Filed under: Comic Strips

In the Category of Best Artist Frank Cho has been nominated (for his work on the Shanna, “The She-Devil” comic book – not “Liberty Meadows”).  In the Best cartoonist category we have John Kovalic with “Dork Tower”; in best Syndicated Strip of Panel we have Aaron McGruder for “The Boondocks” Keith Knight for “The K Chronicles,” Patrick McDonnell for “Mutts,” and lastly Stan Lee and Larry Leiber for “The Amazing Spider-Man.”The awards will be given out on September 9 during the Baltimore Comic-Con.

“Girls and Sports,” created by Andrew Feinstein and Justin Borus, are now available as greeting cards.  The cards are printed though Card Cafe and G&S fans can pick from birthday cards, holiday cards, special occasion cards and sports condolence cards.

His professionalism and love of the art form will add a new chapter to one of America’s classic continuity strips. I know that the strip’s loyal readers will appreciate Eduardo’s work as much as I do,” says Judge Parker writer Woody Wilson.

Mike Jantze who now maintains his comic strip “The Norm” online has posted a notice to subscribers that he’s running repeats for the next couple of weeks while he recoups from a back injury.  The Norm resumes on June 19.

Ohio State fans have also been speeding it along — much to the surprise of the creative team that’s been milking the same three jokes for 28 years.”The use of ‘wolverine’ in the Garfield comic strip was not in reference to the Michigan fans or the mascot,” says a comically sincere response to MSU zealot Bob Nelson of Lansing.Nelson already figured that out, “but it will be a long time,” he promises, “before the U-M Wolverines see the last of this particular cartoon.””Garfield” debuted in 1978 and appears in 2,600 newspapers worldwide, making it one of the most successful comic strips on Earth….  At which point Garfield thinks, “Loser.”Nelson, 55, oversees a club called SPAR10 PL8S and a Web site, www.CQQL.net/msu.htm, devoted to vanity license plates that praise the Green and White or pillory the Maize and Blue.He liked the juxtaposition of “wolverine” and “loser” so much that he dropped a thank-you note to Davis — who, for the record, went to Ball State.

On Brian Anderson’s web site, he alerting his fans that the Times-Union is voting whether to keep the “Dog Eat Doug” comic a part of their line up….  Fans can go to the link above and scroll down a bit and cast their vote.

The Post Dispatch has been trying out four new comics since January and they’ve declared that it now time to vote some comics off the island and choose a new permanent strip for their funny page.  The choices are: “Brevity,” “Lucky Cow,” “BrewsterRockit” and “Candorville.”They are also running a new feature in the place of Boondocks called “The Meaning of Lila.”

Cartoonist to Address Vegetarian Society:NEW YORK “Mutts” cartoonist Patrick McDonnell is scheduled to speak at the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii on June 5 (Maui) and June 7 (Oahu).The New Jersey-based McDonnell does his comic strip for King Features Syndicate.

‘FoxTrot’ Collection Is ‘Jam-Packed’:NEW YORK “Jam-Packed FoxTrot,” a 192-page collection of Bill Amend’s “FoxTrot” comic, will be released in August by Andrews McMeel Publishing.Universal Press Syndicate distributes “FoxTrot” to more than 1,000 newspapers.

Universal Offering New Manga Comic Next Month:NEW YORK “Van Von Hunter,” the latest Japanese-styled manga comic from Tokyopop and Universal Press Syndicate, will be distributed by Universal starting July 9.The strip is a fantasy-adventure parody that stars a vampire hunter….  Also, a series of “Van Von Hunter” graphic novels is being released by Tokyopop.Tokyopop and Universal previously released the “Peach Fuzz” manga comic, which focuses on the adventures of a girl and her precocious pet ferret.

According to E&P, the Cincinnati Enquirer will publish a special section of the paper next Tuesday on the anniversary of Jim Borgman’s arrival at their newspaper.The section will include cartoons by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Borgman, comments by people who have been the subject of his commentary, a Q&A, the results of the “Borgman Challenge” cartoon contest, and other content.Borgman told E&P that the section (which will coincidentally be published the day of his wedding anniversary) is a real honor. He added that the newspaper may be doing the special section partly to make up for the cancellation of a 25th-anniversary public event that had been scheduled for October 2001.

Wall Street estimates Wall Street trims “Hedge” box-office forecast | Reuters.com:LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – “Over the Hedge” managed a modest 30 percent box office decline in its second weekend, though some analysts are concerned that the animal cartoon still could underperform and put pressure on the stock of its producer, DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.The film earned $84 million in its first 11 days, after a $35.3 million performance over the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, but has just one more weekend to itself before arch-rival Walt Disney Co.  releases the Pixar-produced “Cars.””It now appears unlikely that ‘Over the Hedge’ will reach either our estimate of $195 million in domestic box office or original consensus expectations of $180 million,” Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen wrote in a research note Wednesday after others had raised concern last week.The analyst said DreamWorks Animation likely will earn less than 50 cents per share this year, which would be a significant earnings miss relative to her 57 cents per share forecast.The analyst said she is reining in her box office prediction to $150 million-$160 million domestically for “Hedge.”

McPherson continued to work by day and moonlight as a cartoonist until 1990, when he decided to take up creating his frumpy looking characters in absurd situations full-time.?Close to Home? has been compared to the satirical humor of Gary Larson?s ?The Far Side? and in many papers, actually replaced the panel when Larson retired in 1995….  I think it has been for most cartoonists,? says McPherson, ?But I?d rather not deal with all of the far-out nonsense; there is so much nonsense in real life to draw from.?After 5,000 comic panels, the ink well of ideas for some cartoonists might dry up, but not for McPherson.

“I’m pretty sure that hasn’t happened before.”When Glenn won, clad in a pink tuxedo with ruffles, his big brother Gary, wearing a blue tuxedo with ruffles, carried him on stage piggy-back style. Glenn said he would rather not win awards by snatching them away from his brother.Glenn’s previous Reubens include newspaper comic strip cartoonist of the year award for his syndicated cartoon, “The Duplex,” three greeting cards cartoonist of the year awards, two magazine cartoonist of the year awards, and an editorial cartoonist of the year award.Gary, who was nominated for the first time this year, joked that his brother only needed one more award to finish tiling his bathroom floor.Universal Press has also posted a press release regarding the McCoy wins.

The Great Lakes Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society has posted several photos taken by their members.  Lynn Johnston, has also posted two photos of herself with her husband in the Awards ceremony as well as another photo of her production team.