Help kickstart a classic comic book spinner rack

Jim Demonakos looks to bring a piece of comics nostalgia back to life in a new Kickstarter campaign.

If you’ve ever wanted to own a classic-looking comic book spinner rack, you can either keep an eye on eBay and hope for the best, or support a new Kickstarter that’s looking “to create something that evoked nostalgia while also being functional and cool.”

The project is the brainstorm of Jim Demonakos of nerd rock band Kirby Krackle and Emerald City Comic Con fame. He’s looking to design two different models — one black, one white — that look like they came right out of a 1980s 7-Eleven.

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Nominees announced for this year’s Reuben Award

Nominees include Lynda Barry, Stephan Pastis, Hilary Price, Mark Tatulli and Glen Keane.

The National Cartoonists Society has announced the nominees for the 2017 NCS Reuben Award for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.”

The nominees include:

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‘She Could Fly’ lifts off from Berger Books

Christopher Cantwell and Martín Morazzo team up for a new title from the Dark Horse Comics imprint.

Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint, from former Vertigo editor Karen Berger, will add another comic to its flight plan this summer — She Could Fly by writer Christopher Cantwell and artist Martín Morazzo.

Cantwell is the co-creator and showrunner of the AMC drama Halt and Catch Fire, while Morazzo has been the artist on such comics as Nighthawk, Elektra, Great Pacific and Ice Cream Man. Miroslav Mrva, who has worked on Ghosted and Foolkiller, will provide colors.

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Keren Katz, Michael DeForge win 2018 Cartoonist Studio Prize

Created in conjunction with the Center for Cartoon Studies, the program offers $1,000 to each winner.

Slate has announced the winners of their annual Cartoonist Studio Prize, which awards $1,000 to the year’s best print comic and webcomic.

This year’s winner in the print catgeory is Keren Katz for The Academic Hour, published by Secret Acres.

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‘Monstress,’ ‘Black Bolt’ among this year’s Hugo nominees

‘Bitch Planet,” ‘Paper Girls,’ ‘My Favorite Thing is Monsters’ and ‘Saga’ round out this year’s nominees in the ‘Graphic Story’ category.

The nominees for the 2018 Hugo Awards have been announced, including the “Graphic Story” category — which features four comics from Image, one from Marvel and a graphic novel from Fantagraphics.

Presented annually since 1955, The Hugo Awards recognize the best science fiction in books, comics, movies, TV and more. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention every year. The Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story has been awarded since 2009, with previous winners including volumes of Saga, Ms. Marvel, Girl Genius and Sandman: Overture. Monstress won the award last year and is up for the award again this year.

Here are this year’s nominees:

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March MODOK Madness returns for its second decade

Check out fan art featuring Marvel’s lovable, big-headed villain.

Now in its 11th year, March MODOK Madness has returned! For this month only, follow along as artists share their renditions of the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing in the form of fan artwork.

Like this comic strip from contributor John Douglas, featuring a bonus Jack Kirby creation:

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DC’s Black Label imprint to offer out-of-continuity comics from ‘top talent’

DC Comics has announced Black Label, a new imprint aimed at giving creators the freedom to create out-of-continuity stories and future “perennially best-selling, critically acclaimed books.”

“Many of our perennially best-selling, critically acclaimed books were produced when we unleashed our top talent on standalone, often out-of-continuity projects featuring our most iconic characters, a prime example being Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns,” DC Entertainment co-publisher Jim Lee said in a statement about the new imprint. “Creating DC Black Label doubles down on our commitment to working with all-star talent and trusting them to tell epic, moving stories that only they can tell with the highest levels of creative freedom.”

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Slate announces 2018 Cartoonist Studio Prize shortlists

Winners of the annual award by Slate and the Center for Cartoon Studies will be announced March 30.

The Slate Book Review and the Center for Cartoon Studies have announced the nominees for its annual Cartoonist Studio Prize, which awards $1,000 to the creator of one print comic and one webcomic.

Slate began the program in 2012 in conjunction with the Center for Cartoon Studies. Previous winners include Noelle Stevenson for Nimona, Chris Ware for Building Stories, Taiyo Matsumoto for Sunny, Winston Rowntree for Watching, Carol Tyler for Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand My WWII Veteran Father, and last year’s winners, Eleanor Davis for Libby’s Dad and Christina Tran for “On Beauty.”

The shortlists for both prizes are:

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ECCC: Black Crown announces new titles from Sebela, McManus, Howard, Robles

‘Euthanauts’ and ‘House Amok’ join Shelly Bond’s imprint.

At this weekend’s Emerald City Comic Con, IDW’s Black Crown imprint has announced two new titles: Euthanauts by Tini Howard and Nick Robles, and House Amok by Christopher Sebela and Shawn McManus.

“A year ago, we announced Black Crown at Emerald City Comic Con,” editor Shelly Bond said in a press release. “It’s the perfect venue to debut our newest titles. Euthanauts and House Amok share the dysfunctional irreverence you’ve come to expect from the cross street of comics + chaos. We’ve saved you the best table at the Black Crown Pub, and your favorite song is on the jukebox. 2018 is just getting started! Viva Comics!”

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ECCC: Two new Jinxworld titles coming from Bendis, Gaydos, Mack

‘Pearl’ and ‘Cover” due out later this year from the imprint, which now resides at DC Comics.

At Emerald City Comic Con today, writer Brian Michael Bendis announced two new creator-owned titles coming soon from his Jinxworld imprint, which recently moved to DC Comics.

“I’m BEYOND excited to announce these new titles at Emerald City Comic Con,” said Bendis in a press release. “The show has always stayed true to its comics roots and that makes it a perfect place to talk anything Jinxworld, especially new titles I’m working on with creators like Michael and David whom I value and respect so highly.”

Bendis will join with two artists he’s very familiar with on the new comics, titled Pearl and Cover.

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Gaiman to curate ‘The Sandman Universe’ line for Vertigo

Nalo Hopkinson, Kat Howard, Si Spurrier and Dan Watters join Gaiman for four new titles in the new line.

Neil Gaiman will return to the world of The Sandman in a new curated line for DC’s Vertigo imprint, called, appropriately, The Sandman Universe. The line will kick off with a one-shot that’ll set up the return of three former Vertigo titles and one new one.

“… it’s a huge sandbox with so many wonderful toys that nobody’s getting to play with right now,” Gaiman told Entertainment Weekly about why he decided to return to these characters. “I started feeling guilty. I liked the idea of getting the toys played with again, reminding people how much fun this is, and also getting the opportunity to work with some fantastic writers. Down the line, there will be fantastic artists as well.”

The project kicks off this August with The Sandman Universe one-shot special, which catches readers up on what’s been happening in The Dreaming, the realm where the Daniel, the current Sandman, rules. But Daniel’s gone missing, leaving chaos in his wake. The one-shot will also catch up with two other Gaiman creations who enjoyed their own success at Vertigo — Books of Magic star Tim Hunter and Lucifer, whose ongoing series ran for 75 issues and later inspired the FOX TV series of the same name.

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Fantagraphics’ ‘Disney Masters’ line begins in May

New line of hardcovers includes work by Romano Scarpa, Luciano Bottaro, Paul Murry, Freddy Milton and Daan Jippes.

Beginning in May, Fantagraphics will publish a new line called “Disney Masters,” building on their already impressive line of classic Disney comics collections. The new line is devoted to “Disney’s greatest cartoonists,” and will include the works of Romano Scarpa, Luciano Bottaro, Paul Murry, Freddy Milton and Daan Jippes.

These will be full-color hardcovers, running about 200 pages each. Many of these stories originated overseas, and this will be their first American appearance.

Here’s the rundown of what you can expect from the first four volumes, which come out later this year:

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