Quick Hits | A quick awards round-up

‘The Inhabitant of the Lake’ wins the Bram Stoker Award, plus nominations for the Graphic Medicine International Collective Award, Locus Awards and more.

It’s awards season, so today seems like a good day for a quick awards round-up post. Here we go …

The Horror Writers Association has announced the winners of the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards. In the graphic novel category Alessandro Manzetti and Stefano Cardoselli’s The Inhabitant of the Lake, published by Independent Legions Publishing, won the award, beating out what started as a large and very competitive field.

You can find the complete list of winners across all categories on the HWA website.

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Marvel announces plans for Black History Month

The publisher announces an anthology titled ‘Marvel’s Voices: Legacy’ and a series of variant covers by Ernanda Souza.

Marvel has announced plans to release another addition of Marvel’s Voices during Black History Month in February, similar to the one arriving this week to celebrate Indigenous history. This one is titled Marvel’s Voices: Legacy and will feature a variety of stories by Black creators.

“I don’t think comics can call itself a successful industry unless it’s reached out to all kinds of fans,” said the anthology’s co-editor, Sarah Brunstad. “Comics are a medium, not a genre, you know? So it’s immensely important to me that we bring in new readers and make them welcome in the Marvel Universe. We do that by telling all different kinds of stories with all different kinds of creators.”

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‘LaGuardia’ wins the Hugo Award

In the “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category, the Berger Books title by Nnedi Okorafor, Tana Ford and James Devlin took home the award.

LaGuardia by Nnedi Okorafor, Tana Ford and James Devlin has won the 2020 Hugo Award in the “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category.

This is the second major award for the comic in the past two weeks, as it follows the book’s Eisner win in the “Best Graphic Album”—Reprint category.

Set in an alternative world where aliens have come to Earth and integrated with society, LaGuardia features a pregnant Nigerian-American doctor who has just returned to New York with an illegal alien plant named ”Letme Live” through LaGuardia International and Interstellar Airport’s customs and security. There, she and Letme become part of a growing population of African and shape-shifting alien immigrants, battling against interrogation, discrimination and travel bans.

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‘Shuri’ wins a Nommo Award

The African Speculative Fiction Society recognized the Marvel comic during its annual awards presentation.

Shuri, the comic featuring the Black Panther’s brilliant younger sister by Nnedi Okorafor, Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire has won a Nommo Award in the “Graphic Novel” category.

The Nommo Awards are presented annually by the African Speculative Fiction Society. The four categories recognize works of speculative fiction by Africans, defined as “science fiction, fantasy, stories of magic and traditional belief, alternative histories, horror and strange stuff that might not fit in anywhere else.”

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Comics Lowdown: Who owns Atlas Comics?

Plus: Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award recipients, Paige Braddock, Frank Santoro, Dr. Gene Luen Yang and more!

Who exactly owns Atlas Comics? That seems to be the question raised in two articles from The Hollywood Reporter. Earlier this month Steven Paul, producer of the Ghost Rider film, announced via a press conference that he had bought the rights to the Atlas Comics and planned to work with Paramount to turn the properties into movies. Not so fast, said Dynamite Entertainment, who followed up by telling THR that they own the name “Atlas Comics.”

Many of you may be wondering “What the heck was Atlas Comics?” while others might be thinking, “Wait, wasn’t Atlas the company that eventually evolved into Marvel Comics in the 1960s?” And still others are wondering, “Didn’t he learn his lesson after Ghost Rider?”

But getting back to Atlas, yes, there was an Atlas Comics in the 1950s that grew out of Timely Comics and eventually became Marvel Comics. It was owned by publisher Martin Goodman, and it put out comics in a variety of genres like horror, crime, espionage and even a few superhero titles featuring characters like Captain America and the Human Torch, who had previously been published under the Timely banner. However, this isn’t that Atlas Comics.

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‘Shuri’ jumps into her own series by Okorafor + Romero

Marvel launches a new series starring Black Panther’s genius little sister.

One of Marvel’s breakout movie sensations is getting her own comic, as the publisher announced this week that Nnedi Okorafor and Leonardo Romero are working on a new Shuri series.

Shuri is the younger sister to the Black Panther, who first appeared in comics during Reginald Hudlin and John Romita, Jr.’s run on Black Panther in 2005. When her brother was injured, she took on the role of the Black Panther, and later died when their home country of Wakanda was attacked by the evil Thanos cronies The Cabal. She was revived in the latest volume of Black Panther. The character was a big part of the Black Panther film and also appeared in Avengers: Infinity War.

“[Shuri is] an African young woman of genius level intelligence who is obsessed with technology and has traveled spiritually so far into the past that she’s seen Wakanda before it was Wakanda. The Ancestors call her Ancient Future. And she’s super ambitious. What do I love about her? Alllll that and more,” Okorafor told Bustle. “She’s a character in the Marvel Universe who really sings to me.”

Sam Spratt is providing covers; here’s his first one:

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comiXology, Marvel announce ‘Black Panther: Long Live The King’

Novelist Nnedi Okorafor and artist Andre Araujo team up for a new miniseries from the comiXology Originals line.

comiXology and Marvel have announced another miniseries as part of the comiXology Originals line — Black Panther: Long Live The King, a six-issue bi-weekly series written by Nnedi Okorafor and with art by Andre Araujo.

Black Panther follows two comiXology Originals/Marvel joints — Immortal Iron Fists (which my kid loves; we hope Pei is going to be ok!) by Kaare Andrews and Afu Chan, and Thor vs. Hulk: Champions of the Universe by Jeremy Whitley and Simone Buonfantino. Both series can bought off comiXology and are available to comiXology Unlimited subscribers.

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