Harvey Winners

The comic industry's prestigious Harvey Awards were presented this past weekend and are presented below. The awards, named after comics legend and Mad creator Harvey Kurtzman, recognized some of the best stuff published in 2006, and are voted on by comics professionals. Not only are these selections outstanding, they're also in stock at Forbidden Planet today, baby!

Best Letterer: Stan Sakai. Usagi Yojimbo
Best Colorist: Lark Pien, American Born Chinese
Best Syndicated Strip: Keith Knight, The K Chronicles
Best Online Comic: Nicholas Gurewiich, Perry Bible Fellowship
Best Inker: Danny Miki, Eternals
Best Foreign Reprint: Tie: Abandon the Old in Tokyo, Moomin
Best New Series: The Spirit
Best Graphic Album (Previously Published): Absolute New Frontier
Special Award for Humor in Comics: Bryan Lee O'Malley
Best New Talent: Brian Fies, Mom's Cancer
Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation: Art Out of Time. Dan Nadel
Best Anthology: Flight Vol 3
Best Domestic Reprint: Complete Peanuts
Best Cover Artist: James Jean, Fables
Special Award for Excellence in Presentation: Lost Girls
Best Original Graphic Album: Pride Of Baghdad
Best Continuing or Limited Series: Daredevil
Best Writer: Ed Brubaker, Daredevil
Best Artist: Frank Quietly, All Star Superman
Best Cartoonist: Jaime Hernandez, Love & Rockets
Best Single Issue: Civil War #1

Releasing 9/12/07

Action Philosophers #9 - by Fred Van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey Final issue! ActPhilo goes out with a bang, cramming as many thinkers as they can into one 32-page comic, as voted on by the fans at AP.com! Marvel at "Six Degrees of Francis Bacon!" Reel from the attack of giant Confucius, a.k.a. "Master Kong," on the minds (and skyscrapers) of China! Also, Michel Foucault and Bil Keane team up for "The Foucault Circus!" And many, many more! We'll be very sad to see this incredibly fun comic walk off into the sunset, but some might argue that every ending is something else beginning.

Superman Death And Return Of Superman Omnibus HC - Love it or hate it, this monumental Superman storyline is collected in one massive 784-page hardcover volume featuring an all-new cover by pivotal creator Dan Jurgens, timed to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the event and the release of the Superman: Doomsday DVD. Includes the best-selling trade paperbacks The Death Of Superman and The Return Of Superman, as well as portions of World Without a Superman, plus all the goodies you've come to expect from DC's exhaustive Absolute editions -- 40 pages of bonus extras including promotional material, pre-production showcase and product spotlights.

Hellboy Vol 7 The Troll Witch & Others TP - Older favorites originally published in various scattered sources are collected here for the first time in the seventh volume of the Hellboy saga. Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Others collects short stories from The Dark Horse Book of the Dead, Witchcraft, Hauntings, and Monsters, the 2004 Hellboy: Wizard 1/2, as well as the 2006 miniseries Hellboy: Makoma by Mignola and comics legend Richard Corben, and a previously unpublished Hellboy story by P. Craig Russell and Mike, along with sketches and story notes.

Nightly News Vol 1 TP - Collecting the Weekly Planet-acclaimed miniseries by promising newcomer Jonathan Hickman. As an act of violence spirals out of control to encompass the entirety of the news media, a cult has emerged, seeking attrition for the irresponsibility, errors and retractions (or lack thereof) that have ruined careers, marriages and even lives. Under direction from his cult master, The Hand leads an army of followers willing to die for their cause and committed to revolution. Sleazy Hollywood pitchline? It's Michael Moore meets Fight Club. Whatever. It's terrific.

Drafted #1 - Nifty alien invasion comic.

Also: Speaking of award winners... I'm on a big SF kick recently, rediscovering classics I haven't read in years and jumping head first into the pool of writers and works I've mistakenly neglected. Hence I've decided to share this with our Weekly Planet readers, hoping you guys get hip to some of the best SF novels ever imagined. This feature may also be a great introduction for newbies.

For the foreseeable future I'll highlight a Hugo Award nominated or winning novel worthy of your time and dough. The Hugo Award was named in honor of Hugo Gernsback, "The Father of Magazine Science Fiction," as he was described in a special award given to him in 1960. The Hugo Award, also known as the Science Fiction Achievement Award, is given annually by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). The distinguishing characteristics of the Hugo Award are that it is sponsored by WSFS, administered by the committee of the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) held that year, and determined by nominations from and a popular vote of the membership of WSFS. Consider this a book club if ya wanna, just pick some of these up!

This week's Hugo book and featured Science Fiction recommendation?

The Man in the High Castle - by Philip K. Dick. It's America in 1962 where slavery is legal and the few surviving Jews hide anxiously under assumed names all because some twenty years earlier, America lost a war and is now occupied jointly by Nazi Germany and Japan. This harrowing, Hugo Award-winning novel set in a parallel universe is the work that established Dick as a legendary science fiction author.

"Stickin feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken."
Love,
JEFFY