Walt Simonson, Jared Cullum win 2021 NCS Divisional Awards

French cartoonist Boulet received the Sergio Aragones International Award for Excellence in Comic Art.

This weekend is NCS Fest, the annual event hosted by the National Cartoonists Society that includes, among other activities, the NCS Divisional Awards and the annual presentation of the Reuben Award.

This year’s event is being streamed online, and the NCS has interspersed some of the awards presentations throughout the stream. Yesterday Hellboy artist Duncan Fegredo presented the award for best comic book, which went to Walt Simonson’s Ragnarok: The Breaking of Helheim. The comic is published by IDW, which also publishes the other two nominees in the category, Usagi Yojimbo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Jennika.

Continue reading “Walt Simonson, Jared Cullum win 2021 NCS Divisional Awards”

A girl and her bear: Top Shelf announces ‘Kodi’ for summer

Jared Cullum’s gorgeous graphic novel arrives in August.

Top Shelf Comix has announced a new project for August — Kodi, the story of a girl and her Kodiak bear.

It’s by Jared Cullum, whose previous work includes the 35th anniversay Fraggle Rock miniseries fand Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Giants, both from Archaia. He’s not only an illustrator but also a painter (see his website for some samples), and his work with watercolors is very impressive. In fact, he has several water color tutorials on his YouTube channel, if you’re looking for something new to try during life in quarantine.

Continue reading “A girl and her bear: Top Shelf announces ‘Kodi’ for summer”