Awards with an administrative overhaul and a lot of attention and time and maybe even money, but why? What are you saving exactly?” [The Harvey Awards]

Sales charts | The 27th volume of Tite Kubo’s Bleach in June ended Watchmen‘s 11-month reign atop the Nielsen BookScan graphic novels chart, which tracks bookstore sales. The Alan Moore-Dave Gibbons collection slipped to No. 2, joining the Final Crisis hardcover (No. 6) and the fourth volume of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (No. 18) as the only non-manga in the Top 20. [ICv2.com]

From X-Factor #45

Comics | Mainstream-media outlets pick up on the kiss between Shatterstar and Rictor in last week’s X-Factor #45, and promptly botch some of the details. It’s not “the mainstream comic book world’s first gay kiss.” Meanwhile, writer Peter David assures readers the scene “isn’t a fake out”: “A number of people seem to be concerned that Star is still under Cortex’s control. Or that Rictor is going to freak out the next panel and say, ‘Dude, what the hell?’ … That would be cheap. I don’t do cheap. Okay, sometimes I do, but not this time. I’m not interested in having people say, ‘Peter David introduced this and then chickened out’.” [Perez Hilton, The Advocate]

Publishing | Sean Kleefeld checks in on e-book publisher Wowio.com, which apparently underwent a “global relaunch” yesterday. He doesn’t notice much of a change. [Kleefeld on Comics]

Publishing | Chad Sapieha looks at “gamics,” comics made using screenshots from video games. [The Globe and Mail]

Retailing | Brian Hibbs, owner of Comix Experience in San Francisco, lists his stores best-selling comics and graphic novels/trade paperbacks for the year so far. [The Savage Critics]

Batman and Robin #2

Creators | Grant Morrison continues to sell us on Batman and Robin: “… one of my all-time favourite Batman panels was written by Haney and drawn by Jim Aparo and shows Batman strolling down the sunlit streets of Gotham, checking out the mini-skirted girls and accompanied by the line to end all lines: ‘Yes, Batman digs this day!’ … I’m not saying that’s the Batman we want to see on every page, but I love that he might have this aspect to his character. I love the notion of a Batman who enjoys a peaceful stroll down the summer sidewalks of the city he keeps safe. There’s something very human about that and it makes him much more relatable and rounded. I can certainly see the Dick Grayson Batman digging this day on a more regular basis!” [io9.com]

Creators | Jeremy Love discusses his Zuda Comics series Bayou: “My extended family and ancestry are southern. I was able to draw on the rich family history, stories, and anecdotes I’ve heard since I was a child. The smell, the wet heat, the food, and the general character of the south will always be a part of me. I think the fact that I see it as more of a childhood memory informs the dreamlike quality I’m trying to achieve with Bayou.” [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Thriller #1

Creators | Michel Fiffe posts extra art and excised quotes from an interview with artist Trevor von Eeden, which appears in the current issue of The Comics Journal. [Master Post]

Creators | Peter David talks about IDW’s Angel/Fallen Angel crossover Reborn. [Impulse Creations]

Creators | Kurt Busiek has launched a nifty new website. [Busiek.com, via Scott McCloud]

Blogosphere | Tucker Stone interviews Dirk Deppey of Journalista! fame. [Comixology]

20th Century Boys, Vol. 3

Manga | Katherine Dacey asks what’s the best new manga released so far this year. [The Manga Critic]

Comics | How soon is too soon to judge a serialized comic? [Speed Force]

ComicsLive Today

Bloomington, Minn. | CONvergence — “a celebration of the funny side of science fiction and fantasy” — kicks off. Guests include Dwayne McDuffie and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew. More details here.

Harvey Awards

Awards | Discussion continues about the 2009 Harvey Award nominations, which contained more than a few surprises. Xaviar Xerexes looks at the positive — webcomics and works that began online are well-represented — as Johanna Draper Carlson considers how to fix a nomination process that many agree is broken. She also labels accusations of ballot-stuffing as “misguided”: “It’s not about stuffing — which generally implies a surfeit of questionable votes — it’s about a lack of participation giving those few professionals who do bother to submit nomination lists disproportionate power to affect the results.”

That brings us to events referred to online yesterday, most notably by cartoonist Evan Dorkin: Gemstone Publishing’s domination of the ballot in 2007 and 2008 when, by my quick count, the company’s books received 19 and 15 nominations, respectively. Travis Seitler, former art director for Gemstone’s Disney comics, popped up at The Beat to solve the mystery, such that it is: “For both 2007 and 2008, everyone at Gemstone Publishing was given pre-filled ballots (typically leaving one or two blank spaces for our own personal choices) to sign and send in. Nobody was required to submit the ballots (I didn’t either year; mostly because I was disgusted by the scheme), but I’m sure we still had two- or three-dozen nearly identical ballots sent for both of those years.” [The Harvey Awards]

Publishing | Ada Price looks at what effect Diamond Comic Distributors’ new order minimums have had on direct-market publishers and retailers. [PW Comics Week]

From "Haunted"

Creators | The Xeric Foundation has announced the latest round of grant recipients:  Joe Boruchow, Stuffed Animals: A Story in Paper Cutouts; Adam Bourret, I’m Crazy; Timothy Godek, !; Adam Hines, Duncan the Wonder Dog; and Joshua Smeaton, Haunted. [press release]

Creators | Cartoonist Leo Baxendale, creator of The Bash Street Kids, recalls The Beano and the British comics industry in the 1950s. [Times Online]

Creators | Hellboy creator Mike Mignola says he’s ready to ease back in to writing and drawing: “There’s only so much that another artist can do with your story, but when you’re in charge of the whole thing, there’s a whole world of possibilities you can do. Yeah, I’m very excited about it.” [Sci Fi Wire]

King City #1

Creators | Brandon Graham chats about King City and Multiple Warheads. [Broken Frontier, via Journalista]

Creators | Writer Justin Gray discusses his background, the industry and DC’s Jonah Hex. [Cinematical]

Creators | Arion Berger talks with Joseph Patrick Larkin about Arcade of Cruelty. [Express Night Out]

Creators | Brian Heater kicks off a two-part interview with Minty Lewis, the artist behind P.S. Comics. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | “23 Ways for a Comic Artist to Survive and Thrive in Any Economy.” [Optimum Wound]

Retailing | Pamela Yip takes a look at the collectibles market, and talks with Richard Neal, owner of Zeus Comics and Collectibles in Dallas. [Dallas Morning News]

By RJ Matson

Editorial cartoons | J. Caleb Mozzocco considers the theological questions raised by cartoons commenting on the death of Michael Jackson. [Every Day Is Like Wednesday]

Comics | Ben Morse counts down his choices for the definitive Batman comics. [The Cool Kids Table]

Art | Rian Fike launches an extensive study of Alphabets of Desire, by Alan Moore and Todd Klein. [Full Body Transplant]

ComicsLive Today

A rundown of today’s comics-related events.

Bellflower, Calif. | Metropolis Comics hosts Bongo Comics’ Bill Morrison, Tone Rodriguez and Batton Lash for Free Donut Day from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Details here.

Grant Morrison

Los Angeles | Batman and Robin writer Grant Morrison will sign from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Meltdown Comics on Sunset Blvd. Before the signing, horror writer Clive Barker will host a conversation with Morrison. Details here.

Santa Clara, Calif. | John Layman will sign copies of Chew at Illusive Comics & Games from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Details here.

Santa Monica, Calif. | Bad Kids Go to Hell writers Matthew Spradlin and Barry “Bazza” Wernick will sign at Hi De Ho Comics from noon to 8 p.m. More details here.

Seattle | Peter Bagge’s band, Can You Imagine?, will play at Chop Suey, opening for Paul Merrill’s All-American Tribute to America, USA. Details here.

Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule #3

Within moments of the announcement this morning of the nominees for the 2009 Harvey Awards, Twitter was abuzz with congratulatory notes. Minutes after that, the criticisms began.

“Have 15 friends? You, too, can get a Harvey Award nomination,” wrote frequently outspoken cartoonist Evan Dorkin. “This year’s list is worse than ever, makes the Eisners look like the Nobels. … I mean, nothing personal to the nominees that don’t suck or didn’t get in their [sic] by ballot stuffing. But, come on — three Zuda comics noms? …  Okay, let’s rephrase: Nothing against anyone. But imo the Harvey Awards are so obviously broken it’s not funny.”

Dorkin wasn’t alone in his questions and complaints. (Cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks summed up this morning’s Twitter traffic as “Equal number of tweets offering congrats to Harvey noms & discussion about the ballot stuffing.”)

Some of the questions center on the five nods for John Gallagher’s Buzzboy, whose presence in 2008 was a story in a Free Comic Book Day all-ages anthology and an issue of Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rules! sold at conventions and select stores.

“I am positive that many across the internet will offer up a collective ‘What Th–?’ about us getting the recognition we are getting,” Gallagher writes on his website, “and I join them in that — but i really do appreciate those that may have thrown their support our way.”

Commenting at Comics Worth Reading, Gallagher adds: “I didn’t complain about NOT being nominated in the past, so I certainly won’t complain about being nominated now, I’m honored. But, personally, I think me being nominated for best writer against someone as fantastic as Grant Morrison is pretty silly, but I am proud that some of my fellow Sky-Dog creators and friends are nominated in their categories.”

But the questions don’t end with Buzzboy. For instance, Dorkin wonders how reprints or archival editions, such as Kyle Baker’s Nat Turner and Al Jaffee’s Tall Tales, can be eligible in multiple categories. (Baker and Nat Turner received four nominations, Jaffee and Tall Tales three.)

Charges of ballot-stuffing also are bouncing around Twitter, with commenters pointing to instances of unlikely and multiple nominations.

“… I voted for NASCAR HEROES #5 thirty two times!” jokes Atomic Robo artist Scott Wegener. NASCAR Heroes #5 was nominated for Best Single Issue or Story, alongside such titles as Acme Novelty Library #19, Love and Rockets Vol. 3 #1 and Y: The Last Man #60.

(Update: A commenter at The Beat notes that NASCAR Heroes was produced by Gallagher’s Sky-Dog Comics for NASCAR and Starbridge Media Group. It appears that Gallagher wrote and edited at least some issues of the series.)

“Does anyone honestly think that ballot box stuffing automatically makes a subpar book look good?” writes manga blogger Deb Aoki. “Ballot box stuffing accomplishes 2 counter-productive things: 1) it makes the awards look cheap & 2) it makes you look desperate.”

I have an email out to Harvey Awards organizers. I’ll update when I receive a response.

Harvey Awards

All-Star Superman, Buzzboy, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Nat Turner and DC’s Zuda Comics imprint made strong showings in the nominations for the 2009 Harvey Awards, announced this morning.

Named in honor of the late cartoonist and Mad magazine editor Harvey Kurtzman, the awards recognize outstanding work in comics. They will be presented Oct. 10 in Baltimore during Baltimore Comic-Con.

Jeff Kinney’s best-selling children’s series Diary of a Wimpy Kid led with six nominations: Best Writer, Best Cartoonist, Best Inker, Best Continuing or Limited Series, Best Graphic Album-Original and the Special Award for Humor in Comics.

DC’s All-Star Superman, which ended in October 2008, received five nominations, for Best Continuing Series, Best Writer (Grant Morrison), Best Artist (Frank Quitely), Best Inker (Jamie Grant) and Best Colorist (Jamie Grant). Sky Dog Comics’ all-ages Buzzboy earned five nods, for Best Writer (John Gallagher), Best Cartoonist (John Gallagher), Best Letterer (Thom Zahler), Best Inker (Rich Faber), Best Cover Artist (Frank Cho for Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule! #3) and the Special Award for Humor in Comics (John Gallagher).

Comics and creators from Zuda online initiative, which debuted in 2007, garnered a combined seven nominations, including nods for Best New Series for High Moon, Night Owls and Supertron.

Kyler Baker’s historical graphic novel Nat Turner earned four nominations for Best Graphic Album-Previously Published, Best Single Issue or Story, Best Writer and Best Artist.

The full list of nominees for the 2009 Harvey Awards can be found after the break:

BEST WRITER

• Kyle Baker, NAT TURNER, Abrams books
• Ed Brubaker, CAPTAIN AMERICA, Marvel Comics
• John Gallagher, BUZZBOY, Sky Dog Comics
• Jeff Kinney, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, Amulet Books
• Grant Morrison, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, DC Comics

BEST ARTIST

• Gabriel Ba, UMBRELLA ACADEMY, Dark Horse Comics
• Kyle Baker, NAT TURNER, Abrams Books
• Jimmy Gownley, AMELIA RULES, Renaissance Press
• Jason Kruse, WORLD OF QUEST, Yen Press
• Frank Quitely, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, DC Comics

BEST CARTOONIST

• Lar deSouza, LEAST I COULD DO, www.leasticoulddo.com
• John Gallagher, BUZZBOY, Sky Dog Comics
• Al Jaffee, TALL TALES, Abrams Books
• Jeff Kinney, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, Amulet Books
• Thom Zahler, LOVE & CAPES, Maerkle Press

BEST LETTERER

• Jimmy Gownley, AMELIA RULES, Renaissance Press
• Rob Leigh, THE SPIRIT, DC Comics
• Doug Sherwood, LOCAL, Oni Press
• John Workman, MARVEL 1985, Marvel Comics
• Thom Zahler, BUZZBOY, Sky Dog Comics

BEST INKER

• Rich Faber, BUZZBOY, Sky Dog Comics
• Jamie Grant, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, DC Comics
• Jeff Kinney, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, Amulet Books
• Mark Morales, THOR, Marvel Comics
• Ryan Winn, THE DARKNESS, Image Comics

BEST COLORIST

• Frank Cammuso, OTTO’S ORANGE DAY, Raw Junior, LLC
• Jamie Grant, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, DC Comics
• Laura Martin, THOR, Marvel Comics
• Wil Quintana, THE MICE TEMPLAR, Image Comics
• Dave Stewart, UMBRELLA ACADEMY, Dark Horse Comics

BEST COVER ARTIST

• Frank Cho, BUZZBOY: SIDEKICKS RULE!#3, Sky Dog Press
• James Jean, FABLES, Vertigo Comics
• Jay Lynch, MINDSHAFT #23, Mindshaft Publishing
• Ken Rocafort, PILOT SEASON: CORE #1, Top Cow
• Alex Ross, JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA, DC Comics

BEST NEW SERIES

• THE DREAMER, IDW
• ECHO, Abstract Studios
• HIGH MOON, www.zudacomics.com
• NIGHT OWLS, www.zudacomics.com
• SUPERTRON, www.zudacomics.com

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES

• ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, DC Comics
• CAPTAIN AMERICA, Marvel Comics
• DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, Amulet Books
• MICE TEMPLAR, Image Comics
• UMBRELLA ACADEMY, Dark Horse Comics

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION

• DRAW!, edited by Mike Manley, Twomorrows Publishing
• HOW TO MAKE WEBCOMICS, Brad Guigar, Dave Kellett, Scott Kurtz, and Kris Straub, Image Comics
• KIRBY: KING OF COMICS, Mark Evanier, Abrams Books
• SCORCHY SMITH AND THE ART OF NOEL SICKLES, edited by Dean Mullaney, IDW
• WORDLESS BOOKS: THE ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVELS, edited by David A. Berona, Abrams Books

BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL

• BREWSTER ROCKIT: SPACE GUY!, Tim Rickard, Tribune Media Services
• GET FUZZY, Darby Conley, United Features Syndicate
• MUTTS, Patrick McDonnell, King Features Syndicate
• THE NORM, Michael Jantze, Uclick Gocomics
• PEARLS BEFORE SWINE, Stephan Pastis, United Features Syndicate

BEST ANTHOLOGY

• COMIC BOOK TATTOO, edited by Rantz Hoseley, Image Comics
• FLIGHT VOLUME 5, edited by Kazu Kibuishi, Villard
• MOME VOLUME 10, edited by Eric Reynolds, Fantagraphics Books
• PIXU #1, edited by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, Self-Published
• POPGUN VOLUME 2, edited by Joe Keatinge and Mark Andrew Smith, Image Comics

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM – ORIGINAL

• BOTTOMLESS BELLY BUTTON, Fantagraphics Books
• DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES, Amulet Books
• ESSEX COUNTY: THE COUNTRY NURSE, Top Shelf
• SKIM, Groundwood Books
• TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN, Top Shelf
• WORLD OF QUEST: VOL. 2, Yen Press

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM – PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED

• AMELIA RULES!: FUNNY STORIES, Renaissance Press
• M, Abrams Books
• NAT TURNER, Abrams Books
• THE MICE TEMPLAR: VOL. 1, Image Comics
• QUEEN AND COUNTRY: VOLUME 3, Oni Press
• SKYSCRAPERS OF THE MIDWEST (HARDCOVER), Adhouse Books

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY

• ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY #19, Self-Published
• FIRST BORN: AFTERMATH #1, Top Cow
• LOVE AND ROCKETS, VOL. 3 #1, Fantagraphics Books
• M, Abrams Books
• NASCAR HEROES #5, NASCAR Comics
• NAT TURNER, Abrams Books
• THE AMAZING REMARKABLE MONSIEUR LEOTARD, First Second
• Y: THE LAST MAN #60, Vertigo Comics

BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT

• ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS, IDW
• COMPLETE PEANUTS, Fantagraphics Books
• COMPLETE TERRY AND THE PIRATES, IDW
• SCORCHY SMITH AND THE ART OF NOEL SICKLES, IDW
• WACKY PACKAGES, Abrams Books

BEST AMERICAN EDITION OF FOREIGN MATERIAL

• GUS AND HIS GANG, First Second
• POCKET FULL OF RAIN, Fantagraphics Books
• RED COLORED ELEGY, Drawn and Quarterly
• SOLANIN, Viz
• WITCHBLADE TAKERU MANGA #’s 11 & 12, Top Cow

BEST ON-LINE COMICS WORK

• BLACK CHERRY BOMBSHELLS, Tony Trovarello and John Zito, www.zudacomics.com
• HIGH MOON, Scott O. Brown, www.zudacomics.com
• LEAST I COULD DO, Lar deSouza and Ryan Sohmer, www.leasticoulddo.com
• NIGHT OWLS, Bobby & Peter Timony, www.zudacomics.com
• PVP, Scott Kurtz, www.pvponline.com

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS

• Lar deSouza, LEAST I COULD DO, www.leasticoulddo.com
• John Gallagher, BUZZBOY, Sky Dog Comics
• Al Jaffee, TALL TALES, Abrams Books
• Jeff Kinney, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, Amulet Books
• David Malki, WONDERMARK, www.wondermark.com

SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION

• COMPLETE LOCAL: HARDCOVER EDITION, Ryan Kelly and Brian Wood, Oni Press
• KIRBY: KING OF COMICS, Mark Evanier, Abrams Books
• QUEEN AND COUNTRY: VOLUME 3, Greg Rucka, Mike Norton,
Steve Rolston, and Chris Samnee, Oni Press
• TALL TALES, Al Jaffee, Abrams Books
• WONDERMARK, VOL. 1: BEARDS OF OUR FOREFATHERS, David Malki, Dark Horse Comics

BEST NEW TALENT

• Matt Cassan, NASCAR: HEROES, Nascar Comics
• Bryan J.L. Glass, THE MICE TEMPLAR, Image Comics
• Laura Innes, THE DREAMER, IDW
• Tim Sievert, THAT SALTY AIR, Top Shelf
• Bobby Timony, NIGHT OWLS, www.zudacomics.com