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Journal Datebook Expanded from The Comics Journal #260 By Staff Posted May 26th, 2004
Note: With this issue, the Journal debuts its "Datebook," a summary of the news events affecting comics for the previous month. To introduce this feature, here's the full edition from #260, complete with items trimmed from the print version for space. Marvel Moves from Ingram to Source Interlink March 26 - Marvel Comics and Source Interlink announced a deal today for Marvel's comic book titles. Source Interlink specializes in "big box" retail distribution for magazines, store displays, and moving its publisher clients through its entire roster of appropriate specialty stores in addition to big clients like Borders, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks and B. Dalton. Source Interlink claims to move 4000 titles to 8000 retail stores in a given sales period. In the days that followed, several comic book shop retailers expressed their concern in various on-line avenues that a flood of books into big bookstores would directly compete against specialty shops for the fan dollar. These worries were compounded by a statement from a Source Interlink official in the original press release who pointed at Marvel's product as a brand new world for their services. Fears were allayed somewhat when by month's end Marvel released a statement through its Diamond relationship in a Diamond Daily that Source Interlink did not represent an aggressive change in policy or move away from the Direct Market, but merely a better partnership for Marvel than the one they enjoyed with former bookstore account handler Ingram Magazine Distribution. Wizard World LA Marks Big-Time Debut March 29 - Wizard World announced today that its first convention foray into Southern California far surpassed its own internal expectations with 19,500 attendees. The Long Beach show is Wizard's fourth convention, after Wizard World Philadelphia, Wizard World Chicago and Wizard World Texas. Wizard placing a show in the Los Angeles area is additionally significant because of such a convention's proximity to the San Diego area utilized by Comic-Con International. Wizard's other three shows are in former strongholds of independent conventions -- the East Coast corridor of the old-time Creation Cons (Philadelphia), the old Chicago Comicon that Wizard formally supplanted to launch this aspect of their business (Chicago), and the Deep South which used to harbor the Dallas Fantasy Fair (Texas). Although Comic-Con International has grown by leaps and bounds in the last half-decade and seems safe to withstand even a more direct challenge, and the region remains a fantasy and consumer hotbed that can well support two events, Wizard enjoys two advantages were the two shows ever to compete more closely. The organizers have the powerful publishing arm that cannot be ignored and a strong relationship with Marvel, a company that has largely withdrawn from the San Diego show in recent years but has increased its presence at the Wizard shows. Guests at the Long Beach Convention Center seemed divided between big-name comics stars and those with general genre backgrounds -- always favoring the latter was a criticism of past Wizard World shows in other locations. The balance was somewhat more surprising than it might have been in Dallas or Chicago because of the location's proximity to the movie and television industries. Shonen Jumped: Popular Magazine Pulled from Book Fairs March 30 - In one of the odder side stories far more interesting in that it hints at potential trouble ahead than for the event itself, Scholastic Inc. pulled the popular anthology Shonen Jump from its school book fairs today following an objection to the magazine's content. According to wire reports, the company received a complaint from a school district in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania following the purchase of an issue of the manga publication by a fifth grader at a December book fair. Although the cover in question is clearly marked with a "T" label, meaning the publisher intends the magazine for teen rather than elementary school audiences, Shonen Jump is popular among younger children for both the stories and the game cards wrapped into the magazine as collectible exclusives. Cited in the complaint as objectionable content in the narratives were cigarette smoking, a swastika on a forehead, rough language and an advertisement for future issues of a serial making light of death. Although the move was considered by manga fans to be an abrupt and hasty one, fall-out from this incident is in no way expected to tarnish Shonen Jump's emerging juggernaut status on the newsstand. Tokyopop Inks An Exclusive With Diamond March 30 - In a somewhat surprising move with implications for comics shops and several smaller games and comics distributors, manga powerhouse Tokyopop and Diamond Comic Distributors announced an exclusive distribution deal today. The agreement is limited to comic-book specialty shops and hobby stores in North America -- Diamond's primary area of interest and expertise as well as the market least penetrated by Tokyopop. Tokyopop is distributed to bookstores by CDS. At the time the deal was announced, Diamond also said it will raise the discount on Tokyopop products to 50 percent starting with its March 2004 Previews magazine and new ordering form and for all reorders placed starting in April. Diamond also said at the time of the announcement that they will be handling more books within their warehouse in a way that will assist them in filling initial orders and reorders more quickly -- this as a salve against complaints made earlier by shops to retailer-focused news organizations like ICv2.com that Diamond was losing the timeliness battle to Tokyopop's bookstore distribution organs. Previous to the announcement, Tokyopop was carried by a number of the small distributors, many with aggressive and competitive pricing and discounting structures. "It definitely was a chunk of our sales. You can say it was a good chunk," Cold Cut Distribution co-owner Tim Stroup told the Journal. "We carried them from the beginning back when they were doing single issues of Sailor Moon, and a few years later Diamond figured it out. That happens to us." Stroup says that his company, a backlist-only distributor with the ability to target the special re-stocking needs of manga companies, will use the money freed up by the loss of that business to pursue other companies. "We're looking at it in terms of budget. We've never been able to bring all the publishers we want to bring on. It's not going to hit it as bad as most people thought. There's other stuff out there we want to carry." If anything, Cold Cut was miffed at its former client for the way it found out about the deal -- in an on-line news story. Stroup said he and other Cold Cut people tried to call Tokyopop, but "there was no one there to answer our questions or let us know what was going on. Finally a couple days later we got a call from Alan Payne and told we were supposed to be sent a letter. We got the letter on Thursday. We were really unhappy." Although Stroup claimed the announcement was timed so that retailers might hold their orders and get any needed books from Diamond, the new deal has yet to go into effect. "We have Tokyopop through the end of May. We don't have the final date. Reuben Nominees Announced - Lash Later Omitted March 31 - The National Cartoonists Society announced its Reuben Awards nominees, the awards to be given out May 28-30, the same weekend the group will honor Jules Feiffer with its Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. Feiffer is the longtime Village Voice cartoonist and a celebrated author, playwright and screenwriter. The award should be the highlight of an evening of awards for work accomplished in 2003. Winning "Cartoonist of the Year," also known as "The Reuben" (in contrast to winners in various divisions who take home "a Reuben") has long been considered a career highpoint for the newspaper strip cartoonists who tend to dominate past winners' lists. Recent past winners include Jerry Scott and Matt Groening. Up for the big award this year are Pat Brady (Rose is Rose), Greg Evans (Luann) and Dan Piraro (Bizarro). The editorial cartoons division features Ted Rall facing off against Tom Toles and Mike Luckovich. Ralph Steadman snagged nominations in both book and magazine illustration. Stephan Pastis gave notice that his strip Pearls Before Swine may be one to reckon with in future years by joining veterans Brian Basset (Red and Rover) and Glenn McCoy (The Duplex) in the strip division -- Pastis told the Journal he would definitely be on hand for the awards ceremony. Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville) and Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) will renew their Academy Awards competition in the feature animation division. The most interesting divisional story is in the usually scattered comic book division -- perhaps the only award that could ever go to Don Perlin, Alex Ross and Chris Ware in successive years. This year the contest will focus on two nominees, Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze) and Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise). A happy Shanower told the Journal that the nomination was a surprise. "Of course I've been aware of the awards for years, but since I'm not a strip cartoonist, I never imagined they'd pay much attention to my work." A third comic book entry, Batton Lash (Supernatural Law) was subsequently dropped from the nominations list after initially being announced. Jackie Estrada, married to Batton Lash and a co-publisher and editor on his self-published books, explained that she had been asked by cartoonist Greg Evans to be on the committee that chose the comic book category. Lash had served in 2003 with Estrada, but declined this year so that his work could be eligible. Estrada brought in her husband's book that were eligible, but declined to speak on them, making her comments on other books she and others brought to the meeting. When voting was done, Estrada abstained and her vote counted as an average of the other votes. Under that system, Lash made the final cut. Estrada explained that she had disqualified the Supernatural Law work from Eisner consideration, but that Lash's other work in the industry remains eligible. "Seeing as how his work is really award-worthy (he was nominated for two Harveys last year and three this year)," Estrada wrote in an e-mail to the Journal, "it's a shame that he is ineligible in the Eisners, so it was nice to see the recognition from the NCS committee." When the list first went up on the National Cartoonist Society web site, Lash's name was included. According to Estrada, Evans sent an e-mail to the pair a few weeks later which read as follows: "The NCS board decided to omit Batton as a nominee in the Comic Book Division. The board felt that Jackie's position as a judge and her involvement with the books could be seen as biased and inappropriate. So to maintain the integrity and fairness of the awards, Batton was removed. Just wanted to be the one to tell you before you heard it elsewhere. I should have been more diligent at the judging and not allowed Batton to be considered. I've accepted full responsibility for not catching it before it went this far." This year's winners will receive their Rube Goldberg-designed awards at the traditional black-tie dinner in Kansas City. 2003 Reuben Award and Division Award Nominees
Cartoonist of the Year:
Editorial Cartoons:
Newspaper Panels:
Greeting Cards:
Newspaper Illustration:
Comic Strips:
Magazine Feature/Magazine Illustration:
Book Illustration:
Advertising Illustration:
Comic Books:
Gag Cartoons:
TV Animation:
Feature Animation:
Horn to Dark Horse Manga April 2 - Dark Horse Comics plunged further ahead into its commitment to manga by hiring manga/anime veteran Carl Gustav Horn to join its staff. A longtime freelanced editor and writer associated with Japanese entertainment industry, Horn had assembled the esteemed series Eagle by Kaiji Kawaguchi for the company, and contributed an essay on Japanese anime to Satoru Fujii's 1999 book on Japanese anime and manga, Japan Edge. Other projects in which the former publicist participated include Neon Genesis Evangelion, Blood the Last Vampire and Excel Saga. Horn will be working out of the editorial offices in Milwaukie, Oregon. As reported in TCJ #259, Dark Horse Comics has entered into negotiations with Studio Proteus to take their titles in-house, adding several publications to an already ambitious schedule. Matt Davies Wins 2004 Cartooning Pulitzer April 5 - The Pulitzer Prize committee today announced its 2004 winners, including the recipient of its cartooning award: Matt Davies of The Journal News in White Plains, Westchester County, New York. The 37-year-old Davies received the award for a series of strongly satirical cartoons skewering the Bush administration and post-9/11 domestic policy. Davies' Pulitzer was not only his first, it was the first Pulitzer ever given to his newspaper, and the Journal News publisher announced the company would match the $10,000 cash award. Eisner Nominees Announced April 8 - The list of nominees for the 2004 Eisner Awards was released for general consumption early today. As has increasingly become the norm for the best-attended and smoothest-functioning of all the comics awards programs, the nominees are drawn from a relentlessly diverse cross-section of the industry. A mainstream comics-writing dynamo such as Brian Michael Bendis (five) can see Eric Powell (four) of the little-known The Goon right over his shoulder; voters will have the opportunity to choose between Neil Gaiman's highly publicized return to his career-making Sandman characters and Derek Kirk Kim's word of mouth minor hit and self-publishing debut Same Difference. Marvel stands neck and neck in terms of nominees with Fantagraphics Books, with the surprise there being Marvel. DC Comics received 35 nominations and pieces of five others. Dark Horse was second with 15. Joining Bendis and Powell with three or more nominations apiece are writer Warren Ellis, writer Greg Rucka, writer Ed Brubaker, cartoonist Joann Sfar, artist Juanjo Guardino, cartoonist Kyle Baker, cartoonist Chris Ware, illustrator P. Craig Russell and the late Osamu Tezuka. Brubaker told the Journal, "It's great to see our books up on the list, of course, with some really worthy mainstream and alternative work, most of which I'm a fan of, honestly. And while I'm sure I have no chance of actually winning Best Writer, this is the first time it didn't feel like it was some sort of mistake that my name was among the nominations. In the past it's always felt like that Sesame Street song to me -- 'one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong.' But I guess I'm finally getting comfortable with my own career after all this time, which is nice." Among developing stories is a potential clash of mainstream comics writers across industry generations (Rucka vs. Ellis vs. Moore). As manga casts an increasingly large shadow over the North American comics market, European works seemed to make a bigger dent, with nominations for artists like Carlos Nine and the team of Dupuy/Berberian. The appearance of historian and strip archivist Bill Blackbeard in the Hall of Fame nominee list surprised many fans, some who had not heard of him and others who were shocked that his unique achievements were recognized in this fashion. Otto Binder and John Stanley were the judges' choices, and Blackbeard will be up against a longer list that includes Al Capp and Lou Fine, from which four will be selected. He will also compete in this year's Best Archival Collection/Project category for his work on the Krazy Kat series. This year's panel of judges was composed of retailer Greg Bennett of Big Planet Comics, longtime editor Meloney Crawford Chadwick, Cartoon Art Museum Curator Andrew Farago, Senior Editor Marc Bernardin of Entertainment Weekly, and Filip Sablik, a project manager at Diamond Comic Distributers. Andrew Farago shared with the Journal details of this year's voting process. Farago said he was surprised how well he got along with the other judges, and how the discussion of various works remained to the point and never devolved into open argument. "Between the five of us, we seemed to know everyone in the comics industry, which made for a lot of interesting conversations and an excessive number of comic in-jokes, and even the nerdiest, most esoteric comic reference would crack up at least four of the judges." As described in Mike Dean's article on the Eisner voting process, "Weekend of Judgment" (TCJ #215), the judges participate in a three-day process of last-minute research, winnowing the lists, and voting on the final categories by applying a scale of 1-5 to each work. "The categories that led to the biggest difference of opinion were the humor ones," Farago told the Journal. "Apparently, everyone knows a great short story when he reads it, but sense of humor is entirely subjective. My recommendations for Angry Youth Comix and Magic Whistle were effectively canceled out by another judge's preference for the Authority/Lobo Santa Claus story and Wizard's Twisted Toyfare Theater, which cleaned up the list considerably." Farago did feel as if he had an impact on the Hall of Fame voting, perhaps because of his reputation with the other judges as a comics historian. "Otto Binder was a unanimous Judge's Choice, but there were several artists tied for second place. I don't know if it was my impassioned defense of his Little Lulu work or everyone's desire to shut me up so that we get some dinner, but when the dust settled, John Stanley was finally heading to the Hall of Fame." In addition to selecting two members, the judges decide on the slate for the ballot that elects four other members. "My proudest accomplishment of the whole judging process was getting one of my heroes, Bill Blackbeard, onto the Hall of Fame ballot," Farago said. "I was worried that the other judges would be apprehensive about nominating a non-creator into the Hall, but everyone agreed on the importance of his work and avoided another long-winded speech from me." The awards ceremony has been scheduled for July 22, the Eisner Awards' typical Friday night slot during the Comic-Con International in San Diego at the convention center's ballroom. 2004 Eisner Award Nominees (for 2003 Publications)
Best Short Story
Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
Best Serialized Story
Best Continuing Series
Best Limited Series
Best New Series
Best Title for a Younger Audience
Best Humor Publication
Best Anthology
Best Graphic Album - New
Best Graphic Album - Reprint
Best Archival Collection/Project
Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material
Best Writer
Best Writer/Artist
Best Writer/Artist - Humor
Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
Best Coloring
Best Lettering
Best Cover Artist
Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
Best Comics-Related Periodical
Best Comics-Related Book
Best Publication Design
HALL OF FAME
Voters will select four from: Marvel Announces Icon Line April 9 - Marvel Comics announced the launch of the Icon line, an imprint to produce licensed and creator-owned projects. The two titles announced to launch the line are moderately successful, long-running properties owned and produced by creators with previous ties to Marvel titles: writer Brian Bendis' lauded Powers and artist David Mack's painted reputation-maker Kabuki. Both series had previously been published through Image Comics. [See "Larsen Replaces Valentino" in Newswatch, TCJ #260.] Marvel has a long history with characters not owned by the parent company. A Star Wars comic book in the late 1970s was a crucial hit for the publisher during an extremely fragile downturn in sales. Marvel has also published licensed characters such as Kiss, GI Joe, Godzilla, and Transformers at various times in its publishing history. In the 1980s such relationships were used to bridge the distance between Marvel's publishing output and its desire to become a Hollywood animation and licensing powerhouse. The '80s were also the heyday of the company's Epic comic book imprint, which for the majority of its run prominently featured creator-owned titles that allowed Marvel to work with talent that might otherwise take their work elsewhere. Ironically, the Icon announcement comes directly on the heels of the slow, zeppelin-like disintegration of a new incarnation of the Epic line, which for the bulk of its unsuccessful launch was to feature non-creator owned books assembled by outside vendors working within a pre-established freelance network. Spearheaded by the Marvel leadership triumvirate of Publisher Dan Buckley, Editor Joe Quesada and President of Publishing Gui Karyo, the Icon imprint will allow Marvel a deeper well of characters to present to Hollywood and perhaps move into the licensed-comic business which, although perhaps not as lucrative right now as it was a year to 36 months ago, seems to have re-established its place in the direct market of comic book store and hobby-related outlets by keying on the nostalgia of older buyers for the cartoons and toys of their recent past. Many of those adventures were brought to them by Marvel then; perhaps in the future as well. [A full report on Icon will appear in TCJ #261.] Web Cartoonist Receives 15 Years for manslaughter April 9 - Web-cartoonist Lucas Phelps received a 15-year sentence in Beaumont, Texas, for causing a November 2002 car crash that killed a pregnant mother and injured two of her children. Phelps pled guilty in 2003 to a manslaughter charge related to the death of Maria Sifuentes, whose car hit Phelps' after the cartoonist suddenly moved his automobile in front of a semi-trailer, striking that vehicle before causing the collision that killed Sifuentes. According to court documents, Phelps had been arguing with his wife before causing the car to swerve. "There's no indication as to what might set him off and lead him to take someone else's life," Assistant District Attorney Martina Longoria told Judge Charles Carver and the court at trial's end. Phelps' lawyer portrayed his client as someone who wished only to harm himself, a law-abiding citizen with no previous convictions who briefly lost control of his actions. Phelps was responsible for the Skritch comic located at GraphicSmash.com, a sister site to the better-known Modern Tales and the alternative-friendly Serializer. The conviction was announced to the Web-comics community through a press release that held few details of the incident leading to the conviction, and which noted how Phelps' jailing might have a deleterious effect on the strip's schedule. According to that report and the discussion it instigated, the cartoonist has stated through wife Jennifer that he plans on resuming his on-line comics career from inside prison once supplies can be procured and a system can be established for scanning his work in and coloring it. Will he have a home for that work if this happens? Joey Manley gave the Journal the following statement that seemed to indicate that very little had been decided at this time. "Modern Tales and Graphic Smash have no official position on this story. Unlike traditional businesses, we never actually see most of our co-workers or contractors -- so our insight into things that happen in their personal lives is non-existent. From the verdict of 'manslaughter,' one can deduce that someone died needlessly. And that's a horrible thing that no amount of platitudinous PR-speak could paper over -- so I won't even try." Manley added at note's end, "I didn't, and don't, know Lucas, except by his work. He's a talented young cartoonist with a very, very difficult path ahead of him. I hope everything works out for him in the long view." District Attorney Longoria is mulling over how aggressively to pursue other charges stemming from the incident in light of the existing conviction. A July 12 hearing has been scheduled on aggravated assault charges connected to injuries suffered by Sifuentes' two sons in the car at the time of the accident. According to published reports, more prison time may be sought. DC/Wildstorm Cancels Former Flagship Title April 13 - DC/Wildstorm today announced the cancellation of WildCATS, a superhero team book currently on its third re-numbering and fourth or fifth creative incarnation. It may have been the best known of the early Wildstorm titles and was certainly a foundational property of interest leading to the purchase of the comics group by DC Comics in 1998. Currently published as WildCATS 3.0, the last issue will be #24, due in August. The Joe Casey-written adventure title featured superheroes as corporate movers and shakers -- the sort of high-concept, lightly satirical take on a title and, through it, the genre, that seems to be rapidly falling out of favor at mainstream comics companies. Casey had planned to continue the storyline until at least issue #40, but had wondered if those plans would come to fruition because of the book's low sales and a discontinuation of trade paperbacks collecting the title's serialized adventures. Casey told the Journal that despite the low sales, there was no guidance from editorial or specific suggestions that anything be changed before the axe fell. "None whatsoever. My editors and even Jim Lee were as stymied by the sales figures as I was. And on the editorial guidance side, my artistic collaborators and I had nothing but complete creative freedom from my very first issue of Vol. 2 back in 2000. At least to my face, everyone seems to agree that this was not a creative failure, but a marketing one..." It may also be part of changing trends. The WildCATS announcement came several days after a more traditional approach to superheroes from television writer Joss Whedon contrasting sharply with the just-completed Grant Morrison X-Men conceptualization had been disseminated to comics news sites, and two days before Wildstorm announced a second cancellation of a similarly struggling title: Stormwatch: Team Achilles. Carol Lay Sale Throws Spotlight on Divorce/Property Issues April 15 - Cartoonist Carol Lay sent an e-mail out announcing that through June 15 she would be having a sale of 20 percent off anything over $20 of items from her online store. "If you've noticed that I've been [running] a few reprints lately, it's because I was caught in the path of a fast-moving divorce," she wrote, adding, "In order to retain the rights to my intellectual property (half of any work I created during our marriage) I had to put myself in a financially uncomfortable position." Lay quoted a passage from the Nolo Press book, How to do Your Own Divorce in California: "Any part of an intellectual property (writing, painting, music, software, etc.) that was created during the marriage will be [community property]." Although Lay hoped this fact might escape the attention of her husband during the divorce process, the mediator brought it to the forefront. Lay explained how this part of California divorce law could be applied to her work. "Essentially, he could take half of the actual comic pages I drew during marriage, or I would have to give him half of the sales of any of the originals or roughs," she told the Journal. "Also, any reprint book or revenue that used works done during our marriage would be subject to his talking half. If a studio came to me and said, 'Let's put on a show,' and the ideas and/or art were from that period, he would get half of what I earned. This includes any single character, story, or idea that I created during that 6.5 years of marriage." The cartoonist ended up making a settlement in cash for return of her rights. She admits, "The stakes are pretty low in my case -- I haven't heard a studio make a ridiculous offer in a while -- but the thought of being tied to him indefinitely for the work I did that all went to paying bills galled me. To get his mitts off it, though, I had to owe him more money." Lay admits that the issue may be a difficult one for cartoonists to think about. Not only was she unaware of the property status of her work until she specifically researched it, marriage brings with it a set of expectations that frustrates this particular sort of advance planning: "Most people are ignorant of this issue because we think marriage is forever, and, in love, we won't even consider the possibility of divorce. We tend not to look into the consequences of an event we deny could happen. Writing about this in the Journal is a good start to informing artists that the work they produce during marriage could become a bargaining chip in a divorce." The Journal contacted several cartoonists married and living in California. All expressed ignorance of that aspect of law, although one or two suspected something like that would be a logical outcome of the law. More typical were responses like "I did not know about that and, yes, I think it is absolutely unfair," from artist Frederick Noland, who works as "Fredo," in a statement to the Journal. He added, "On the upside, my wife is also an artist -- a real artist, not funnybooks and spot illustrations -- so I think I'd come out pretty well in the event of a divorce! Maybe I'll ask her for one when I get home." Cartoonist Shaenon Garrity's response was typical of many cartoonists': "I wasn't aware of it, but I'm not particularly surprised. It's as true in love as in business: An artist's ideas are his or her most valuable asset, and smart artists will take steps to protect them. Carol Lay's horror story inspired me to discuss this issue with my husband. Not that my work is remotely as valuable as Lay's, but, hey, there's always the remote chance that some doodle will spark the public's interest and turn into the next [Teenage Mutant] Ninja Turtles, and then I'll be sorry I didn't read up on copyright law. Or so my mother says." Carol Lay's sale will end June 15, although the cartoonist encourages any latecomer who first hears about it through this article to contact her directly for an extension of the discount. Carol Lay can be contacted at lay@waylay.com. The cartoonist's store can be found here. El Víbora Editor Confirms Potential Cancellation April 16 - El Víbora, the longest running underground and alternative comics magazine and an important steppingstone into Europe for two generations of cartoonists, confirmed to the Journal rumors of its potential termination. Editor Sergi Puertas said hope remains that the magazine will continue its run unabated. "After several months losing readers and money, we reached a situation in issue #289 (March 2004) where we had only two options: closing the magazine right now... or make the situation public in a last effort to get new readers and to get back the ones that used to read the magazine years ago." According to Puertas, the magazine's circulation is down to 6000 from its 1983 heights, when it sold 45,000 copies an issue. It was six months ago that the magazine slipped into unprofitability, and the decision to go public with their woes was made by José María Berenguer, Emilio Bernárdez, Nono Kadáver and Puertas. The magazine's circulation won't need to increase back to Reagan-era levels, but its staff remains hopeful that the media coverage of the magazine's problems will goose sales enough to put El Vibora back into the black. Another set of sales figures will be available in June. Puertas told the Journal, "We'll keep publishing the magazine until then. If the figures are OK, great! If not... well, we'll have to cease publication." El Víbora began publication in 1979, on the cusp of a period in the early '80s when comic magazines such as Creepy and 1984 enjoyed a great deal of popularity in Spain. According to Puertas, most comic magazines went bankrupt by the end of that decade, and magazines in general are in trouble there now. "Nowadays, everything turns around multimedia stuff, videogames, DVDs, cell phones and stuff. [It] seems traditional paper format things are doomed." Puertas also notes that things are particularly tough on general newsstands, where El Víbora used to find most of its market. El Víbora may be best known to North American cartoonists as a place to gain a toehold in Europe, and for many it was the first step in a fruitful relationship with Spanish audiences. Peter Bagge, R. Crumb and Charles Burns are among those who have been published in the pages of the magazine. Burns told the Journal he met Editor José María Berenguer in the early 1980s and was "thrilled to find out he was interested in publishing my work in his magazine. I'd only had a couple of things in print at that point and the idea of having my comics translated into Spanish made me feel like I was on my way to becoming a real pro." Burns said the magazine has published nearly everything he's done. Several of the contributors to the magazine have since published books with the company, based in part on their exposure in the magazine. Burns says that most of the stuff he publishes now in Spain is in pamphlet or book form. "In the '80s there were a lot more anthology magazines in Europe. I guess most of them were based off of the French model; publish an anthology that serializes the work of various cartoonists and then collect the finished stories into an album. The problem was, people lost interest in buying the magazines and just waited to buy the albums of their favorite authors. Sound familiar? All the European magazines that carried my work eventually went under except El Vibora." According to Puertas, the "saddest part" of a cessation of publication would be the hole left in the Spanish market. "If El Víbora ceases publication, there's no adult comic magazines in Spain anymore, and that would affect mostly Spanish underground artists and foreign artists that are not well known here. In Spain, it's very hard to get a publisher to publish a graphic novel, even a comic book if you are not well known. El Víbora was the platform to tell your stuff and get a reputation, and if it closes, well, that's really bad news for all these people." Love and Rockets Resurgence at Harvey Nominations April 21 - When the nominees for the 2004 Harvey Awards were announced, a familiar pair of names made a big splash. Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez together earned seven nominations for their work on the various volumes of the Love and Rockets series. Jaime was nominated for artist, cartoonist, and inker. Gilbert was nominated for writer and for his collection Palomar. The 2003 issues of the Love and Rockets second volume, done with their brother Mario, were impressive enough that they led to nominations for series and single-issue awards. In all, Fantagraphics -- the publisher of this magazine, which also received a nod in the journalism category -- led the field with 26 nominations, ahead of the DC Comics array of imprints at 23. Fantagraphics' total did not include three for syndicated strips the company collects. Its second biggest nominee magnet was Black Hole and cartoonist Charles Burns, who received a total of six. Burns is an established favorite of the Harveys voters, although he has achieved little in the way of recognition from the summer's other major awards program. A total of 23 publishers were recognized, a Harvey Awards record. Reinvigorated by an amenable partnership with the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art Festival in media center New York City, this year's ceremony will be the awards' first formal presentations since moving from Pittsburgh and before that Dallas. Cartoonist Evan Dorkin will emcee the event, with writer Neil Gaiman scheduled as the keynote speaker, on the evening of June 26. Complete List of Harvey Nominees
Best Writer
Best Artist
Best Cartoonist
Special Award for Humor in Comics
Special Award for Excellence in Presentation
Best New Series
Best Continuing or Limited Series
Best Single Issue or Story
Best Graphic Album of Original Work
Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work
Best Anthology
Best Inker
Best Letterer
Best Colorist
Best Syndicated Strip or Panel
Best Biographical, Historical Or Journalistic Presentation
Best American Edition of Foreign Material
Best Domestic Reprint Project
Best New Talent
Best Cover Artist
Two Strips, Two Legs, Too Weird April 23 - In one of the stranger confluences of content in syndicated newspaper comic-strip history, characters in two major comic strips lost limbs in storylines centered on the United States presence in Iraq. In the often politically oriented Doonesbury, the character B.D., with the strip since its college beginnings, lost a leg during a plotline that made use of black-out narratives that had many fans fearing for the ex-quarterback and reservist's life. Surprisingly, Darby Conley's more unabashedly comedic Get Fuzzy featured a similar injury to a character related to the human lead of its smaller cast, done off-panel in an effort to emphasize the invisible nature of injuries occurring in the conflict. The Doonesbury run today stepped onto more traditional inflammatory grounds, having B.D. react to the injury by yelling out "Son of a bitch!" after coming to in a hospital. The week's run was provided to papers accompanied by a letter from Universal Press Syndicate head Lee Salem defending the language as warranted by the timeliness and importance of the issues addressed. According to published reports, only one or two papers of the 1,400 that subscribed to the strip, including the Green Bay News Chronicle in Wisconsin, had decided ahead of time to remove the language, although the exact number was not known at press time for the Journal. In discussing its decision, the News Chronicle cited an unnamed small-town paper that in deference to a recent death of a solider in their community dropped that week's strip altogether. Universal said it had received ten to 12 phone calls from clients expressing concern. Cartoonist Darby Conley refused all requests for interviews this week, according to United Features Syndicate. One of the few sales successes of the last half-decade in an increasingly crowded newspaper-strip market, Get Fuzzy currently appears in approximately 400 papers. Both Conley's and Trudeau's plotlines were featured widely in news features and editorial commentary in the United States and abroad the week of April 19, primarily as a spur to discuss the issue of injuries sustained by men and women during the fighting, how that story has thus far been reported, the appropriateness of comics taking on such issues, and how items of popular culture reflect opinions on political issues during an election year.
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