Quick Hits | Counting down to San Diego

Are hotels too expensive during Comic Con? (Yes!) Plus news on the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, DSTLRY goes exclusive, 23rd Street Books and more.

The 55th annual San Diego Comic Con is coming up in two weeks, so expect to see a lot of news between now and then not only on upcoming comics and the like, but also on the convention itself, pop culture trends, its impact on the economy and whatever other angle news outlets can squeeze from the event. I’m sure there are mainstream journalists chomping at the bit to do cosplay round-ups as I type this.

One question that comes up every few years related to the con is, “Will it always be in San Diego?” San Diego is an events city with a huge convention center and a welcoming downtown area, and SDCC means big business for the businesses in the area. But this article by Rob Salkowitz for Forbes notes that the Comic-Con International team is concerned about hotel price gouging in the city during the convention, as hotels are putting fewer rooms into the block offered by CCI every year because they can book them for more on the open market.

“We would never want to leave, but if push came to shove and it became untenable for us, it’s something that we would certainly have to look into,” David Glanzer, Chief Communication and Strategy Officer for Comic-Con International, told Forbes. “As event planners, we’re always contacted by different cities and it would be reckless for us to not at least acknowledge that.”

CCI has a contract with San Diego through 2025, so any changes would have to come after that.

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Your 2023 Eisner Award winners

Kate Beaton, Tom King, Bruno Redondo and more were honored with awards tonight.

The winners were announced tonight in San Diego for the 2023 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards.

DC was the big winner tonight, when looking across publishers, with multiple awards for the Human Target miniseries and Nightwing, among others. Kate Beaton’s Ducks, published by Drawn + Quarterly; Parker: The Martini EditionLast Call by Darwyn Cooke and published by IDW; Ducks by Kate Beaton; and The Night Eaters by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda also brought home multiple awards. Chivalry, a short story by Neil Gaiman adapted to comics by Colleen Doran, has proven to be one of the most nominated graphic novels this awards season, and it took home an Eisner for Best Adaptation.

Other awards given out tonight included the Russ Manning Award. Although she didn’t take home an Eisner despite her multiple nominations, Zoe Thorogood brought home the trophy for the prestigious Russ Manning Award. Beth Accomando and Scott Dunbier received the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, and the Bill Finger Award went to both Sam Glanzman and Barbara Friedlander. Cape and Cowl Comics in Oakland won the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.

You can check out the full list of Eisner winners after the jump.

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Annie Koyama will receive the 2022 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award

The former publisher’s grant initiative for comics creators, Koyama Provides, has given out almost $300,000 to comics creators.

Comic-Con International has announced that Annie Koyama and her Koyama Provides grant program for comics creators will receive the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award this year. According to CCI, Koyama has awarded around 90 grants to artists, with an expected $300,000 to be given out by the end of this year.

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Your 2020 Eisner Award winners

‘Bitter Root,’ ‘Are You Listening?’ and more take home awards.

The 2020 Will Eisner Awards were presented in a virtual ceremony tonight. You can find the list of all nominees below, with the winners marked in BOLD. Congratulations to all the nominees and the winners!

You can also watch the ceremony here. The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award recepients were announced earlier this week and include the Hero Initiative, Creators 4 Comics, Comicbook United Fund and BINC. Read more about them here.

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2020 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award winners announced

The Hero Initiative, creators4comics, the Comicbook United Fund and Binc will all be honored later this week.

The Hero Initiative, creators4comics, the Comicbook United Fund and Binc have been named the recipients of the 2020 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award. Named for Beany and Cecil creator Bob Clampett, the award is given out annually as part of the Eisner Award ceremony each July.

The Hero Initiative received the award for its ongoing charity efforts; the organization has been helping comic creators in need for more than 20 years.

“Hero Initiative is honored to receive the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award for 2020. Now more than ever, organizations such as Hero Initiative, which helps comic book creators in medical and financial need, are desperately needed,” Jim McLauchlin, on behalf of the Hero Initiative, said in a statement. “We continue to focus on this mission, and continually build for the future. Hero Initiative would not exist without the widespread support and assistance of creators, fans, and publishers all over the world. We share this award with them. We are grateful, humbled, and very appreciative of the recognition.”

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Winners announced for the 2019 Eisner Awards

Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Jen Wang, ‘Giant Days’ and more take home trophies.

The winners were announced last night for the 2019 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards.

Tom King and Mitch Gerads, partners on the Mister Miracle series from DC, took home five awards between them. John Allison’s Giant Days and The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang also took home multiple awards.

The Eisner Awards also inducted 10 people into the Hall of Fame last night: the judges chose Jim Aparo, June Tarpé Mills, Dave Stevens and Morrie Turner, while voters chose José Luis García-López, Jenette Kahn, Paul Levitz, Wendy and Richard Pini, and Bill Sienkiewicz to join the class of 2019.

Other awards given out last night included the The Bill Finger Excellence In Comic Book Writing Award, which was presented to Mike Friedrich and the late E. Nelson Bridwell, and the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award, which went to Lorena Alvarez.

The 2019 recipients of the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award were Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, for his work on Ricanstruction: Reminiscing & Rebuilding Puerto Rico, and comic artist Tula Lotay, AKA Lisa Wood, for creating the UK-based Thought Bubble Festival. And La Revisteria Comics in Argentina won the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.

You can see all the Eisner winners below, in bold.

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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 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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