Last week’s Angoulême festival extravaganza wrapped up with the presentation of the Grand Prix to Jean-Claude Denis, whose career goes back to the ’70s but is perhaps best known in France for Luc Leroi. The Grand Prix is presented for a lifetime body of work—Denis is perhaps less well-known than some other winners, at least in the US. He was presented with the award by last year’s winner, Art Spiegelman, as shown in the above video.

In other Angoulême news, although there doesn’t seem to have been any drama like last year’s L’Association strike, several commenters have reported fewer people. Matthias Wivel has been covering it for TCJ, and reports that the Art Spiegelman-curated art show was a once-in-a-lifetime experience of excellence.

Other winners are as follows, with translations where possible:

FAUVE D’OR PRIX DU MEILLEUR ALBUM 2012 (Best Album) : «Chroniques de Jérusalem» de Guy Delisle (éditions Delcourt)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX SPECIAL DU JURY (Special Jury Prize) : Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring (L’Association)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX DE LA SÉRIE (Best Series): «Cité 14» de Pierre Gabus et Romuald Reutimann (Humanoïdes associés)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX INTERGENERATIONS (Intergenerational Award. This award is a nod to the family spirit of classic comics, and rewards a cross-generational work that could appeal to readers of all ages.): «Bride Stories» by Kaoru Mori (éditions Ki-OOn)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX REGARDS SUR LE MONDE (Views on the World Award. This prize rewards a book dealing with current world issues.): «Une vie dans les marges» A Drifting Life de Yoshihiro Tatsumi (éditions Cornelius)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX DE L’AUDACE (Audacity Award. This prize rewards an artwork that takes an innovative approach, whether formal or narrative, to comics.): «Teddy Beat» de Morgan Navarro (éditions Requins marteaux)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX REVELATION (Best Newcomer): «TMLB, ta mère la pute» de Gilles Rochier (éditions 6 Pieds sous terre)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX DU PATRIMOINE (Legacy Award): «Donald Duck» de Carl Banks (éditions Glénat)


FAUVE D’ANGOULEME – PRIX POLAR (Awarded to the best book in the detective genre): «L’intrus à l’étrange» de Simon Hureau (la Boite à Bulles)


FAUVE D’ANGOULÊME – PRIX JEUNESSE (Best book for younger readers) : «Zombillénium, 2. Ressources humaines» d’Arthus de Pins


FAUVE PRIX DE LA BD FNAC : «Portugal» de Cyril Pedrosa (éditions Dupuis)

Here’s a list of Denis’s complete works, from Google Translation, so it’s probably embarrassing, but as you can see, quite a body of work:

Uncle Ernest and delighted (with Martin Veyron) (1978, Casterman)
During naked (1979, Futuropolis)
André Raven 
Annie Evil (1980, Dargaud) 
The hot season (1981, Dargaud) 
The Flight into before (1984, Dargaud)
Rup Bonchemin 
Volume 1 – The Chalet Lost (1981, Casterman) 
Volume 2 – Between two fires (1981, Casterman) 
Volume 3 – Gustave Guadeloupe (1983, Casterman)
Luc Leroi 
Luc Leroi moved slightly (1981, Futuropolis) 
Luc Leroi against the forces of evil (1982, Futuropolis) 
Luc Leroi up the slope (1985, Casterman) 
The Yellow Dwarf, (1986, Casterman) 
Squirrels and girls (1990, Casterman) 
Individual bands (1998, Casterman) 
All flowers are called Tiare (2000, Casterman)
The 7 Deadly Sins, (1983, The Humanoids)
Shadow Tables (1991, Albin Michel)
Sweet peppers (1991, Albin Michel)
The Pelican (1994, Albin Michel)
Funny idle or The Last of Houpe (1995, Albin Michel)
A few months in Amélie (2002, Dupuis)
Beauty at home (2004, Dupuis)
The Sleep of Leo (2007, Futuropolis)
Shortly before the capital (with Dupuy and Berberian), (2008, Dupuis)
News of the invisible world (2008, Futuropolis)
All in Matha! 
Part One (2010, Futuropolis) 
Part Two (2011, Futuropolis)
Book:
A few months in Amelia (novel) – The Manuscript of Aloys Clark (2002, PLG)
Picture books:
The Matches Pierre Christin – Volume 3 – Train of fun 
texts by Pierre Christin (1998, Dargaud) 
Belem, a mirage in reverse (2005, Futuropolis) 
The Cry of the Sirens, CD and illustrations (1991, Threshold) 
NightBuzz, The Spell (with Charles Berberian), CD and illustrations (2005, Nocturne) 
Harry Belafonte (Calypso), CD and illustrations (2008, Nocturne)
Youth Books:
The fairy tales of pirate Pitou: Island to mynas (1993, Albin Michel Jeunesse) 
An artist Cat (1998, Seuil) 
Stubborn (2000, Seuil)

This year’s Eisner nominating panel has made their choices for automatic inclusion in the Hall of Fame: Rudolph Dirks, who pioneered the newspaper comic strip with The Katzenjammer Kids, and Harry Lucey, a long time Archie artist credited with co-creating the characters.

In addition, the judges selected 14 more nominees for the general ballot, from which four will be selected for inclusion into the Hall of Fame: Bill Blackbeard, Howard Chaykin, Richard Corben, Carlos Ezquerra, Lee Falk, Bob Fujitani, Jesse Marsh, Tarpé Mills, Mort Meskin, Dennis O’Neil, Dan O’Neill, Katsuhiro Otomo, Trina Robbins, and Gilbert Shelton.

Rudolph Dirks was hired by the New York Journal to create a feature which would compete with the then hugely popular The Yellow Kid in 1897. The result was the first comic strip to feature panels, repeating characters, and speech balloons. (Frankly it’s kind of amazing it took this long for Dirks to get into the Hall of Fame!) Dirks also won a court battle with William Randolph Hearst to keep control of his creations, taking the strip to a rival paper under the name of Hans und Fritz and then The Captain and the Kids. The Katzenjammer Kids version of the strip runs to this day.

Harry Lucey was a Golden Age cartoonist who was a studio mate of Bob Montana when the Archie cast was being created, and made essential contributions to the strip — including naming Betty. After serving in the Army during World War II, and doing some illustration work, Lucey returned to crawing the Archie characters in 1949 — a job he held for 20 more years. Lucey’s elegant, expressive art has made him one of the most influential Archie artists. More Lucey here.

This year’s judges panel consists of journalist Brigid Alverson (Graphic Novel Reporter, CBR, Robot 6), and retailer Calum Johnston (Strange Adventures), librarian Jesse Karp (LREI, New York), cartoonist Larry Marder (Beanworld), comics historian Benjamin Saunders (University of Oregon), and Comic-Con board of director Mary Sturhann, with the help of students from students at Center for Cartoon Studies, who helped do research on nominees.

The nominations for the 2012 Academy Awards are in, and HUGO led the way with 11 noms, including best picture, director and screenplay. Based on Brian Selznick’s illustrated children’s novel, if you squint a bit, it qualifies as a “graphic novel” movie.

The animated films list is a bit of a surprise: Steven Spielberg won’t get to correct his Golden Globes gaffe of forgetting to thank Hergé in his acceptance — the mocap extravaganza wasn’t even nominated. Instead the indie releases A CAT IN PARIS and CHICO & RITA were selected. The former hasn’t even opened here yet but looks cool.

There had been a great deal of debate over whether mocap qualified as animation — this year the academy voters said “NO!” although one look at TINTIN’s busy, frantic action would prove as physics-defying as any Road Runner short. TINTIN’s only nomination came for its score by John Williams — that’s also the only nomination for a comic book movie of any kind unless you count HUGO.

In the animated short list, sometime comicker, Pixar’s Enrico Casarosa was nominated for his short “La Luna.” As in past years, The Beat will be helping you bust your Oscar voting pool by handicapping this tie-breaking category.

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON received three nominations, for sound, sound editing, and special effects. REAL STEEL, the movie in which Hugh Jackman is a robot, also received a nomination in the sfx category. The final Harry Potter outing, DEATHLY HALLOWS 2, also received three.

Figwit a.k.a. Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords got nominated for his “Man or Muppet” song from the Muppets, beating out Madonna and Elton John. He gets our Nerd of the Week award.

Oh and our pick for Best Picture? THE DESCENDANTS, hands down the best movie of awards season.

Best Picture
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Animated Feature Film
“A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
“Rango” Gore Verbinski

Art Direction
“The Artist” Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography
“The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
“Hugo” Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
“Anonymous” Lisy Christl
“The Artist” Mark Bridges
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
“W.E.” Arianne Phillips

Directing
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese
“Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
“The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)
“Hell and Back Again” Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Pina” Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated” TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad”James Spione
“Saving Face” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
“Bullhead” Belgium
“Footnote” Israel
“In Darkness” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
“A Separation” Iran

Makeup
“Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Iron Lady” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams

Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Short Film (Animated)
“Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
“Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
“Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing
“Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
“Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

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The 2012 edition of the American Libraries Midwinter Conference concludes tomorrow in Dallas.  At each mid-winter conference in January, the ALA announces Youth Media Awards, as well as other “year’s best” list for various books and media.  Selected by librarians behind closed doors, these awards bring prestige and instant bestseller status to titles which might otherwise be overlooked.  The full list can be found here, but I’ve browsed through the list to find those which appeal to graphic novel readers and advocates.

All text comes from the awards websites and publishers.

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The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

Honor Book

Me … Jane, written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Watching the birds and squirrels in her yard, a young girl discovers the joy and wonder of nature. In delicate and precise India ink and watercolor, McDonnell depicts the awakening of a scientific spirit. A perceptive glimpse of the childhood of renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. Me…Jane book cover imageMe … Jane, written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Watching the birds and squirrels in her yard, a young girl discovers the joy and wonder of nature. In delicate and precise India ink and watercolor, McDonnell depicts the awakening of a scientific spirit. A perceptive glimpse of the childhood of renowned primatologist Jane Goodall.

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The Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.

2011 Medal winner

Bink and Gollie , written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile, published by Candlewick Press

Bink and Gollie provides a clever peek into the lives of dissimilar friends celebrating the ups and downs of their daily escapades in three lively chapters.  Bink and Gollie explore the rocky terrain of compromise, asserting independence, and jealousy, yet their friendship remains steadfast.

In this effervescent blend of picture book, reader and graphic novel, text and illustration unite the real and imaginary.  Humorous and exaggerated illustrations propel the reader through a story sprinkled with challenging vocabulary.  So much is said with so little.

“Covering a range of emotional territory to engage and challenge developing readers, fresh and creative text and powerful visuals generate a special chemistry between two friends,” said Geisel Award Committee Chair Julie F. Roach.

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The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English during the preceding year. The award is named in honor of Robert F. Sibert, the long-time President of Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. of Jacksonville, Illinois. ALSC administers the award.

2012 Honor Book

Drawing from Memory, written and illustrated by Allen Say and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Say, an esteemed children’s book creator, engagingly relays his early training, including the influences of his family and his artistic sensei, by filling his distinct scrapbook format with captivating text and dynamic illustrative styles, from watercolors to comics, which exudes enthusiasm and talent.

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The Schneider Family Book Award is a new addition to the American Library Association’s Media Youth Awards. The award is donated by Dr. Katherine Schneider, and honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. Three annual awards are presented for the best Teen, Middle School and Children’s Book. The American Library Association administers the Awards, and each recipient receives $5000 and a framed plaque. Winners are announced at the ALA Midwinter Meeting.

Middle School 2012 Winner

Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures written by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic
Rose and Ben are deaf children living 50 years and worlds apart, yet both marvel and connect with the world around them. The American Museum of Natural History links their separate stories – one narrated in text, the other through cinematic illustrations.
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The first and most enduring award for GLBT books is the Stonewall Book Awards, sponsored by the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table. Since Isabel Miller’s Patience and Sarah received the first award in 1971, many other books have been honored for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience.

The Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, the Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award and the Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award are presented to English language works published the year prior to the announcement date. The award is announced in January and presented to the winning authors or editors at the American Library Association Annual Conference in June or July. The award winners each receive a commemorative plaque and $1,000.

Honor Book

a + e 4ever written by Ilike Merey and published by Lethe Press

Asher Machnik is a teenage boy cursed with a beautiful androgynous face. Guys punch him, girls slag him and by high school he’s developed an intense fear of being touched. Art remains his only escape from an otherwise emotionally empty life. Eulalie Mason is the lonely, tough-talking dyke from school who befriends Ash. The only one to see and accept all of his sides as a loner, a fellow artist and a best friend, she’s starting to wonder if ash is ever going to see all of her…. a + e 4EVER is a graphic novel set in that ambiguous crossroads where love and friendship, boy and girl, straight and gay meet. It goes where few books have ventured, into genderqueer life, where affections aren’t black and white.

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The 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Award Nominees are out, including five in the comics category, for works which exemplify positive media portrayals of LGBT characters:

Outstanding Comic Book
• Avengers: The Children’s Crusade by Allan Heinberg, Marvel
• Batwoman by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman, DC Comics
• Secret Six by Gail Simone, DC Comics
• Veronica Presents: Kevin Keller by Dan Parent, Archie Comics

• X-Factor by Peter David, Marvel Comics

The GLAAD awards always come in for some criticism over choosing very mainstream titles over the world of indies, which are in theory far more LGBT friendly, but the point of the awards has always been to spotlight major media, so from that viewpoint it makes sense.

That said, it’s great to see Archie’s Kevin Keller storyline in there, and you’d have to consider that storyline a favorite.

ALSO: they might want to correct the typo in the story’s title on their info page: it’s VERONICA, not VONICA.

The Society of Illustrators, an august institution long devoted to the now-vanishing artform of magazine illustration, has in recent years presented medals in the Sequential category for comics-type stuff. This year’s winners include a gold medal for GB Tran’s VIETNAMERICA and a silver medal for Brian Rea’s Modern Love, a series of illustrations for a NY Times column on romance.

Both artists are part of a show up at the Society’s NYC HQ until the 21st.

Last year the Beat inaugurated the Person of the Year award. In an industry where changing the status quo isn’t always greeted with joy, this is our way of recognizing the people who either move the needle and shake things up or exemplify a level of excellence that others can aspire to.

To get some idea of who the industry is looking to for leadership, we asked participants in our Year-End Survey to name a person of the year. Respondents were promised anonymity in their comments, but some chose to be quoted.

Last year, Robert Kirkman was an easy winner – the runaway success of The Walking Dead and his business acumen in both remaining the public face of the show, and putting his profits into things like his own Skybound Image imprint were hard to miss.

This year, votes were much more across the board. One person clearly got the most votes as a single person. However, an executive team had more votes overall when votes for both people were added up. So, we used our executive power to declare both a Person of the Year and a Team of the Year. So who moved the comics industry in 2011 and will continue to be heard in 2012? Read on.

Person of the Year – Kate Beaton

Webcartoonist, author, historian, performance artist—2011 was Kate Beaton’s oyster. With the publication of her collected comics in HARK! A VAGRANT! from D&Q (just last week named Book of the Year by PW’s critics, and included on Time’s Books of the Year list), Beaton’s popularity grew from its already impressive dimensions. She also launched a monthly comics/comedy cabaret with Michael Kupperman, and continued to be one of the smartest, savviest creators out there. One of our sharpest memories of 2011 was watching two readers sitting giggling for half an hour as they read their just-signed copy of HARK! A VAGRANT!.

In choosing Beaton, respondents were clearly impressed by her overall talent, and ability to retain her loyal audience:

– Web-comics superstar turned print bestseller. Funny, smart, young…the future.

– DC is the big story, but that’s more of a team effort. As removed as I was from comics this year, it seemed like the dominant persona was Kate Beaton. She was everywhere, and everything she did was awesome. She’s the one creator in comics who has truly universal appeal. Everyone knows her. Everyone loves her. And for good reason.

– KATE BEATONS!!!!! ALL THE KATE BEATONS!!… sorry, the all caps got me excited there.

– Kate Beaton pretty much took over the world, and she did so with grace and candor.

Reached for comment on her win, Beaton sent this statement:

“It’s been a really big year for me with the book coming out, and I’ve been overwhelmed by the tremendous support I’ve been given. Thank you so much.”

Team Of The Year: DC Entertainment Co-publishers Dan DiDio And Jim Lee

The acknowledgement of the huge impact DC’s co-publishers had on the comics industry this year can be filed under least surprising things ever. With the renumbering, relaunching and reimagining of the DC superhero universe as The New 52, DC dominated headlines and sales charts from June on, reversing Marvel’s long-time dominance in the direct sales market and boosting sales levels to levels long gone. While some respondents had mixed feelings about The New 52, all recognized the huge amount of hard work and daring it took to shake things up:

– Dan Didio. Whether you like him or loathe him, he made a commitment, stood by it and put his entire career behind it. The DCU’s change will be talked about for years. As one of the architects, and as the one constantly hammered for these things, I’m giving it to him.

– Dan Didio. I have no way of knowing whether what he did with the DC New 52 has any real staying power, but he and his team managed to blow a lot of the dust off the DC comics line and there are now some very good comics on the racks under that banner. I now buy twice as many DC monthlies than I used to. To get someone as jaded as me interested again is something of an achievement in itself. Yes it’s all a bit more conservative than I would have liked and the whole enterprise does seem a little unstable, but Didio put his neck on the line to do this and I think it has paid off.

– While I am not sure the new 52 is good for comics it is definitely one of the biggest things to happen and Didio is the man behind it.

– Dan DiDio. Dude held onto a seat that everyone thought he’d lose, and then oversaw a siege on Marvel’s market dominance without much to support it beyond press releases, frightened editors, and a neverending supply of desperate freelancer cannon fodder.

– Jim Lee. I worked for Jim in the early days of WildStorm and was always impressed by the way he could come up with ways to get readers excited about comics. DC’s relaunch this year was the boldest thing I’ve ever seen a publisher do. It sold lots more books for DC and got fans excited again about comics. IDW saw increased sales (pre-orders and re-orders) across the board at the end of 2011 and there’s no question that was a direct result of the DC relaunch. – Ted Adams

– Dan Didio & Jim Lee. The DC relaunch, though I think flawed in many ways execution-wise, was at least the kind of big thinking that comics should strive for.

– Jim Lee for not only co-publishing The New 52 while balancing a hundred other responsibilities for DC, including making his art deadlines— and he and his wife Carla added a new kid to the Lee team with the late December birth of their daughter River Charlotte!

Reached for comment, DiDio and Lee released the following statement:

“In 2011, we took a major risk because we felt that’s what the industry needed. It’s been so rewarding to see the response ­ both from the fans and from the industry pundits. Given Comic Beat¹s longtime standing in the industry, we’re honored by this recognition. But the story’s not over, and we’ve got another big year ahead of us.”

The rest of the DC team was also mentioned several times:

– Geoff Johns, who seems to keep finding new ways to make DC more successful, along with lots of help, of course.

– If I could, this is an award I’d give to the entire DC management team, since The New 52 revitalized mainstream comics (at least for the 4th quarter!) The One-Time Only Stunt of audaciously re-starting their entire line of comics, while fielding nothing but flack for the six months running up to the launch is something that gets at least a hearty pat on the back and “Keep it going!” for everyone on the DC team.

– Diane Nelson. She actually is engaging with the audience that exists and broadening to markets poorly supported in the past. The “DC Nation” push is what Marvel wishes “Marvel Zombies” were like nowadays.

Person Of The Year Honorable Mention: Dylan Williams

Running a very strong third in the voting, if the winner had been chosen on sheer emotion, the late Sparkplug publisher Dylan Williams would have won. He succumbed to cancer in September — just as the part of the comics industry he loved so much were gathered at SPX— and the outpouring of emotion hasn’t stopped since. It’s very clear from the heartfelt tributes that poured in that although Williams’ loss is painful, he left a legacy of love for the comics medium that will keep inspiring people for years to come:

– Hands down– Dylan Williams. His passing was unbelievably sad, but I think in certain ways it galvanized a certain…feeling among many of the artists I know, in a very positive way. There’s never going to be anyone like him again; hot shit writers/ artists/ publishers come and go, but some people make an impression much deeper than whatever’s going on at the moment. Dylan was like that, as a publisher and a human being. His impact will be felt (probably in very invisible, quiet ways) for…I don’t know– forever. It certainly will for me.

– Dylan Williams is the Person of the Year for 2011. There aren’t many people in the history of comics who are as important as Dylan to the development of the medium. Dylan’s no martyr, and losing him was brutal, but it really did get everyone mobilized on our side of the comics divide.

– Dylan Williams, who will be missed, but whose presence will continue to cause ripples through alternative comics in ways most of us won’t ever even realize.

The people who carried on Sparkplug after Williams’s death were also noted:

– For me it’s definitely Virginia Paine. She did all of the heavy lifting of keeping Sparkplug going when we were all emotional wrecks and dealing with too much this year.  I don’t know how she did it. She’s amazing. I’m so glad to have her as a partner and friend as we move towards the future of Sparkplug with Emily Nilsson.  Also – Virginia’s comics and zines are very quiet and beautiful just like her. Check out her personal work. — Tom Neely

Other Notables

The Digital Crew

After these three clear frontrunners, several industry figures still had widespread support. The digital side of things were recognized with a slew of votes for comiXology, David Steinberger and John D. Roberts:

– David Steinberger. Like Steve Geppi, but in a growing company. He’s established very strong position in the place everybody wants to be.

–David Steinberger and the rest of the comiXology team. It was a great year for digital, but a STUPENDOUS year for comiXology. They changed the game for good.

– This year ComiXology seemed to finally win the way in terms of mainstream comics “iTunes.” Their aggressive development of applications for a variety of platforms and their nearly all-encompassing list of affiliated publishers have made them a major player in the North American comics industry.

The late Steve Jobs was also mentioned several times for the way the iPad has revolutionized the way we read comics:

– Steve Jobs.   He affected everything we do and will continue to have an impact on the way we see digital comics for a long time.

– Steve Jobs. Comics continued to expand in digital form on the iPad, and it wouldn’t have been possible without Jobs.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was noted for his role in the tablet wars and publishing in general:

– Love him or hate him, the decisions he makes at Amazon (Kindle Fire, Price Check, heavy discounting, buying Book Depository, starting a publishing company…etc.) have far reaching consequences for everyone in the comic publishing business and needs to be reckoned with.

– Jeff Bezos. While everyone was questioning the future of bricks and mortar vs. digital for the distribution of comics, he swooped in with the Kindle Fire and cut a deal with DC Comics that made Amazon a potentially huge player in the world of comics, not just for the big two but for self-publishers.

The Women

2011 was the year gender issues really fired up the world of comics, whether with enthusiasm – as with the Womanthology book – or with angry blog postings. Accordingly, a few of the players in this arena got strong support.

Renae DeLiz

, who put together the huge Womanthology anthology and set a comics fundraising record on Kickstarter in the process.

– Renae DeLiz. I honestly think that her “little” idea with Womanthology, that went on to be such a huge Kickstarter success, has opened up some incredibly important dialog and is in fact making actual changes in the industry for the long haul.

– She took a germ of an idea from casual chit-chat on Twitter and ran with it, striking a nerve and awakening a dormant beast from a dissatisfied slumber, giving amateur and pro-women creators alike a chance to bring their voices together.  The success of the Womanthology Kickstarter campaign gave very real, tangible proof of support for women in comics, and interest in women’s voices and perspectives– not to mention the diversity of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender expression!  Such diversity as I believe is the key to the survival of the comics industry, and it was thanks to Renae De Liz that we got to see how much possibility lay down that path. — Alexa Dickman

Kyrax2

This fan who stood up at every New 52 panel at San Diego and stood her ground until her questions were answered was met with first anger and then, due to her resilience, actually prompted the first acknowledgement by management that an issue even existed, and got several votes.

– Kyrax2, who – in her Batgirl costume – confronted Dan Didio at the San Diego Comic-Con International and asked the questions some of us who are female superhero comics fans have at least thought about for decades.  The furor has died down considerably, but she made me think long and hard about why I like superhero comics, and what factors are causing problems for me and tainting my enjoyment.  I’m in a distinct minority here, but she did have an impact on some of us, for good or ill.

– Kyrax2. Agree or disagree with her methods, she brought the entire industry and the mainstream media’s attention to an issue that has too often been dismissed. (Suzette Chan)

The Contenders

Three other industry figures who received passionate support that should be noted:

Annie Koyama – this Canadian publisher would probably win any popularity contest you chose to run. The books she publishes are impeccable and her resilient, upbeat personality has made her one of the most loved figures in comics.

– We should be grateful to Annie Koyama, publisher of Koyama Press, who is behind some of the best new comics around and seems to really care about her cartoonists’ visions. She’s clearly enthusiastic and supportive without being blind to top level quality.

– Annie Koyama! She’s smart, generous, canny, and has the best taste in the industry. I don’t know whether to hug her or swear fealty to her.

Richard Thompson, another universally loved figure who this year turned in stellar work on his comic strip Cul de Sac while battling the effects of Parkinson’s Disease and topped it off by winning the Reuben Award.

– Between turning in another amazing year of his strip Cul de Sac, winning the Reuben Award, inspiring the ultra-elusive Bill Watterson to paint a portrait of his character Petey, and being very polite when I puked all over his favorite Mexican restaurant (I should not have gotten out of bed that morning), Richard Thompson deserves recognition for a hell of a year.

Finally, last year’s winner, Robert Kirkman, continues to impress many.

–Robert Kirkman is still winner and champion

– Robert Kirkman gets the tap again this year for the insane success of “Walking Dead,” dominating cable television, killing on the trade paperback sales charts, and selling briskly in digital form. He’s worked insanely hard, continues to think out of the box, and is living the dream.

Individual creators:

Kevin Eastman.

– People like the 3-headed monster at DC garnered more headlines (and rightfully so, their launch was hugely successful and impressive), but Kevin made an unexpected and enthusiastic return to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and spent endless hours not only working on the new series, working on the deluxe reprints, but just getting back out in everyone’s minds again and meeting the fans. This included his impressive art installation and gallery show (and wall mural) at Meltdown Comics in LA, all the while still running Heavy Metal magazine, developing properties for film, and working on new comic projects besides.

Dean Haspiel
–Dean has long been one of the crossover indie/mainstream mainstays. Having honed his chops assisting Simonson on Thor, Chaykin on American Flagg, and Sienkiewiscz on Elektra Assassin.  In 2006 he founded ACT-I-VATE.com and has been a fierce nurturer of up-and-coming talent and of putting your work online for folks to see. In 2011 he fired on all cylinders.

Scott Snyder

– Ah, that’s an obvious one, yes. SCOTT SNYDER. From a GREAT but low-key book like Iron Man: Noir to American Vampire, and BOOM! Swamp Thing AND Batman, to be universally considered one of the best, if not the best, new writers in the industry. Some people would say “scratch that NEW and leave it on BEST WRITER” and they would probably be right about that. — David Macho

Chester Brown
– Chester Brown is the person of the year.  Whether you liked the book or not, Chester Brown may be the one person in comics who truly has the courage of his convictions.  For two decades, he has consistently reinvented the medium without a shred of pretension or irony.  He is ONLY a cartoonist, he is not an illustrator, editor, writer or designer.  His commitment to the medium; belief in what the medium can do;  insistence to not rest on his laurels; his ability to be political without being patronizing or knee-jerk; is what separates him from other 80s-90s peers such as Frank Miller and Grant Morrison.  In a medium that prides itself on iconoclasm, Chester Brown is our one true iconoclast.

Shaenon K. Garrity
– She not only continued her great and underappreciated daily comic Skin Horse, but reprinted Narbonic, which wrapped more than five years ago, and earned nearly $30K to publish it through Kickstarter.  Not as much money as Womanthology took in, sure, but she’s got 100-something fewer creators working on her book.  I don’t know if it was the most under-reported story of the year, but it’s probably in the top ten.

Alan Moore
– What other comic creator had a hand in shaping the face of the Occupy Movement. And he didn’t get all uppity or egotist about it. (Take note, Frank Miller.)

Susie Cagle
– She’s making journalistic and editorial cartooning relevant again simply by showing up where important things are happening.

Mike Mignola.
– His return to art duties on Hellboy is something a lot of people have really be longing for.

Jeff Lemire
– It’s a tough choice this year, Geoff Johns had another good year; Scott Snyder was kicking major butt; but I’ll pick Jeff Lemire. Animal Man is one of the best books in the 52 line, Superboy is a solid book, Sweet Tooth continues to surprise, and his Essex County Trilogy became a sensation in Canada when it was featured on Canada Reads. – Mark Askwith

Jerzy Drozd.
No one is working harder to spread the gospel of comics 24 hours a day than Jerzy Drozd. He’s the co-organizer of the annual Kids Read Comics festival, host of the weekly Comics Are Great video podcast, curated Chelsea, Michigan’s first ever fine art gallery exhibit of comic pages, is a sequential art teacher, co-founder of Lean Into Art digital comics classes, and a tireless cheerleader for all the comics artists he comes into contact with. Jerzy traveled to over 20 libraries giving free comics workshops in 2011 alone, and enthusiastically shared his love of comics advocacy at the Ignite Ann Arbor and Ignite Great Lakes presentation series. He also managed to find time to produce several great mini-comics like Boulder and Fleet: Adventurers for Hire! And it sounds like he already has more lined up for next year!

– Brandon Graham for making us all excited about comics.

Dan Vado
– How he’s been able to keep SLG running for 25 years — at times seemingly by sheer force of will and often despite his own doubts — is pretty amazing.  It’s a sad reality that more often then not it’s never the guys who do something first who succeed, but it’s the guys who build on that foundation who break through to wider success. In this case it’s nice to see one of the indie originals, whose seen the highs and lows, still pushing the envelope.

– Box Brown for revitalizing “the floppy” with his Retrofit Comics.

Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel Studios.
– Betting all your chips on putting Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers all in line and playing off each other in continuity, and then delivering big box office success is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement. It was a huge risk — what if Thor had tanked? — that only in retrospect is so successful that it looks like a no-brainer.

Not all the picks were entirely laudatory:

Gareb Shamus

His downfall shows us that the greed and excess of the 90s that spilled over into the new century has finally come to a close. Wizard used to be one of the, if not the most powerful voice in comics. Now it no longer exists.

We don’t need any more guys like Shamus. The industry is full of kind, nice, hard working and earnest people. We need to encourage and discuss their efforts, not the schlocky antics of snake-oil salesmen and circus promoters.

Some of those who left us were also recognized:

– Joe Simon. A legend in comics who saw his co-creation on the big screen this year and then passed away and the impressive age of 98.

– Jerry Robinson, RIP. He generously shared not only his talent but his grace for 70+ years.

– Sad: Dwayne McDuffie

– Jack Kirby, for inspiring a boycott of Marvel/Disney products for their blatant disrespect to the legacy of the man to whom they owe everything, and reminding everyone who really is The King.

And finally, some abstract winners:

– Much like Time Magazine’s pick of “the protester”, my person of the year is the digital delivery system.  Perhaps I can aim this at the feet of companies like, Comixology. Jim Lee was the force behind The New 52 and Robert Kirkman was the drive behind The Walking Dead but both (and others) are making sure they are front and center on digital.  It’s not even an option. Digital has changed the industry in both subtle and remarkable ways and it has reached new audiences while retaining much of the old.

– People whom I know who have done selfless acts of unprompted, un-press-released kindnesses to help many creators in the industry, both individually and as a whole, without the need for public accolades, or really any care if anyone knows or not. I’d challenge us all, for the new year, to do one wonderful thing for someone else– something substantial– and do it anonymously, without the need for personal gain or garnishment. Those that do that, are the Person of the Year in my book, and we’ll never know really who they are.

And the last one…our own personal favorite:

– Any artist or writer who produces their work straight from the heart and not just for a paycheck.

Thanks to all for voting and congratulations to the winners.

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN triumphed in the Best Animated Feature category at the Golden Globes last night — a surprising loss for Pixar, but then their entry this year, CARS 2, wasn’t really in the same league as their other recent masterpieces. Director Steven Spielberg seemed happy to win — but not as emotional as when he teared up during a montage of scenes from his own film WAR HORSE — but he kind of blew it for the comics folk by not mentioning Hergé. Perhaps if TINTIN is so lucky as to be nominated and win an Academy Award, Spielberg will remember to thank the little people.

Meanwhile, Green Lantern won an award — or more precisely, Ryan Reynolds did — winning Favorite Superhero at the People’s Choice Awards, triumphing over Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence. Vindication at last.

National Cartoonists Society president Tom Richmond announces a major, inevitable evolution of the comic strip with a new webcomics division for the Reuben Awards. The Reubens have traditionally honored the best in comic strips and illustration — two artforms now mostly associated with Mad Men-era martinis and horn rim glasses on the “up to date” scale. Richmond’s post has all the salient background info but here are the guidelines and the screening committee:

To this end, we are introducing a purposefully narrow-focused new division this year, which will be called “Best Online Comic Strip”, and will be judged by the NCS board in anticipation of being done by an NCS chapter in the future. Here is the criteria for eligibility we have come up with:

Comic-strip format only (no single panels, long-form narrative. etc.)
Must be web only publication (any syndication in print would make it eligible for the Best Syndicated Comic Strip Division)
Must be at least a weekly
Must have shown consistent publication based on determined time-schedule (i.e. it being a daily, twice-a-week, weekly, etc) over the course of the 2011 calendar year
Creator must earn the greater part of their living directly from the strip/property

Submitted work itself must be:

No more than 12 samples, submitted as physical prints along with submission form and bio or as PDF with 2-4 strips per page and including bio/submission form
Work must have been published (posted) during period from Dec. 1, 2010 to Dec 31, 2011 (archive.org links must be provided for each strip for verification).

The screening committee is a very knowledgable one:

• Bill Amend — Creator of Foxtrot
• David Allan Duncan — Professor of Sequential Art Graduate Coordinator, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Andrew Farago — Curator, Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco
• Michael Jantze — Professor of Sequential Art and Animation, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Rick Marshall — Freelance Writer, Editor, and Producer, Time Inc., MTV News, IFC, Movies.com, Digital Trends, CBR
• Gary Tyrrell — Writer/Editor, Fleen.com

Eyebrows have already been raised over the “Comic-strip format only” which eliminates several tens of thousands of the hundreds of thousands of webcomics out there, but baby steps.

ComicsPRO, the retailer advocacy group, has announced the 2012 nominees for their third annual Appreciation Awards, which honor pioneers in the direct market:

The direct market has been crucial in developing comics’ place in pop culture and remains the way most comic-book stories get from creator to fan.  ComicsPRO wants to honor those people who stand in that gap and help smooth that process.   From publishers, distributors, marketers and more, a lot of people are involved in bringing the stories we all love to market.  ComicsPRO would like to stand up and recognize those who have been simply the best at what they do, making the comic-book direct market more successful for all of us.

The Industry Appreciation award honors current participants, while the memorial award honors DM icons who have passed away. Winners are selected by a vote of ComicsPRO members, and will be announced February 10 at the 2012 ComicsPRO Annual Membership meeting in Dallas, TX.

The nominees for the 2012 ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Award:

Cindy Fournier
David Gabriel
Robert Kirkman
Eric Stephenson
Bob Wayne

The nominees for the 2012 ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Memorial Award are Julius Schwartz and Phil Seuling.

2012 ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Award Nominees

Cindy Fournier
Fournier is the VP of Operations for Diamond Comic Distributors. In the comics field since 1987, Cindy did work for the mail order division of  Mile High Comics. She then went on to work for Alternate Realities distribution company, which was then acquired by Bud Plant Distribution.  After Bud Plant sold to Diamond, Cindy was transferred to Hayward, CA, to run Diamond’s distribution center there. Since 1989, Cindy has been working for Diamond in its home office of Timonium, MD, where she oversees the myriad of duties related to transportation, warehouse management and operations.  In a very critical role for the industry, Cindy is responsible for pulling together all the various aspects of making sure retailers get their shipments in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

David Gabriel
A native of Massachusetts, a graduate of Boston College and life long comic book fan, David Gabriel has never been too far from comics. While working for Bernstein Investment Management & Research, Gabriel dreamed of creating a mecca for comics, a dream that came to life in 1999 as he started the New York City Comic Book Museum. Then in 2003, Gabriel joined Marvel and revolutionized their trade paperback program, quickly ascending to the position of SVP, Sales & Circulation, in 2007. From that position, Gabriel works with retailers to craft programs and incentives for the Direct Market.

Robert Kirkman
Robert Kirkman is one of the most public faces of comics since “The Walking Dead” has become a cable TV ratings sensation.  He broke into comics in 2000, and in 2003, Kirkman and Cory Walker created “Invincible” for Image’s new superhero line. Shortly after the debut of “Invincible,” Kirkman along with artist Tony Moore launched “The Walking Dead,” a series highly influenced by George Romero’s zombie movies. In July 2008, Kirkman was made a partner at Image Comics. As an Image partner, Kirkman was involved with reaching out to specialty retailers to find ways to improve Image’s presence in Direct Market stores.  Upon forming the Skybound imprint at Image Comics in 2010, Kirkman continues to focus on the best ways for publishers and creators to partner with specialty shops.

Eric Stephenson
A 20-year veteran of the comic book field, Eric Stephenson started in 1992 as Jim Valentino’s assistant during the early days of Image Comics, before becoming editor at Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios. While at Extreme, Stephenson also scripted numerous comics, including “Youngblood” and “New Men.” After a brief stint as a freelance comics writer, he returned to Image in 2001 as Director of Marketing. In 2004, he became Executive Director, championing diversity in content and spearheading the development of “Put the Book Back on the Shelf,” an anthology inspired by the songs of Belle and Sebastian. He succeeded Erik Larsen as Publisher in 2008, and has furthered Image’s efforts to partner with the Direct Market.

Bob Wayne
Wayne, a former comic book retailer in the Dallas/Fort Worth TX area, joined DC Comics in the mid ‘80s as a Direct Sales manager and has been on the forefront of the changes in the comics business ever since. Currently serving as DC’s Senior Vice President—Sales, Wayne has always maintained his loyalty to the field of comics specialty retailing and has been responsible for many of DC’s retailer-friendly best practices. Wayne is a recipient of the Inkpot Award, commemorating his years of service to the comics industry and his work with Comic-Con International.

2012 ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Memorial Award Nominees

Julius Schwartz
Schwartz started his career in 1932 as the co-publisher of “Time Traveller,” among the first science fiction fanzines. Schwartz, along with Mort Weisinger, founded the Solar Sales Service literary agency in 1934, where Schwartz represented such noted authors as Alfred Bester, Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, and H. P. Lovecraft. Schwartz also helped organize the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939. In 1944 he went to work as an editor for All-American Comics, which soon merged with National Periodical Publications to form DC Comics. Schwartz was best-known for his work at DC Comics, which reinvigorated the superhero genre in the comics industry. His updating of 1940s characters for the modern era revolutionized DC Comics. He died in February 2004 at the age of 88.

Phil Seuling
The organizer and founder of the New York Comic Art Conventions of the ‘70s, Seuling was a founder of the direct-market form of comic-book distribution. Seuling, a school teacher with a passion for comics, arranged distribution deals to buy DC and Marvel Comics direct from the publishers. In 1974, Seuling founded Seagate Distribution, which sold comics non-returnably, and the Direct Market was born. In an age when comic shops were merely second-hand collectors’ stores, Seuling saw the potential for making a direct connection between comic publishers and their most rabid fans. Comic specialty shops are possible in part because of Seuling’s foresight more than 35 years ago. Phil Seuling passed away in 1984 at the age of 50.

Best American Comics series editors Matt Madden and Jessica Abel have just posted the Notable Comics of 2011 list, those comics that did not make the contents of this year’s Alison Bechdel-edited book, but are still worthy of notice. The listing includes covers, links and more information:

Over the now-four volumes we’ve been involved with (we’ve just wrapped selections for the fifth, but they’re still top-secret), we’ve tried to shine a spotlight on this list. As most guest editors point out in their introductions, the selection process, when it gets down to which stories make the cutoff for the volume and which don’t, can be alarmingly arbitrary. Often, we and the guest editors would love to include 50 stories, but there just isn’t room. But when you combine the notable list with the stories in the volume, it might be a little more possible to talk about representing what’s we actually think is best in a given year. Also, when looking for good comics to read, why limit yourself? We’ve always hoped readers will delve a bit into the list to find more great stories once they finish reading BAC.

Although it represents releases mostly from 2010, this is definitely as catholic and wide-ranging a list of worthy, readable comics as you could find anywhere, from formalist experiments to a smattering of books published by Marvel and DC. Please take a look and poke around — you might just find something you like.

Oh yeah, they are also running some giveaways!

Time is rolling out its top 10 lists and two graphic books made the ‘Top 10 Fiction Books list: THE DEATH RAY by Daniel Clowes and HARK! A VAGRANT by Kate Beaton, both published by Drawn & Quarterly. (To see the individual listings you’ll need to go through the annoying, hit-making slideshow format.) Confirming the nerd-friendly tenor of the list, A DANCE WITH DRAGONS by George R. R. Martin topped the list, although more traditional literary tomes were at other spots.

Comics-mole Lev Grossman penned the entries for the books. It was only a few years ago that Alison Bechdel’s FUN HOME topped the Time list, and announced that graphic novels were just books with ideas and themes, too.

Once again there are six judges for the Eisner Awards this year: Brigid Alverson, Calum Johnston, Jesse Karp, Larry Marder, Ben Saunders, and Mary Sturhann. Congrats to all these fine judges — you will get to read lots of comics!

Comic-Con International (Comic-Con) is proud to announce that the judging panel has been named for the 2012 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. This blue-ribbon committee will select the nominations to appear on the Eisner Awards ballot. This year’s judges are:

Brigid Alverson, comics journalist and reviewer. After earning an MFA in printmaking, Brigid worked as a book editor and later as a newspaper reporter. She started MangaBlog to keep track of her daughters’ reading habits and now covers comics and graphic novels as a freelancer for School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly Comics Week, Graphic Novel Reporter, Comic Book Resources, MTV Geek, and Robot 6. She also edits the Good Comics for Kids blog at School Library Journal.

Calum Johnston, the owner of Strange Adventures: Comix & Curiosities, in Nova Scotia. Originally from Montreal, Calum began selling comics at a farmer’s market while attending school and working as a waiter, DJ, and newspaper production manager, among other things. He started Strange Adventures in Halifax in 1992; he has recently added a third location. Johnston describes owning a comic book store as “The best job in the world for someone who likes to share the joy of fine comic books!” He is a member of ComicsPro, and Strange Adventures has won several retailer awards including the Eisner and the Shuster. It was named best Canadian comics store in Previews magazine, Canada’s Readers Digest, and The Coast newspaper readers poll. 

Jesse Karp, school librarian at LREI, an independent school in New York City. He teaches the graduate course Graphic Novel: Narrative and Sequence at Pratt Institute, and he served three years on the American Library Association’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens Committee. He is a graphic novel reviewer for Booklist magazine and is the author of Graphic Novels in your School Library (ALA, 2011) and the YA novel Those That Wake (Harcourt Children’s Books, 2011).

Larry Marder, comics industry veteran. On the creative side of the comic book field, his Beanworld series has delighted readers from grade school to grad school for more than a generation, earning him a spot on the New York Times Graphic Books Best Sellers List. On the business side, Larry has been executive director of Image Comics, president of McFarlane Toys, and marketing director of Moondgog’s, a chain of Chicagoland comic book stores. He currently serves as president of the board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Ben Saunders, professor of English at the University of Oregon. He was originally hired to teach the plays of Shakespeare, but since receiving tenure in 2006 he has also worked steadily to establish that institution at the forefront of Comics Studies. Besides serving as curator for the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art’s comprehensive exhibition of original comic art from the superhero genre (“Faster Than A Speeding Bullet,” 2009), Ben is author of Do The Gods Wear Capes?: Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes (Continuum Press, 2011) and a founder of the University of Oregon undergraduate minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies. Within that interdisciplinary program, he teaches classes that draw on the wider history of the Anglo-American comics tradition, from newspaper strips to comic books to graphic novels.

Mary Sturhann, secretary on the Board of Directors of Comic-Con International since 1994. Mary started attending conventions 31 years ago. She is an avid reader of books, comics, graphic novels, and manga. She collects old movies and enjoys gaming of all kinds, but leans toward board and card games. She attends and works as staff at several conventions, including Comic-Con International and WonderCon, and is the recipient of an Inkpot Award.

The judges will meet in San Diego in late March to select the nominees that will be placed 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 13 at Comic-Con in San Diego.

Guidelines for submissions of material for the judges will be announced in the next few weeks. The deadline for submitting nominations is March 6.

The Eisner Awards are presented under the auspices of Comic-Con International, San Diego, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular artforms. primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture.

More information about the Awards can be found at http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.shtml. Eisner Awards administrator Jackie Estrada can be reached at Jackie@comic-con.org.

When he isn’t pacting, Stan Lee is getting awards! This January he’ll be presented with the Vanguard Award from the Producers Guild of America.

“Stan Lee’s creative vision and imagination has produced some of the most beloved and visually stunning characters and adventures in history,” said Producers Guild Awards co-chairs Paula Wagner and Michael Manheim in a statement announcing the award.

“He not only has created content that will forever be in our culture but continues to make strides in the digital and new media realms, keeping the comic book industry fresh and exciting. Stan’s accomplishments truly encompass the spirit of the Vanguard Award and we are proud to honor him.”

The Producers Guild awards are part of a flurry of awards that recognize various disciplines in filmmaking. Previous winners of the Vanguard Award include George Lucas and John Lasseter.

PR below:

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today that internationally acclaimed comic book legend Stan Lee will receive the Producers Guild’s 2012 Vanguard Award. The award will be presented to Lee at the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Saturday, January 21st at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. 

Known to millions as the man who propelled Marvel Comics to its preeminent position in the comic book industry, Lee’s famous co-creations include Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X- Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, The Avengers, Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange, among many others. 

“Stan Lee’s creative vision and imagination has produced some of the most beloved and visually stunning characters and adventures in history,” said Producers Guild Awards co-chairs Paula Wagner and Michael Manheim. “He not only has created content that will forever be in our culture but continues to make strides in the digital and new media realms, keeping the comic book industry fresh and exciting. Stan’s accomplishments truly encompass the spirit of the Vanguard Award and we are proud to honor him.” 

 ”I am extremely appreciative that the Producers Guild has chosen me for this distinguished award,” said Lee. “I am eager to continue to expand comic book storytelling into the digital space and am honored to be awarded alongside such amazing visionaries.” 

The Producers Guild’s Vanguard Award recognizes achievements in new media and technology. Previous recipients of the award include George Lucas, John Lasseter, YouTube founders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Will Wright, and the 2011 recipients Michael V. Lewis and Joshua Greer of RealD. 

 As a producer, writer, editor, publisher, actor, host and executive, Stan ‘the Man’ Lee has exerted more influence over the comic book industry than anyone in history, creating or co-created 90% of Marvel’s most recognized comic characters. His creations have spawned books, films, television series, video games, web series, Broadway shows and more. 

Lee became publisher of Marvel Comics in 1972 and is presently the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Enterprises, Inc. and a member of the Editorial Board of Marvel Comics. In 1977, he introduced Spider-Man as a syndicated newspaper strip which now appears in more than 500 newspapers worldwide. In 1981 Lee transformed his Spider-Man and Hulk creations into syndicated television cartoons, supervising such animated series as “X-Men,” “Spider-Man” and “The Hulk.” Lee has also executive produced such recent films as the SPIDER-MAN franchise, IRON MAN I & II, THOR, the X-MEN franchise, HULK, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER and GHOST RIDER, among many others.  

In 2001, Lee co-founded POW! Entertainment where he currently serves as Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, with Gill Champion and Arthur Lieberman, to develop film, television and video game properties. The company recently announced two projects with 1821 Comics, a multi-platform imprint titled “Stan Lee’s Kid’s Universe” and a graphic novel titled Romeo and Juliet: The War, a reimagining of the story 200 years in the future. POW! also recently partnered with Michael Eisner’s Vuguru to produce original digital content and separately partnered with A Squared Entertainment and Archie Comics to release the first title of the Stan Lee Comics banner “Mighty Seven” in 2012. Additionally, POW! is developing seven new movie franchises, two TV series, two live-action shows and their first non-American superhero to provide new characters across various platforms for a new generation of fans. 

Isabel Greenberg’s “Love in a Very Cold Climate” — the story of lovers repelled by polar magnetism — has won the 2011 Graphic Short Story prize given out by the Observer/Comica/Vintage Books.

London-based Greenberg has contributed previously to Nobrow and Solipsistic Pop. The story is part of a larger work called The Encyclopaedia of Early Earth.

Judges David Nicholls, Bryan Talbot, Rachel Cooke, Dan Franklin, Paul Gravett, and Suzanne Dean chose Greenberg’s story from hundreds of submissions. The runners up and the winner can be read at the Prize website — a profitable afternoon for graphic story enthusiasts.

Via Ladies Making Comics