Bouchercon Is This Weekend
Bouchercon, the convention celebrating mystery writing and publishing, is being held this weekend in St. Louis, and there's a nice graphic novel connection. This year's Anthony Awards includes a Best Graphic Novel category. Attendees to the conference are voting on the winners from the list of nominees in each category all weekend long. The awards will be handed out tomorrow (Sunday) morning at a special brunch. Good luck to all the nominees! We'll bring you the list of winners tomorrow when they're announced. Here's the list of nominees:
-- John HoganCartoonists Remember September 11
This Sunday, September 11, as everyone recalls, marks the 10th anniversary of the most terrible terrorists attacks ever to occur on American soil. The Sunday papers will feature a special tribute on the comics pages, with 93 comics strips taking part. At New York's MoCCA, original and production artwork from 12 of the strips is currently on display. Look for the strips in this Sunday's paper and check out the MoCCA exhibit in New York if you have a chance!
-- John HoganDaniel Clowes Wins PEN Center USA Literary Award
Congratulations to Daniel Clowes for winning the "Outstanding Body of Work in Graphic Lit" award from PEN Center USA. Clowes was being recognized for an amazing body of work that includes Ghost World, David Boring, The Death-Ray, Mister Wonderful, and Wilson. Clowes will win a $1,000 prize, and a ceremony celebrating the award will take place in November. Congratulations, Dan! Well deserved!
-- John HoganToday's the Day
Just a reminder that today is the day DC releases Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1, the title that kicks off the DC relaunch. Many retailers held many parties to celebrate the releases (I heard from my friend Wayne Winsett of Time Warp Comics and Games in Boulder, Colorado, that his store's midnight event went quite well).
-- John HoganThe Sunday Funnies Get Serious
Five major syndication bureaus, representing some 93 comic strips appearing in newspapers across the country, will see their clients turn their Sunday, September 11, strips into a tribute to the 10th anniversary of the most horrible terrorist attacks ever on American soil. The comics-page tributes will be a major remembrance of the day, and after September 11, all of them will be printed on cartoonistsremember911.com.
-- John Hogan2011 Harvey Award Winners
The Harvey Awards were handed out over the weekend at the Baltimore Comic-Con! Congratulations to all the nominees and especially the winners. Here's a great lineup of graphic works published recently. All are worth checking out!
BEST LETTERER
John Workman, THOR, Marvel Comics
BEST COLORIST
Jose Villarrubia, CUBA : MY REVOLUTION, Vertigo/DC
Comics
A Brief Note About Habibi
I'm about halfway through with Craig Thompson's new graphic novel, Habibi, right now. The book is slated for release September 20, but I was lucky enough to get a galley. At more than 650 pages, Habibi is not a quick, short read, and the fact that it is so incredibly, jaw-droppingly amazing is forcing me to take my time with this one.
Marvel Cookies for the True Believers!
Williams-Sonoma is now offering Marvel Comics bakeware (seriously! You can get Spider-Man cookie cutters and Avengers cupcake decorations and more). As if this wasn't exciting enough, tomorrow--Saturday, August 20--you can personally decorate cookies the Marvel way at Williams-Sonoma stores, and, even better, it's for a good cause. A $5 donation will secure two cookies and benefit Share Our Strength's No Child Hungry campaign. You will also get a free Marvel comic with all that.
-- John HoganSo, Just How Crazy Are Batman's Villains?
This is a little old at this point, but I missed it earlier and I thought it was amusing enough to share here now: Huffington Post reports on psychologists analyzing Batman's horde of crazy archnemeses and finds that Batman has been doing a rather terrible job of dealing with the crazy in his daily life. Of course the real question is who's crazier, the villains or Batman?
-- John HoganEchoes of the Lost Boys of Sudan Debuts
One of the works featured in the documentary Comic Book Literacy, which was directed by Todd Kent, has now been published, and it's well worth noting for both its content and its charity work. Echoes of the Lost Boys of Sudan is a story about four boys growing up in Sudan who find their lives irrecovably changed by war. The book's timely content ties in with the recent independence of Southern Sudan, and proceeds from its sale will benefit Proceeds benefit the DTA, USTA, NJTL Program founded by Arthur Ashe.
-- John Hogan
