2010 Eisner Award Nominees
The nominees for this year's Eisner Awards,often called the "Oscars of Comics", were announced this week, and a full list ofnominees is available on their official site. Acclaimed Japanese mangacreator Naoki Urasawa tops the list this year with five nominations, followedby American David Mazzucchelli with four nominations for his graphic novel Asterios Polyp. With 20 nominationsacross its various imprints (DCU, Vertigo, Wildstorm, Zuda), the publisher withthe most nominations in 2010 is DC Comics.The Eisners are awarded annually in a special banquet at San Diego ComicCon.

Marvel Moves to Hachette for Bookstores
Marvel Comics, the biggest comics publisher in thebusiness, has announced they will be leaving Diamond Book Distributors thisSeptember and will be distributed in bookstores through Hachette instead. WhileMarvel will continue to be distributed in comics stores through Diamond ComicDistributors, the loss is still a blow to their book distribution wing—Marvelwas their largest single client. Nevertheless DBD director Ku-You Liang said the company had extended the contracts of major independent graphic novel houses Image Comics and IDW Publishing and said that DBD "will be fine." Despite speculation, the move had already beenin the works when the infamousAmazon Glitch occurred last month. DC Comics is already distributed inbookstores throughRandom House. More details are available on TheBeat from PWCW's Heidi MacDonald.

Gaiman & Vess's Instructions­, The Short Film
Although created to serve as a book trailer, Instructions containsthe full text of Neil Gaiman's illustrated fairy tale poem narrated by Gaimanhimself, and all the art Charles Vess created for the book. A New York Timesbestselling author, Neil Gaiman is known for his legendary comics work on suchbooks as The Sandman - the work inwhich he first collaborated with artist Charles Vess. The film is officially available for free viewing onYoutube.

Hugo Award Nominees Announced
The nomineesfor the prestigious Hugo Awards for Science Fiction have been announced,including their Best Graphic Story category, awarded to graphic novels. The2010 nominees are DC's Whatever Happenedto the Caped Crusader and Fables Vol.12: The Dark Age, independent comics GirlGenius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm and Schlock Mercenary: The Longshoreman of theApocalypse, as well as Marvel's beloved but cancelled Captain Britain And MI13. Volume 3: Vampire State. The Hugos arepresented annually at the World Science Fiction Convention.

Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo This Weekend
This weekend marks the first annual Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo, known asC2E2. Taking place from April 16 - 18 atChicago's McCormick Place convention center and has confirmed over 250 artistsand 200 exhibitors will be appearing at the brand new convention which willalso feature over 175 panels and screenings. More details are available on the convention's website. McCormick Place islocated at 2301 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois. Tickets are stillavailable, and can be purchased at the convention for $60 for the weekend, $30per day. Children 12 and under may enter free on Sunday.

Stumptown Comic Book Festival
On April 24-25, Portland will host the annual StumptownComic Book Festival, a creator-centric comic book convention. The guest ofhonor is Dean Haspiel and special guests include Kate Beaton, Lucy Knisley, R.Sikoyak and Craig Thompson among many others. A wide variety of comics creatorsand publishers will be in attendance on t he convention floor and panels andworkshops on various comics related topics will take place throughout theweekend. More information is available on the Stumptown website. The StumptownComic Book Festival takes place from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily at the Lloyd CenterDoubletree Hotel, located at 1000 North East Multnomah Street, Portland,Oregon. Admission is $6 per day or $10 for the weekend and must be paid incash.

Harvey Pekar and Alison Bechdel Live at UCLA
Acclaimed comics creators Harvey Pekar and AlisonBechdel will appear at UCLA in an event entitled "Titans of the Graphic Novel"on April 23. Pekar, whose work was adapted into a movie, is best known for hisongoing autobiographical comic AmericanSplendor, while Bechdel is the creator of the long-running strip Dykes to Watch Out For and her New YorkTimes bestselling graphic novel memoir FunHome. The event takes place in UCLA's Royce Hall beginning at 8pm, andtickets range from $24 -$48 for the general public and $15 for UCLA students.Royce Hall is located at 340 Royce Drive, Los Angeles, CA. Tickets areavailable online here.

A First Look at DC's Brightest Day
Today TheSource, the official news blog of DC Comics, has posted thevery first images from Brightest Day,the follow-up series to their immensely popular Green Lantern zombie-basedcrossover maxi-series Blackest Night.The previewimages contain art by Fernando Pasarin with covers by Ivan Reis and DavidFinch.

This Week @ Good Comics For Kids
This week SchoolLibrary Journal's blog Good Comics forKids had a review of Brideof the Water God Vol. 1-5, the 4/7listing of comics suitable for all ages, and a "Wordsare more powerful than Big Brothers" links roundup from Brigid Alverson.

This Week @ The Beat
This week PWCW editor Heidi MacDonald's blog The Beat covered Marvel'smove from Diamond to Hachette for bookstore distribution, aland deal which could expand the home of San Diego Comic Con considerably, AdeleBlanc-Sec - the French steampunk comics adventure heroine - comes to thesilver screen in France and bookshelves in the US, March's top fivecomics publisher surprises, thesale of Diamond Comics Distribution Steve Geppi's mansion as part of hisongoing debt woes, Italian erotic comics artist MiloManara's upcoming X-Men comic with Chris Claremont, the surprisingpopularity of the Big Bang Theorysitcom episodein which characters crossdress as superheroines, sevenreasons why Heidi is glad she went to WonderCon, an interview with Seattle'scomics mastermind Dylan Williams, comics whichdebuted at this week's MoCCA Art Festival - including X-edOut by Charles Burns andeulogized thelate comics artist Henry Scarpelli, known for his work for Archie Comicsand his humor comics for Marvel, DC and Charlton.