Yotsuba&! vol. 6 & 7
Written & Illustrated by Kiyohiko Azuma
Translation by Amy Forsyth
Lettered by Terri Delgado
Published by Yen Press

Oh, Yotsuba, it’s a treat to have you back. Life is poorer when you’re without a publisher.

When the series’ original English publisher discontinued Yotsuba&! in 2007, many readers were (including Caleb and I) were left devastated. What other comic offers anything approximating Yotsuba&!? Strips such as Dennis the Menace have explored similar territory, those gosh-darn kids and their crazy antics, but Dennis only touched Yotsuba&!’s hilarity during Hank Ketchum’s best days, and frankly never offered the witty, believable supporting cast or the innocently inquisitive scenarios that Kiyohiko Azuma has dreamed up for his heroine. And Calvin & Hobbes was more concerned with its lead’s inner world; Yotsuba’s presence on her family and friends is more pronounced.

Thankfully, Yen Press has stepped into the breach and begun translating new (and old, if you missed them the first time around) tales of Yotsuba. The move of publishers goes off almost flawlessly; Yen manages to explain the small handful of cultural jokes clearly in margin notes without unduly slowing down the pace of Azuma’s narrative. The characters’ voices remain consistent with the earlier translations, so readers won’t be jarred. The only bizarre change is that Yen’s translators have Yotsuba referring to herself in the third person; without knowing the Japanese, it’s hard to call this a “wrong” choice, but it’s a decision that often makes Yotsuba appear unintelligent. Although Yotsuba is easily described as innocent, gullible and utterly naïve, Azuma never portrays her as stupid.

The series follows five-year-old Yotsuba and her adopted father Koiwai, who live in a small Japanese town, where the precocious and inquisitive Yotsuba explores life for the first time. Many experiences should be within the worldview of even a five-year-old, but Yotsuba treats every single day with wonder and awe. In the sixth and seventh volumes, she attempts to recycle unwanted household items into useful products, gets her first bicycle, decides to deliver milk to her neighbor at the nearby school, and visits a working ranch.  Where she punches a sheep and makes her family applaud a cow.

Uncovering each new discovery with wide-eyed wonder, Yotsuba invites readers into a world of exciting novelty, where experiences astound, and friends and family offer good-natured teasing and similar astonishment at Yotsuba’s enthusiasm and energy. Azuma puts Yotsuba through emotional rollercoasters that only add to the cuteness and hilarity. The expressive exaggeration in Yotsuba’s regret and culpability when she “breaks” a bicycle in the bike shop (She pulls the seat out of the frame.) achieves the rare double play of tugging the reader’s heartstrings while producing out-loud laughter.

The supporting cast, Yotsuba’s slacker dad, family friends Jumbo and Yanda, and the family next door, don’t display tremendous range as characters, but each offers a new perspective designed to elicit a reaction from Yotsuba. The entire cast is grounded to recognize Yotsuba’s outlandish behavior, but then many of them encourage in their own ways. While they teach her about the world, Yotsuba often inspires ludicrous fun in her family.

Azuma’s open, emotive artwork perfectly captures Yotsuba’s vigorous awe, full of simply drawn, expressive exaggeration.  Each character is immediately recognizable and creatively designed to offer a range of befuddlement and bemusement at Yotsuba’s antics.

It’s just a crazy fun, cute, utterly wonderful series. Man, I’m really glad Yotsuba&!’s back!

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Now here is a bloody nice concept.

Lionsgate has put out the final domestic redband trailer for Kick-Ass, based on the popular comic series by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. Of course, you can watch just any trailer, but in lieu of the movie’s ultra-violent attitude, you can just blow this one up. Or shoot it, stomp it, kick it, cut it, beat it. Whatever your fancy may be.

If you want to, that is.

There are actually two ways to watch this: one being in Kick-Ass mode and other, well, not so violent. Just turn Kick-Ass mode off and enjoy the ride. (more…)

An extreme hat tip to Heidi for discovering the latest Twitter-spoofer to his the Interwebz, an enterprising writer named NOT_Mark_Millar.

Taking a cue from the Ultimates writer, whose top-of-the-world swagger has made him akin to the mythical Brian Boitano of the industry, take a look at some of these beauts:

- If Kick-Ass does not out-gross Avatar I will eat my shirt and you can punch me in the throat when you see me at conventions.

- A genuine make-you-shit-your-pants A-List artist and I are doing a creator-owned book through Icon or Image that will be out later this year

- Had tea with the Queen today. Said she like my books and will knight me sometime this year.

Want to get inside the head of the writer of Scalped and Wolverine: Weapon X? Jason Aaron has some amusing yet insightful comments about his process, including:

– I always aspire to have something memorable on every page, whether a line of dialogue or an action or what. I certainly don’t always achieve that, but I try.

– I try not to dictate camera angles or set up shots. I always figure that’s best left to the artist.

And my personal favorite:

– I write people throwing up a lot. I write sour looks and stern stares a lot. I use “fuck” a lot. Just making note of all that.

In retrospect, that last one does seem to pop up a lot. If you want to get inside Aaron’s head a little bit more, give his blog a click right here.

Sometimes subtext can be as dangerous to a crusading superhero as death rays and ultra-powered lunatics. In comics, everything from coloring and inking to the juxtaposition of panels can send out subtle messages, messages that sometimes slip right past comic creators themselves.

case in point: This week’s issue of Amazing Spider-Man, the latest episode in the ongoing “Gauntlet” storyline. ASM #621 pits Spidey against Yin-and-Yang powered Chinatown crime-boss Mr. Negative. Mr. Negative, an ex “snakehead” turned crime kingpin may be a more nuanced ethnic Chinese villain than the repulsive “yellow-peril” villains that have plagued comics all the way back to the very origins of the super-hero genre, but Negative’s modus operandi, which combines super-science with Chinese martial-arts mysticism, still leans heavily on cultural fears of the other and western stereotypes of eastern exoticism.  Mr. Negative has never been portrayed on the same level as overtly racist creations like The Yellow Claw or The Mandarin, but a sequence of panels in the latest issue of ASM leaves room for some pretty xenophobic interpretations of the rivalry between Spidey and this fan-fave, post “Brand New Day” villain:

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Could Joss Whedon and Morgan Spurlock be about to rock out with their Spock out? It could be true!

E! has reported that this dream may become a reality, as apparently Whedon and company are looking for a group of super-fans to follow around the San Diego Comic-Con for an upcoming documentary.

“They want to follow people for about three months leading up to this year’s Comic-Con,” the source said. “And then they want to film them there. They’re looking at all types of people.”

This is my personal opinion, folks. So flame away, but don’t blame Newsarama.

I’m a big fan of Geoff Johns, and seeing him succeed warms the cockles of my heart–except for one little thing.

The promotion of Geoff Johns to Chief Creative Officer for DC Entertainment, if I’m not misreading things, gives him a position of authority over those lowly editors and possibly even publishers at DC Comics, a department of DCE. That’s worrying for those of us who think that giving one writer too much creative control (especially one that’s writing several books a month) can lead to sloppy and lackluster writing. While Johns, far and away the DC Universe’s best writer at the moment by most objective ratings, has never been accused of THAT, he’s certainly had his share of detractors pointing out problems with the pacing of some of his stories, his tendency to use death as a cheap storytelling tool and of course his (and DC’s in general) seeming desire to roll the clock back to the Silver Age. In DiDio, he’s found a kindred spirit–someone who wouldn’t tell him no, because the two appear to see comics in very much the same way. I worry, though, that what Diane Nelson has done in creating this particular structure is to grandfather that in–to create an editorial structure which has no authority to challenge Johns, rather than the one we had before, which lacked only the will.

That concern, though, is nothing next to the enthusiasm I have for another element of Johns’ hiring: it seems to me that if he’s got a position at DC Entertainment, and is therefore likely to have stock options and a general economic interest in making every property viable, maybe his enthusiasm for properties like Booster Gold and Hawkman can be appropriated by the company to create best-selling and character-saving stories for Aquaman, Hawkman and other characters who have been abused, neglected or just badly written over the years. Even more, it would be nice to see a superstar-level writer like Johns take on properties that NOBODY cares about, like Sun Devils or H-E-R-O, and make them something that TV and movie studios might take a second look at. And I think he can do it.

The odd man out here, of course, is Jim Lee; his experience as Wildstorm’s publisher during a very crazy time for that publisher, and then the business savvy that he demonstrated in bringing his successful publisher to DC and selling it at the same time many of his Image partners were losing money by the bagful, tells me that he’s well-suited to help DiDio acclimate to the new role; at the same time, I hope that once the pair have their feet under them, DiDio can handle most of the day-to-day so that Lee can continue to be a creative contributor to DC.

And DiDio’s Outsiders? Well…if sacrifices MUST be made…!

Eduardo Barreto, the longtime Marvel and DC Comics artist who took over art chores on the long-running strip Judge Parker in 2006, has left the strip for health reasons, The Washington Post reports. Strip writer Woody Wilson (who also writes Rex Morgan, MD) says that Barreto, who has meningitis, has said that he won’t be able to draw for the foreseeable future. John Heebink, who has filled in for Barreto in the past, is the temporary replacement, but King Features tells the Post that they are looking for someone to take over the strip permanently.

So there I was, minding my own business, when I saw this up on the Facebook page of one James Zahn:

What stood out to me wasn’t just that there was a new cover to Death Walks the Streets, or that it was slated to come out by late fall/early summer of this year… but that the Scream Factory logo was on it.

So I asked Newsarama’s own Troy Brownfield (who was also Associate Editor of The Scream Factory) if he knew anything about it – all he did was laugh maniacally and say that an announcement was pending.  He then excused himself, muttering that he had to do something involving PR, Bump, and digital delivery. Curious…

With all the hubbub about Marvel’s upcoming Avengers slate, could Runaways be closer on the horizon?

According to All Things Fangirl, it very well could be. They’ve reported that in the program a new L.A. production of the play How I Learned to Drive, Weeds actress Allie Grant has written that she will be in “the upcoming Marvel Studios film, Runaways.” What’s more, the bio says she’ll be alongside Michael Shannon.

Now, Latino Review has noted that Shannon is in ANOTHER film called “The Runaways,” which is up on Sundance, but Grant does not appear in that film. Additionally, the Marvel Studios thing seems like kind of a tip-off — would she put that in if it wasn’t confirmed? Only if her agent messed up royally, I guess. What do you think? Could Allie be this movie’s raptor-wielding Gert? Sound off!

My immediate reaction to DC’s announcement of their new publisher(s): This may simply be a matter of the two sharing the role being such known quantities (coupled with my rather complete ignorance of exactly who does what within the company that makes so many of the comics I read), but it seems to me that the announcement of Paul Levitz leaving was much bigger news than this announcement of who would be replacing him.  (Confidential to Geoff Johns: Wanna read my pitch for The Haunted Batmobile, the story of the ghost of J.E.B. Stuart haunting the Batmobile and advising Batman on military strategy? Or how about this…

…? There’s just so much dramatic potential there, and the legions of Red Bee and Roy Harper fans are a seriously un-tapped potential market for DC!)

Seriously though, the co-publishers seem like fairly safe bets, and while certain to enrage some fans, it’s worth noting that at least they’re people from comics rather than newcomers to the field, a move which would have brought with it a lot more anxiety for a lot more fans and members of the industry, I think.

Please keep Graham Annable in mind, Whoever Eventually Gets the License To Do Lost Comics: I’ve never even actually seen a complete episode of Lost, and I enjoyed the hell out of this set of images. Perhaps you will too. (Via Comics Reporter)

So how’s the Objet d’Afro project coming along?: See for yourself

“It was nice every once in a while to see a character that was not a white, Anglo-Saxon type of character and marvel knew that I was out there”: That’s artist Dennis Calero being interviewed about Manhattan gallery exhibit “Marvelous Cover,” which focuses on black Marvel superheroes Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, The Falcon, War Machhine and Blade. You can read an article, see a few examples of the art and watch a brief TV news report of the exhibit here, and website marvelouscolor.com has much more info.

“How archaeologist and reincarnated Egyptian prince Carter Hall acquired what was evidently a living creature resembling a giant, tentacled hawk’s head was never addressed”: Of all of Hawkman’s crazy helmets throughout the years, the one that Johnathan of Living Between Wednesdays writes about is probably the best because a) it sort of looks like he just beheaded a giant bird and is wearing its severed head on top of his own and b) depending on dialogue bubble placement, sometimes it looks like the helmet is talking rather than Hawkman, a fact that the post gets some humorous mileage out of.

“Love the character first and worry about his sexuality second. It’s like when someone who is anti-gay finds out someone they know and love is gay, their perspectives tend to change”: That’s our own Brian Andersen, being interviewed for one of Chicago Now’s blogs about superheroes, comics, gayness and his own gay superhero comic.

“In the end House Of M was a comic about characters trying to change the world so they could reclaim their branding”: Tom Spurgeon is like five crossovers behind.

I like the sound of “Marvel Goddamn Comics” much better than “Marvel Entertainment”: Check out Ryan Dunlavey’s cover of G.I. Joe #1’s cover. Then email IDW and start requesting Dunlavey-drawn G.I. Joe comics.

Want to see an battle of epic proportions? Try pitting the Michelin Man versus Ronald McDonald!

If this sort of thing sounds right up your alley, then you’re going to looooove Logorama, an Oscar-nominated short by the French animation collective H5. The premise? Basically a town comprised of every corporate logo you can think of. It’s funny and foul-mouthed, especially around 1:15.

IDW Publishing is following up their unlikely Ghostbusters Christmas special with an even more unlikely Ghostbusters holiday special—Ghostbusters: Tainted Love, a one-shot pitting the perennially popular specter exterminators agains a lovelorn ghost on Valentine’s Day.

Curious to find out how a holiday devoted to romance and a comedy/adventure/horror franchise fit together, and how one might go about writing characters brought to particular life by very particular actors, I checked in with my fellow Ohioan Dara Naraghi. He’s the writer responsible for the special, working with artist Salgood Sam to deliver a valentine to Ghostbusters fans.

Blog@Newsarama: First, let’s run through your Ghostbusters experience. What was your first encounter with the characters, and did you follow them from movies to cartoons to comics when you were growing up?

Dara Naraghi: Well, since I’m in my—ahem—late thirties, my first experience was seeing the original movie in the theaters when it was released (Can you believe over 25 years ago?!). I really liked the irreverent humor in it; that it didn’t take itself too seriously, and was just trying to be fun and original and entertaining. I wouldn’t say I was an avid fan of the cartoon series, but I’ve probably seen more than half the episodes and enjoyed them as well. But to be honest, I never really followed the comics, though I’ve been reading the IDW series to make sure I don’t accidentally tread any ground that’s already been covered.

Blog@: Why do you think the characters remain popular enough that in 2010 there are still comics being published featuring them?

DN: It all goes back to the entertainment factor, I think. These characters are interesting, quirky, funny and charming. They have distinct personalities, so we enjoy watching them deal with these bizarre—and one might even say silly—situations in their own unique ways. There are qualities in each that we can relate to, whether it’s Peter Venkman’s smart-ass attitude, or Ray Stantz’s unabashed geeky devotion to his profession or whatever.

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(Click the image above for a larger version of the strip.)

WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 31: “The Third Mrs. Belmont”

I’ve been remiss in my blogging duties here at Blog@Newsarama, but thanks for tuning in.  I always try to add a bit of personal or process insight into the strips that I post here that I may not have mentioned when I first ran them at my own site.

I created two versions of the dialogue for this particular episode.  One without the French dialogue and the other with it.  My fiancee has a longtime college friend named Marye Dahlman.  She and her husband, Carl, are wonderful friends and were early supporters of the strip.  Marye is remarkably fluent in French and even teaches it at the college level.

On a wild hair, I thought it might be interesting to show some of Pastor’s depth, so I thought it might be fun to have him be equally fluent in French.  (Besides, it would allow me to introduce an important element about Pastor’s past in the next episode.)  At the last minute, I asked Marye if she would be willing to translate some of the dialogue, and she happily obliged.  I loved how Mrs. Belmont’s icy reserve melts as soon as Pastor displays his linguistic skills, and realizes he’s a lot more than what he appears to be.  I would make a joke about Pastor being a “cunning linguist,” but we’ll see some of that soon enough.

Also, for some reason, this is one of my favorite episode titles.  There’s something decidedly blue-blood and patrician about the title, “The Third Mrs. Belmont,” and for Pastor to step into this upper crust world and still be in total control was really fun.

New strips of WORLD OF HURT – The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic are posted every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.

- JEP

The Sandman
Written & Illustrated by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
(with additional at by Jack Burnley and Mike Royer)
Scanning and Restoration by Digikore & Rick Keene
Published by DC

Not too many properties associated with Jack Kirby whose names immediately make you think of something else. Heck, I think of Kirby when I hear Jimmy Olsen’s name. But, believe it or not, the Sandman wasn’t always synonymous with Neil Gaiman. The original incarnation came out of a pulp tradition, socialite Wesley Dodds wearing a trenchcoat and a gasmask, and blasting villains with a truth- and sleep-inducing gas gun. Within a few years, he’d transitioned to a fairly bland yellow and purple costume, taken on a teenage sidekick, and become a junior-grade Batman. And sales fell. Fortunately for Mr. Dodds, Simon and Kirby jumped ship from Timely and got the gig of revitalizing the flagging character and the sales-slumping magazine in which Sandman appeared, Adventure Comics.

Of course, the mag and the stories took off. DC’s recent hardcover collection of those nearly sixty-year-old stories presents readers a chance to rediscover these works from the formative cartooning years of two masterful creators.

Now the question is, do readers really want to experience these early tales? For comics historians and for Jack Kirby (or Joe Simon) fans, absolutely. For other readers, probably not so much.

On a story level, Simon and Kirby’s Sandman is thin. To be fair, most comics during the mid-1940s were far below thin, and Simon and Kirby’s scripts at least make coherent sense, a minor victory. But Will Eisner was doing more with fewer pages in The Spirit, and plenty of the classic strip artists created more sophisticated scripts in four-panel chunks, so Simon and Kirby can’t get a full pass. Basically every one of the classic stories revolves around gangsters with a robbery plot, frequently with a dream or sleep theme. Sandy, the Golden Boy (man, what a terrible name!), often fulfills the classic sidekick role by being knocked unconscious, distracting Sandman so that he too may be temporarily defeated and locked into some convoluted deathtrap.

Kirby’s art is recognizable if you’re only familiar with his classic Marvel output or his 70s work, yet without many of the stylized excesses that later came to mark his pages. The angular, explosive layouts and the dramatic figures remain as strong as always, and in the early stories, readers can really see how powerful and detailed illustrator Kirby and Simon are truly capable of being.

After their Sandman run, Simon and Kirby went on to pioneer romance comics and create kid gangs and other adventure stories. During the 50s, they parted ways, but reunited briefly in 1974 for an all-new Sandman #1. This one, about a super-powered protector of dreams, lacks story cohesion, but introduces a few concepts and characters that undoubtedly influenced Neil Gaiman’s later incarnation. Kirby’s art is in top 70s form.

The reproduction could be better, frankly. Not knowing what condition of source material DC had, it’s possible DC did the best they could, but several pages look faded and blurred. The picture quality is far below that of the contemporary Spirit Archives or Plastic Man Archives, both from DC’s Collections department. I’ve long been a fan of the pulpy paper stock of the Kirby Omnibuses, though I wouldn’t mind a slightly sturdier version of the flat, pseudo-newsprint.

The Sandman by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby is a valuable peek into the creative development of two of comics’ most important and influential creators. Readers who are familiar with other 40s comic stories will appreciate the dynamics of Kirby’s artwork and the relentless plotting; readers unfamiliar with Golden Age storytelling will find the book a burden of predictable plots, typical hero/sidekick banter, deathtraps, and forgettable sagas of simplistic morality.

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2 & 3
Written by Stan Lee
Plotted and Illustrated by Steve Ditko
Lettered by Sam Rosen & Art Simek
Color Reconstructed by Michael Kelleher & Kellustration
Published by Marvel

For the longest time, I’ve told myself that reading a run of Marvel Masterworks – specifically of Lee/Ditko Amazing Spider-Man and/or Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four or Thor – would be my next comic book archival priority. Of course, so many amazing archival projects have been popping up that I keep deferring the Masterworks – Will Eisner’s Spirit Archives, Kirby Omnibuses, and all these gorgeous compilations of strips by masters of the form such as Caniff, Raymond and Foster. Plus, there are Nexus Archives, E.C. Segar’s Popeye reprints, and dozens of other high-scale projects that seem to eternally delay my diving into the classic Marvel era.

Thus, Marvel’s recent decision to republish their Masterworks’ line in softcover edition, while not necessarily being the high-end format I’d prefer, fits in very well with my budgetary restraints at the moment. The second and third volumes of Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man collect issues 11 through 30, plus two over-sized Annuals, of the legend-making stories by Spidey’s creators, Stan Lee and Steve Dikto.

I read a handful of these issues, years upon years ago. When I first got into comics, Marvel was publishing a monthly series titled Spider-Man Classics that reprinted those earliest issues, and I readily devoured them. Of course, the Classics serial ended after only 16 issues, which means that most of the stories here were entirely new to me.

Among the famed faces who make their first appearance in these books: Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, The Green Goblin, the Molten Man, an obscured Mary Jane Watson (John Romita eventually gets the job of actually presenting MJ to readers for the first time), and the Sinister Six. But the really important aspect of these comics isn’t seeing how characters debuted; it’s understanding just why the characters held the appeal that they do.

Lee and Ditko manage several impressive feats here. I’ve always felt that part of Spider-Man’s appeal is how effectively Lee and Ditko follow the classic Superman superhero model, yet utterly subvert it as well. People recognize the classic superhero tropes: the newspaper job, the nebbish alter ego, the red and blue costume, elderly foster parents, yet Clark Kent always winks at the reader when things go wrong, letting us know it’s all in good fun. Poor Peter Parker, though, no matter his triumph over evil, always winds up lamenting a failure beyond his control. For the younger readers who grew up reading Amazing Spider-Man, often feeling the same way themselves, I can imagine it was a powerful moment to see a hero caught in the same emotional turmoil.

Sure, some of Peter’s dilemmas are overly melodramatic, but just as often, Lee and Ditko craft solid and legitimate lose-lose scenarios for our hero. Peter even spends an entire issue sulking, with nary a fight to be found. (Honestly, the issue drags a bit, but its intention was good.) The villains … well, they’re colorful and fun, a bit absurd and inept, but they play off Spider-Man effectively, allowing Lee and Ditko to come up with creative victories for Spidey and inevitable losses for Peter Parker.

The Fantastic Four’s Human Torch makes frequent guest-appearances that contrast his celebrity against Peter’s downtrodden nature. The contrast is one of the less heavy-handed themes evident throughout the book, which makes it also one of the series’ most effective.

Ditko’s artwork, despite a few moments of clear deadline haste, is very solid, a blocky style that suits its “square” protagonist to a tee, yet manages to sell the aerial, acrobatic action sequences. Lee’s dialogue is ham-fisted, but full of heart. The duo’s plots are creative, and one of the best (which presages the argument that would – by many accounts – eventually split the creative team), the revelation of the mysterious Crime Master’s alter-ego is pitch perfect.

In terms of quality cartoon storytelling, it’s not (close to) on par with the Caniffs or Eisners or Fosters of the cartooning world, but Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man v. 2 & 3 retain a sense of invigorate energy and intelligence, combined with the subversive hero-who-fails motif that redefined and continues to define the adventure comic field.  One could argue that only a half dozen or so superhero comics have mattered in all the years since.

UPDATE: Great Scott, Marty! Miss a day on the blog, and look what happens. Our eagle-eyed viewers have noted that the Losers is now BACK in April, now on April 23! This will keep the movie from competing against Clash of the Titans. Craziness! Thanks to all who chimed in!

It looks like the Losers are still going to be hitting audiences in 2010 — it’s just going to be some summer schooling, that’s all.

MTV reports that the film adaptation of the Andy Diggle/Jock comic will be coming out in June, rather than April. This new release will pit the film directly against the Bradley Cooper/Liam Neeson-helmed A-Team flick, which comes out one week later.

The 2010 Glyph Awards have announced their nominees this year, and the competition is looking pretty awesome! Let’s see what the nominees are this year:

Story of the Year
- Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers; Shawn Martinbrough, artist
- The Original Johnson; Trevor von Eeden, writer and artist
- Unknown Soldier #13-14; Joshua Dysart, writer, Pat Masioni, artist
- War Machine: Iron Heart; Greg Pak, writer, Leonardo Manco, artist
- World of Hurt, Jay Potts, writer and artist

Best Writer
- Joshua Dysart, Unknown Soldier
- Jeremy Love, Bayou
- Greg Pak, War Machine
- Jay Potts, World of Hurt
- Alex Simmons, Archie & Friends

Best Artist
- Chriscross, Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance
- Jeremy Love, Bayou
- Shawn Martinbrough, Luke Cage Noir
- Jay Potts, World of Hurt
- Trevor von Eeden, The Original Johnson

Best Male Character
- Black Lightning, Black Lightning Year One; Jen van Meter, writer, Cully Hamner, artist; created by Tony Isabella & Trevor von Eeden
- Isaiah Pastor, World of Hurt; created by Jay Potts, writer and artist
- Jack Johnson; The Original Johnson; Trevor von Eeden, writer and artist; inspired by the life of Jack Johnson
- Luke Cage, Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers, Shawn Martinbrough, artist; created by Archie Goodwin & John Romita Sr.
- Moses Lwanga, Unknown Soldier #13-14; Joshua Dysart, writer, Pat Masioni, artist; inspired by the character created by Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert

Best Female Character
- Aya, Aya: The Secrets Come Out; created by Marguerite Abouet, writer, Clement Oubrerie, artist
Lee Wagstaff, Bayou; created by Jeremy Love, writer and artist
- Michonne, The Walking Dead; created by Robert Kirkman, writer, Charlie Adlard & Cliff Rathburn, artists
- Misty Knight, Immortal Iron Fist; Duane Swierczynski, writer, Travel Foreman & Tom Palmer, artists; created by Tony Isabella & Arvell Jones
- Nola Thomas, NOLA; created by Chris Gorak & Pierluigi Cothran, writers, Damian Couceiro, artist

Rising Star Award
- Jiba Molei Anderson, The Horsemen
- John Aston, Rachel Rage
- Kerry & Tawanda Johnson, Harambee Hills
- Julian Lytle, Ants
- Jay Potts, World of Hurt

Best Reprint Collection
- Aya: The Secrets Come Out; Drawn & Quarterly
- Bayou Volume 1; DC/Zuda
- Icon: A Hero’s Welcome; DC/Milestone
- The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the 21st Century; Dark Horse
- Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool; DC/Milestone

Best Cover
- Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1; Brian Stelfreeze, illustrator
- Luke Cage Noir #1; Tim Bradstreet, illustrator
- The Original Johnson; Trevor von Eeden, illustrator
- Unknown Soldier #8; Dave Johnson, illustrator
- Unknown Soldier #10; Dave Johnson, illustrator

Best Comic Strip
- Bayou; Jeremy Love, writer and artist
- Jump Start; Robb Armstrong, writer and artist
- The K Chronicles; Keith Knight, writer and artist
- The Knight Life; Keith Knight, writer and artist
- World of Hurt; Jay Potts, writer and artist

Fan Award for Best Comic
- Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel; Kevin Grevioux, writer, Mat Broome, Sean Parson & Alvaro Lopez, artists
- Black Lightning Year One; Jen Van Meter, writer, Cully Hamner, artist
- Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink; Eric Wallace, writer, Fabrizio Fiorentino, artist
- Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers, Shawn Martinbrough, artist
- War Machine: Iron Heart; Greg Pak, writer, Leonardo Manco, artist

The Glyph Awards are set to recognize the best of the best in comics that are by, for, and about people of color. The winners will be announced on May 15, 2010, in the Skyline Room of the Free Library in Philadelphia. For the eagle-eyed among you, you’ll also see that Blog@ team member Jay Potts stormed the show with SIX nominees for his syndicated webcomic, WORLD OF HURT — congratulations, Jay! For all of you who want to get in on the action, Jay is posting his comic twice a week right here.