2004 EISNER NOMINEES NAMED
Organizers of the annual Comic-Con International in San Diego, California have announced nominations for the 2004 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. Nominees selected by a panel of judges include Chester Brown, Philippe Dupuy & Charles Berberian, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Tony Millionaire, Carlos Nine, Joe Sacco, Joann Sfar, Marjane Satrapi, Lemony Snicket & Richard Sala, Art Spiegelman & Françoise Mouly, Chris Ware, and others. Awards will be voted upon by industry professionals, with winners to be announced at the convention on July 23. Otto Binder and John Stanley have been named to the award's Hall of Fame. Four more individuals will be elected for induction from a list including Bill Blackbeard, Al Capp, Jules Feiffer, Floyd Gottfredson, Gilbert Shelton, and others. A complete list of nominees is available on the convention website.
INFO: Comic-Con International
posted by Egon on Thursday, April 08, 2004

SUPREME COURT SKIPS SKIPPY SUIT
The Supreme Court declined to hear the lawsuit brought by Joan Crosby Tibbetts, daughter of "Skippy" cartoonist Percy Crosby, against the Unilever corporation, producer of "Skippy" brand peanut butter, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. "Tibbetts' crusade began in 1965 when the state of New York tasked her with administering her father Percy Crosby's estate," Matthew Barakat writes. "Crosby died in December 1964, after spending the last 18 years of his life in a mental hospital, his cartoon character by then largely forgotten. Settling the estate was not an easy task. Her father had once been one of the nation's most popular cartoonists... Her research led her to the conclusion that the trademark for Skippy peanut butter had been improperly obtained by the Rosefield Packing Co." Tibbetts maintains a website with further information about her father, his strip, and her lawsuit. "And now that her civil claim has been denied, she plans to petition the Justice Department for a criminal case."
INFO: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
INFO: Skippy.com
posted by Egon on Thursday, April 08, 2004

KATCHOR IN METROPOLIS
The April 2004 issue of Metropolis Magazine includes a full-color, one-page strip by Ben Katchor. "The Deep Tub" is available on the magazine's website.
INFO: Metropolis Magazine
posted by Egon on Thursday, April 08, 2004

WARE IN NEST
Nest Magazine #24 includes a two-page installment of Chris Ware's "Building," a full-color serial appearing regularly in the interior design-themed quarterly.
INFO: Nest Magazine
posted by Egon on Thursday, April 08, 2004

THE NATION THAT CONTROLS ALUMINIUM
French publishing collective La Boîte d'Aluminium solicits international contributions to a planned 2005 anthology. "Avoiding pre-formatted French comics albums, the collective will present a subtle ambiance of the old pulp comics and, as we say in France, 'romans de gare' (literally: rail station novels) which means stories for travellers, to be read on rail platforms or on trains," reads a press release on the publisher's message board. "The 'object' will follow this idea: in a pocket paperback format as we can find in literature books: thin paper... etc. in the purpose to be taken by the reader, in his pocket, in trains... The stories should follow the idea too, even if there's no concrete theme. We want to publish, in this collective, confirmed or new authors with different graphics universes that will be able to share with the traveller-reader their universes." Further specifications can be found in the full release; submissions are due by June 30.
INFO: La Boîte d'Aluminium: Message Board
LINK: La Boîte d'Aluminium
posted by Egon on Thursday, April 08, 2004