2008 Eisner Awards nominees announced

The nominees for the Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards were announced this morning, with a very diverse group of books and creators being honored.

It's fascinating to see how the Eisner nominations reflect the changes in comics. Take a look back at the 1998 nominees, and you have a list that reflects the times by being very focused on the direct market and the genres most popular in it. The 2008 edition casts a much wider net and puts the focus on graphic novels from a wide number of publishers. While I wish — as always — that the number of categories could be whittled down, this is a fascinating list as much for what I haven't read as what I have.

Congratulations to all the nominees and to the judges, who do a lot of very hard work to arrive at this list. The winners will be announced in a gala ceremony July 25 at Comic-Con Intl. in San Diego.

2008 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees

Best Short Story

• “Book,” by Yuichi Yokoyama, in New Engineering (PictureBox)
• “At Loose Ends,” by Lewis Trondheim, in Mome #8 (Fantagraphics)
• “Mr. Wonderful,” by Dan Clowes, in New York Times Sunday Magazine (accessible online at www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/magazine/funnypagesClowes.html)
• “Town of Evening Calm,” by Fumiyo Kouno, in Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (Last Gasp)
• “Whatever Happened to Fletcher Hanks?” by Paul Karasik, in I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! (Fantagraphics)
• “Young Americans,” by Emile Bravo, in Mome #8 (Fantagraphics)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

• Amelia Rules! #18: “Things I Cannot Change,” by Jimmy Gownley (Renaissance)
• Delilah Dirk and the Treasure of Constantinople, by Tony Cliff (self-published)
• Johnny Hiro #1, by Fred Chao (AdHouse)
• Justice League of America #11: “Walls,” by Brad Meltzer and Gene Ha (DC)
• Sensational Spider-Man Annual: “To Have or to Hold,” by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca (Marvel)

Best Continuing Series

• The Boys, by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson (Dynamite)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, by Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, Georges Jeanty, and Andy Owens (Dark Horse)
• Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)
• The Spirit, by Darwyn Cooke (DC)
• Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra, and Jose Marzan, Jr. (Vertigo/DC)

Best Limited Series

• Atomic Robo, by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegender (Red 5 Comics)
• Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, by Peter David, Robin Furth, and Jae Lee (Marvel)
• Nightly News, by Jonathan Hickman (Image)
• Parade (with Fireworks), by Michael Cavallaro (Shadowline/Image)
• The Umbrella Academy, by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá (Dark Horse)

Best New Series

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, by Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, Georges Jeanty, and Andy Owens (Dark Horse)
• Immortal Iron Fist, by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, and others (Marvel)
• Johnny Hiro, by Fred Chao (AdHouse)
• The Infinite Horizon, by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto (Image)
• Scalped, by Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra (Vertigo/DC)

Best Publication for Kids

• Amelia Rules! and Amelia Rules! Funny Stories, by Jimmy Gownley (Renaissance)
• Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, edited by Jeremy Barlow (Dark Horse)
• Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 and Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, by David Petersen (Archaia)
• The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, by Peter Sis (Frank Foster Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
• Yotsuba&!, by Kiyohiko Azuma (ADV)

Best Publication for Teens

• Laika, by Nick Abadzis (First Second)
• The Mighty Skullboy Army, by Jacob Chabot (Dark Horse)
• The Annotated Northwest Passage, by Scott Chantler (Oni)
• PX! Book One: A Girl and Her Panda, by Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson (Shadowline/Image)
• Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso (Center for Cartoon Studies/Hyperion)

Best Humor Publication

• Dwight T. Albatross’s The Goon Noir, edited by Matt Dryer (Dark Horse)
• Johnny Hiro, by Fred Chao (AdHouse)
• Lucha Libre, by Jerry Frissen, Bill, Gobi, Fabien M., Nikola Witko, Hervé Tanquelle et al. (Image)
• Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, by Nicholas Gurewitch (Dark Horse)
• Wonton Soup, by James Stokoe (Oni)

Best Anthology

• Best American Comics 2007, edited by Anne Elizabeth Moore and Chris Ware (Houghton Mifflin)
• 5, by Gabriel Bá, Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon, Vasilis Lolos, and Rafael Grampa (self-published)
• Mome, edited by Gary Groth and Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
• Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened, edited by Jason Rodriguez (Villard)
• 24Seven, vol. 2, edited by Ivan Brandon (Image)

Best Digital Comic

• The Abominable Charles Christopher, by Karl Kerschl, www.abominable.transmission-x.com
• Billy Dogma, Immortal, by Dean Haspiel, www.deanhaspiel.com/immortal.html
• The Process, by Joe Infurnari, www.theprocesscomic.com
• PX! By Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson, www.pandaxpress.com
• Sugarshock!, by Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon, http://www.myspace.com/darkhorsepresents?issuenum=1&storynum=2

Best Reality-Based Work

• Laika, by Nick Abadzis (First Second)
• The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam, by Ann Marie Fleming (Riverhead Books/Penguin Group)
• Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso (Center for Cartoon Studies/Hyperion)
• Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm, by Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly (Vertigo/DC)
• White Rapids, by Pascal Blanchet (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Graphic Album—New

• The Arrival, by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)
• Bookhunter, by Jason Shiga (Sparkplug Books)
• Essex County, vols. 1-2: Tales from the Farm/Ghost Stories, by Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
• Exit Wounds, by Rutu Modan (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Percy Gloom, by Cathy Malkasian (Fantagraphics)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint

• Agents of Atlas Hardcover, by Jeff Parker, Leonard Kirk, and Kris Justice (Marvel)
• Gødland Celestial Edition, by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli (Image)
• James Sturm’s America: God, Gold, and Golems, by James Sturm (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, by David Petersen (Archaia)
• Super Spy, by Matt Kindt (Top Shelf)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Strips

• (The Complete) Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, by Winsor McCay (Ulrich Merkl)
• Complete Terry and the Pirates, vol. 1, by Milton Caniff (IDW)
• Little Sammy Sneeze, by Winsor McCay (Sunday Press)
• Popeye, vol. 2: Well Blow Me Down, by E. C. Segar (Fantagraphics)
• Sundays with Walt and Skeezix, by Frank King (Sunday Press)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books

• Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus, vol. 1, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (Marvel)
• Apollo’s Song, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
• The Completely MAD Don Martin, by Don Martin (Running Press)
• Daredevil Omnibus, by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (Marvel)
• I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! by Fletcher Hanks (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

• The Arrival, by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)
• Aya, by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Obrerie (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Garage Band, by Gipi (First Second)
• I Killed Adolf Hitler, by Jason (Fantagraphics)
• The Killer, by Matz and Luc Jacamon (Archaia)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan

• The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories, by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
• MW, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
• Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)
• New Engineering by Yuichi Yokoyama (PictureBox)
• Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White, by Taiyo Matsumoto (Viz)
• Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, by Fumiyo Kouno (Last Gasp)

Best Writer

• Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Criminal, Daredevil, Immortal Iron Fist  (Marvel)
• James Sturm, Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow (Center for Cartoon Studies/Hyperion)
• Brian K. Vaughan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse); Ex Machina (WildStorm/DC), Y: The Last Man (Vertigo/DC),
• Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse)
• Brian Wood, DMZ, Northlanders (Vertigo/DC); Local (Oni)

Best Writer/Artist

• Jeff Lemire, Essex County: Tales from the Farm/Ghost Stories (Top Shelf)
• Rutu Modan, Exit Wounds (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Shaun Tan, The Arrival (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)
• Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #18 (Acme Novelty)
• Fumi Yoshinaga, Flower of Life; The Moon and Sandals (Digital Manga)

Best Writer/Artist—Humor

• Kyle Baker, The Bakers: Babies and Kittens (Image)
• Fred Chao, Johnny Hiro (AdHouse)
• Brandon Graham, King City (Tokyopop); Multiple Warheads (Oni)
• Eric Powell, The Goon (Dark Horse)
• James Stokoe, Wonton Soup (Oni)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

• Steve Epting/Butch Guice/Mike Perkins, Captain America (Marvel)
• Pia Guerra/Jose Marzan, Jr., Y: The Last Man (Vertical/DC)
• Jae Lee, Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (Marvel)
• Takeshi Obata, Death Note, Hikaru No Go (Viz)
• Ethan Van Sciver, Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps (DC)

Best Painter or Multimedia Artist (interior art)

• Ann-Marie Fleming, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (Riverhead Books/Penguin Group)
• Eric Powell, The Goon: Chinatown (Dark Horse)
• Bryan Talbot, Alice in Sunderland (Dark Horse)
• Ben Templesmith, Fell (Image); 30 Days of Night: Red Snow; Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse (IDW)

Best Cover Artist

• John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); Lone Ranger (Dynamite)
• James Jean, Fables (Vertigo/DC); The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse); Process Recess 2; Superior Showcase 2 (AdHouse)
• J. G. Jones, 52 (DC)
• Jae Lee, Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (Marvel)
• Jim Lee, All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder (DC); World of Warcraft (WildStorm/DC)

Best Coloring

• Jimmy Gownley, Amelia Rules! (Renaissance)
• Steve Hamaker, Bone, vols. 5 and 6 (Scholastic); Shazam: Monster Society of Evil (DC)
• Richard Isanove, Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (Marvel)
• Ronda Pattison, Atomic Robo (Red 5 Comics)
• Dave Stewart, BPRD, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cut, Hellboy, Lobster Johnson, The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse); The Spirit (DC)
• Alex Wald, Shaolin Cowboy (Burlyman)

Best Lettering

• Jared K. Fletcher, Catwoman, The Spirit (DC); Sentences: Life of MF Grimm (Vertigo/DC)
• Jimmy Gownley, Amelia Rules! (Renaissance)
• Todd Klein, Justice, Simon Dark (DC); Fables, Jack of Fables, Crossing Midnight  (Vertigo/DC); League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier (WildStorm/DC); Nexus (Rude Dude)
• Lewis Trondheim, “At Loose Ends,” Mome 7 & 8 (Fantagraphics)
• Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #18 (Acme Novelty)

Special Recognition

• Chuck BB, Black Metal (artist, Oni)
• Matt Silady, The Homeless Channel (writer/artist, AiT/PlanetLar)
• Jamie Tanner, The Aviary (writer/artist, AdHouse)
• James Vining, First in Space (writer/artist, Oni)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

• Comic Art #9, edited by Todd Hignite (Buenaventura Press)
• Comic Foundry, edited by Tim Leong (Comic Foundry)
• The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth, Michael Dean, and Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics)
• The Comics Reporter, produced by Tom Spurgeon and Jordan Raphael (www.comicsreporter.com)
• Newsarama, produced by Matt Brady and Michael Doran (www.newsarama.com)

Best Comics-Related Book

• The Art of P. Craig Russell, edited by Joe Pruett (Desperado)
• The Artist Within, by Greg Preston (Dark Horse)
• Manga: The Complete Guide, by Jason Thompson (Del Rey Manga)
• Meanwhile . . . A Biography of Milton Caniff, by R. C. Harvey (Fantagraphics)
• Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean, by Douglas Wolk (Da Capo Press)
• Understanding Manga and Anime, by Robin Brenner (Libraries Unlimited/Greenwood Publishing)

Best Publication Design

• (The Complete) Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, designed by Ulrich Merkl (Ulrich Merkl)
• Complete Terry and the Pirates, designed by Dean Mullaney (IDW)
• Heroes, vol. 1, designed by John Roshell/Comicraft (WildStorm/DC)
• Little Sammy Sneeze, designed by Philippe Ghielmetti (Sunday Press)
• Process Recess 2, designed by James Jean and Chris Pitzer (AdHouse)
• Sundays with Walt and Skeezix, designed by Chris Ware (Sunday Press)

Hall of Fame

• Judges’ Choices: R. F. Outcault, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson

Nominees (4 will be selected by voters):

• Matt Baker
• John Broome
• Reed Crandall    
• Rudolph Dirks
• Arnold Drake
• George Evans
• Creig Flessel
• Graham Ingels
• Mort Meskin
• Tarpe Mills
• Gilbert Shelton
• George Tuska
• Mort Weisinger
• Len Wein
• Barry Windsor-Smith

The Word on WonderCon

We didn't make it up north for WonderCon this year, which is too bad because it sounds like it was a great show.  The first major show of the year, now that the scheduling conflicts of past years with New York Comic-Con have been worked out, WonderCon is increasingly becoming a West Coast complement to San Diego's mammoth summer show. (Both shows are put on by the same not-for-profit group.)

The Hollywood programming in particular has grown quite impressive and corrects one of the difficulties with San Diego's late July dates, which is that most of the major Hollywood summer pics have already come and gone by the time Comic-Con rolls around. WonderCon offers a chance to check out the stuff you'll want to see this summer before heading down to San Diego.

There's lots of great coverage out there from the usual suspects, i.e., news sites and blogs that were there to cover the show such as Newsarama, CBR and Comics Continuum. Here's a few of the film-related highlights, culled from such reports:

* “Iron Man” director Jon Favreau appeared for a Q & A, showing bits of new footage from the film. He also confirmed the “Hulk” crossover scene, says he'd like to do the Tony Stark alcoholism storyline in a sequel and would love to do the “Avengers” movie. A new trailer is set to debut on this week's episode of “Lost."

* Since I've seen nothing on these sites about "The Dark Knight" and "The Incredible Hulk," I'm going to assume they were missing in action at this con, though new trailers for both films are in the works.

* WB Animation debuted “Justice League: The New Frontier” Saturday night, including a panel featuring the creator of the comic its based on, Darwyn Cooke. Original movie comes to DVD tomorrow, though we saw it quite a while back and were very impressed by the adaptation.

* Animation fans also got a look at the premiere episode of “The Spectacular Spider-Man,” a new animated series that hits the Kids WB! lineup in a couple of weeks. Series is already in production on a second set of 13 episodes, with Marvel and Sony figuring out where to air them now that Kids WB! is going away.

* A packed panel got a first look at “The X-Files 2,” complete with appearances by David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz.

* Disney presented clips from “Prince Caspian,” and brought out director Andrew Stanton to show a bit of footage from the upcoming Pixar pic “Wall*E.”

* Lucasfilm showed "Star Wars" Lives! The house that George built promoted both its upcoming “Star Wars: Clone Wars” animated series, the premiere of which gets a theatrical release on Aug. 15, and the long-anticipated “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” videogame. They also gave a plug to “Indiana Jones” by showing the trailer for “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” as well as a Jones Lego videogame and the final DVD release of the “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.”

* James McAvoy stopped in to plug “Wanted,” introducing a quick look at the film before heading down to yesterday's Oscars ceremony.

* More folks on their way to the Kodak included Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, answering questions about “Get Smart” along with director Peter Segal. Roland Emmerich also showed some footage from “10,000 B.C.”

On the comics side, there was a lot of DC-related announcements as the company plugged its upcoming superhero plans, including “Final Crisis,” the new weekly title “Trinity” and writer James Robinson taking over Superman, (Expect Marvel to make more announcements at Wizard World Los Angeles next month.)

* J. Michael Straczynski, who recently ended his exclusive status with Marvel, is going to be writing some comics for DC, including new “Babylon 5” material. He also has two books at Image and will continue to write “Thor” for Marvel.

* Boom! Studios announced new projects from novelists Gary Phillips and Matt Forbeck as well as one by Adam Rifkin, director of Detroit Rock City.

* In a move that surprised no one, Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan's “Demo” will return as a Vertigo series.

* Spotlight panels were held for artists Darwyn Cooke, classic Marvel artist Herb Trimpe, “Fables” creator Bill Willingham, and “Heroes” contributor Tim Sale.

Comic-Con Update gets an upgrade

For the past few years, Comic-Con has been publishing a rather nice update on everything related to the big show in San Diego — as well as its sister shows, WonderCon and APE — in comicbook format that's sent to shops as a freebie and by mail to attendees. Now, the publication is being upgraded to a magazine format.

The PR for the release includes a fascinating bit of info: The magazine is distributed to about 250,000  people — more than double the circulation of the top-selling comic book in the direct market.

As I'm sure many of you already know, the system for making discounted hotel reservations through the Con goes live tomorrow at 9 a.m. PT.

Full PR on the magazine in the jump.

COMIC-CON MAKES A MAJOR UPGRADE

SAN DIEGO – Comic-Con, the largest comic book and popular arts convention in
the United States announced today that they have implemented a major
redesign of their Update Magazine.

            “With all three of our shows, Comic-Con, WonderCon and APE, the
Alternative Press Expo, continuing to grow both in terms of size and scope,
it made sense to increase the amount of space in our magazine to highlight
all the cool things happening at each of our shows,” commented David
Glanzer, spokesperson for the non profit event.

            The Update Magazine, which was printed three times a year and
distributed via direct mail to 150,000 recipients as well as 100,000 to
select comic book shops and specialty stores, will now be called Comic-Con
Magazine. The print run and distribution will remain the same.

            Glanzer continued, “Comic-Con Magazine will be standard magazine
size which allows us more room for content, photos and up to date
information on all of our events.” The inaugural issue features special
reports on Comic-Con, WonderCon and APE as well as exclusive interviews with
Comic-Con guests Bryan Hitch, and Rutu Modan.

            Comic-Con Magazine will also feature contributions from leaders
in the comics and popular arts fields. Issue one of Comic-Con Magazine
features articles from contributors Mark Evanier, Shaenon K. Garrity,
Maryelizabeth Hart and Jason Thompson.

            Look for Comic-Con Magazine at your local comic shop, or email
cci-info@comic-con.org to request a free copy.

Comic-Con International, is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated
to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular
art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that
celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and
culture.

###

Why the WGA strike won't hurt Comic-Con

The comics blogosphere has been abuzz about the potential impact of the writer’s strike on Comic-Con ever since the estimable Peter Sanderson raised the issue (scroll down) over at The Beat. The thinking goes that with such Comic-Con staples as “Lost,” “Battlestar Galactica” and “Heroes” on indefinite hiatus, that Hollywood might roll back the star power that draws so many fans to the show. You can follow the train of thought, courtesy again of Heidi MacDonald at The Beat, which ends with Con spokesman David Glanzer telling the San Diego Union-Tribune that there’s nothing to worry about and plans for the show are proceeding normally.

While it’s almost comforting to think that something really could ease up the Comic-Con crush, it’s unlikely that any strike-induced reduction in star power would hurt attendance or interest in the show in any significant way, for a number of reasons.

If the strike is still on come July, then, yes, it is likely that networks and studios would reduce their involvement in the show. But what does that really mean? TV has been hit first and hardest by the strike, and you could expect networks to not be paying for its folks to go to San Diego and speak on big panels that promote shows that won’t be coming back any time soon. (Most networks don’t bother with booths on the floor.) That could hurt smaller shows or new ones — of which there will be zero if the strike is still on.

But the big-name shows are more immune to rollbacks than you think. You can be sure that writers and producers who work on the hot Comic-Con shows — guys like Jeph Loeb, Brian K. Vaughan, Joss Whedon and Damon Lindelof — are going to be there no matter what. So unless the networks or guilds somehow decide to prohibit folks from appearing on panels, these guys can still talk about their work with fans and maybe even on panels organized by the con instead by the network. (That raises the interesting possibility of panels that could avoid the unabashed sales pitches of recent years.)

From the WGA’s perspective, there’s no reason not to attend San Diego. Unlike talk shows or awards shows, Comic-Con panels are not written — as anyone who’s sat through the Q&As can tell you — and the only bits that end up on TV are news-related, so there’s no reason to picket or protest a la the Golden Globes. If the strike is still going on by July, Comic-Con could be a very important way for the guild to bolsters its public relations and morale. (I'd say the same is true for the AMPTP, but I can't imagine a rep from the org getting a good reception from the Comic-Con crowd.)

Regardless of how much the strike affects the TV side, there’s still plenty of movie material that went into production pre-strike to play up in Hall H. With films like “Star Trek,” “Will Eisner’s The Spirit,” “Watchmen” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” all set to come out in late 2008 or early 2009, fans can expect as many cool sneak peeks as ever — even in the event that cast members and folks like J.J. Abrams or Frank Miller decide not to show up. Animated projects, most of which fall outside the WGA’s jurisdiction, also will be unaffected and free to carry on as normal at Comic-Con.

How many people go to Comic-Con to see a specific celebrity is an impossible question to answer, but is likely low given that exactly who is and isn’t attending is never made clear until the programming schedule is announced a week or two before the show begins. Anyone who’s made travel plans and hotel reservations six months out is unlikely to balk at the absence of any specific person or persons. Walk-up attendance was limited last year by the first sell-outs in Con history; I suspect that most if not all passes will have been sold out in advance this year.

Places where a Hollywood rollback would be felt more keenly would be a reduction in swanky network- and studio-sponsored parties. That will be a minor inconvenience to a relatively small number of people. It also could increase, however slightly, the number of hotel rooms available for the show. It’s never been clear how much hotel space studios take up for the show (or even how much of the space they reserve actually gets used), but it’s still nice to think that it might be just a tiny bit easier to score a room this year. (FYI, the con-discounted hotel reservations for this year go live on Feb. 6).

Lastly, Comic-Con was a hit before Hollywood writers, stars and directors showed up; it’ll survive just fine if some of them stay home this year.

Eisner Awards judges announced

Jackie Estrada, the administrator for the annual Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards, has announced the judges for the 2008 honors, which will be presented at Comic-Con Intl. in San Diego on Friday, July 25.

As usual, the judges are pulled from various areas of the industry, including comics retailers, librarians, journalists, creators and industry people.

This year's judges are: John Davis, director of pop culture markets for bookstore wholesaler Bookazine; sci-fi author, book critic and comics writer Paul Di Filippo; Atom! Freeman, owner of the Brave New World Comcs store in Santa Clarita, Calif.; Entertainment Weekly writer Jeff Jensen; and Eva Volin, supervising children's librarian for the Alameda Free Library in Alameda, Calif.

Full details on the judges are in the press release, following in the jump.

Eisner Awards Judges Named for 2008

The judging panel has been announced for the 2008 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. This blue-ribbon committee will be selecting the nominees to appear on the Eisner Awards ballot. This year's judges, chosen by Awards Administrator Jackie Estrada, are:

* John Davis, director of pop culture markets for Bookazine Company, a longtime wholesaler to the bookstore market. Davis joined Bookazine in 2005, where he has spearheaded Popazine, their pop culture, graphic novels, and manga program for retailers. Davis is a 20-year veteran of the book industry, including stints at Central Park Media and Koen Book Distributors. Over the last decade he has especially enjoyed learning more about graphic novels and manga and offering retailers advice and encouragement to embrace the category. In that capacity he has served as a consultant and contributor to ForeWord magazine’s Comique graphic novel supplement. He was also co-founder and co-organizer of the Firecracker Alternative Book Awards.

* Paul Di Filippo, professional SF author with over 25 books to his credit. In comics he has written scripts for such characters as Marvel's Doc Samson and DC's Deadman. His major foray into scripting has been the Alan Moore-approved sequel Top 10:  Beyond the Farthest Precinct. In addition, Di Filippo is a long-time critic and reviewer whose work appears frequently in such venues as The Washington Post and The Barnes and Noble Review.

* Atom! Freeman, co-owner of Brave New World Comics in Santa Clarita, California. Atom! has worked as a comics shop sales clerk, a sales rep for Fantagraphics Books, and an organizer for comics events. He and his wife Portlyn have owned and operated Brave New World for eight years. The Freemans regularly participate in literacy and reading programs at libraries and schools, offer courses for children of all ages on how to draw their own books, and contribute frequently to the local Toy Library and programs run by their county's Child and Family Services bureau.

* Jeff Jensen, senior writer, Entertainment Weekly. A lifelong comic book fan and occasional comic book writer himself (X Factor, Teen Titans), Jensen has been reviewing graphic novels and monthly comics for EW since 2000. He has written EW cover stories on Sin City, Superman Returns, the Star Wars prequels, the Harry Potter franchise, Lost, Heroes, and many other movies and TV shows. But perhaps his favorite assignment was reporting and writing an oral history of the groundbreaking comic book series Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

* Eva Volin, supervising children's librarian for the Alameda Free Library in Alameda, CA. In addition to being a member of the American Library Association/Young Adult Library Services Association's Great Graphic Novels for Teens committee, Volin has helped create or develop graphic novel collections in several libraries. She also writes manga reviews for Library Journal's Xpress Reviews, ICv2 Guide to Manga, and Robin Brenner's NoFlyingNoTights.com (a graphic novel review website designed for teens and those who work with teens), and she has recently begun reviewing light novels for MangaCast.net.

    Estrada will be sending out the 2008 Call for Entries in mid-December. The judges will meet in early April to select the nominees that will go on the Eisner Awards ballot. The nominees will then be voted on by professionals in the comic book industry, and the results will be announced in a gala awards ceremony on Friday, July 25, at Comic-Con International: San Diego.
    The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are presented under the auspices of Comic-Con International: San Diego. Further information on the Eisner Awards can be found at http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.shtml
    Anyone wanting information on submitting works for the judges’ consideration can e-mail Estrada: jackiee@mindspring.com.

Comic-Con: Attendance hits 125,000

In several interviews, Comic-Con spokesman David Glanzer pegs attendance at this year’s con at about 125,000, up only a slight bit from the previous year’s 123,000. Of course, this year saw for the first time caps on ticket sales, with four-day badges and one-day badges for three out of four days selling out. In an interview with Tom Spurgeon at the Comics Reporter, Glanzer mentions some of the things the organizers are considering for the future, including finding locations for some events outside the already-packed convention center. Glanzer also debunks the constant rumor that the show will move to a new city (it’s set in San Diego through 2012) or the new rumor that it will add more days to the show.

The slate of conventions rolls on, with Wizard World reporting attendance of 68,000 at its Chicago show. The Toronto Comics Art Festival, an indie-focused show, earned great reviews, with the massive Fan Expo rolling into town the following weekend. Up next is the Baltimore Comic-Con on Sept. 8-9.

And making all of these shows look small, was the semi-annual Comiket in Japan, which drew more than 500,000 fans from Aug. 17-19.

Three finalists face off in Comic-Book Challenge

Platinum Studios’ second annual Comic-Book Challenge was been narrowed down to three finalists after pitch sessions held at Comic-Con.

The finalists are: Jorge Vega from Brockton, Mass., for “Gunplay;” Shawn Granger from La Verne, Calif., for “Grey Shades;” and Josiah Grahn from Richmond, Ky., for “Banana Barry.”

The winner will be decided by a popular vote at sponsor site AT&T Blue Room, where you can look at art and watch videos of both the pitch sessions and the finalist talking about their character. Voting ends at midnight Aug. 26, with the winner getting their comic published by Platinum and unveiled at a Wizard World convention next year.

Comic-Con: Looking 25 years into the past

Alan Light, who founded the publication now known as the Comics Buyers Guide, has posted an incredible gallery of photos taken at the 1982 San Diego Comic-Con.

Aside from the “Wow!” factor of seeing a young Frank Miller sketching for fans, are the number of true comics greats who are no longer with us. Among them are Carl Barks, Jack Kirby, Milton Caniff, Will Eisner, Burne Hogarth and Hank Ketcham. (Pictured above are Barks and Hogarth; photo copyright 2007  Alan Light.)

There’s a lot of pics there, but they’re worth looking through to see some of these greats and how radically the show has changed in the past 25 years.

Interestingly enough, even back then there were some pretty impressive Hollywood names at the show, including producer Frank Marshall, who had been up for a Best Picture Oscar that year for “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and was awarded an Inkpot Award at the show that year.

Comic movie catchup: 'Spirit' cast; 'Punisher 2' set; more!

Having finally recovered from the case of San Diego SARS, which appears to be the preferred name for any kind of illness contracted in this year’s mass of humanity, here’s catching up on a few things comics-to-film wise, with more pure comicbooky stuff to come later.

* Gabriel Macht has been cast in the title role of Frank Miller's adaptation of "Will Eisner's The Spirit." Macht was most recently seen in "The Good Shepherd," and also stars in the upcoming "Whiteout," based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Steve Leiber. Pic is set to shoot this fall for a 2009 release.

* "Watchmen" gets a release date of March 9, 2009, at its official site, which also serves up a closer look at the new Dave Gibbons poster.

* Marc Graser has a good roundup of the next gen of comicbook publishers looking to go Hollywood in this week's weekly Variety.

* "The Punisher 2" is set to shoot this fall, as well, with Ray Stevenson of HBO's "Rome" donning the skull-emblazoned battled armor. Pic will be directed by Lexi Alexander and find the Punisher going up against mobsters in NYC.

* Wizard has a nice summary of what's going on with the "Wolverine" pic.

* George Miller is rumored to be in talks to direct the "Justice League" film.

Comic-Con: A chat with Warren Ellis

For those who still come to Comic-Con for the comics, Warren Ellis was as big a star as any Hollywood actor or actress at this year's show, at least in part because he last appeared at the show 10 years ago.

In that time, Ellis has become one of comics'™ most consistently entertaining and inventive voices. He rose through the ranks at Marvel working on various X-Men related books before his sci-fi maxi-series "€Transmetropolitan" caught on and became the only series in DC'€™s Helix line to survive its demise and move over to Vertigo. He followed up with canny ventures into the "€œwidescreen" superhero epic with "The Authority,"€ the pulpy origins of comics in "€œPlanetary,"€ and the joy and horror of space exploration in "Orbiter," thrilling readers with a mad mix of ideas, stories and characters that were irresistibly clever and vulgar at the same time.

Now, he divides his comics time between a number of comics publishers, such as Marvel, where he i€™s set to take over "€œAstonishing X-Men"€ from Joss Whedon, and DC/Wildstorm, home to "€œDesolation Jones." On the indie side, "€œFell"€ with artist Ben Templesmith has been a hit at Image Comics and Ellis has carved out a nice niche for his work at Avatar Press, where since 1999 he ha™s published horror and sci-fi titles such as "€œStrange Kiss" and the Apparat line of singles.

Credit Avatar with finally getting Ellis back to San Diego to promote the launch of three new projects: the historical graphic novel "€œCrecy,"€ the sci-fi series "€œDoktor Sleepless" and the political superhero miniseries "€œBlack Summer."€

Also, Ellis' first novel, "€œCrooked Little Vein,"€ was just published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, and has been getting solid reviews and attention from the likes of Entertainment Weekly and the Los Angeles Times.

Ellis spent much of his time at the show signing at the Avatar and HarperCollins booths, as well as appearing on a couple of panels —€” one of which was a two-hour Saturday night spotlight on his work —€” and doing press from a hotel room well-stocked with cigarettes and Red Bull, where he answered some questions Saturday afternoon about his work, the comics industry and returning to San Diego.

"€œIt'€™s a completely different show,"€ Ellis says of the convention. "€œThere are three times the number of people than were here the last time I attended, the hall is three times bigger and I had a brief walk across the convention floor yesterday and I couldn'€™t see any comic stands at all,"€ he says. "€œThe only comics presence I'€™ve seen is the Avatar Press booth that I"™m signing at."€

Ellis says he works with Avatar because they give him complete creative control, from the rights to getting as involved as he likes in the production process and final look of the books. "€œThey basically do the job right,"€ he says. "€œIf I want to write what I want to write, then there are certain companies that it'€™s absolutely pointless to take them to."€

Of his new Avatar books, "€œBlack Summer"€ has already gotten the most attention for a scene in which a superhero executes the president of the United States for prosecuting an illegal war. "€œI'€™ve already turned up on Fox News as an aider and abettor of terrorists,"€ Ellis says. "€œAn unnamed apparently ex-FBI man claimed that if there was an attempt on the president'€™s life, I'€™m the first person that should be arrested."€

"€œDoktor Sleepless"€ is perhaps the most conventional of the new Avatar books, mixing sci-fi, politics and culture in a way Ellis'€™ fans have come to expect. "€œCrecy,"€ about the historical battle between England and France in 1346, is a compelling departure that evokes, in its own way, the same thrill of ancient battle as "€œ300."€

That kind of notoriety and the intense online following Ellis has earned has, so far, not turned into much work in film or TV, he says. "€œAs a comics writer, as you know, you can'€™t get arrested in Hollywood."€ He does have a few such projects in the work: writing an animated film adaptation of the "€œCastlevania"€ videogame and a TV series for AMC called "€œDead Channel."€

Reviews for "€œCrooked Little Vein"€ have so far been mostly positive, but there were some surprises he found in working with a major prose fiction publisher. "€œI think possibly, it was my own preconceptions,"€ he says. "€œI assumed that I would be able to be a lot more hands off with a novel publisher, then I found myself having to get quite heavily involved in things like cover design, which came out great."€

The comicbook market has been a tough on creator owned properties in recent years, as the big two have increased their grip on the direct market. In late 2003, Ellis said he expected his kind of work to be crowded out of the market and that he would turn to other media. That has not turned out to be the case.

"€œI think we might have just been waiting for a new generation to come in,"€ he says. "€œI think the people who had come into comics with say '€˜Transmetropolitan'€™ had maybe drifted out of the field again afterwards. I certainly felt that. But I think online comics and manga have brought a whole new generation back into the western comics form."€

That'€™s been good for comics that aren'€™t based on established superheroes. "€œThat hard bifurcation is still there, there are still clearly two different markets, but the other market, if you like the market that create their own work, is strengthening again, I think,"€ he says.

Comic-Con: Wrap-up thoughts

View Fan Photo Gallery: Part One and Part Two.

Comic-Con 2007 is fading into the sunset and it’s difficult to come up with any kind of definitive take on the whole thing. There will be more to come in the next few days, but for now, here’s some random thoughts on the ups and downs of this year’s shows:

* The Hollywood machine appears to have completely and totally incorporated Comic-Con into its annual marketing agenda. Not only was every major studio there, but every studio that had a deal or announcement related to a comicbook property timed it to come out the day before the show began.

* The crowd situation on the exhibit show was not as big a problem as in previous years. The limits on tickets worked in many ways to even out the crush across all four days of the show. Unfortunately, that means they were all as busy as Saturdays in previous years, and perhaps even a little easier. Preview night actually seemed to be the most crowded, perhaps because there’s no programming that night to draw people off the floors. Another interesting though logical perspective on this comes from Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics, one of the biggest comics retailers in the country. Rozanski reports in his email reports from the floor that sales took a big, unexpected dive on Saturday, at least in part because the sales limits on tickets meant there was no “fresh blood” coming into the show on Saturday and those who’d been there a few days already were tapped out by that point. That converted Saturday from the one with the highest volume, to one that fell far short of expectations. Again, the floor was most packed in the central area of Hall D and E, where most of the big studio companies were situated. The small press, comicbook dealers and artists alley sections on the fringe of the show were always easier to navigate if not actually easy.

* The demand from people who want to get into panels appears to have actually increased over last year to a large degree. Last year, the view from the Omni showed a line for Hall H that stretched in a straight line from the door and north to the street. This year, in advance of the Marvel Studios panel, it weaved in and around the large concrete fixtures in the park next to the center. The line moved and a surprising number of people got it, but the line still was cut off with hundreds of people who were just out of luck. Even smaller panels, like the Shout! Factory presentation for “The Film Crew,” a new movie mockery project from the former crew of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” had a line forming a least an hour in advance. People who showed up even 20 to 30 minutes before the start time had faces that fell in obvious disappointment at the prospect of not getting in. (“The Film Crew,” featuring Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett was a hysterical reminder of how great it will be to have new “MST”-style content available again.) The new traffic control became a little more tolerable once it became clear how to use it. But it does take some of the fun away from a show like this when it’s so difficult to even stick your head into a panel and see if it looks interesting and, if not, moving on to something that was.

* The other issue is one that specifically affects the large media contingent that attends the show. Namely, that for panel attendance, there is no way for media reporters to reliably gain access aside from standing in line like everyone else. Yes, there are press-only opportunities — lots of them — but there is a need to cover the actual event of the panel, to hear what is announced to fans and see what the fan reaction is. The con may need to consider setting aside a space in each panel room for the media. Make them first-come first-serve, and if by some reason all those slots aren’t taken – then give them to fans. But the job of covering the show this year became increasingly complicated by the need to plan and stand in line, often for long periods of time, in order to ensure access to these events.

* The parties are getting very impressive. Saturday’s Sci Fi Channel-Entertainment Weekly bash was easily the most impressive mix of comicbook talent, Hollywood stars and journalists that I’ve ever seen. Not only were Sci Fi programs represented by the likes of Aaron Douglas from “Battlestar Galactica,” but the Marvel Studios crew showed up, including “Iron Man” director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr., “The Incredible Hulk’s” Ed Norton and Liv Tyler and, of course, Stan Lee. Comicbook talent including EW editor Marc Bernardin, co-writer of Wildstorm’s “The Highwaymen” and AiT-PlanetLar's “Monster Attack Network”; from Marvel Comics, publisher Dan Buckley, editor in chief Joe Quesada, writer and editor C.B. Cebulski and “Captain America” and “Criminal” writer Ed Brubaker; Virgin Comics CEO Sharad Devarajan and editor Stuart Moore; the Man of Action roster of Steven T. Seagle, Joe Kelly, Joe Casey and Duncan Rouleau; James Sime, owner of the very cool Isotope Comics shop in San Francisco and one of this year’s Eisner Awards judges; DCU exec editor Dan Didio; Comic Foundry editor Tim Leong; PW’s The Beat blogger Heidi MacDonald; and journos such as VFXWorld.com editor Bill Desowitz, Variety.com’s Anne Thompson, TV Week internet director (and former editor of Variety.com) Alex Romanelli, USA Today's Whitney Matheson (also an Eisner judge this year) and Nisha Gopalan, and Creative Screenwriting senior editor Jeff Goldsmith.

Comic-Con: "Spectacular Spider-Man" on Kids WB!

Marvel’s webhead returns to TV toonland this spring with “The Spectacular Spider-Man,” produced by Culver Entertainment and set to air on the Kids WB! on The CW.

Catching up with some of the show’s creators at Comic-Con, they explained that they’re going for a real classic look and feel for the show.

Producers and supervising director Victor Cook says the show will feature a Peter Parker who’s still in high school. As the series begins, he’s been Spider-Man for a short while, but has yet to face his main villains. The first season will cover the fall of Peter Parker’s junior year in high school, beginning the day before school starts and finishing at Thanksgiving.

Other elements that will set apart this animated Spider-Man from previous versions include a kind of Hong Kong movie choreography to the action sequences — though it will not be done in the style of Japanese anime.

Character designer Sean “Cheeks” Galloway says the series will have a more updated look. Some characters will change race to diversify the classic casts — for example, Ned Leeds has become Ned Lee, who is Asian.

Cook says they want the series to be defining for the character in much the same way the look Bruce Timm developed for the 1990s “Batman” animated series has for that character. Cook says, though, that doesn’t mean copying Timm’s style, it’s more about following the example to find a look that works for Spider-Man.

Josh Keaton, who will providing the voice of Spider-Man and Peter Parker, says the approach on the acting is more naturalistic and less cartoony. For example, he says he’s making no conscious effort to give Spider-Man and Peter different voices. Spidey also won’t be using the latest slang in his trademark witty banter.

The show also will have its continuity. While not as complicated as something like “Lost,” look for stories to break in three-episode arcs. Cook says that allows characters to appear for a line or two in one episode and pay off down the line.

Supervising producer Greg Weisman also says that each character will get their own arc, and he’s working on giving them each distinctive dialog in the mode of Joss Whedon’s work on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
As for the comics influence, Weisman says the big influences were early issues of Amazing Spider-Man scripted by Stan Lee and drawn by co-creator Steve Ditko and John Romita. Weisman also says he looked at the Ultimate Spider-Man series, while Cook added that the late 1980s-early 1990s work of Todd McFarlane also is in the mix.

"2001 Maniacs" sees comics as franchise move

It’s not just big studios and high-profile blockbusters that can get a boost out of Comic-Con. As work gears up on “2001 Maniacs: Beverly Hellbillies” — a sequel to the 2005 horror-comedy hit “2001 Maniacs” — writer-director Tim Sullivan and stars Robert Englund and Amy Baniecki were promoting a comicbook version from Avatar Press that bridges the gap between the films.
Sullivan co-wrote the comic with his “Maniacs” screenwriting partner Chris Kobin, introducing a couple of characters who will appear in the sequel, including Baniecki’s Scarlet Red. He says comics have infused his vision since he was a kid reading monster mags and reprints of old EC comics in the tree house. When he wanted to direct, he put together an illustrated screenplay for the first “2001 Maniacs.”

“The comicbook really is like an illustrated screenplay,” he says. “I realized as we were writing the comic that so much of what I learned as a screenwriter came from reading Tales from the Crypt.”
Englund, best known for bringing slasher Freddie Krueger to life in the “Nightmare on Elm Street” films, also was exposed to comics early on.
“I was really diverse in my tastes. I loved Scrooge McDuck, I loved Blackhawk when I was very young and precocious. I moved on to Tales from the Crypt and Mad magazine,” he says.
Sullivan wrote the book by coming up with the text and sending stick-figure drawings to Avatar editor in chief William Christensen, who then sent them off to artist Raulo Caceres in Spain.
“A week later, I’d get this gorgeous artwork sent back,” he says.
Baniecki’s character, Scarlet Red, is introduced to the story in the comics — a process she was startled by because the artists drew a character who “looked exactly like me,” she says.
The comic is influencing the film, too, with Caceres being the first to draw Red’s lethal (and anatomically correct) chastity belt. “I didn’t even know what to tell the artist,” Sullivan says. “And they drew it, and now we’re just giving the comic to the special effects guys and saying just make it look like this.”
The final result, Sullivan says, is the comic and the appearance at the con are intended to turn the films into a franchise.
“Now that we have the comicbook, this is really the first step toward taking ‘Maniacs’ toward the bigger realm that we envisioned for it,” he says.

Eisner Awards winners

Here's the winners ... We didn't make the show, unfortunately, but The Beat has a nice account of how things went last night here.

Best Short Story

"A Frog’s Eye View," by Bill Willingham and James Jean, in Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

Batman/The Spirit #1: "Crime Convention," by Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke (DC)

Best Continuing Series

All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)

Best Limited Series

Batman: Year 100, by Paul Pope (DC)

Best New Series

Criminal, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel Icon)

Best Title for a Younger Audience

Gumby, by Bob Burden and Rick Geary (Wildcard)

Best Humor Publication

Flaming Carrot Comics, by Bob Burden (Desperado/Image)

Best Anthology

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, by Bill Willingham and various (Vertigo/DC)

Best Digital Comic

Sam and Max, by Steve Purcell

Best Reality-Based Work

Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin)

Best Graphic Album - New

American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang (First Second)

Best Graphic Album - Reprint

Absolute DC: The New Frontier, by Darwyn Cooke (DC)

Best Archival Collection/Project - Strips

The Complete Peanuts, 1959-1960, 1961-1962, by Charles Schulz (Fantagraphics)

Best Archival Collection/Project - Comic Books

Absolute Sandman, vol. 1, by Neil Gaiman and various (Vertigo/DC)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

The Left Bank Gang, by Jason (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan

Old Boy, by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi (Dark Horse Manga)

Best Writer

Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Daredevil (Marvel); Criminal (Marvel Icon)

Best Writer/Artist

Paul Pope, Batman: Year 100 (DC)

Best Writer/Artist - Humor

Tony Millionaire, Billy Hazelnuts (Fantagraphics); Sock Monkey: The Inches Incident (Dark Horse)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

Mark Buckingham/Steve Leialoha, Fables (Vertigo/DC)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)

Jill Thompson, "A Dog and His Boy" in The Dark Horse Book of Monsters; "Love Triangle" in Sexy Chix (Dark Horse); "Fair Division," in Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)

Best Cover Artist

James Jean, Fables, Jack of Fables, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)

Best Coloring

Dave Stewart, BPRD, Conan, The Escapists, Hellboy (Dark Horse); Action Comics, Batman/The Spirit, Superman (DC)

Best Lettering

Todd Klein, Fables, Jack of Fables, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall; Pride of Baghdad, Testament (Vertigo/DC); Fantastic Four: 1602, Eternals (Marvel); Lost Girls (Top Shelf)

Special Recognition

Hope Larson, Gray Horses (Oni)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

Alter Ego, edited by Roy Thomas (TwoMorrows)

Best Comics-Related Book

The Art of Brian Bolland, edited by Joe Pruett (Desperado/Image)

Best Publication Design

Absolute DC: The New Frontier, designed by Darwyn Cooke (DC)

Hall of Fame

Judges' Choices (2): Robert Kanigher and Ogden Whitney
- Ross Andru & Mike Esposito
- Dick Ayers
- Wayne Boring
- Joe Orlando

Other Awards:

Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comics Writing: Gardner Fox, George Gladir

Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award: David Petersen

Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award: Neil Gaiman

Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award:
Earth-2, Sherman Oaks, CA, owned by Carr D’Angelo

Comics news: Waid to Boom!; Ellis on Astonishing X-Men

Fan-favorite writer Mark Waid has been named editor in chief of Boom! Studios, effective Aug. 1. From the PR:

"BOOM! Studios is the next generation comic book company. They are doing innovative work of astounding quality," Waid says.  "Co-owners Ross Richie and Andy Cosby have an incredible vision for the future of the industry and the company, and they approached me to partner with them to realize that vision.  'Here's a comic-book company,' says Ross.  'Go run it, and run it your way.'  It's an unbelievable offer."

* Marvel announced Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi will take over as the creative team on Astonishing X-Men at the end of the current run by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. The series will continue the current numbering, with the first issue to hit this spring and Ellis on board for 24 issues, according to CBR.

Con Snapshots

In one indication of how strong the demand is for certain Hollywood programs at Comic-Con, here's a picture of the line outside today's "Lost" panel AFTER it had started and every seat in the very large Ballroom 20 was full, as in not one single seat remained. "Lost" was the sole program set for Ballroom 20 today, and the line had started forming when I walked past at around 3:15 p.m., a whole hour and 45 minutes before the panel was set to start. Frustration was obvious among some of the hundreds who stood in line but were told by Con staff that there was no room for them to get in.

The crowds on the floor were actually not as tight as on Preview Night, when there's no programming to lure people off the exhibit floor. Still, it was crowded, and after walking around for a while, it was easy to identify with this fuzzy guy. My wife's measure of how crowded the show the gets is the length of time it takes for people to stop saying "excuse me" when they accidentally bump into while walking the aisles. There were lots of "excuse me's" last night, but about the only one today was disqualified as it came from a Canadian. (As an expat Canuck, I can personally attest to and appreciate the devotion to politeness that permeates the land north of the border.)

Nimoy/Quinto to split Spock

J.J. Abrams scored the first big movie surprise at Comic-Con by announcing that both Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto (Sylar, of "Heroes") will play Spock in his upcoming film "Star Trek." Abrams says he's desperately trying to find a way to get William Shatner into the film as Kirk, but there's a major continuity snag if the Nimoy scenes are set after 1994's "Star Trek: Generations," a film in which Kirk dies and Shatner appeared significantly younger. (Of course, dying in 1982's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" was only a temporary setback for Nimoy's Spock.)

In discussing "Cloverfield," Abrams was tight-lipped, but hinted that the picture — for which a very cool but unnamed trailer has been screening — will be some kind of modern monster pic.

Also at Par's screening, was a presentation on the fourth "Indiana Jones," with a video shown of director Steven Spielberg interviewing cast members Harrison Ford, Shia LeBeouf, Ray Winstone and Karen Allen, who will be reprising her role of Marion Ravenwood from the original and still-to-be-topped "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Variety's Marc Graser and Pam McClintock have the details here.

Friday sold out at Comic-Con

Single-day passes for Friday are now gone. Expect Sunday to follow suit in the next couple of days.

Here's the PR:

FRIDAY ADDED TO SOLD OUT DAYS FOR COMIC-CON

SAN DIEGO- Comic-Con, the nation’s largest comic book and pop culture event
announced that Friday admissions have sold out due to early, online
registration.
            “I feel a little like a broken record,” said David Glanzer,
spokesperson for Comic-Con, “we sold out of Saturday admissions, four-day
admissions, and now Friday and three-day admission.”
            Last year the convention drew over 123,000 people over the
four-day show and this year appears to top, or at the very least, match that
number.
            “You never want to be in a situation where you advertise an
event that people can’t attend,” continued Glanzer, “however as it relates
to Friday and Saturday, this may be the case, especially if they don’t
already have tickets.”
            Single day admission for Sunday is still available. For a
complete schedule of events and up to date information on admission
availability, visit www.comic-con.org.
    Comic-Con International is a non profit educational organization
dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related
popular art forms primarily through the presentation of conventions and
events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art
and culture.

Managing Con Foot Traffic

A few changes are immediately noticable at the con this year, with foot traffic more actively managed by the Elite security folks wearing the red shirts. It's most noticable on the upper levels, where the hallways between ballrooms have been converted into one way routes. You have to enter through the side halls, while the center hall is an exit only route. There are set ares for lining up for panels, and fans enter through one side of the room and exit the other. This sounds like a good idea for managing crowds, but in practice it's rough, especially if you want to to go directly from one panel to another or even just head to the nearest bathroom. Odds are you're going to run into a red shirt telling you that to get where you want to go, you have to walk ALL THE WAY AROUND the upper level ballroom block. Which is a long way. The situation in the lobby is much the same, with entrance this morning available only through certain doors. There also was, for some reason, ropes across the lobby with two gaps, one for each direction, with red shirts being very firm in forcing people to walk through the correct gap. The need to accommodate crowds is essential, especially given the numbers that show up for Comic-Con. But this system is counterintuitive and, frankly, a pain. Here's hoping the con, which is usually quick to fix such things — this year, there is more handicapped seating in panels, much better marked — can find a solution that works for fans and keeps order at the show.

Con report, part 1: Thursday

DC-themed items seen and heard around the con:

* Look for a couple of "Watchmen" cast members to show up for Friday's WB panel.

* Mark Verheiden says at his panel this morning that the "Teen Titans" movie he's writing will be more serious in tone, along the lines of "Batman Begins." "This is fun, but not light and frothy," he says. He didn't deny that there will be multiple villains and says it will be Nightwing/Dick Grayson in the film instead of Robin or Tim Drake.

* The "Dark Knight" trailer is expected to be shown at the WB panel.

"Heroes" comes to DC

Folks at DC talked about landing the rights to publish the online "Heroes" graphic novel material as a hardcover graphic novel this fall. The book will include all the online material, some of Tim Sale's artwork for the show, and will sport covers by Jim Lee and Alex Ross.

"Godfather" comes to Boom!

Yes, Boom! Studios scores the license to make comics and graphic novels based on the classic novel and movie series. This makes more sense than some may think, as Mario Puzo has longstanding connections with comics folk, including a stint working at one of the magazines owned by Marvel founder Martin Goodman and work on the screenplay for the 1978 "Superman" film.

From the PR:

PARAMOUNT and BOOM! Studios Announce THE GODFATHER Comic Series

July 27th, 2007

San Diego Comic-Con – Entertainment Weekly's greatest movie of all
time becomes a comic book this winter, thanks to a new licensing
agreement between Paramount Pictures and BOOM! Studios.  THE GODFATHER
makes comic book and graphic novel readers an offer they cannot
refuse.

BOOM! Studios is planning to publish a graphic novel and a series of
mini-series based on the iconic Mario Puzo-penned novel and films
beginning in Winter 2007.  The series will be written by an
as-yet-unannounced writer ("Jaws will drop," says Richie) and the
first arc will be illustrated by BOOM! veteran Greg Scott, whose
previous BOOM! titles include X ISLE and ENIGMA CIPHER.

"Marvel Comics has recently set the bar really high with their Stephen
King Dark Tower comics series," says BOOM! co-founder and Chief
Executive Officer Ross Richie.  "Which brings a lot of new readers
into the medium -- a sort of 'gateway comic book.' But I think there's
terrific potential with the Godfather to read a mass audience that's
never read comics."

"The thing about THE GODFATHER," says Chip Mosher, BOOM! Studios'
Marketing and Sales Director, "is how recognizable it is.  All around
the world, people know the movie, they quote lines from it in every
day.  Who doesn't recognize Marlon Brando as Don Corleone?"

That cultural awareness is what BOOM! is banking on.  Expect to see
Brando's unmistakable visage throughout the new series.

"We're able to use Brando's likeness," says Richie, "which means we
can tell Young Vito stories, Old Vito stories … we're really going to
flesh out and expand on the world of THE GODFATHER in a new and
dynamic way that really hasn't been done before, exploiting the visual
storytelling that comics can do in ways that TV, film, and novels
can't."

BOOM! has gone through a growth spurt like no other publisher this
past year. At the 2007 Book Expo in New York, BOOM! announced their
new mass market book distribution deal via Perseus, a unique
relationship for a comic book publisher that positions BOOM! with one
of the market leaders to book retailers.  Perseus just recently
acquired Publisher's Group West out of bankruptcy and continues to
grow and expand its market reach.

By the end of this summer, BOOM! will be offering a line of trade
paperback graphic novels collecting their popular series, including
TALENT,  HERO SQUARED, TAG, DEATH VALLEY,  and X ISLE.

In the last twelve months, BOOM! has sold three of its comic book
series to Hollywood: THE FOUNDATION was just bought in a preemptive
pre-publication bid by Paramount Pictures, while Universal Studios
bought TALENT and TAG last year.

Last December's launch of WARHAMMER 40,000: DAMNATION CRUSADE
initiated a new, successful series of comic books and graphic novels
followed up by the summer's launch of WARHAMMER: FORGE OF WAR.  BOOM!
enjoys the unique position of being one of only four licensors of
Games Workshop material, and will continue to grow and expand its line
of WARHAMMER 40,000 and WARHAMMER series.

Following on the heels of its success with these comics, BOOM!
announced a comic book and graphic novels license with Epic Games'
mega-selling GEARS OF WAR video game.  This fall will see a huge
launch for this exciting new property.

ABOUT BOOM! STUDIOS

Winner of Wizard Magazine's "Best New Publisher," BOOM! Studios is a
unique new publishing house specializing in high profile projects from
some of the industry's biggest talents.  Founded by the creator of the
TV show EUREKA, Andrew Cosby, and his partner Ross Richie, BOOM!
Studios continues to be on the leading edge of comic and graphic novel
publishing.

BOOM! Studios co-founder Andrew Cosby's television series, EUREKA,
just started its second season at the Sci-Fi Channel on July 10th,
launching to impressive ratings and winning several key demographics
on basic cable.  EUREKA is the highest-rated series in the network's
history.

Preview Night Pics

Preview night is done ... Boy, was it crowded. Events were run well, though, and the process for picking up badges was a smooth one. The con floor was packed, following the trend of recent years toward this being a true fifth day day of the convention. Fans seeking exclusives especially seemed to be out in full force, though some booths weren't selling theirs until the "official" opening of the show tomorrow.

An armor-clad polar bear from "The Golden Compass" booth.

An elaborate booth pluggin high-def and DVD releases of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

This yellow-brick road promoting Sci Fi's "Tin Man" is the first carpet sponsorship at Comic-Con. Unfortunately, it was announced over the P.A. system to watch out in some aisles, where it had become a trip hazard.

WB was passing out these giant bags (and cardboard "300" shields) at their booth. The scene was crazy, as fans crammed in tight and vied to grab one of the prized freebies.

This life-size statue drew a lot of attention at the Weta/Dark Horse booth.

This looks to me like Darth Cartman, hanging out behind the lifesize Jabba the Hutt at the Gentle Giant booth.

Variety Comic-Con Special '07 is live

You can check out the stories in this year's special report, as well as the latest news, here.

Among the big news breaking in the past day:

* Guy Ritchie set to direct a film based on "Gamekeeper," a project he developed at Virgin Comics.

* The cast is set for Zack Snyder's "Watchmen": Billy Crudup is Dr. Manhattan, Patrick Wilson as Night Owl, Matthew Goode as Ozymandias, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian, Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach, and Malin Ackerman as Silk Spectre.

* Dark Horse set to bring back the classic Warren titles "Creepy" and "Eerie," reprinting archive material, creating new stories and eyeing film and TV development.

* Marvel partners with Audi for its upcoming "Iron Man" pic.

* "Disturbia's"  D.J. Caruso is on board to direct and write with Carl Ellsworth an adaptation of "Y: The Last Man" for New LIne.

* DC's "Jonah Hex" also got a deal, with Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor on board to write the script, with Andrew Lazar and Akiva Goldsman producing.

Comic-Con 2007 PR, Vol. 2

More Comic-Con PR notices, straight from the source.