Reuben Awards
National Cartoonists Society announces Reuben nominees
“Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre” #3, by Amanda Conner
The National Cartoonists Society has announced the divisional nominees for the 67th annual Reuben Awards. They join the finalists for the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year Award — Brian Crane (Pickles), Rick Kirkman (Baby Blues) and Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine) — who were revealed last month.
The winners will be announced May 25 at the Reuben Awards dinner in Pittsburgh.
Reuben finalists announced; Russ Manning nominees sought
Pearls Before Swine
Awards | Brian Crane (Pickles), Rick Kirkman (Baby Blues) and Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine) have been nominated for the 2012 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, presented by the National Cartoonists Society. [National Cartoonists Society]
Awards | Nominations are being sought for the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award, which will be presented July 19 at Comic-Con International during the Eisner Awards ceremony. The deadline is April 5. [Comic-Con International]
Comics A.M. | Judge refuses to suppress evidence in Justiniano case
Josue Rivera (aka Justiniano)
Legal | Don MacPherson, who covers the courts for his daily newspaper, updates the case of Josue Rivera, aka comic artist Justiniano, who pleaded not guilty in May 2011 to charges of possessing more than 100 photographs and videos containing child pornography. Rivera was arrested in Connecticut following a July 2010 incident in which police say he mistakenly gave a funeral home director a thumb drive containing 33 files classified as child pornography instead of the one containing photos of a deceased relative. Police later seized Rivera’s computer and found 153 files of suspected child pornography. A judge has denied a motion to suppress the thumb drive, which Rivera’s attorney had argued was obtained by police through an illegal, warrantless search. However, the judge ruled the search valid, as the material on the drive was brought to the attention of the police by a third party, the funeral home. MacPherson’s summary of court documents provides more details on the case. [Eye on Comics]
Comics A.M. | New York Comic Con absorbs New York Anime Festival
New York Comic Con
Conventions | ReedPOP has officially announced it will fold the New York Anime Festival into New York Comic Con, rather than continue them as separate events held at the same location. “This move has nothing to do with our loyalty or commitment to the anime community and everything to do with the growth and identity of New York Comic Con as a leading pop culture event,” ReedPOP’s Lance Fensterman said in a statement. “NYCC embraces all elements of the pop culture world, including anime, and we have evolved to a point where the existence of NYAF outside our universe is almost a contradiction. We will be better able to serve the anime community from within the NYCC infra-structure rather than have a show which is separate and which will always be dwarfed by everything that New York Comic Con represents and is.” [press release]
Passings | Cartoonist Jim Unger, whose one-panel comic Herman served as an inspiration for Gary Larson’s The Far Side, passed away Monday at his home in British Columbia. He was 75. The comic appeared in about 600 newspapers worldwide from 1974 until Unger’s retirement in 1992. [The Daily Cartoonist]
National Cartoonists Society announces Divisional Awards winners
from Scenes from a Multiverse
Tom Richmond, J.H. Williams III, Ben Katchor and Jon Rosenberg were among the winners of the 2012 National Cartoonists Society Divisional Awards, which were presented last night in Las Vegas, Nev.
Richmond, a cartoonist known for his work on MAD Magazine, won the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. Williams’ work on Batwoman was honored in the comic category, while Katchor won the graphic novel category for The Cardboard Valise. Rosenberg won the online comic strip category for his webcomic Scenes from a Multiverse.
You can find a complete list of all the winners after the jump.
National Cartoonists Society announces Divisional Awards nominees
From "Hellboy: The Fury" #3, by Duncan Fegredo
The National Cartoonists Society has announced the nominees for its 2012 NCS Divisional Awards, which will be presented May 26 during the 66th annual NCS Reuben Awards in Las Vegas.
TELEVISION ANIMATION
• Ben Bocquelet and Antoine Perez, production design on The Wonderful World of Gumball (Cartoon Network)
• Penn Ward, character design on Adventure Time (Cartoon Network)
• Erik Wiese, production design on The Mighty B (Nickelodeon)
FEATURE ANIMATION
• Mark McCreery, character design: Rango
• Carlos Saldanha, director: Rio
• Jennifer Yuh-Nelson, director: Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom
Comics A.M. | Teen sentenced in comics burglary; Reuben Awards adds webcomics
Legal
Legal | A teenager was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison for his role in the July 2010 theft of a valuable comic collection from an elderly Medina, New York, man, who later died of a heart attack. Eighteen-year-old Juan C. Javier, who pleaded guilty last fall to attempted second-degree burglary, is one of seven people whom police say were hired by businessman Rico J. Vendetti to break into the home of Homer Marciniak to steal his comics. Marciniak, 77, awoke during the burglary and was beaten, suffering only cuts and bruises. However, he had a fatal heart attack later that day. Eight people, including Vendetti and Javier, were indicted in November 2010; the indictments were dismissed against four of the accused so the U.S. Attorney could charge them with murder under federal law. [The Daily News]
Ken Burns-style documentary parodies world’s longest comics bio
In 2008, 12 families set out to accomplish a monumental task: To read all of R.C. Harvey’s biography of Milton Caniff. “What no one knew at the time,” the narrator intones, as a fiddler keens behind him, “is that it was over 900 pages long.” Tom Gammill’s five-minute parody film The Donner Book Party juxtaposes wistful, old-timey music with sepia-toned photos of funny-looking Victorian people as it tells the story of the families’ struggles—the readers’ dismay at the world’s longest sentence, the ill-fated advance party sent ahead to edit the book, the scout who warned some of them off, suggesting they read Milt Caniff: Rembrandt of the Comic Strip, or maybe a book about budgies, instead. There’s even a bit of a twist at the end. The video was presented at the Reuben Awards ceremonies as a preview of an upcoming Ken Burns history of the comic strip, and Mike Lynch says he was actually fooled for the first few seconds.
Cooke, Sakai, Thompson and more nominated for Reuben Awards
Usagi Yojimbo #134
The National Cartoonists Society has announced the nominees for the 65th annual Reuben Awards, which honor creators in various illustration fields, including comics.
Nominees for the two comic book industry categories — comics books and graphic novels — are:
COMIC BOOKS
Stan Sakai “Usagi Yojimbo”
Chris Samnee “Thor the Mighty Avenger”
Jill Thompson “Beasts of Burden”
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Darwyn Cooke- “The Outfit”
Joyce Farmer “Special Exits”
James Sturm- “Market Day”
You can see the rest of the nominees in animation, comic strip and other categories, over at the NCS website. Winners will be announced over the Memorial Day weekend.
Comic students take note: Jay Kennedy Scholarship!
On the fabulous Drawn! blog, artist John Martz has released the poster he designed for this year’s Jay Kennedy Scholarship. It’s well-designed and -illustrated poster, and also a good cause any self-respecting comics fan or creator can get behind.
The Jay Kennedy Scholarship is named after the late King Features comics editor, and is given out at the Reuben Awards banquet each year by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation. If you’re a student residing in North America seeking to go to a university or college for the comics discipline, you’re eligible — and encouraged to apply!
Bizarro cartoonist Dan Piraro wins 2010 Reuben Award
"Bizarro," by Dan Piraro
Bizarro creator Dan Piraro won the 2010 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, presented over the weekend by the National Cartoonists Society. He beat out fellow nominees Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine) and Richard Thompson (Cul de Sac).
The organization also 13 divisional awards in categories ranging from feature animation to book illustration to comic books. Paul Pope won the latter for “Strange Adventures,” his Adam Strange strip serialized in DC’s Wednesday Comics, while David Mazzucchelli took home the graphic novels award for his critically acclaimed Asterios Polyp.
The full list of divisional winners can be found after the break:
Nominees announced for 2009 Reuben Awards
"Strange Adventures," by Paul Pope
The National Cartoonists Society has announced the nominees for the 64th annual Reuben Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in cartooning.
It’s been known since late February that Stephen Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Dan Piraro (Bizarro) and Richard Thompson (Cul de Sac) would vie for the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year.
However, now we get the full list, which includes nominations in the comic book division for Terry Moore (Echo), Paul Pope (“Strange Adventures,” from Wednesday Comics) and J.H. Williams III (Detective Comics), and in the graphic novel division for David Mazzuchelli (Asterios Polyp), Seth (George Sprott) and David Small (Stitches).
The full list of nominees can be found after the break. Winners will be announced on May 29.