Comics Briefly

This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on February 20, 2007 Sign up now!

-- Publishers Weekly, 2/20/2007

Glyph Comics Award Nominees Announced

The nominees for the second annual Glyphs Comics Awards have been announced. The Glyphs Comics Awards are dedicated to honoring black writers and illustrators as well as individuals creating comics that feature black protagonists. The awards ceremony for the Glyphs Comics Awards will be held at the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention will take place from May 18 until May 19 at Temple University. A full list of award categories and nominees can be found at Rich Watson's Glyphs Web site.

The Ormes Society Honors Black Female Creators

Jackie Ormes, creator of the newspaper comics strip Torchy Brown, became the first nationally syndicated black female cartoonist in 1937. But when our PWCW colleague Cheryl Lynn put out a call for current black women comics creators, she ended up with a very short list. So Cheryl decided to organize The Ormes Society, an organization to support "black female comic creators and promote the inclusion of black women in the comics industry as creators, characters and consumers." She's also launched a Web site and forum that offers information about the work of Jackie Ormes and provides a place where creators, fans and anyone interested in comics by black women creators can interact.Cheryl is still on the lookout for new black women creators and supplies links to their sites as well as sites where visitors can purchase their work. And Cheryl will be appearing on the African-American Panel at he New York Comic Convention on Saturday, February 24 to discuss the Ormes Society. Denys Cowan, v-p of BET Animation, Blokhedz creators Mike and Mark Davis and Guardian Line creator Michael Davis, will also be appearing on the panel.

CBLDF Events At NYCC

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund will hold a wide variety of fundraisers during the course of the New York Comic Convention this weekend February 23-25 at the Jacob Javits Center. The first event held will be a raffle where fans can win exclusive statues, toys, comics and animation from various companies. On Saturday, the CBLDF Live Art Jam & Auction will take place. Original art from well-known creators will be auctioned off to fans. The CBLDF will also offer Sketch Cards to random donators. A Sketch Card will enable a fan to receive an original sketch from a participating CBLDF supporting artist.

Death Note Download At NYCC

Entertainment company Viz Media has announced that convention attendees of this year's New York Comic Convention will be able to receive cell phone downloads of two promotional trailers for the popular Death Note anime series. Fans will be able to visit the Viz Media booth on Saturday, February 24 to download the first trailer and on Sunday, February 25 to download the second trailer in the series. Participants will either receive a direct download to a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone or they will be given a code to enter through their cellular service provider. The event will mark the first time that the animated series has been legally made available for American audiences to download.

Indie Spinner Rack Anthology Debuts

Independent comics publisher Evil Twin Comics has announced the publication of a new Indie Spinner Rack anthology featuring the work of several independent cartoonists such as Nick Bertozzi, Al Columbia, Renee French, Bernie Mireault, Dave Roman, Andy Runton, Neil Swaab and Raina Telgemeier. Proceeds from the sale of the anthology will be dedicated to helping the Indie Spinner Rack podcast and the Center For Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. The anthology will debut at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland.

Pogo Comes To Fantagraphics

Independent comics publisher Fantagraphics has acquired the rights to Walt Kelly's beloved comics strip creation Pogo. Fantagraphics plans to release 12 volumes of Pogo. The first volume will appear in October of 2007. Fantagraphics has also announced that Jeff Smith, award-winning cartoonist and the creator of the independent comic series Bone, will design each Pogo volume in the series.

Ghost Rider Dominates Box Office

Ghost Rider, the film based on the Marvel anti-hero of the same name, took the #1 spot at the box office this weekend. The film has grossed over $44.5 million dollars and has set a new record for the highest grossing film to debut on President's Day weekend. The movie was released in 3,619 locations and was a hit with young males. According to Sony research, men comprised 62% of the viewing audience. 55% of the viewing audience was under the age of 25. The studio predicts that Ghost Rider will have grossed $51 million dollars by the end of the extended President's Day weekend.

Africa Comics Panel at Columbia

The Artist's Voice: The Africa Comics Panel featuring essayist and curator Valerie Cassel-Oliver, historian William H. Foster, III, cartoonists Anton Kannemeyer and Keith Knight Jr. and PWCW's Calvin Reid will take place on Wednesday, February 21 at 7:00 PM. The panel discussion will be held at Columbia University in the Jerome L. Greene Hall at 435 West 116th Street in New York City. The members of the panel will discuss their impressions of the Africa Comics exhibit currently taking place at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Creator Bob Oksner Dies

Bob Oksner died Sunday, February 17 at the age of ninety due to complications from pneumonia. Oksner was well known for his contributions to Timely (Marvel) Comics on The Destroyer and Marvel Boy. He also worked on the syndicated comic strip Miss Cairo Jones from 1945 until 1947. Oksner's two-year stint illustrating Miss Cairo Jones garnered the artist recognition from DC Comics, where Oksner produced the majority of his work in the field. Oksner was hired to illustrate a wide variety of comics at DC. His work appeared in humor comics such as The Adventures of Jerry Lewis and romance comics like Girl's Love Stories. In the later years of his career Oksner returned to syndicated comic strips. From 1969 until 1986 Oksner collaborated with Irwin Hasen on the comic strip Dondi.