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Hooray we are here at the Eisners! It's festive and glamourous here at the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton. Bill Morisson comes out thanking everyone for coming out out joking that thry have 52 awards to give out, this year called "First issues." Haha!

As the temperature outside hits 312 degrees Kelvin, I sit here in the cool subterranean basements deep in Stately Beat Manor, keeping watch over the reportage coming east from San Diego. While scanning the umpteenth cosplay photo, I got to thinking... perhaps our readers would care to look behind the curtain and see how we actually conglomerate the myriad data feeds which stream into our data center.

Tonight's Eisner Award ceremony will be a bit different: the con has hired a producer to help tighten up the show and keep things moving along. Previous Eisner Award ceremony, although a much loved comics tradition, have been, shall we say...lengthy. The new producer, who has a background in television and live events, is familiar with live awards shows and plays. According to con spokesman David Glanzer, there won't be monumental changes, but "by tightening things up, we'll see thigns run a littlr smoother, and hopefully help make it the event that people really do want to attend." Plans call for some trimming from the obituaries and other staging elements that will cut as much as a half hour from the show.

Seven amazing comics retailers were nominated for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer award, including stores from all over the United States. We have personal knowledge of many of these retailers and can testify that they all exemplify the passion and love of comics that is the heartbeat of the industry The winner will be announced tonight at the Eisner Awards.

Comixace Two survival keys for #sdcc: 1) dl official Con app for a schedule and maps. 2) bring a poster tube! http://lockerz.com/s/122335498

Yesterday's ICv2 Conference on Comics, Media, and Digital kicked off Comic-Con with a look at the business side of things. Over at Publishers Weekly, Calvin Reid and I have a brief recap of some of the stats that Milton Griepp presented at his annual White Paper. Some quick hits: GN sales were up 3% so far in 2011 -- up more in bookstores, despite the Borders disaster, than in comics shops -- while periodical sales were down 8%. The peak of sales for comics and GNs was 2006-2007. Coincidentally that was also a peak year for manga sales, which has declined significantly yet again. But the rate of decline has stabilized.

None of this year's Russ Manning Award nominees created a bigger splash than Nate Simpson with the debut of his comic Non-Player. With it's gorgeous, fully imagined artwork it was the toast of the internet for a few weeks and sold out right away. LIke may recent Manning nominees, Simpson works in video game design -- not only artwork but character and story concepts; his resume includes Demigod, Space Siege, Supreme Commander 2, GoPets. the Starfleet Command series and dozens more.

Continuing our look at this year's Russ Manning Award nominees, we come to Paul Roman Martinez, aka Kopetkai. He's the creator of the dieselpunk webcomic The Adventures of the 19XX. According to his bio, he's a California-based graphic designer/web designer who works on his comics in his spare time. The 19xx combines his interests in art and history with a pretty nifty premise:

The Beat endorses the CBLDF -- the freedom you save may be your own. Clothe yourself, smell good, bid on some great art and then hang out at one of the best parties Comic-Con has to offer.

It's official....as everyone expected, Borders, the book chain that spearheaded the rise of graphic novel sin the good years, has failed to find a buyer and will be liquidated, perhaps as soon as this Friday.

Don McGregor is the writer of such Bronze Age classics as Black Panther and Killraven, and the first direct sales graphic novel, Sabre. Clifford Meth reports that family health emergencies have forced him to sell some of his art collection, including iconic pages from the above series:

Continuing our spotlight on this year's Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer awards, we come to David Marquez, artist on SYNDROME and DAYS MISSING Vol 2 for Archaia. London-born but living in Texas, Marquez was on track to become a high school teacher before deciding to pursue his love of art and applying for a job in the animation department on A SCANNER DARKLY. Since then he's worked on a a variety of indie comics projects.