Comics Briefly

This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week May 19, 2009 Sign up now!

Compiled by Kate Fitzsimons -- Publishers Weekly, 5/18/2009 4:57:00 PM

Glyph Award Winners
The 2009 Glyph Comics Awards have been announced, with Jeremy Love’s webcomic Bayou winning in five different categories in an unprecedented sweep. The previous record holder was Kyle Baker’s Nat Turner with four awards over the course of two years. The Glyph Comics Awards are presented annually in conjunction with the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention to recognize excellence in comics by, for and about people of color. Bayou won Story of the Year, Best Writer, Best Artist, Best Female Character and Best Comic Strip. Best Male Character was given to Black Lightning in Final Crisis: Submit, the Rising Star Award went to Damian Duffy and John Jennings for The Hole: Consumer Culture. Me and the Devil Blues won Best Reprint, Igor Kordey won Best Cover for Unknown Soldier # 1 and the Fan Award went to Vixen: Return of the Lion.The awards were presented in a special ceremony at the Free Library of Philadelphia on May 15.  A full list of winning creators is available on the ECBACC website.

Comic Creator Detained for Unthinkable Script
On May 10, comics creator Mark Sable was detained by the Transportation Security Authority at Los Angeles International Airport for the content of a script he was carrying for his new Boom!Studios comic Unthinkable. Unthinkable is a suspense series about a fiction author recruited by a government think tank to imagine potential terrorist threats in order to help strengthen national security. Sable was questioned and searched for over half an hour before being released from custody. More information is available in this article at the Nerdage blog and in Laura Hudson’s post on Comics Alliance collecting Sable’s on-site Twitter posts on the subject.

Archie Gets Married
Archie Andrews, the Archie of Archie Comics, the teenage comic character known for his complete inability to choose between his two girlfriends, Betty and Veronica, will be getting married in Archie #600. A special story set after the characters graduate from college, “Archie Gets Married: Part One – The Proposal” will be written by movie producer and comics creator Michael Uslan and illustrated by veteran Archie Comics artist Stan Goldberg. Archie’s choice of bride remains undisclosed. The comic will arrive in stores everywhere on August 11.

Dark Horse, G4 Sponsor Contest
Dark Horse Comics and the cable TV channel G4 are sponsoring a contest to make one winner a part G4’s coverage of the 2009 San Diego Comic Con. Contestants can enter by submitting a video between 30 seconds and 10 minutes in length demonstrating their pop culture knowledge and on screen ability and submitting it to g4tv.com/comiccon between May 15 and June 22. The creator of the winning video will appear on the show as a Special Correspondent and report on the show alongside of Attack of the Show’s hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Periera and comic book expert Blair Butler as well as having VIP access to all Dark Horse events at the con. Dark Horse and G4 will pay for travel, accommodations and entrance to the show for the winning contestant and one guest.   

Gabrielle Bell, Miss Lasko-Gross in NYC
Comics creators Gabrielle Bell of Cecil & Jordan and Miss Lasko-Gross of A Mess of Everything will appear at New York’s landmark Strand Bookstore. The two comics creators will give a slide show presentation on their work and discuss their work with Forbidden Planet’s Austin English from 7 – 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19.   A free preview of A Mess of Everything is available at the New York Magazine website. The Strand Bookstore is located at 838 Broadway at 12th Street, New York, NY.

DMP Revamps Juné
Digital Manga Publishing, better known as DMP, is rebranding its Juné yaoi manga imprint. Starting with the June release of Ludwig II Vol. 1, books in the Juné line will no longer be packaged in DMP’s familiar pink and pastel colors in favor of a more vivid look with baroque script and striking colors. The Juné website has been entirely redesigned to add more interactive content, including forums, a youtube channel and a blog, and visually it has been remade to match the new Juné book design.. Yaoi is a genre of manga and anime focusing on love or attraction between two men, and it is primarily aimed at a female audience.

This Week @ Good Comics for Kids
This week School Library Journal’s blog Good Comics for Kids has posted a review of the childrens graphic novel The Big Adventures of Majoko Vol. 1, a review of Marvel’s new comic Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers,  the 5/13 listing of comics and manga suitable for all ages, a links round up of articles about the Massachusetts Library Association’s Grapic Novel Mini-Conference and a roundtable discussion on Kim Dong Hwa’s The Color of Earth.

Spidey on the Mighty Marvel Podcast
Comic writer Brian Reed discusses his new mini-series Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man, about the villainous Venom’s attempt to play it straight and be the new Spider-Man, on this week’s Mighty Marvel Podcast.

Hero Initiative’s Hero Comics
Hero Initiative, the non-profit devoted to helping older comic creators in need, has announced the release of Hero Comics, a 32-page anthology comic from IDW. Coming out on July 29 with a cover price of $3.99, the book contains all new material including a new American Flagg story by Howard Chaykin, as well as new stories by Gene Ha, Bill Willingham, David Lloyd and Kaare Andrews. It will also contain personal testimonials from Gene Colan, Bill Messner-Loebs and Josh Medors among others about how Hero Initiative helped them. A fundraiser for Hero Initiative, the comic contains no ads and the comic creators, IDW Publishing, Comicraft lettering and the Try Vision Company Inc. printing company have all donated their services on the book, in order to allow as much of the comic's cover price as possible to go to the charity.

NYCC Happy Hour
Although the New York Comic Con ended in February and the next NYCC will not arrive until October 2010, an NYCC event is coming your way this Wednesday. They have announced a special New York Comic Con Happy Hour at Dave and Buster's in Times Square from 5:30 - 9:30 p.m. for local comic book fans, creators and professionals. Dave and Busters will be offering half-priced drinks until 7:30 and half-priced games all night. At 8 p.m. a raffle will be held with prizes such as a $50 Midtown Comics gift card, Marvel comics signed by Joe Quesada, DC Comics, a Dave and Busters Power card, and a New York Comic Con beach pack. Dave and Busters in Times Square is a restaurant, bar, and amusement arcade located at 234 West 42nd Street, New York, NY.