Harvey Awards nominees announced

The nominees for the 2008 Harvey Awards are:

BEST WRITER:
Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Marvel Comics (2007 winner, Daredevil)
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Grant Morrison, All Star Superman, DC Comics (2007 nominee, same)
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone (2007 nominee, same)
Brian K. Vaughan, Y: The Last Man, Vertigo/DC Comics (2007 nominee, same)

BEST ARTIST
Gabriel Ba, Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics
John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men, Marvel Comics
Guy Davis, BPRD, Dark Horse Comics
Frank Quitely, All Star Superman, DC Comics (2007 winner, same)
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone (2007 nominee, same)
— at this point, Cassaday’s nomination almost seems like a consolation nod, given Astonishing X-Men’s sparse and constantly delayed existence the past year.

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES
All Star Superman, DC Comics
Captain America, Marvel Comics
Damned, Oni Press
Daredevil, Marvel Comics (2007 winner)
Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics
Uncle Scrooge, Gemstone Comics
— glad to see The Spirit off the list. The bloom has come off that rose. I’m not going to be at all surprised if All Star Superman gets some kind of farewell award, but I’d like to see Captain America win. At the very least, I don’t think Daredevil deserves the honor.

BEST NEW SERIES
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
The Order, Marvel Comics
Resurrection, Oni Press
Thor, Marvel Comics
Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics
— I don’t read any of these, but even JMS and Thor fan Fin Fang Doom had to admit to himself that Thor sucked (I gave up after the first issue).

BEST NEW TALENT
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Jeff Lemire, Essex County, Top Shelf
Vasilis Lolos, Last Call, Oni Press
Robbi Rodriguez, Maintenance, Oni Press
Christian Slade, Korgi #1: Sprouting Wings, Top Shelf
— super nice guy Brian Fies won last year for Mom’s Cancer

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM – ORIGINAL
The Arrival, Scholastic Books
Donald Duck: The Case of the Missing Mummy, Gemstone
Exit Wounds, Drawn & Quarterly
Laika, First Second
Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Oni Press
— Pride of Baghdad by Bryan K Vaughan won in 2007

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM – PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED
The Annotated Northwest Passage, Oni Press
Antiques, Volume 1, Gemstone
Captain America Omnibus, Volume 1, Marvel Comics
Damned, Volume 1, Oni Press
Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, Marvel Comics
— Darwyn Cooke’s Absolute New Frontier won in 2007

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY
Alice in Sunderland, Dark Horse Comics
All Star Superman # 8, DC Comics
Captain America # 25, Marvel Comics
Donald Duck: The Case of the Missing Mummy, Gemstone
I Killed Adolf Hitler, Fantagraphics Books
Immortal Iron Fist # 7, Marvel Comics
Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen # 1, Oni Press
— Civil War #1 took the prize last year. I’ve loved Iron Fist, but I honestly can’t remember what it was about issue #7 that made it worthy of being singled out.

BEST COVER ARTIST
John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men, Marvel Comics (2007 nominee)
Marko Djurdjevic, Daredevil, Marvel Comics
James Jean, Fables, Vertigo/DC Comics (2007 winner)
Mike Mignola, Hellboy, Dark Horse Comics
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone
— Marc Silvestri was nominated for this last year! I feel the same about Cassaday here as I do up above, though at least he gets the completely worthless credit of doing his own variant covers.

BEST LETTERER
Chris Eliopoulos, Daredevil, Marvel Comics
Jared K. Fletcher, The Spirit, DC Comics
Willie Schubert, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone
Douglas E. Sherwood, Local, Oni Books
Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library, Acme Novelty
— These are all new nominees, so apparently everyone who had good penmanship last year can no longer hold a candle or pen to this new breed of deliberate writers. (Last year’s winner was Stan Sakai, for Usagi Yojimbo)

BEST COLORIST
Susan Daigle-Leach, Uncle Scrooge, Gemstone (2007 nominee)
Jamie Grant, All Star Superman, DC Comics
Matt Hollingsworth, Daredevil, Marvel Comics
Matt Kindt, Super Spy, Top Shelf
Laura Martin, Thor, Marvel Comics
— last year’s winner was Lark Pien for American Born Chinese. I think Daredevil has really gone downhill in the past year, but one thing that’s definitely great is the coloring. The mood of that book would be so drastically different (in a bad way) without those scene-setting tones.

BEST INKER
Stefano Gaudiano, Daredevil, Marvel Comics
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Steve Leialoha, Fables, DC Comics
Mark Morales, Thor, Marvel Comics
Kevin Nowlan, Witchblade, Top Cow/Image
— Danni Miki won last year for Eternals, which is surprising to me, as I consider Miki to be the one inker whose work I almost always notice for not liking. I haven’t read Witchblade at all, but I’m happy to see Kevin Nowlan nominated. That guy has been one of my favorite artists since I first spotted his work in a lame Superman / Aliens book back in the mid 90s.

BEST ON-LINE COMIC
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, www.wimpykid.com
EZ Street, Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley, www.comicmix.com/title/ez-street/
Penny Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, www.penny-arcade.com
Perry Bible Fellowship, Nicholas Gurewitch, www.pbfcomics.com (2007 winner)
Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo, Dwight L. Macpherson, Thomas Boatwright
and Thomas Mauer,
www.drunkduck.com/The_Surreal_Adventures_of_Edgar_Allan_Poo
— If Perry Bible Fellowship doesn’t win, at least there’s consolation in PvP not even being nominated.

BEST CARTOONIST
Darwyn Cooke, The Spirit, DC Comics
Matt Kindt, Super Spy, Top Shelf
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Oni Press (2007 nominee, same)
Vasilis Lolos, Last Call, Oni Press
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone (2007 nominee, same)
— Jamie Hernandez won in 2007 for Love & Rockets

BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT
Complete Peanuts, Fantagraphics Books (2007 winner, same)
Complete Terry and the Pirates, IDW
EC Archives, Gemstone (2007 nominee, same)
Popeye, Fantagraphics Books (2007 nominee, same)
Walt and Skeezix, Drawn & Quarterly (2007 nominee, same)

BEST AMERICAN EDITION OF FOREIGN MATERIAL
Eduardo Risso’s Tales of Terror, Dynamite Entertainment
Exit Wounds, Drawn & Quarterly
Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Abrams
Moomin, Volume 2, Drawn & Quarterly
Witchblade Manga, Top Cow/Image

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR
Chris Eliopoulos, Franklin Richards series, Marvel Comics
Nicholas Gurewitch, Perry Bible Fellowship, www.pbfcomics.com
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Oni Press (2007 winner, Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness)
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone
— Given what a complete Bill Watterson ripoff Chris Eliopoulos is, I really hope he doesn’t win. But considering the completely laugh-free Scott Pilgrim won last year, I won’t be at all surprised.

SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION
The Annotated Northwest Passage, Scott Chantler, Oni Press
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, Amulet Books
EC Archives, Various, edited by John Clark, Gemstone (2007 nominee, same)
Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened, edited by Jason Rodriguez, Villard
Super Spy, Matt Kindt, Top Shelf
— 2007 winner was Lost Girls by Alan Morre and Melinda Gebbie

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION
Blah Blah Blog, Tom Brevoort, http://www.marvel.com/blogs/Tom%20Brevoort/
The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth and Michael Dean, Fantagraphics Books (2007 nominee)
Meanwhile…Comics!, John, Jason and Scott, http://www.meanwhilecomics.com
The Naked Artist: Comic Book Legends, Bryan Talbot and Hunt Emerson, Moonstone Books
Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, edited by J.C. Vaughn, Gemstone (2007 nominee)
Reading Comics: How Graphic Albums Work and What They Mean, Douglas Wolk, Da Capo Press
— the 2007 winner was Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries 1900-1969, by Dan Nadel

BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL
Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau, Universal Press Syndicate (2007 nominee)
Get Fuzzy, Darby Conley, United Feature Syndicate
The K Chronicles, Keith Knight, Self-Syndicated (2007 winner)
The Mighty Motor-Sapiens, Mark Wheatley, Daniel Krall, Robert Tinnell, MJ Butler,
Craig Taillerfer, Matthew Plog, and Jerry Carr, Self-Syndicated
Mutts, Patrick McDonnell, King Features Syndicate (2007 nominee)

BEST ANTHOLOGYFlight Volume 4, edited by Kazu Kibuishi, Ballantine Books (vol 3 was 2007’s winner)
Mome Volume 8, edited by Gary Groth and Eric Reynolds, Fantagraphics Books (2007 nominee)
Popgun Volume 1, edited by Joe Keatinge and Mark Andrew Smith, Image Books
Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened, edited by Jason Rodriquez, Villard
Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, edited by John Clark, Gemstone (2007 nominee)