May
28 Newcomers vying for Manning honor set

The summer comics awards season is in full swing, with the nominees announced last night for the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award as follows:

• Fred Chao, writer/artist of Johnny Hiro (published by AdHouse)
• Barry Deutsch, writer/artist of Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword (self-published)
• Cathy Malkasian, writer/artist of Percy Gloom (published by Fantagraphics)
• Mukesh Singh, artist of Shadow Hunter (published by Virgin Comics)
• Christian Slade, artist of Corgi (published by Top Shelf)

The winner will be announced at the Eisner Awards ceremony July 25 at Comic-Con Intl. in San Diego. ... Meanwhile, the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame, administered by the folks who bring us the Joe Shuster Awards, has inducted four new members: Stanley Berneche, John Byrne, Pierre Fournier and Edwin R. “Ted” McCall. Byrne is the name most likely to be familiar to regular comics readers, but the contributions of the others are fascinating and worth commemorating. ... Master Mad Magazine artist Al Jaffee won the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award for outstanding cartoonist of the year.

SITE-INGS: The full site for "Wanted" has gone live, as has a teaser site for the just-announced "Witchblade" movie.

EVENTS: Book Expo is in Los Angeles this weekend (more on that in a later post), while Wizard World rolls into Philadelphia. Storyopolis' Will Eisner event is set for tonight, and the Los Angeles Comic Book Sci Fi Convention returns to the Shrine Expo Center on June 8 with special guests William Shatner and actor/writer Kevin Grevioux.