Hilary B. Price wins the 2023 Reuben Award

Jay Stephens, Evan Dahm, Sarah Andersen and more win NCS divisional awards.

Hilary B. Price, creator of Rhymes with Orange and the youngest woman to ever have a nationally syndicated comic strip, has won this year’s Reuben Award.

The National Cartoonists Society presented the award last weekend at their annual conference in San Diego. Price was one of six nominees for the award this year, in a field that also included Daniel Clowes, Darrin Bell, Dana Simpson, Mark Tatulli and Will Henry.

Price launched the comic strip in 1995, and it’s remained an award-winning staple of the comics page ever since, winning multiple divisional awards from the National Cartoonists Society. She’s also been nominated for the Reuben Award multiple times in the past.

Rhymes With Orange has been my expressive outlet from my mid-twenties through my mid-forties,” Price told us back in 2018. “There’s a lot of change in that time – from sleeping on a futon to having a box spring and mattress, from negotiating roommates to negotiating a mortgage, from weddings to divorces. I remember a relative noting that when the strip first started, it was a window into the life of a twenty-something, but as I aged, the topics hit a broader audience. For example, more people are in the settled down phase than in the just starting out phase, so gags about long term relationships hit a wider mark than the hook-up at parties gags.”

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Quick Hits | Eric Gitter, Filip Sablik, Jamie S. Rich + Jeremy Haun form a new comic company

Plus: An AI lawsuit moves forward! ‘Blankets’ is banned! The 1982 DC Comics Style Guide is delayed! And ‘A Guest in the House’ receives another awards nomination.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that four industry pros will come together to form an as-yet-untitled comics company. Producer Eric Gitter, formerly with Oni Press and the producer of the big -screen adaptations of Atomic Blonde and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, is teaming up with former BOOM! Studios president Filip Sablik; Jamie S. Rich, a former editor at IDW, DC and more; and Jeremy Haun, whose work includes The Realm, Red Mother, The Approach and more.

Sablik will serve as publisher of the new venture, with Rich taking on the role of editor-in-chief and Haun as creative director. Per THR, the new company “will eschew superheroes and lean toward horror, science fiction, crime and fantasy,” and hopes to start publishing comics next year.

“I can’t imagine partners that I believe in more,” Haun said in his newsletter. “Each of us bring something special to the table. Moreover— we’re lock step in our vision for what we want this company AND industry to be.”

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Quick Hits | Medar de la Cruz wins the Pulitzer for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary

Plus: Cartoonist sue Google over AI, Civics for All Comics Group celebrates 2 million comics, Mark Evanier on who created Wolverine and more!

Medar de la Cruz has won this year’s Pulitzer Prize in the Illustrated Reporting and Commentary category. The Brooklyn-based illustrator won for the illustrated story “The Diary of a Rikers Island Library Worker,” which appeared in the New Yorker last May. De la Cruz is an artist who also works in New York City jails as a library assistant for the Brooklyn Public Library. Phones and cameras aren’t allowed inside Rikers Island, so his drawings are based on his memories of the prison.

The other finalists in the category this year included Claire Healy, Nicole Dungca and Ren Galeno for “Searching for Maura,” which appeared in the Washington Post; “Is My Toddler A Stochastic Parrot?” by Angie Wang, which appeared in the New Yorker; and Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, for a “portfolio of deceptively gentle, mostly wordless cartoons full of juxtapositions that ably communicate complex, sophisticated messages.” You can see some of them here. Bennett also recently received a National Headliner Award, which recognizes journalism in a multitude of categories, in the Editorial Cartoon category.

This is the third year now where the Pulitzers have given awards in the Illustrated Reporting and Commentary category. It replaced the Editorial Cartoons category in 2022.

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Jay Stephens, Jesús Hervás, Daniel Clowes, Darren Bell + more nominated in this year’s NCS divisional awards

The National Cartoonist Society has announced the divisional nominees for the 78th Annual NCS Reuben Awards.

The National Cartoonists Society has announced the 2023 NCS Divisional finalists for the 78th Annual NCS Reuben Awards, which annually recognize creators of comic strips, illustrations, comic books and more. The winners will be announced Aug. 23, and the nominees for their biggest award, the Reuben itself, should be announced soon.

The awards recognize the artist or cartoonist, so you’ll see that the specific work, the writer and the publisher aren’t called out in the nominations. This year’s nominees in the comic book category include Jesús Hervás, artist of Invasive and What If? Venom; Kelly Phillips, creator of Apricot Dumplings; and Jay Stephens, creator of Dwellings. In the graphic novel category, the nominees include The Talk creator Darren Bell, Monica creator Daniel Clowes and Sarah Bollinger, artist of Malcolm Kid and the Perfect Song.

Webcomics creators are recognized in two categories — long form and short form. In the long-form category, the nominees include Brad Guigar, Evan Dahm and Jason Chatfield. In the short-form category, Sarah AndersenJim Benton and Dee Fish have been nominated.

Here’s the full list of nominees across all the categories for this year:

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Colleen Doran, Alex Ross, Sarah Andersen among this year’s NCS divisional nominees

The National Cartoonist Society announces the divisional nominees for the 77th Annual NCS Reuben Awards.

The National Cartoonists Society has announced the 2022 NCS Divisional finalists for the 77th Annual NCS Reuben Awards, which annually recognize creators of comic strips, illustrations, comic books and more. The winners will be announced Sept. 7, and the nominees for their biggest award, the Reuben itself, should be announced soon.

The awards recognize the artist or cartoonist, so you’ll see work, the writer or publisher aren’t called out in the nominations. The graphic novel category nominees for this year include Colleen Doran, artist of Chivalry; Alex Ross, creator of Fantastic Four: Full Circle; and Christian Meesey, artist of Time Shopper. For comic books, the nominees include Brett Bean, artist of I Hate Fairyland; Ben Bender, creator of The Littlest Viking; and Robert Goodin, creator of The Kurdles.

Webcomics creators are recognized in two categories — long form and short form. In the long-form category, the nominees include Phil Foglio, Brad Guigar and Sheldon creator Dave Kellett. In the short-form category, Sarah Andersen, Tex creator Jesse Atwell and Rich Powell have been nominated.

Below is the full list of the nominees.

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Comics Lowdown: Wakanda fashion show, marketplace celebrates artisans and Black Panther

Plus: Roxane Gay thoughts on diversity, Jeff Smith, Cully Hamner, public-domain comics and more!

Excited for the increasing spotlight on Black Panther with the feature film coming out in 2018, retailer Fantom Comics in Washington, D.C. hosted a unique event known as Move or You Will Be Moved: A Black Panther Fashion Show over the weekend. The haute couture show included cosplay and Wakandan street fashion, and a marketplace of local black creators selling their jewelry, clothing and other Afrofuturist fashion accessories. Plus of course, Black Panther comics and paraphernalia.

“Where’s all the Black Panther merchandise? We’re less than a year out, and we don’t have any Happy Meal toys or anything we can just get on hand,” Sellars asked, introducing the concept to the crowd. “So with that came this idea of what about an Afro-futuristic showcase of what it means to be great? Of what it means to be in Wakanda.”

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