News

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:

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

Cartoon Movement continues its notable journalistic endeavors with a new 75-page series on Haiti. Haitian cartoonist Chevelin Pierre and journalist Pharés Jerome are collaborating on the first chapter which launches on January 12th, the second anniversary of the 7.0 earthquake which flattened the island. The first chapter looks at the tent cities that still fill Port-au-Prince.

Comics are a business that is relatively insulated from the ups and downs of the economy: things are ALWAYS marginal. While there's no doubt but that the global recession has impacted the comics industry — especially with customers dealing with price increases — quite frankly, there wasn't a lot to cut back. There's a good living to be made in comics, and many people do, but no one is buying a yacht — or not very many anyway. And maybe comics are a survival industry because it seems like everyone is just one or two issues away from square one.

That's it -- we're wrapping up our annual look into what's on the minds of the comic industry -- from creators to retailers to publishers. Thanks to all who participated, and thank you for sticking with us. On monday, the results of our COMICS INDUSTRY PERSON OF THE YEAR voting! It's a close race and you may be surprised at the results.

Richard Alf, one of the co-founders of the San Diego Comic-Con and a busy comics dealer of the early 70s, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 59, it is being reported. While only a teenager, Alf provided financing and transportation for early con founders, as well as inspiring Shel Dorf with their shared love of comics.

MORE sneak peeks! More news! More fearless pulse-taking of the comics industry. What are you waiting for? Dive in.

We're still rolling out our titanic 2012 survey with looks back and ahead from every level of the comics industry. And lots of news buried in the 2012 projects, too if you want to find it. Previous parts; One, Two.

As we've mentioned here several times, there have been no more important graphic novels published in this century than PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi and FUN HOME by Alison Bechdel. Both found large audiences well beyond the traditional ones for comics, and both have become oft-imitated -- but never duplicated -- by book publishers trying to cash in on the "graphic novel" trend. (The number of graphic autobiographies exploring ethnic roots alone is staggering.)

Continuing our roll-out of picks, prognostications and previews from the comics industry. Part one can be read here.

First off -- something we forgot to post yesterday: pages from Charles Vess's projects for the year:

A 16 page full color graphic narrative about Istanbul, Turkey. 50 paintings for ‘The Cats of Tanglewood Forest’ written by Charles de Lint and to be published by Little Brown & Co. And my on-going work on my own book, ‘The Greenwood’ which use a combination of pure text, illustration and hundreds of pages of graphic narrative content to tell its story.

Well, that didn't take long. 2012 has claimed its first publishing casualty as Bandai Entertainment has announced they will be canceling their manga and home entertainment publishing to focus on licensing their brands as they undergo a restructuring. Their Facebook and Twitter accounts will also be shut down.

Ronald Searle, creator of St. Trinians and Molesworth and one of the great cartoonists of his generation, died December 30th at age 91, it's being reported. Searle lived a dramatic early life: