Mark Gruenwald, P. Craig Russell + four more inducted into Eisner Hall of Fame

Judges chose six individuals for automatic induction and 17 for voters to choose from.

Six individuals will automatically be inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame this summer, with four more to be chosen by voters before the Eisner Awards ceremony at Comic-Con International in San Diego.

Those four will be chosen from a field of 17, which include many names that make you stop and think, “Wait, they’re not in the Hall of Fame yet?” It’s a loaded field, leading to some hard choices for voters: Howard Chaykin, Gerry Conway, Kevin Eastman, Steve Englehart, Moto Hagio, Larry Hama, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, David Mazzucchelli, Jean-Claude Mézières, Grant Morrison, Gaspar Saladino, Jim Shooter, Garry Trudeau, Ron Turner, George Tuska, Mark Waid and Cat Yronwode.

The judges chose the following six people for automatic induction into the HoF:

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Nominees announced for the 2022 Hugo Awards

The winners will be announced in September.

The nominees have been announced for the 2022 Hugo Awards, which includes a “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category.

Image Comics and DC Comics each received two nominations, while BOOM! Studios and Del Ray each received one. Notably, the Del Ray nomination is for Lore Olympus, the popular Webtoon comic. True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman received a nomination in the “Best Related Work” category.

Presented annually since 1955, the Hugo Awards recognize the best science fiction in books, comics, movies, TV and more. The Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story has been awarded since 2009, with previous winners including volumes of Saga, Ms. Marvel, Girl Genius, Sandman: Overture, LaGuardia and Monstress, which is up for the award again this year.

Here are the nominees for the “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category:

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2021 Joe Shuster Award winners announced

Jason Fabok, Kimiko Tobumatsu, Gillian Goerz and more received awards for their work from 2020.

The Joe Shuster Awards have announced the winners of their annual awards for 2021, which covers material released back in 2020. The awards recognize outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics by Canadian creators.

In the post, they admit that “it took a lot longer than we would have liked” to put together the list of nominees and choose winners. Given everything that’s happened over the last couple years, I can’t find fault with anyone who has suffered delays like this. And it’s never too late to recognize good work.

The nominees and winners are:

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‘Crush & Lobo,’ ‘Cheer Up!’ win at the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards

GLAAD expands to two comics-related categories this year — comics and graphic novels — recognizing titles from DC Comics and Oni Press.

Crush & Lobo from DC Comics and Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms from Oni Press both took home awards in the 33rd annual GLAAD Media Awards, which recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ+ community and the issues that affect their lives.

This year GLAAD doubled their recognition of the comic industry by expanding to two categories — one for comics books and one for graphic novels.

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‘Stone Fruit,’ ‘Thirsty Mermaids’ among the nominees for the 2022 Lambda Literary Awards

The annual awards recognize LGBTQ books, poetry, comics and more.

The nominees for the 34th annual Lambda Literary Awards have been announced, celebrating “the very best in LGBTQ literature.” The awards include an “LGBTQ Comics” category.

According to the press release, this year was the “most competitive yet,” with the highest ever submission volume in Lammy Award history. “We are particularly inspired by such amazing numbers in the LGBTQ Young Adult and Children’s/Middle Grade categories,” the unnamed awards manager said. “The modern movement to ban access to LGBTQ books for young people is horrendous, but we hope the publishing industry continues backing these remarkable works in volume to meet that resistance.”

The nominees in the “LGBTQ Comics” category include:

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Nominees announced for the Bram Stoker Awards

Comics by Grant Morrison, Dan Panosian, Marianna Ignazzi, Mico Suayan, Kami Garcia and more have been nominated for the annual awards for horror fiction.

Following the reveal of the preliminary ballot earlier this year, the Horror Writers Association has announced the final nominees for the 2021 Bram Stoker Awards.

The annual awards recognize “superior achievement” in horror/dark fiction. This year BOOM! Studios dominates the list with three nominees, while DC and Independent Legion Publishing each garnered one nomination.

Winners will be announced during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet held during StokerCon 2022 in Denver. Here are the nominees in the graphic novel category: 

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LA Times Graphic Novel Shortlist

Works by Michael DeForge, Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu, R. Kikuo Johnson, and Lee Lai made the shortlist.

The Los Angeles Times has announced the shortlists for its annual book prizes, and the finalists in the Graphic Novel category are

  • Heaven No Hell, by Michael DeForge (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • The Waiting, by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, translated by Janet Hong (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Shadow Life, by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu (First Second)
  • No One Else, by R. Kikuo Johnson (Fantagraphics)
  • Stone Fruit, by Lee Lai (Fantagraphics)

All these titles will likely be familiar to Smash Pages readers. Stone Fruit won two Ignatz Awards last year, as did DeForge’s Birds of Maine, and Gendry-Kim’s earlier graphic novel, Grass, made the 2020 LA Times shortlist, as did DeForge’s Leaving Richard’s Valley.

The judges for the Graphic Novel section were Sloane Leong, Joel Christian Gill, and Cathy G. Johnson.

Comics Lowdown | Creators file class action suit against Action Lab Entertainment

Plus: News on TOON Books, Image Comics, Archie’s new editor-in-chief and more!

Nearly 40 creators have signed on for a class action lawsuit against Action Lab Entertainment and Action Lab president Bryan Seaton. Action Lab has published a long list of titles over the years, including Spencer & Locke, Princeless, Jupiter Jet, Midnight Tiger, Molly Danger and many others.

According to ClassAction.org, the 46-page complaint “contends that although Action Lab promised to print, promote and market creators’ works, report quarterly sales and income numbers, properly maintain social media accounts, and generally make a reasonable effort to sell comics, the company has largely done none of these things and even failed to inform creators when its office shut down ‘without reason.’”

Creators listed in the complaint include David Pepose, Rylend Grant, Jorge Santiago Jr., Jeremy Whitley, Ken Marcus, Tom Rogers and many more. You can read the full legal complaint here.

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ALA reveals the lists of best graphic novels for kids + adults

The American Library Association reveals their second annual list aimed at adults, and their first-ever list aimed at kids 5-12.

The Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table, a subcommittee of the American Library Association, announced earlier this week their annual “Best Graphic Novels” lists — one aimed at children aged 5-12, and the other aimed at adults.

The ALA has released a list aimed at teens for years, and last year they added one for adults. This is the first year they’ve created a list aimed specifically at kids under 12. Both lists aim “to increase awareness of the graphic novel medium, raise voices of diverse comics creators and aid library staff in the development of graphic novel collections.”

“Launching a new, carefully curated list of the best comics for children would have been a daunting task even during the best of times – and we have certainly not been in those over the last two years,” said Matthew Noe, president of The Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table. “But thanks to the expertise, attention and passion of this year’s committee, we can now present to you GNCRT’s addition to the recognition of children’s comics: our inaugural Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List! There’s a comic here for every reader, from PreK to Grade 6, and in the Top 10 alone we’ve got witchcraft, friendly animals and a story of finding the courage to be one’s true self that will leave even adult readers teary-eyed.”

The selection committees for both lists include GNCRT members with a background in graphic novel selection and their use in adult programming and services.

Here’s the top 10 list for kids:

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Preliminary ballot announced for the Bram Stoker Awards

The annual awards recognize “superior achievement” in horror/dark fiction.

The Horror Writers Association has announced the preliminary ballot for the 2021 Bram Stoker Awards. The annual awards for horror/dark fiction include a “Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel” category.

BOOM! Studios is represented by four different graphic novels on the list, with TKO Studios, Vault Comics and DC represented by one apiece. Last year Nancy Holder, Chiara Di Francia and Amelia Woo won for their work on Mary Shelley Presents, which was published by Kymera Press.

The final ballot will be announced in late February, while the winners are typically announced in conjunction with the annual StokerCon, which is currently scheduled for May 12-15 in Denver.

The preliminary books listed in the graphic novel category are:

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Nominees announced for the 33rd GLAAD Media Awards

Nominees include ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Wynd,’ ‘Superman: Son of Kal-El,’ ‘The Secret to Superhuman Strength’ and more.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, have announced the nominees for their 33rd annual Media Awards, which recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ+ community and the issues that affect their lives.

This year GLAAD doubled their recognition of the comic industry by expanding to two categories — one for comics books and one for graphic novels. DC led the pack with seven nominees across the two categories, followed by Marvel and Dark Horse with three each.

Doctor Aphra, the Marvel comic featuring the character from the Star Wars universe, won the comic book award two years ago and is nominated again this year. Last year Marvel’s Empyre event won the award. The graphic novel category is very competitive in its first year, featuring projects by Molly Ostertag, Alison Bechdel, Mariko Tamaki and more.

Here are the nominees in the two comics-focused categories:

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‘Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation’ wins the Hugo Award

Writer Damian Duffy and artist John Jennings adapted Octavia Butler’s dystopian novel into a graphic novel last year.

The graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower has won the Hugo Award for “Best Graphic Story or Comic.”

The book was adapted by writer Damian Duffy and artist John Jennings, and published by Abrams Books. The story is set in the year 2024 after unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos. Lauren Olamina, a preacher’s daughter living in Los Angeles, sees a vision of the future and goes on to establish her own religion, Earthseed, and gathers a diverse community of believers.

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