PR:

Comic-Con, the nation’s largest comic book and popular arts convention, announces this year’s nominees for the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award (or The Manning Award as it is more commonly referred).

The Manning award has been given out annually at the San Diego Comic-Con since 1982. It is presented to a comics artist who, early in his or her career, shows a superior knowledge and ability in the art of creating comics. It is named for Russ Manning, the artist best known for his work on the Tarzan and Star Wars newspaper strips and the Magnus, Robot Fighter comic book. Russ was a popular guest at the San Diego convention in the 1970s. The first recipient of the award was former Manning assistant Dave Stevens, Others to have received the award include Jan Duursema, Steve Rude, Scott McCloud, Art Adams, Eric Shanower, Dan Brereton, Jeff Smith, Gene Ha, Alexander Maleev, Goran Sudzuka, Eric Wight, R. Kikuo Johnson, and David Petersen.

The 2008 nominees are:

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 nominees were selected by a committee consisting of representatives of the West Coast Comics Club and Comic-Con International: San Diego, and the winner will be chosen by past Manning award winners and Russ Manning assistants. The recipient will be announced during the Eisner Awards ceremony on July 25 at Comic-Con International: San Diego.

More information about the Manning Awards can be found at www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_manning.shtml