The past two weeks have been a bit of a blur. They began with a lunch meeting with Rachel Renée Russell, author of Dork Diaries, and continued with a special screening of the Wimpy Kid movie (which Russell happily admits helped inspire her work). Having felt like a wimpy kid and a dork at many times in my childhood, I could relate to both sides. And my lunch with Russell was quite a bit of fun (I'll be putting the interview online soon). We met at New York’s famous Dean and Deluca outside of the "Today Show" studios and proceeded to talk about everything under the sun (both of us being native Midwesterners transplanted to the East Coast, we had a lot of things to talk about). I wrote a review of the Wimpy Kid movie and blogged about it, so you can check that out to see what I thought (the short version: I loved it, much more than I had expected to). Carol saw it this week and admits to laughing out loud, and, as she had read the books in advance, she felt it was a very strong adaptation.

From there, it was off to San Diego to take part in the judging of the Eisner Awards. Before moving to New York, I lived in San Diego for 12 years, so I always feel right at home there, and I’m glad to visit the family and friends there. In particular, my friend Louie, one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and one of the most passionate comics collectors I’ve ever seen. Louie’s like a walking comic shop: He’s up on everything that’s going on in comics at any given time. So I was glad to get a chance to do some last-minute comics cramming with him before taking my place with the other judges.

Those other judges were strangers to me at the beginning but friends to me at the end. Each one was not only a solid professional but also a wonderful critic and assessor of where comics have been and where they are now. We all came from somewhat different backgrounds, so it was exciting to see how we all meshed. Craig Fischer is a professor at Appalachian University and a blogger at www.thoughtballoonists.com; Francisca Goldsmith has been a librarian for two decades and has written the Reader’s Advisory Guide to Graphic Novels; James Hudnall is a writer and comics professional with more than two decades of experience in the industry; and Wayne Winsett is the owner of Time Warp Comics and Games in Boulder, Colorado (check out a great tour of the store in this video). We were led by Jackie Estrada, who’s been running the Eisner Awards for decades now and has the process down to a well-oiled machine.

We holed ourselves up at the Hilton hotel downtown and got down to business immediately. That involved a lot of reading. And then a lot more reading. (I should mention that all of us were very well read comics aficionados to begin with, and all of us had been reading up a storm in the weeks leading up to the judging. None of us were exactly slouches in this area. That should give you some indication of the state of the industry right now and the abundance of material being published. Let’s just say that 2009 was a very good year for comics publishing. An amazing year, in fact, that saw so much good stuff being made that it was daunting to see it all compiled in one room.)

Also on the judging docket: talking about what various books meant to us and what our individual backgrounds brought to the table. I have so much respect for what our group did during the entire process, the commitment to doing the best job we could and the devotion to recognizing excellence…all of it became a tremendous honor. I’m proud of what we did, because it was done by five people who absolutely love this format and want to recognize the best in it. I’m anxious to see what everyone thinks when the nominees are officially announced.

While I was in San Diego, Carol was in Seattle and Portland where she got a good taste of the strong comics culture in both of those markets. She attended a pre-conference at the Public Library Association Conference in Portland called "Librarians Get Graphic." A terrific report on this conference, complete with resources, has been posted here by the event's coordinator/chair, Sara Ryan. Carol was thrilled to have heard three librarians reference GraphicNovelReporter.com has a terrific site for them.

We both were happy to have met people who we will ask to contribute to future updates to the site. But for the moment, we are both ready for sleep to get over some serious jetlag.

Happy reading!

John Hogan (John@bookreporter.com)

Cartoon Legacy: An Interview with Andrew McGinn
If you’re no longer a fan of daily comic strips, you have found an ally in Andrew McGinn. The author of The Legacy presents a funny and searing view of the business. We talked to him about it and more. By John Hogan

Francoise Mouly
The art editor for The New Yorker and the publisher of Toon Books, Francoise Mouly is a force to be reckoned with. Here, she explains her editorial vision for Toon and outlines the goals ahead. By John Hogan

A History in Comics
Jim Gibbons spent two years working for Wizard before joining Dark Horse as their newest publicity coordinator. But what's his history in comics really like? We found out.

The Losers are back to fight a new war. Watch the preview here. Plus: Get ready for a spook-filled, graphic-novel-themed episode of Ghost Whisperer.

Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye, Vol. 1: Hamster and Cheese by Colleen A.F. Venable and Stephanie Yue
A pet shop filled with cranky, quirky, mislabeled animals is the setting for this goofy detective story that gets its humor from the pets' strong personalities and the dim-witted owner's silly mistakes. Reviewed by Brigid Alverson

Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie by Mark Millar
This thoughtful nonfiction guide to the Kick-Ass phenomenon is like a really good convention panel captured in book form. Readers can sense the affection the creators had for the projects and each other, plus glean a few fascinating behind-the-scenes insights. Reviewed by Peter Gutierrez

Resources: Introducing Manga