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Small Press Expo Announces the Ignatz Award Nominees for SPX 2011

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Official Press Release

Small Press Expo Announces the Ignatz Award Nominees for SPX 2011

Bethesda, Maryland; August 18, 2011 – The Small Press Expo (SPX), the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, is pleased to announce nominees for the fifteenth annual presentation of the Ignatz Awards, a celebration of outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning.

The Ignatz, named after George Herriman’s brick-wielding mouse from his long running comic strip Krazy Kat, recognizes exceptional work that challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression. The Ignatz Awards are a festival prize, the first of such in the United States comic book industry.

The nominees for the ballot were determined by a panel of five of the best of today’s comic artists, Rina Ayuyang, Mike Dawson, Kris Dresen, Theo Ellsworth, and John Porcellino, with the votes cast for the awards by the attendees during SPX. The Ignatz Awards will be presented at the gala Ignatz Awards ceremony held on Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 9:00 PM.

Additional information on the nominees and previews (as available) can be found at http://www.spxpo.com/ignatz-awards.

SPX will be held Saturday, September 10 from 11AM to 7PM and Sunday, September 11, noon-6PM at The North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center  in Bethesda, Maryland. Admission is $10 for a single day and $15 for both days.

For further information on the Ignatz Awards, the nominees or to request an interview, please contact Warren Bernard at warren@spxpo.com.

For more information on the Small Press Expo, please visit http://www.spxpo.com.

Outstanding Artist
Michael DeForge, Lose #3 (Koyama Press)
Edie Fake, Gaylord Phoenix (Secret Acres)
Renee French, H-Day (Picturebox)
Joseph Lambert, I Will Bite You (Secret Acres)
Carol Tyler, You’ll Never Know, Vol 2: Collateral Damage (Fantagraphics)

Outstanding Anthology or Collection
Black Eye, edited by Ryan Standfest (Rotland Press)
Gay Genius, edited by Annie Murphy (Sparkplug)
I Will Bite You, Joseph Lambert (Secret Acres)
Make Me a Woman, Vanessa Davis (Drawn & Quarterly)
Three #1, edited by Robert Kirby (Rob Kirby Comics)

Outstanding Graphic Novel
Gaylord Phoenix, Edie Fake (Secret Acres)
The Heavy Hand, Chris Cilla (Sparkplug)
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch (Amulet Books)
Special Exits, Joyce Farmer (Fantagraphics)
You’ll Never Know, Vol 2: Collateral Damage, Carol Tyler (Fantagraphics)

Outstanding Story
“Blood of the Virgin,” Crickets #3, Sammy Harkham (self-published)
“Browntown,” Love and Rockets: New Stories No. 3, Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
“LINT,” Acme Novelty Library #20, Chris Ware (Drawn & Quarterly)
“The most gripping mind-exploding triumphantly electric of our time,” Papercutter #15, Jonas Madden-Conner (Tugboat Press)
“Weekends Abroad,” Three #1, Eric Orner (Rob Kirby Comics)

Promising New Talent
Darryl Ayo Brathwaite, House of Twelve Monthly #3 (Comixology)
Tony Breed, Finn and Charlie are Hitched (www.hitchedcomic.com)
Jesse Jacobs, Even the Giants (AdHouse)
Jon McNaught, Birchfield Close (Nobrow)
Jesse Moynihan, Forming (Nobrow)

Outstanding Series
Crickets, Sammy Harkham
Dungeon Quest, Joe Daly (Fantagraphics)
Everything Dies, Box Brown (self-published)
Lose, Michael DeForge (Koyama Books)
Reich, Elijah Brubaker (Sparkplug Comic Books)

Outstanding Comic
Crickets #3, Sammy Harkham (self-published)
Danger Country #1, Levon Jihanian (self-published)
Habitat #2, Dunja Jankovic (Sparkplug Comic Books)
Lose #3, Michael DeForge (Koyama Press)
The Magic Hedge, Marian Runk (self-published)

Outstanding Mini-Comic
Ben Died of a Train, Box Brown (self-published)
Danger Country #1, Levon Jihanian (self-published)
Gaylord Phoenix #5, Edie Fake (self-published)
Morning Song, Laura Terry (self-published)
Trans-Utopia, Tom Kaczynski (Uncivilized Books)

Outstanding Online Comic
Alphabet Horror, Nate Marsh: www.alphabethorror.com
A Cartoonist’s Diary, Pascal Girard: www.tcj.com/author/pascal-girard/
Finn and Charlie are Hitched,Tony Breed: www.hitchedcomic.com
Hark! A Vagrant, Kate Beaton: www.harkavagrant.com
Lucky, Gabrielle Bell: www.gabriellebell.com

CBLDFNews Molly Crabapple Donates Massive Mural! Update to Canadian Seizure Crisis & More!

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Official Press Release

CBLDF Auctions Massive Molly Crabapple Original

Molly Crabapple wanted to make a huge statement about her support for Free Speech. With attacks on comics on the rise and border searches increasing, Crabapple saw a need to do her part. So, she created a monstrous masterpiece to benefit CBLDF a masterpiece that you can bid on!

Created during the Stumptown Comics Festival and measuring in at 8 feet high and 7 feet wide, every inch of the piece is covered with Crabapple’s intricate pen work. A true participatory performance piece, it incorporates suggestions from convention attendees, from tentacles to bottles of scotch. As staggering as the dimensions of piece are, it is all the more stunning for the amount of detail Crabapple incorporated into it.

“I love the energy of creating something massive surrounded by a crowd,” says Crabapple, “and to feed off that energy and draw something that I love. It was an honor to make an art monster for CBLDF.”

CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein adds, “As the founder of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, Molly has been an adamant supporter of Free Speech and CBLDF. She’s an established name in the fine art world and a rising star in comics. It’s a privilege to have her support for CBLDF, and the piece she created is nothing short of spectacular.”

The auction for this artistic tour de force is live now. Bids can be placed online here.

Tom Neely & Dylan Williams Speak Out On Their Customs Seizure Experience

Artist Tom Neely and publisher Dylan Williams were stopped and searched by Canada Customs on their way to the Toronto Comics Art Festival. Customs officers seized copies of two items they were bringing to the festival, Black Eye, an anthology of comics Neely contributed to, and Young Lions, a graphic novel by Blaise Larmee. The CBLDF caught up with Neely & Williams over email when they returned to the United States to learn more details about their ordeal. Full Story

Larry Marder’s CBLDF Liberty Cards Diary #1

CBLDF President Larry Marder begins a series of blogs taking you behind the scenes of the CBLDF Liberty Trading Cards with a first hand diary of his experiences putting the set together! Today he shows off how the set’s sketch cards came to be, and takes you with him as he visits Rob Liefeld & Scott McCloud to get them embellishing the cards!  These diaries will appear every Tuesday and Thursday in May!

Plus, have you been keeping up on our volunteer & supporter profile series The Good Fighters?  Here are some terrific interviews you may have missed:

The Good Fighters: Jeffrey Brown

The Good Fighters: Darick Robertson

The Good Fighters: Terry Moore

Comics Seized at US/Canadian Border

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The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund warned about it, but The Comics Journal is reporting that Rotland Press + Comic Work”s Black Eye anthology was confiscated at the US/Canadian border.  Tom Neely was traveling to TCAF this weekend and when he crossed the border the copies of Black Eye he had were grabbed due to the fact they’re “obscene” by customs.

According to Neely:

… They took ‘em. I tried to get them to just ship them back to me at home, but they said they were required to send it to Ottawa for review… if they found the material to be ‘obscene’ they would take ‘further action.’ I asked what ‘further action’ meant and he said they would just destroy them. Or there is a chance they might ship them back to me.

It was the page of Onsmith’s gags that they first saw… I tried to tell them that it was ‘parody’ and ‘humor’ and the rest of the book had essays on the history of dark humor… the customs guy was really cool and understanding, but he said he just couldn’t let them through. I just hope ‘further action’ doesn’t involve being arrested the next time I try to cross the border.

This news absolutely makes me think twice about crossing the border to events such as Fan Expo.