BALTIMORE 06: 2006 HARVEY AWARDS

[MattBrady]

<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Baltimore/06/award_statue.jpg" border="0" align="right">Saturday night saw the debut of the Harvey Awards Ceremony at the Baltimore Comic-Con, and was a success by all accounts.

The evening began with an appetizer reception allowing guests to mingle prior to the dinner which featured a Maryland Grill. As the dinner portion of the evening drew to a close, a selection of Kyle Baker’s “The Bakers” cartoons were shown on the two screens in the banquet hall, and Paul McSpadden, a member of the Executive Committee of the Harvey Awards gave the welcoming remarks and thanked the sponsors for the awards. In closing, McSpadden introduced Kyle Baker who served as the Master of Ceremonies.

In his opening remarks, Baker explained that he was a huge Harvey Kurtzman fan, noting that, in his career, he’s found himself somewhat mirroring the legendary creator, working on a war comic and a humor comic. Currently, Baker is working in Los Angeles for Disney, noting that he flew back for the ceremony.

Baker, in turn, introduced the Keynote Speaker for the evening, Jerry Robinson. Robinson entertained the crowd with stories of his earlier days in the industry, recounting how he found work in comics when he was 17 and while still a journalism student. In recalling some of the many characters he’d worked on over the years, Robinson had the crowd laughing as he explained how much he hated drawing Lassie, refining his style to a point where he would only draw the dog’s tail as he ran through a field, or muzzle as he entered a room. With some final observations on the state of the comics industry, Robinson said that he felt the industry is in good hands with today’s younger creators, and turned the ceremony back over to Baker.

The 2006 Harvey Award winners were:

Best Letterer: Chris Ware, <b>Acme Novelty Library #18</b>
Best Colorist: Laura Martin, <b>Astonishing X-Men</b>
Best Syndicated Strip of Panel: <i>Maakies</i> by Tony Millionaire
Best Inker: Charles Burns, <b>Black Hole #12</b>
Best Online Comics Work: American Elf by James Kochalka
Best American Edition of Foreign Material: <i>Buddha</i> published by Vertical Books
Best New Series: <b>Young Avengers</b>
Best Graphic Album – Previously Published: <b>Black Hole</b> published by Pantheon Books
Special Award for Humor in Comics: Kyle Baker, for <b>Plastic Man</b>
Best New Talent: (tie) R. Kikuo Johnson/<b>Night Fisher</b>; Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa/<b>Marvel Knights Fantastic Four</b>
Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistc Presentation: <i>The Comics Journal</i>
Best Anthology: <b>Solo</b>, DC Comics
Best Domestic Reprint Project: <b>Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays</b>
Best Cover Artist: James Jean, <b>Fables</b>
Special Award for Excellence in Presentation: <b>Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays</b>
Best Graphic Album – Original: <b>Tricked</b> by Alex Robinson
Best Continuing or Limited Series: <b>Runaways</b>, Marvel Comics
Best Cartoonist: Chris Ware
Best Writer: Ed Brubaker
Best Artist: JH Williams III
Best Single Issue of Story: <b>Love and Rockets, Volume 2 #15</b>

Additionally, Hero Initiative presented two Lifetime Achievement Awards at the ceremony, kicking off a new tradition for the organization. The awards were presented to George Perez (presented by Jim McLauchlin) and John Romita Sr. (presented by John Romita Jr.).

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[holtom2000]

yah winners! and go Perez!
and remember, these are all subjective. it's hard to say one piece of art or writing is better than another. beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder

[Lucky Luke]

GO SOLO!!! DAMN IT DC! KEEP THIS BOOK ALIVE!

Screw IC. Screw OYL. Screw Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and JLA.

Solo is what comics are all about.

[Excelsior!]

Perez, Romita and Young Avengers? That's what we like to see. :)

[Blind Assassin]

So glad to see such diverse winners (and nominees).

Congrats to all!

[Eiriken]

Grats to all the winners :)

[Hokeyboy]

GO SOLO!!! DAMN IT DC! KEEP THIS BOOK ALIVE!

Screw IC. Screw OYL. Screw Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and JLA.

Solo is what comics are all about.
As much as I loved Solo, the book didn't make any money. Unless you and me want to go in together and purchase 10,000 extra copies a month apiece. To why for? Groin :confused:

[skinnyboy23]

RUNAWAYS!!!!!!!!!!

Good job Harveys.

[Lucky Luke]

As much as I loved Solo, the book didn't make any money. Unless you and me want to go in together and purchase 10,000 extra copies a month apiece. To why for? Groin :confused:
I blame DC's marketing campaign. Pushing a 5 dollar book in the years of ID and IC was suicide.

[comicfanuk]

Yay!
Go Runaways, Young Avengers and Astonshing X-Men!

[The 'Nam]

I'm kinda surprised at some of these...

I seem to be the only one around here who doesn't like Young Avengers - despite how well it may be written, it's just a bad idea/concept to me.

And Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa?! Most fans and critics alike tend to not like him, but whatever.

Congrats to all.

[Hokeyboy]

I blame DC's marketing campaign. Pushing a 5 dollar book in the years of ID and IC was suicide.
I blame the people who didn't buy it.

Everyone blames "promotion" when a book fails. The truth of the matter is that in a crowded, dwindling marketplace, SOLO is the kind of niche book that your average dopey comic book buyer eschews like the plague.

[Lucky Luke]

I blame the people who didn't buy it.
Yeah, that too.

But in a market dominated by mostly mediocre written/drawn superhero comics that isn't surprising.

[Grimm22]

Cool, Brubkaer deserved the award.

[flamebird867]

Congrats to all the winners!

[Future Boy]

every, single issue of SOLO was awesome. EVERY ONE! DC is a tard. Why would they cancel a book THAT good?

[xdemon]

I blame the people who didn't buy it.

Everyone blames "promotion" when a book fails. The truth of the matter is that in a crowded, dwindling marketplace, SOLO is the kind of niche book that your average dopey comic book buyer eschews like the plague.

I bought the first couple of issues and scanned others in the store. I found the series uneven at best. It was always going to be a niche book with a limited audience.

[KyleCowstar]

Runaways and Fables deserve their honors.

[AllAboutMe]

every, single issue of SOLO was awesome. EVERY ONE! DC is a tard. Why would they cancel a book THAT good?

Sigh. It is all business. Nobody in in this to lose money. Solo was not making money.
Too high of a price tag, too many artists that the average reader could care less about (I still say the majority of comic fans follow a character rather than creator), quarterly schedule, and simply terrible package design.
Sad to see it go before we could get more quality guys to produce an ish. ( I mean, really, Daimon Scott?).

[nightwingoracle]

I enjoyed SOLO for the most part. The Darwyn Cooke and Mike Allred issues are classic books - every single story...every single panel...was amazing.

The rest of the books were uneven, but there was always something good in each one.

But I felt like they should have mixed in a few more mainstream names to help sales - issues by George Perez, Jim Lee, John Romita Sr., John Byrne mixed in with what they did might have helped sales.

Can't blame them for cancelling it - they've got to make money and it was an expensive book. But I appreciate the fact they did it and hope they continue to take some chances.

[tunabeard]

I blame the people who didn't buy it.

Everyone blames "promotion" when a book fails. The truth of the matter is that in a crowded, dwindling marketplace, SOLO is the kind of niche book that your average dopey comic book buyer eschews like the plague.


You'd have to give some consideration into that he may right in his assessment. You open a DC book and you'll see page after page of promotion to read one of DC's Big 3 (Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman) books, especially in their limited series books (check out Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy). But for a book like "Solo" there wasn't any promotion and especially if you publish a book that features any of your artists you have on staff I think you would want readers to view work that they are doing outside of mainstream books they are primarily on.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book myself and am sad to see it go.

[Nobody]

I follow creators, and I picked up the issues of Solo featuring the creators I liked, or at least heard of, in one instance. Sadly, the one I was looking forward to the most (until I found out Brendan McCarthy was doing one), was the worst one I read.

[nietoperz]

I'm glad that Solo and Plastic Man won awards: they really ought to have been appreciated by a wider audience.

[Kolimar]

So glad to see such diverse winners (and nominees).

Congrats to all!

What he said. :)

[Kolimar]

I'm glad that Solo and Plastic Man won awards: they really ought to have been appreciated by a wider audience.

Yep. <wwww>

[Nobody]

Plastic Man

That too...

[Kolimar]

I blame the people who didn't buy it.

Everyone blames "promotion" when a book fails. The truth of the matter is that in a crowded, dwindling marketplace, SOLO is the kind of niche book that your average dopey comic book buyer eschews like the plague.

I blame the promotion, the people that didn't buy it, the price, the market. Everything and everyone. :mad: :p :D ;)

Seriously, Solo needed more promotion. There's never enough promotion until every single possible buyer knows enough about the product. ;) Each issue was a special event, different from the previous one so they all needed special individual attention. A readjustment in price would have been nice but the right audience wouldn't mind a lot. It wasn't too bad.

I still think DC could absorb the loss (as long as it isn't humongous) and keep publishing Solo. I think the artistic value alone is worth it. And the awards aren't bad either. :)

[Kolimar]

I follow creators, and I picked up the issues of Solo featuring the creators I liked, or at least heard of, in one instance.

That was one of the disadvantages of the book when it came to healthy numbers. :(

[Ralph Mathieu]

I'd like to send out a huge congrats to JH Williams!! Finally he gets some props for the great artist he is.

[Kolimar]

But I felt like they should have mixed in a few more mainstream names to help sales - issues by George Perez, Jim Lee, John Romita Sr., John Byrne mixed in with what they did might have helped sales.

It could have gotten a little more attention but I'm not sure how much it would have helped the overall sales or if it would have kept them from cancelling it.

Other names mixed with the guys who got an issue:

Chiarello, whose already lined up Mike Allred, Brian Bolland, John Cassaday, Darwyn Cooke, Richard Corben, Dave Gibbons, Scott Hampton, Adam Hughes, J.G. Jones, Kevin Nowlan, Paul Pope, Tim Sale, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walter Simonson, Jill Thompson, Brian Stelfreeze, Bruce Timm, John Van Fleet, and Matt Wagner for "Solo."


http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=1704


But I appreciate the fact they did it and hope they continue to take some chances.

Ditto.

[EMeadow]

I blame the people who didn't buy it.

Everyone blames "promotion" when a book fails. The truth of the matter is that in a crowded, dwindling marketplace, SOLO is the kind of niche book that your average dopey comic book buyer eschews like the plague.

Don't forget the fact that the creators found out by doing the book, anything original they created would end up being owned by DC as work for hire.

That made quite a few people reluctant to contribute because they couldn't think of anything they wanted to just give to DC.

[Hobowatcher]

I follow creators, and I picked up the issues of Solo featuring the creators I liked, or at least heard of, in one instance. Sadly, the one I was looking forward to the most (until I found out Brendan McCarthy was doing one), was the worst one I read.
The whole point of the series was to introduce people to highly talented artists, both popular and unknown. I just thought DC gave the average comic book populace the benifit of the doubt that they might try something new, and we all know how that worked in the past.

[CitC]

and simply terrible package design. I always thought that DC should have offered fewer pages and made Solo a prestige format book. In Canada it cost around 8$ after taxes (where I am anyway) for a book I couldn't put on my shelf.

The Hero Initiative awards are beautiful.

[1603]

Here's to nominating Brian K. Vaughan for best writer next year-

He won for best series this year (Runaways), but his other series- Y and Ex, are incredible.

He'll still have both of those come this time next year, with the finale of Y coming so you know that will be fantastic, plus Pride of Baghdad is coming out which I'm sure will blow people away, and he'll even have a few more issues of Runaways fit into the timespan the awards cover, I should think.

Seriously, is this guy not the hottest writer out there? He did do some time on Ultimate X-men, which I didn't get to check out, but I think it's high time he gets another high profile book.

[beetle1million]

I can't think of a single part of these awards I have any objection to.

Does anyone know what section of Love and Rockets was responsible for the award? I've been enjoying Jaime's work much more than Beto's, these days. Gilbert's don't usually solidify to their full potential until assembled in graphic novel form, while Jaime's short bits are usually always awesome little gems even issue by issue.

[GNR4Life]

Young Avengers and Brubaker getting the love!

[jza1218]

It'd be awesome if DC brought Solo back for a Volume 2 if it wins enough awards

[beta-ray]

Congrats to all involved!

[Superfrick]

Okay! Out of all the winners, how many of them been chancelled put on hiatus or had drastic changes in their creative teams? I'm wondering how many post-mortems went out this year :p

[TheLizard207]

Congrats to Brubaker and Plastic man!

[TCJohnson]

GO SOLO!!! DAMN IT DC! KEEP THIS BOOK ALIVE!

Screw IC. Screw OYL. Screw Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and JLA.

Solo is what comics are all about.


The Sergio Aragones (sp?) Is probably one of my favorite comics of all time.

[Hobowatcher]

The Sergio Aragones (sp?) Is probably one of my favorite comics of all time.
The success of Jonah Hex will hopefully bring the triumphant return of Bat Lash to the DCU!

[Kish]

You guys read the Scott Kurtz reply to this whole thing, it's actually pretty funny (and sad)

http://www.pvponline.com/ -sorry it's on the main page, no story to link to yet.. title "Must be present to win".

[Kish]

Actually I can just re-post it here and save some of his bandwidth.

Must be present to win
Posted on Sunday, September 10, 2006

It's 2:30 am, Baltimore time. I just got back to the hotel room from the bar in the lobby where I spent a couple hours talking to a dear friend who also so happens to be the marketing director over at Image comics. Jim Demonakos not only helps promote my book at Image, he also runs one of my favorite shows, the Emerald City Comicon.

I'm a little drunk so bear with me.

The two shows I look forward to the most every year are ECCC and the Baltimore Comicon. They are well attended shows, in cities I love, with great fans and friendly people. The time spent with colleagues after hours is intimate and refreshing.

You spend most of the year working in a room alone and you never talk to anyone else. When you finally get someone in front of you who does what YOU do, it's time to vent and laugh and share. And these two shows act as release valves for me. They're validations that yes, I'm not throwing away my future continuing to believe in this stuff and push forward.

I love comics. I love comic strips. I love reading them and creating them. And I freaking LOVE talking shop. I adore that I get to do this for a living. I never take it for granted. It angers me to no end when I see people who DO take it for granted or get jaded or bitch about how Comics suck and the industry sucks and nobody cares anymore, etc. Blah blah blah.

Nobody is going to care because frankly, comics don't care. Not enough in some areas. Nobody is going to take comics seriously outside of our industry and community until WE start taking ourselves seriously.

Which brings me to Saturday's Harvey Awards ceremony.

Marc Nathan, The family of Harvey Kurtzman, the staff of the Baltimore Comicon, Steve, Brad, John, and countless others who aren't famous comic book creators all worked their asses off to make the Harvey's a big deal this year. I mean, they busted their humps making it a really special event.

The ballroom in the Marriot was beautiful. The cocktail hour ahead of the show was enjoyable. There was a three course meal served to us....a really classy event. All of the Baltimore and Harvey Awards staff got dressed up. It was very nicely done.

Out of all the people who won awards Saturday night, only 2 were in attendance to accept them and one of those was the master of ceremonies. So he kind of had to be there, I guess.

Nobody else bothered to show up to accept their award. Presenter after presenter handed Harvey Awards to either a collegue, business associate or sometimes even a staffer of the Baltimore Comicon. By the 10th award, it was a running gag. Nobody who won actually showed up to get their award. At one point, Howard Chaykin accepted for someone by sarcastically quipping "I'm sure he's thrilled."

After the show I found out that DC had a dinner for all of their staff and freelancers in attendance at the exact same time the awards were going on. DC Scheduled a dinner opposite the Harvey's. And they had books nominated.

My wife does not know who Harvey Kurtzman is. And after the show, she still had no idea. For a ceremony dedicated to his name, he was poorly represented. One person's acceptance speech was all about Will Eisner and there was one lady who out of the blue, told a really off-color joke. Which, I laughed at, because it was about female body parts...but what the hell? Where did that come from? Why did she decide that joke was appropriate for an awards ceremony?

We managed, however, to have a great time at our table. Myself, Angela, Frank Cho, Jim Demonakos, Erik Larsen, Brandon Peterson and Matt Brady (from Newsarama.com) had a blast. Everytime someone we wanted to win got robbed of the award, we would fake getting over-indignant and throw our napkins dramatically on the table and started knocking over empty glasses and flipping plates in rage. Upon my own loss, I scattered all of the sugar and artifical sweetener packets across the table. That'll show them. Larsen was hilarious as a presenter and during one catagory annouced "the non-LOSER issss...."

Frank and I were up for awards and we both lost all of the catgories we were nominated in. We mocked each other relentlessly upon each loss.

Despite having a great time, I felt a pretty bad afterwards. Because again, this is a pioneer we're paying respect to. We're supposed to be honoring the outstanding achievements in comics last year which have aspired to live up to the example set by Harvey Kurtzman. I met Harvey's daughter, Nelly, before the awards and she complimented me on the speech I gave at the Eisners. This evening was supposed to be about her dad. She was there that night looking at her Father's name up on the dias. And a lot of people just bailed on it. That's kind of f-ed up.

I think the people who put their blood, sweat and tears into these events should add some fine print to the bottom of their programs.

"Must be present to win."


p.s. Classiest moment of the night: John Romita Junior presenting a lifetime-achievement award to his dad. Romita senior said his greatest work was a collaboration with his wife and it was producing his family. It was heartfelt, genuine and really warming. We got to spend some time with the Romita family during lunch today and it was a real treat.