The prize winners at the Angouleme International Comics Festival have been announced and are available on the site’s “Prize List” section.

The Fauve D’Or prize for best comic book went to Pinocchio. Many more books that I’m unfamiliar with won prizes, giving me a whole list of new books to try to check out. It’s a nice reminder that there are comics all over the world worth reading, though it makes me whimper that I don’t read more languages…

From the Mail & Guardian, information on the glamorous Angouleme comics festival, now in its 36th year.

Subjects range from sci-fi, superheroes and children’s fantasy, to ambitious graphic novels on politics, war or the legacy of slavery, all the way to romance, erotica and social satire — with offerings from around the planet.

“A comics strip is always a window open on the world,” said the festival’s art director Benoit Mouchart…

A special exhibit focuses on the South African authors of Bittercomix, a cult comics fanzine that violently attacks Afrikaaner culture and the lasting legacy of racism more than a decade after the end of apartheid…

A jury of industry professionals will award its coveted Golden Lion for the year’s best album on Sunday, with separate prizes for runners up and for best youth and classic albums.

Further prizes will single out the best comics blogs, a fast-growing sub-genre and hotbed of young new talent.

Known in the French-speaking world as Bande-Dessinee, or BD — pronounced “Bay-Day” — comics are big business in France, with about 4 700 new titles hitting the shelves in 2008, a third of them manga, up from 1 500 in 2000…

But so far, experts say, comics have held up well against the economic slowdown, with a turnover of €350-million ($450-million) in French-speaking Europe in 2008.

And with on-screen adaptations on the rise — from Persepolis and Tintin to the brooding hero Largo Winch, the Roman-bashing adventures of Asterix or the sharp-shooting cowboy Lucky Luke — the future of comics looks bright.

Nice to know that comics are still holding up in the rest of the world. I’ll try to follow up on the winners here, and see if they’re available in translation…

Or at least that’s what it seems like, with its latest blitz of marketing.

The publisher of Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe has released its schedule from now till New York Comic Con, and it looks massive. So what’s going on with Oni?

Perhaps we should start with the event that the publisher seems to be circling around: February 4th, also known as the release date for Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe Vol. 5. For those not in the know, here’s the solicit for the new book:

SCOTT PILGRIM VOLUME 5: SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE UNIVERSE
by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Scott Pilgrim is at the top of his game: he just turned 24, he moved in with the girl of his dreams, and he defeated at least half of The League of Ramona’s Evil Exes. But life at the top is treacherous and if things can’t possibly get any better for Scott, it means they can only get infinitely worse! Scott’s band is in total turmoil, his own exes have all boarded the train to crazy town, and Ramona’s evil exes have started appearing in pairs! And what’s up with Ramona, anyway? She’s been acting kinda weird ever since she and Scott moved in together. It’s the second-to-last volume of the Scott Pilgrim series and it looks like Scott’s precious little life has come back around to bite him in the butt!

On Tuesday, February 3rd, Pilgrim writer Bryan Lee O’Malley will be hitting the People’s Improv Theatre in NYC from 8-10pm to join the Comic Book Club! He will be discussing the release of Pilgrim Vol. 5 and, knowing the classy boys of the Comic Book Club, any number of hilariously weird sexual neuroses. (I kid because I love.)

Following that, he’ll be travelling to Jim Hanley’s Universe off 34th Street to promote the book at its Midnight Release Party. The next day, meanwhile, at 7pm, O’Malley will hit Brooklyn’s Rocketship Comics for an additional signing.

Apparently, the first printing has a foil cover, and if you hit any of the New York events, you can get a limited edition Obi wrap as well as a “I Scott NY” t-shirt. (They don’t know what that statement means, either.)

But wait! What about the Comic Con itself? Well, the Oni people have given us a schedule for that, as well. Here’s the skinny for the publisher’s panels:

Saturday, 11:00-12:00 in room 1A21: How Not to Break into Comics
There have been countless articles and panels on how to break into comics, but very few on how not to. Come join Randal C. Jarrell (Managing Editor at Oni Press) and other industry insiders as they discuss the common and often hilarious mistakes people make when trying to break into the industry.

Sunday, 2:45 PM-3:45 PM in Kids Zone 3: Pillaging History For Story Ideas
Pirates, ninjas, gunslingers, and knights – history is packed with events, characters, and settings that you can use to make your own original stories! All you need is to know whereto look. Chris Schweizer (The Crogan Adventures) will help you will help you learn how to take real history and use it to make the types of stories that you want to tell.

Sunday, 1:30 PM-2:30 PM in room 1A14: Scott Pilgrim vs. The Panel!
Bryan Lee O’Malley (winner of the Doug Wright, Joe Shuster, and Harvey Awards) sits down with NYCC to discuss his ground-breaking, slice-of-life series Scott Pilgrim. From its genesis to the NYCC release of volume five, O’Malley speaks frankly about where Scott Pilgrim came from and where the series is going from here. With moderation by Douglas Wolk and a fan Q&A to close the discussion, this is a must see event of NYCC 2009!

In addition, at Oni’s booth, the following creators will be in attendance for signing: Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim), J. Torres (Love as a Foreign Language, Scandalous), Eric Kim (Love as a Foreign Language), John Layman (Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen), Matt Loux (Salt Water Taffy, Sidescrollers), Philip Gelatt (Labor Days), Rick Lacy (Labor Days), Ray Fawkes (The Apocalipstix), Cameron Stewart (The Apocalipstix), Rick Spears (Black Metal), Ross Campbell (Wet Moon), TJ Kirsch (Uncle Slam Fights Back), Vasilis Lolos (The Last Call), Chris Schweizer (The Crogan Adventures), Cullen Bunn (The Damned), Ryan Kelly (Local), and Greg Rucka (Queen & Country, Whiteout).

Finally — what better way to end a post than with Scott Pilgrim Cubees? If you like ‘em, check out Oni Press or Cubeecraft.

Oh yeah, it’s party time. Gonna be in town for the upcoming New York Comic-Con, just a little over a (GULP) week from now? Only have 45 parties to go to? How ’bout another? The Comicbook Artists Guild is hosting their fourth annual Indy After Party on Saturday, February 7th at 8pm. The party is at Blaggard’s Pub, a larger venue than last year’s 200+ attendee event. All are welcome in the spirit of independent creation and collaboration. The full press release is after the jump! (more…)

Joe Biden hasn’t had much time to settle into being vice-president yet, but he could get some advice from Top Shelf’s Veeps: Profiles in Insignificance. Veeps explores not only the ones you know (Dick Cheney, Al Gore) but the ones you probably don’t (Charles Fairbanks, John Nance Garner), and focuses as much on the insignificant-but-funny as the significant. In other words, it makes politics fun, even if you aren’t a junkie like me.

Veeps writer Bill Kelter and illustrator Wayne Shellabarger are due to appear on Air America Radio’s Doing Time with Ron Kuby today at 3 PM (EST). The website can tell you where to find a station, or you can stream the show live.

The Veeps creators have a blog full of political hilarity, if you just can’t get enough. BoingBoing also has excerpts, and of course, Caleb covered it for the mothership covered it back in November. And I’ll have more on it myself when the U.S. mail comes through for me.

And my source tells me that we’ll be seeing more from Wayne Shellabarger at TopShelf 2.0, Top Shelf’s online comics section. So keep an eye out.

A big week for events, people — now residents of the Windy City have something to look forward to!

On Thursday, Lilli Carré, author of Fantagraphics’ The Lagoon, will be signing her work at Quimby’s in Chicago. Prints and handmade books will also be sold, and refreshments will be served.

The Lagoon deals with a family’s reaction to a siren’s song, emanating from a nearby lagoon. With contentment, curiosity, frustration, and danger, this experimental work comes hot on the heels of Carré’s Eisner and Harvey nominated story, The Adventures of Woodsman Pete.

I found this via a tweet from Felicia Day, and Im just sad that I’m coming into it so late. Essentially, at Paul and Storm they have a March Madness NCAA Basketball style tournament going for the great and geeky. The end result will name a champion the Secretary of Geek Affairs. Sometimes, you see something of sheer genius that you just wish you could’ve thought up yourself.

Some of the contenders are a bit obscure, but most are simply inspired. Personally, I’m cheering for Felicia Day herself, MC Frontalot, Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade, and Steve Jobs as my final four. The 2nd Round match up of Wil Wheaton vs. Wesley Crusher is pretty great, though. Check out the full bracket, make your predictions here, and vote in the current round.

As the year comes to a close, it’s become clear that in the Marvel Universe, there has been major upheaval from within the company’s heroic pantheon. With a new Captain America leading a band of Secret Avengers, what’s old is new again, with the concept of the legacy hero getting a set of legs at the House of Ideas.

But what is a legacy hero, you might ask? For those needing a refresher in comic book geekspeak, a legacy hero is typically an associate, lover, or sidekick of a fallen hero who assumes their friend’s mantle if he has retired or fallen in battle. DC Comics has made this concept into one of the company’s key pillars, beginning all the way with Barry Allen as the Flash in 1961. The idea of the legacy hero is that it gives a franchise an epic, generational feel, while allowing each generation of readers to adopt their “own” hero to match their own values and storytelling standards. But as 2008 and 2009 — as well as several earlier attempts — show us, Marvel isn’t above adopting a good idea when it sees one.

As if I needed to warn you, there be spoilers up ahead…

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Yes, dears. It’s holiday time. Christmas is in ten days, and Hanukkah in six. And since I know you all were wondering what to get us here at Blog@, we figured we’d give you our lists.

No, seriously, we thought this would be fun to share our wish-lists, the little things that we want and haven’t gotten for ourselves. So I’ll start this all off here with the following:

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But were too broke for art school? And you knew those little “free art test!” things were a total scam?

Miss Molly Crabapple, artist of Backstage, among other things, has the cure. Her Dr. Sketchy’s anti-art school is celebrating its third anniversary in New York City, and you can join the party.
From Molly:

Dr. Sketchy’s is a life drawing class turned burlesque extravaganza. Artists draw glamorous underground performers, compete in contests, and win booze and prizes. From its humble Brooklyn beginnings, it’s spread to 65 cities on five continents- including London, Rome, Tokyo, Paris and Melbourne.

On December 20th, stunning fetish supermodel Darenzia will help us celebrate our third year in existence.. Plus, fine tunes, free cupcakes, booze and fabulous prizes. Hosted by art provacateur Molly Crabapple.

Dr. Sketchy’s 3rd Year Anniversary takes place on
December 20th, 4-7 pm,
at the Slipper Room,
167 Orchard St (corner of Stanton).

You know you want to go. Doesn’t this look like fun?

– Alison Bechdel and Harvey Pekar, together at last.

– Steve Duin has some good news about underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson, who has been in ICU for the past several days.

– Ada Price talks to Dave Gibbons about his new book, Watching the Watchmen.

– Looks like it’s official: Naruto Nation 2009 is totally a go.

– Sam Thielman looks at the significance of Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing in light of the new super-fancy collection coming out soon.

– Over at Stars and Stripes, Gary Trudeau answers some of his critics.

– Van Jensen talks to Mike Allred about the revamped Red Rocket collection.

– Here’s my idea of a fun time: Dan Nadel, Gary Panter and CF sitting around, talking about art and comics.

– Did you know About Comics is 10 years old this year? I didn’t. Chris Murphy has a recollection.

– Sandy Bilus is giving away a copy of Alan’s War over at his blog.

– Oscar Pedro Musibay looks at the Comics Galaxy event that was held at last weekend’s Miami Book Fair.

– Frank Santoro considers the new Popeye collection.

Evan Dorkin reports on last weekend’s National Convention in NYC:

I mean, wow. Wow. WOW. What an absolutely terrible show. Having nothing to do with how we did at the table, because we didn’t expect much, just to cover costs ($40 parking, tolls, lost brain cells) and maybe low-rent dinner out for the family, which we barely eked out. And we seemed to do better than a lot of  those around us. And not a knock on old — very old — school bargain bin/back wall o’ expensive headlights comics, hucksteriffic cons based around want lists and sweaty palms, which can be fun in a way if, like me, you like old comics, looking at original art, and eyeballing tables heaped with flea market junk that some poor schmuck still deems worth lugging all up and down the coast hoping some other poor dumb schmuck will buy. I can stand, and enjoy, these buck-bin, desperation extravaganzas, but this one tested even my Eltingville limits. This was Eltingville writ large, bulky, real, and stinktacular. I wasn’t expecting MOCCA or SPX, nor the NYCC or even a slice of the dealer’s area of the congenial, enjoyable and cool Heroes World, but I wasn’t expecting this freakshow trainwreck.

Heidi McDonald, meanwhile, provides some perspective while Valerie D’Orazio offers a pointed rejoinder:

Have a heart. I know I’m going to be laughed to oblivion for saying that, that it sounds ridiculous. But have a fucking heart. Some of these older collectors are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I grew up around these people. I’m not ashamed of it. Some have used comics as one of their only bright spots in a life that in every other respect might have been awful. If it makes them happy, let them do it. If they aren’t bothering you (other than by the fact of their very existence, offending your delicate sensibilities), stop fucking ragging on them. I can’t fucking stand this anymore.

– Harry N. Abrams plans to publish Barry Deutsch’s acclaimed Webcomic Hereville in book form. Brigid Alverson has details.

– Steve Duin provides an update on S. Clay Wilson’s health. Short answer: “His condition has not improved significantly.”

– “There’s an exotica Americans find in my stories that’s lost on Israeli readers:” Nisha Gopalan interviews Israeli cartoonist Rutu Modan about her new book Jamilti.

– Colleen Doran is looking for a few good cartoonists to help her review data for the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines.

– Kai-Ming Cha has a great interview with editor Sean Michael Wilson about Top Shelf’s upcoming AX anthology. “We’re selecting it from the 10 year archive so we’re talking about some 20,000 pages. That’s a lot of stuff to choose from.”

– Peter Sanderson celebrates the 20th anniversary of Sandman with a look back.

– Sanderson also looks at the new Vertigo Encyclopedia.

– The Daily Cartoonist reports that editorial cartoonists Steve Greenberg and Lee Judge are being laid off from their respective newspapers.

– Things to do: David B and Igort will be at the Beguiling in Toronto this Saturday.

– Other things to do: Kim Deitch will be doing a Q&A event with Bill Kartalopoulos at MoCCA tomorrow night. From the pr: “In a unique and wide-ranging conversation, the two will discuss Deitch’s work and
career to date.  Deitch will preview images from his current works in progress and field questions from the audience.”

– Joe Sacco offers an insightful review of Guy Delisle’s Burma Chronicles.

– Over at his blog, Scott Saavedra notes that he is rather ill and could use financial help, either via donations or by purchasing his some of his art work. (hat tip: Tom Spurgeon)

– Bloggers Paul O’Brian and Alistair Kennedy have started a new podcast, titled House to Astonish. It’s going to be an every-other-week affair, and focus on comics news and reviews. The premiere episode looks at recent Batman books, Dark Horse’s Gigantic and other books.

– Chris Butcher has more to say on the Bat-Manga! controversy.

– Tom Spurgeon tells us what comics he’s reading online these days.

– David Baille emailed us to let us know what a busy beaver he is these days. He’s got his first ever story in 2000AD this week, animator David Hailwood has animated a couple of his Zombies Interviews strips, and, perhaps most significantly, he’s started a new Webcomic, the Belly Button Bubble Chronicles.

– The work of cartoonists Josh Neufeld and David Rees can currently be seen at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library through January 10, 2009. From the press release: “Neufeld will show material from his true-life graphic novel A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, and Rees will exhibit a collection of his “Clip-Art Comics.” Neufeld will be showing original pages, oversized giclée prints, and an example of the creative process from script to final art.”

– The Windy City Times talks to Alison Bechdel about the release of the new Dykes to Watch Out For collection.

– A quick reminder: Quentin Blake is awesome.

– For your Monday enjoyment: Ten years of New Yorker covers.

• Toy company Mattel, which creates numerous lines of toys for DC Comics, has posted images of its DCU Classics Wave 8 on their collector’s site. Wave 8 of the toy line will include Dr. Fate, Gentleman Ghost, Hawkgirl and Vigilante, among others.

• Former Marvel editor Carl Potts shares memories of working with artist Steve Ditko and trying to convince the artist to let him see two Dr. Strange stories that never saw print. “I told him that I’d be happy to look over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages,” Potts says. “That way the pages would never leave his hands, but he still declined to bring them in. Since then I’ve fantasized about what those pages look like and what the story was about. I wonder if I’ll ever find out!”

• Comics retailer Rocketship has an interview with Raina Telgemeier, the artist of the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel adaptations, up on their blog. On her own site, the artist reveals her webcomic Smile! will be come to print courtesy of Scholastic. She’ll be at Rocketship this Sunday, along with Dave Roman and Matt Loux. Details on the event can be found here.

• Sparkplug Comics posted a video they made at the Alternative Press Expo last weekend.

• Zippy the Pinhead creator Bill Griffith will be at the Fantagraphics store in Seattle this weekend. Details here.

• The Comic Book Club in New York will host Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker, Brian Michael Bendis and Jeff Katz next Tuesday. Details here.

• Via Drawn comes news that United Features is offering its comics content, including years of archives, for free.

• Kevin stole my headline for this one earlier this week: Salman Rushdie says he’s “a world expert on superhero comics.” He also says he’s been approached about doing a graphic novel, but hasn’t said yes yet.

• Here’s two names that might look familiar … Tim O’Shea talks to Frank Santoro, and Chris Mautner talks to Art Spiegelman.

• Colleen Doran shares more agents who work with comics folks.

• Jim Rugg adds to Kevin Church’s J. Jonah Jameson sketch collection.

• This weekend’s Wordstock Book Fair in Portland, Ore. will feature several comic creators, including Mike Mignola, Alison Bechdel and Lynda Barry. Oni Press, Dark Horse Comics and other comic companies will also be there.

Neil Gaiman, voice actor Tom Wayland and several others will attend a reading from Gaiman’s Sandman series to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The event will take place at the Helen Mills Theater in New York City on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. More details are available here.

– Van Jensen hangs out with Paul Pope to find out about the new reprint edition of Heavy Liquid, which Pope initiated when he discovered out of print copies selling on eBay for as much as $200: ” ‘That was disgusting to me,’ he said. ‘That was money those fans could’ve spent on other books.’ ”

– Kai-Ming Cha talks to Yen Press’ Kurt Hassler about the imprint’s absorption into Hachette’s Orbit imprint.

– Tom Richmond looks at how Mad Magazine has covered close elections in the past.

– Alan Gardner critiques the revamped Comics.com site.

– Erin Finnegan reports on the MangaNext show in Somerset, NJ.

– Apparently Famous Monsters of Filmland’s Forrest J. Ackerman is not doing well.

– Doug Wolk reports on last weekend’s APE convention.

– Noah Berlatsky doesn’t care for S. Clay Wilson’s work.

– Jen de Guzman wonders why Slave Labor isn’t getting that many submissions anymore and decides to blame the Internet.

– Because you don’t have enough to read: Here’s Graphic Novel Reporter.

Things were all a-twitter in the Features Department where I work last Friday. Why? Because Gary Trudeau had decided to predict a victory for Barack Obama in Tuesday’s election:

Wednesday’s strip is set in Iraq and features military characters huddled around a television that proclaims “And it’s official — Barack Obama has won. . . .”

In an e-mail to The Times, Trudeau said newspapers should run the strip because “. . . polling data gives McCain a 3.7% chance of victory. There’s a greater risk that their presses will break down on election day. So I’ve been encouraging editors to choose hope over fear. And reminding them that if I’m wrong, it’ll be my face that’ll be covered with egg, not theirs.”

As a result, a number of daily newspapers that carry Trudeau’s strip had to quickly decide whether to run the strip or substitute it for reruns (from this past summer). And no, I’m not telling you what the Patriot-News decided. Go buy a copy of the paper.

Meanwhile, the John McCain camp responded by stating “We hope the strip proves to be as predictive as it is consistently lame.”

You can read more on the story here, here, here, here and here. Oh, and be sure to read this post by News & Record’s John Robinson, where he wonders what all the fuss is about anyway.

Ochre Ellipse by Jonas Madden-Conner won the 2008 Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics. The book was also nominated for an Ignatz Award earlier this year.

For more information on the book and its creator, check out his blog.

Via Johanna, one of this year’s judges in the competition

The Will Eisner Spirit of Comic Retailing-winning Brave New World Comics will host an art show starting this Saturday:

This Saturday, November 1, at 7pm, in the Gallery Loft of Brave New World Comics on Lyons Avenue in Newhall, California, a new kind of gallery show will be opening.

“When you tell people that you have an art gallery in your pop culture store, they tend to have a certain kind of art in mind. Usually involving capes and tights,” says Portlyn, Brave New World Comics proprietress of pretty proportions. “But this time around, we wanted to give artists a chance to speak their mind on the election season, our sitting elected officials, and the issues that face them.”

Out of that desire, the NO THIRD TERM Gallery Show was born. Featuring the works of Llyn Hunter and Matt Silady, NO THIRD TERM has also been opened up to the artistic public to make their voices heard. “Nothing’s more democratic than our First Amendment rights and we’re looking forward to seeing how the artists of our community use that right, and this show, to speak up,” Portlyn went on to say.

The opening on Saturday, November 1st will feature the works of these artists and an all American theme