The World Science Fiction Society will add a Best Graphic Story category to the prestigious Hugo Awards, which honor science fiction and fantasy.

The new category will need to be ratified at next year’s Worldcon before it can take effect. However, organizers of the 2009 convention in Montréal have included Best Graphic Story as a temporary category. According to ICv2.com, “Any science fiction or fantasy story told in graphic form appearing for the first time in the previous calendar year” will be eligible.

Although this will be the first time the Hugos have had a category specifically for comics, in 1988 it honored Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen in the Other Forms category. And in 2000, Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano’s illustrated novella The Sandman: The Dream Hunters was nominated in the Best Related Book category for a work that “is either non-fiction or, if fictional, is noteworthy primarily for aspects other than the fictional text.”

– Joëlle Jones draws some X-Women.

– An entire blog devoted to Ronald Searle? I’m so there.

– Eric Bogosian to recite Art Spiegleman. There’s a pairing I never expected to see.

– PBS Newshour does a profile on Jeff Smith.

– Pantheon will publish Dash Shaw’s Bodyworld.

– Scatalogical Hulk joke alert!

– Ryan Kelly shares Northlanders character designs.

– Here’s a map in case you ever get lost in Springfield. Via.

– Vulture previews Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle.

– Das Gamer wonders why the Halo comic is taking so long to complete.

– Larry Marder teases new Beanworld. Wohoo!

– Neil Kleid is doing a series of articles on the Dark Tower for Marvel.com. Here’s the first one.

– Bill Kahler and Mark Yturralde, the treasurer for Comic-Con International, are contestants on the Amazing Race this fall.

– The Hero Initiative has more Hulk covers up for auction. This week’s covers are by John McCrea, John Romita and Fred Hembeck, among others.

Compiled by JK and Chris.

Comic retailer Joe Ferrara, owner of the awesome shop Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz, Calif., will attempt to “set a world record for a solo performance by an individual in a club setting without repeating a song or using sheet music or lyric sheets.” He starts at 10 a.m. Sept. 14 and ends at 10 p.m. in the Rock Room Lounge at the Shadowbrook Restaurant in Capitola, Calif.

From the press release:

September is National Prostate Cancer awareness month. “The average woman has a working knowledge of the facts about breast cancer,” says Ferrara, a three-year survivor of prostate cancer. “The average man knows almost nothing about prostate cancer. I hope to change that.”

The event promises to be a challenge. “I know over 400 songs,” says fifty-nine year old Ferrara. “I play folk, standards, soft rock, show tunes and classic rock so material is not the problem. However, I’m only allowed a five-minute break every hour! I plan to save them up and only take four breaks but we’ll see if Mother Nature has other plans!” Ferrara hopes folks will take a few minutes out of their day to help him set the record. “Come for five minutes or five hours it doesn’t matter. Request a song and even sing a long”, he says. “Just come have a good time. I can’t set the record without an audience.”

Information about prostate cancer will be available during the event. Members of the Santa Cruz County Prostate Cancer Support Group will also be in attendance to answer any questions

More information can be found on the Atlantis Fantasyworld site. You might recognize the shop, as it was featured in the film Lost Boys.

More details here.

– The Hero Initiative has more Hulk covers up for auction this week.

– Congrats to Janelle Siegel, who is the new assistant editor in the Batman office at DC Comics. Way to go, Janelle!

– Matt Fraction dreams of Doom.

– Stephen DeStefano shares a Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend commission.

– The Hugo Awards were announced this past weekend in Denver.

– As were the Doug Wright Awards (though not in Denver).

– Tom Spurgeon talks CCI with David Glanzer.

– Alley Oop turned 75. I didn’t even know it was still around.

– A Matt Bors’ cartoon makes it all the way to Gitmo and the hands of Salim Hamdan.

– Own an iPhone? Like comics? Bookmark this site.

– It’s not comics, but I liked this MTV story about fan reaction to Diablo III screenshots and the developers explanations as to why they did what they did.

– Arvid Nelson and Jesse Falcon join the Comic Book Club this Tuesday.

– io9 picks the VP candidates. Yes, it’s comics related.

– Cartoons for grown-ups.

– Trent Reznor thought about turning Year Zero into a graphic novel. Instead, he’s talking to HBO.

– Mike Sterling presents “Things not to say to a comic book shop employee.”

– Where were you?

Compiled by JK and Chris.

Just in time for the Beijing Olympics, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has debuted a bizarre anti-doping comic strip for kids called The Case of the SpoilSports (PDF). It stars Rattus Holmes and Felis Watson, the … um … oversized, anthropomorphized pets of — you guessed it — Sherlock Holmes and John Watson who are hired to investigate suspected steroid and stimulant use by local athletes.

I’m not sure what bothers me most about the strip: that they got Sherlock Holmes’ famous address wrong (211 B  Baker Street instead of 221 B); that Holmes’ neighbors own a television; or that the two most likely candidates for doping, Rattus Holmes and Felis Watson, are never investigated.

– The Hero Initiative has another round of Hulk covers up for auction.

–ComicsPro has launched a site dedicated to 24-Hour Comics Day, with information on how to host an event, who is participating and other information. 24 Hour Comics Day is scheduled for Oct. 18.

– Steven Grant and Scott Beiser are working on a new webcomic over at Big Head Press called Odysseus the Rebel.

– Virgin is giving away some of their Comic-Con exclusives on their website.

– io9.com has an interview up with Middleman creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach.

– Bam! Pow! Ouch!

–Racked.com has posted the Jack Spade “Breaking and Entering” Comic Book, which details a weird break-in at the Jack Spade store in New York. (Via)

The Hero Initiative continues their fundraising efforts for artist Gene Colan, who has had health issues of late. They post on their blog that Marvel has extended the order cut-off date for the Tomb of Dracula poster to Aug. 7. It’ll be in stores Sept. 3.

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were presented last night in a ceremony held at the San Diego Convention Center. Frank Miller was the keynote speaker.

And the winners were …

Best Short Story: “Mr. Wonderful,” by Dan Clowes, serialized in New York Times Sunday Magazine

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot): Justice League of America #11: “Walls,” by Brad Meltzer and Gene Ha (DC)

Best Continuing Series: Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra, and Jose Marzan, Jr. (Vertigo/DC)

Best Limited Series:The Umbrella Academy, by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá (Dark Horse)

Best New Series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, by Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, Georges Jeanty, and Andy Owens (Dark Horse)

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Random House’s new genre blog, Suvudu, previews this year’s Eisner Awards with overviews of the nominees for Best Single Issue (or One-Shot), Best Continuing Series, Best Limited Series and Best Humor Publication.

The ceremony for the 20th annual awards kicks off tonight at 8:30 Pacific in Ballroom 20 of the San Diego Convention Center. You can see the complete list of nominees here.

There’s a rising concern in some quarters that Comic-Con International has sold out in ways that go beyond the lack of on-site registration. What once had been an educational community seems to have morphed into a PR-palooza, with the celebration of an art form giving way to corporate hype and celebutards.

For an event such as Comic-Con, complaints like this aren’t just idle chatter. San Diego Comic Convention is a tax-exempt educational charity and, as Blog@ reported last year, leading charity watchdogs have raised serious questions as to whether Comic-Con continues to deserve its 501(c)(3) status.

Does rampant marketing compromise Comic-Con’s charitable mission? A quick legal overview after the jump:

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– Tom Spurgeon interviews Wondermark creator David Malki.

– Paul Karasik writes about Will Eisner for the Times Online.

– The Hero Initiative has five new Hulk #1 covers up for auction this week … that’s five rather than 10 because of “The Beast Men Call San Diego,” says Jim McLauchlin. The one pictured is by Jeff Parker.

– NPR discovers comics from across the seas.

– The Giant, His Shadow and the Magical Cloud

– Here’s the trailer for Hayao Miyazaki’s newest film.

– Shaenon Garrity looks at how U.S. presidents have been portrayed in manga.

– Gary Trudeau talks about satire at Comic Riffs.

– Batman is one sick puppy.

– Jason Rodriguez continues to report from his road trip to San Diego. Look for a Dean Trippe guest appearance in part 2. [part 1, part 2, part 3]

Compiled by JK and Chris.

• A resolution will be introduced next week in Columbus (Ohio) City Council recognizing the career of Bone creator Jeff Smith.

• James Jean points out that the Watchmen trailer provides a glimpse of the Vargas-esque portrait of Sally Jupiter (above) that he created for the movie.

• Genre-book publisher Tor has relaunched its website, which now features a blog — with contributions by the likes of Bruce Baugh, Irene Gallo and Jim Henley.

• The New York Times looks at efforts to adapt Neil Young’s Greendale concept album into a theater piece and a graphic novel — the latter set for release next fall from Vertigo. There’s also a glimpse at Cliff Chiang’s character sketches.

• Colleen Coover and Takeshi Miyazawa show off photos of their artwork now gracing the windows of Challengers Comics + Conversation in Chicago.

• I can’t resist a list: Mental Floss has “26 Important Comics,” from Action Comics #1 to Maus, and PETA runs down the “Top 10 Animal-Friendly Super-Heroes.”

“People keep warning me about this whole thing, but at this point I’m still not sure what to expect. I’m trying to imagine that very first convention I went to crossed with the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan … yet somehow I can’t quite picture it.” — Zombies Calling creator Faith Erin Hicks, who will attend her first San Diego Comic-Con next week.

Lots more to get through this time around, and I’ll probably divide it up into a few different posts today …

*****

First up, I need to add this to my “must buy” list …

Top Shelf will have copies of Essex County Vol.3: The Country Nurse, which Jeff Lemire will be on hand to sign.

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If you have any extra bears, Stan Sakai’s daughter is collecting them for the South Pasadena Fire and Police Departments:

Daughter Hannah is working on her Girl Scout Gold Award–collecting teddy bears to donate to the South Pasadena Fire and Police Departments. Bears are given to comfort children after traumatic experiences, such as home fires or domestic disturbance calls.

She has contacted churches and other organizations in the area. If you would like to help, and if you will be at the San Diego Con, bring a new teddy over to our booth–#4906. It is listed in the exhibitor’s guide under “Stan Sakai”.

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Justice League: The New Frontier, Warner Bros. Animation’s adaptation of Darwyn Cooke’s 2003 miniseries, has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (one hour or more).

The nominations were announced this morning in Los Angeles. The New Frontier is pitted against the “Blue Harvest” episode of Family Guy and the “Imaginationland” episode of South Park.

The awards will be presented on Sept. 21.

… or Dan DiDio, or go boating with Stan Lee, or breakfast with Cooke, Bullock and Stewart …

Yep, the Hero Initiative has several new auctions up related to the San Diego Comic-Con. The winning bidders can:

–Play on the Marvel or DC softball team in the big annual Marvel vs. DC softball game
–Have steak with Joe Quesada
–Have breakfast and get sketches from David Bullock, Darwyn Cooke and Cameron Stewart
–Hang out with Stan Lee in the harbor (on a boat, of course)
–Have lunch with a former CGC grader

You can check out all of the Hero Initiative auctions (inlcuding the Hulk ones I mentioned yesterday) here.

Speaking of the Hero Initiative Hulk #1 auctions, the first wave went live on eBay this week and end next Monday. Up for bidding right now are covers by John Romita Sr., John Cassaday, Guillermo del Toro (pictured above), Jay Lynch and several more. Go check’em out; it’s for a good cause.

You can also view all the covers, which will eventually be auctioned off at the rate of about 10 per week, at Marvel.com.

A British religious group is criticizing Mattel’s new Black Canary Barbie doll, calling it “filth.”

Unveiled in February at the New York Toy Fair, the Black Canary doll is part of a fall line that includes DC Comics superheroines Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Woman. Like the character on which it’s based, the Black Canary doll wears fishnet stockings, a motorcycle jacket, gloves and boots.

“Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far,” the Christian Voice is quoted as saying by the tabloid The Sun. “A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible — it’s filth.”

In true tabloid fashion, The Sun’s headline reads, “S&M Barbie is lashed by the public.”

I blogged a couple of weeks ago about Frank Cho’s Hulk#1 cover not being accepted for the Hero Initiative charity auction. Now, courtesy of Lying in the Gutters and a “Wizard serf,” the cover sees the light of day:

Rich Johnston comments:

Have to say, as earlier rumoured, that is exactly the same level of nudity as appeared in the Hero Initiative auction for Frank Cho’s Spider-Man piece last year. Yet this year, it was totally unacceptable.

What changed?

Anyone remember the 2000 Hulk annual, where the Hulk tries to hook up with She-Hulk? Yeah …