Tag: Stan Sakai

Sakai and Schweizer re-team for a new Usagi Yojimbo ornament

The hand-crafted wooden ornament is limited to 200 pieces.

Stan Sakai and Chris Schweizer have teamed up again to offer a Christmas ornament featuring Sakai’s signature creation Usagi Yojimbo (and his signature, too, if you’d like).

This is the second year that the duo have teamed for an ornament featuring a festive version of the samurai rabbit. While Sakai provided the artwork, Schweizer handcrafted each wooden piece. When he’s not drawing comics like The Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton, Schweizer creates and sells wooden pieces and papercraft, like this Die Hard Christmas ornament and this collection of Santas from around the world.

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IDW announces six new graphic novels for 2021

New middle-grade graphic novels from Stan Sakai, Kim Dwinell, India Swift, Ray Friesen and more will arrive next year.

IDW has announced six new graphic novels aimed at the middle-grade (9-12 years old) audience, coming in summer 2021 from both IDW Publishing and their Top Shelf imprint.

The line-up includes new books by Kim Dwinell, India Swift, Ray Friesen and more. Plus: Chibi Usagi!

“Today’s young readers have an insatiable appetite for vibrant, thoughtful stories, so we’re thrilled to deliver an inspired mix of titles that showcases the full potential of graphic storytelling,” said Justin Eisinger, Editorial Director, Graphic Novels & Collections for IDW. “These books run the gamut from outright fun to introspective and even educational, further evidence that IDW and Top Shelf are home to an eclectic, necessary library of fiction and non-fiction graphic novels.”

Here are the publisher’s descriptions on what was announced:

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Ringo Awards winners announced

Annual awards ceremony recognizes ‘the creativity, skill and fun of comics.’

The winners for the 2020 Ringo Awards were announced today, marking the fourth year for the awards program named for artist Mike Wieringo, who passed away in 2007.

The awards were presented virtually as part of the Baltimore Comic Con‘s online programming, and started with an introduction and keynote from Kevin Smith and Geoff Johns. It was also live, which led to some logistical/technical issues as they tried to “cut over” to winners for their acceptance speeches.

Here are the winners, in the order they were presented during the ceremony. They include the “fan favorite” awards, which have a different process than the rest of the awards. You can find more details on the process here.

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Lynda Barry wins the Reuben Award

‘Usagi Yojimbo,’ ‘They Called Us Enemy’ recognized in the NCS divisional awards.

This has been a very busy weekend for comics, from DC FanDome to the Small Press Expo and the Ignatz Awards to the National Cartoonist Society‘s virtual NCSFest, their annual event where the winner of the Reuben Award is announced (as well as other awards).

As announced during NCSFest, cartoonist Lynda Barry has won the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. The award has been presented annually since 1954 and was named for Rube Goldberg.

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2020 Eisner Hall of Fame nominees announced

Judges choices include Nell Brinkley and E. Simms Campbell.

Comic-Con International has announced this year’s nominees for the Eisner Hall of Fame. They include two judges’ choices — who will be automatically inducted — and 14 other nominees, four of whom will be inducted based on voters’ choices.

The judges’ choices are Nell Brinkley and E. Simms Campbell, both of whom worked in the magazine industry. Brinkley, a.k.a. the “Queen of Comics,” created comics and illustrations for many Hearst newspapers, including the Denver Post and the New York Journal-America. She became well-known for her “Brinkley Girl” illustrations circa 1913 through the 1940s. Campbell, meanwhile, helped define the visual style of Esquire magazine and created comics for it, Life, Cosmopolitan and Playboy during his career. He was the first African-American cartoonist published in nationally distributed slick magazines.

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‘Usagi Yojimbo’ moves to IDW

Stan Sakai’s most famous creation leaves Dark Horse Comics for a full-color series that starts in June.

After more than 20 years at Dark Horse Comics, Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo will migrate to a new publisher in June. The New York Times revealed today that everyone’s favorite samurai rabbit is making the jump to IDW Publishing.

And while Usagi has been published in black and white for most of its life, the IDW series will be in full color. Sakai will work with colorist and frequent collaborator Tom Luth on the new series. In addition, IDW will release color editions of previous Usagi volumes.

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Stan Sakai honored with the first Joe Kubert Distinguished Storyteller Award

The award was presented on Saturday at Ontario’s Comic Con Revolution.

Stan Sakai, creator of the long-running and always excellent Usagi Yojimbo, has been awarded the first Joe Kubert Distinguished Storyteller Award, as first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The award was presented on Saturday at Ontario’s Comic Con Revolution.

Named for legendary artist and teacher Joe Kubert, The Joe Kubert Distinguished Storyteller Award was created to “recognize comic book creators who not only produce high-quality work, but also display a commitment to helping nurture and grow the comic book community as a whole, to which Kubert dedicated his life.” In addition to a career creating comics like Sgt. Rock, Hawkman and Fax from Sarajevo, the Eisner Hall of Fame member also founded the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in the 1970s, which still operates as the Kubert School today. Joe Kubert passed away in 2012.

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‘Usagi,’ ‘Giant Days,’ ‘Octopus Pie’ among NCS divisional nominees

The National Cartoonists Society announces the divisional nominees for the 71st Annual NCS Reuben Awards.

The National Cartoonists Society has announced the 2016 NCS Divisional nominees for the 71st Annual NCS Reuben Awards, which annually recognize creators of comic strips, animation, illustrations, comic books and more. The winners will be announced May 27, and the nominees for their biggest award, the Reuben itself, should be coming later this month.

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Usagi Yojimbo meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles again this summer

IDW will publish a one-shot featuring Stan Sakai’s famous ronin rabbit encountering the current rendition of the Turtles.

Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo will once again team with Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a new one-shot, coming from IDW Publishing and Dark Horse Comics this summer.

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