Best Short Story
“The Seventh,” by Darwyn Cooke, in Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition (IDW)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
Daredevil #7, by Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, and Joe Rivera (Marvel)

Best Continuing Series
Daredevil, by Mark Waid, Marcos Martin, Paolo Rivera, and Joe Rivera (Marvel)

Best Limited Series
Criminal: The Last of the Innocent, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel Icon)

Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 7)
Dragon Puncher Island, by James Kochalka (Top Shelf)

Best Publication for Kids (ages 8-12)
Snarked, by Roger Langridge (kaboom!)

Best Publication for Young Adults (Ages 12-17)
Anya’s Ghost, by Vera Brosgol (First Second)

Best Anthology
Dark Horse Presents, edited by Mike Richardson (Dark Horse)

Best Humor Publication
Milk & Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad, by Evan Dorkin (Dark Horse Books)

Best Digital Comic
Battlepug, by Mike Norton, www.battlepug.com

Best Reality-Based Work
Green River Killer: A True Detective Story, by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case (Dark Horse Books)

Best Graphic Album – New
Jim Hensons Tale of Sand, adapted by Ramón K. Pérez (Archaia)

Best Graphic Album – Reprint
Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition, by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)

Best Archival Collection/Project – Comic Strips
Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse vols. 1-2, by Floyd Gottfredson, edited by David Gerstein and Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)

Best Archival Collection/Project – Comic Books
Walt Simonson’s The Mighty Thor Artist’s Edition (IDW)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material
The Manara Library, vol. 1: Indian Summer and Other Stories, by Milo Manara with Hugo Pratt (Dark Horse Books)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia
Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, by Shigeru Mizuki (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Writer
Mark Waid, Irredeemable, Incorruptible (BOOM!); Daredevil (Marvel)

Best Writer/Artist
Craig Thompson, Habibi (Pantheon)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Ramón K. Pérez, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand (Archaia)

Best Cover Artist
Francesco Francavilla, Black Panther (Marvel); Lone Ranger, Lone Ranger/Zorro, Dark Shadows, Warlord of Mars (Dynamite); Archie Meets Kiss (Archie)

Best Coloring
Laura Allred, iZombie (Vertigo/DC); Madman All-New Giant-Size Super-Ginchy Special (Image)

Best Lettering
Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo (Dark Horse)

Best Comics-Related Journalism
The Comics Reporter, produced by Tom Spurgeon, www.comicsreporter.com

Best Educational/Academic Work (tie)
Cartooning: Philosophy & Practice, by Ivan Brunetti (Yale University Press)
Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby, by Charles Hatfield (University Press of Mississippi)

Best Comics-Related Book
MetaMaus, by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon)

Best Publication Design
Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, designed by Eric Skillman (Archaia)

Hall of Fame
Judges’ Choices: Rudolf Dirks, Harry Lucey
Bill Blackbeard, Richard Corben, Katsuhiro Otomo, Gilbert Shelton

Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award:
Tyler Crook

Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award:
Morrie Turner

Bill Finger Excellence in Comic Book Writing Award:
Frank Doyle, Steve Skeates

Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award:
Akira Comics, Madrid, Spain – Jesus Marugan Escobar and
The Dragon, Guelph, ON, Canada – Jennifer Haines

Last night the National Cartoonists Society gathered in Las Vegas for their annual Reuben Award banquet. The top honor for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year went to MAD Magazine cartoonist Tom Richmond. Tom started his career doing caricatures and freelance work for magazines, publishers and advertisers. As a caricaturist, he has been honored by the National Caricaturist Network in 1998 and 1999.

After a couple of years of trying to get into MAD Magazine, he finally got his break in 2000. He’s been a regular in the magazine ever since. Tom has won the NCS Advertising Illustration division award in 2003, 2006 and 2007 in 2009 he won the Newspaper Illustration division award.

He became the NCS’ president in 2011.

The other division award winners were also presented. Here are the winners:

TELEVISION ANIMATION
Erik Wiese – Production Design on The Mighty B – Nickelodeon

FEATURE ANIMATION
Mark McCreery, character design: Rango

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION
Bob Rich

GAG CARTOONS
Zach Kanin

GREETING CARDS
Glenn McCoy

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS
Glenn McCoy – The Duplex

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS
Mark Parisi – Off the Mark

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION
Edward Sorel

BOOK ILLUSTRATION
John Rocco – Blackout

EDITORIAL CARTOONS
Mike Ramirez

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION
Nick Galifianakis

COMIC BOOKS
J.H. Williams- Batwoman

GRAPHIC NOVELS
Ben Katchor- The Cardboard Valise

ON-LINE COMIC STRIPS
Jon Rosenberg Scenes from a Multiverse

To begin with, I really didn’t know how big a deal the New England Webcomics Weekend was until Saturday morning, when I discovered that the place was sold out for that day and I’d have to scramble to get in on Sunday. Fortunately, I discovered this on-line and not at the door, so I dropped Christopher Baldwin an email and a text (the electronic equivalent of belt-and-suspenders) and he set aside a Sunday ticket for me so I wouldn’t drive two hours and find myself on the outside looking in.

NEWW is a pretty big deal. The place was full but not crowded and the majority of cartoonists had a steady stream of fans, to the point where I felt sorry for the newcomers who weren’t well-known enough to draw a constant crowd. But people did wander by their tables to have a look and a bit of conversation, and I think they made some good new contacts over the course of the two days.

As someone who is somewhat knowledgable about the web form but more oriented towards syndicated strips, I found the conversations interesting.

Mike goes on to talk about how Howard Tayler, Dave Kellett and others approached selling books and interacting with fans.

Over the past 25 years, Mark has been involved in every aspect of comics publishing, from writing to editing to production to retail–everything short of inserting the staples in the actual comic books. He has written some of the best-selling American graphic novels of all time, including KINGDOM COME with artist and co-plotter Alex Ross, and currently serves as the Chief Creative Officer for BOOM! Studios Comics in Los Angeles.

With its contract with the San Diego Convention Center running out in that year, the convention’s board of directors has been mulling competing—and aggressive—offers from Los Angeles and Anaheim to move the world’s biggest entertainment event to facilities in those cities, bringing millions in revenues with it.

Although leaving San Diego—where temperate weather and the proximity to the vibrant Gaslamp District’s nightlife are as much a part of the Comic-Con experience as back issues and movie stars—seems unthinkable at first, the logistics of running the show have made the unthinkable a strong option, according to director of marketing and PR David Glanzer. With around 134,000 attendees—125,000 paying customers and another 9,000 exhibitors and press—the 41-year-old show is simply too big for the existing convention facility. Attendance has been capped for several years—this year’s show has been completely sold out for months—and the show has had to look for other ways to increase revenue to pay for rising costs. And despite its high-power lineup of world-class cartoonists and movie stars, Comic-Con hasn’t always had the attention from local businesses that it feels it deserved, as hotel room shortages and limited parking continue to plague Con-goers.

Friday’s Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention started off with an panel of cartoonists from the Middle East who shared with the group some of the challenges and success in being a cartoonist in the Middle East.

Jeff Danziger and Jack Ohman

Jeff Danziger was the next presenter who was interviewed by Jack Ohman on his early career. Jeff presented a portfolio of his cartoons and commented on their impact.

Frank Swoboda and Harry Katz next spoke on the Herb Block Foundation’s efforts both in and outside of cartooning. Frank was pretty blunt when talking about how the future of editorial cartooning probably will not be in staff cartooning. The foundation is updating its rules for qualifications to allow individuals such as Mark Fiore to compete for the award.

The last session of the day was a presentation by Cristian Fleming, Anita Austin and JP Trostle on the changes to the AAEC website. The changes at this point are cosmetic but new features are planned in the future.

L-R: Jeff Danziger, Mark Fiore, David Horsey, Caroline Dijckmeester (vjmovement.com)

Later in the evening, the open-to-the-public reception and exhibit was held. AAEC members submitted editorial cartoons on the topic of urban planning for the gallery.

Also that evening was the Cartoonists Rights Network International Reception. Subjects included the disappearance of cartoonist and columnist Prageeth Eknaligoda who was abducted last August in Sri Lanka.

Ted Rall talked about how he used kickstarter.com to raise money $26,000 for his trip to Afghanistan.

Caroline Dijckmeester, Tjeerd Royaards from vjmovement.com, presented their new endeavor to create an international news bureau that creates a network of video journalists and editorial cartoonists.

Matt Bors led the panel with myself and JP Trostle about the new paradigm of journalism (think blogs and microblogs) and how to use them to spread advocacy for editorial cartooning.

Matt paneled the next discussion that features Meredith Gran, Jeff Parker and Shannon Wheeler about the vibrant cartooning community in Portland Oregon. Shannon commented how Portland is known for cartoonists and Jeff quickly chimed in “and the food carts.” Jeff also plugged his Periscope Studios, a collective of cartoonists, illustrators, writers, concept designers, graphic novelists, and storyboard artists. Other such collectives exist in Portland and the network of artists makes a freelance career possible.

Powellapalooza presenters L-R Joel Pett, Matt Bors, Jeff Danziger, Mike Thompson, Ted Rall, David Horsey and Rob Rogers

The last official event of the day was the Powellapalooza – a free to the public event at Powell’s book store. The event was standing room only as Steve Kelley, Mike Thompson, Dave Horsey, Jeff Danziger, Ted Rall, Matt Bors, Rob Rogers, Joel Pett, Rex Babin and Mike Thompson cartoonists gave quick presentations of some of their best work. The crowd was very enthusiastic and asked a fair number of questions at the Q and A at the end. When asked about when editorial cartooning began, Jack Ohman, who emcee’d the event, called up V. Cullum Rogers who gave a quick and engaging response to the art form.

Mark Fiore (L) talking with David Horsey after Powellpalooza

Milt Priggee and Daryl Cagle

» An “Iron Giant” reunion on is slated for October 23rd where animators and directors of the classic “Iron Giant” film will gather to discuss the movie and the art of animation. Tickets are required to attend.

» The New York Times has a piece on how Pixar created a 3-D version of Toy Story 1 and 2. (h/t: theanimationblog.com)

Comic Con

» Heidi MacDonald reports that 4-day membership passes to San Diego Comic-con is already sold out two months after this years event.

Exhibits

» Tom Richmond has posted a write-up of his attendance at the Bernt Toast Gang Show

Interviews

» Scott Nickel has more interviews: Benita Epstein and Guy Gilchrist

» Tom Racine interviews graphic novelist Phil Foglio.

Webcomics

» Danielle Corsetto’s Girls with Slingshots hit the five year mark.