Out of the Alley: Fearless Predictions Edition!

[Hogan's Alley]

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Dear fellow comics fan:

 

Thanks to everyone who requested a copy of Hogan’s Alley on Free Comic Book Day. Response was overwhelming, and we’re preparing the mailing now to go out soon.

 

TRIVIA TIME, REUBEN EDITION: The awards given by the National Cartoonists Society will be handed out later this month, and the Reuben Award is the top award, given to the Cartoonist of the Year. While you’re in a Reuben Award state of mind, mull these questions over to see how much you know about the people who have won cartooning’s top honor in years past:

 

A. Who is the oldest cartoonist to win a Reuben Award?

B. Who was the first two-time Reuben Award winner?

C. Which award preceded the Reuben Award as cartooning’s top prize?

D. Which cartoonist won the first Reuben Award for a strip starring a female?

E. Who was the first Reuben Award winner to win for a weekly strip?

(Answers below)

 

“AND THE WINNER IS” DEPT.: If it’s springtime, it’s awards season for cartoonists! The movies have the Oscars, television has the Emmys, and cartooning has the only slightly less prestigious Reuben Awards. The membership of the National Cartoonists Society has nominated cartoonists in a range of categories, and the winners will be announced on May 26. Longtime readers of this newsletter are aware of our predictive abilities, so the staff of Hogan’s Alley, using our peerless insight, a soothsayer, some tea leaves and a quick call to the Amazing Kreskin, has once again bravely made our fearless predictions for the categories.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE COMIC BOOK DIVISION AWARD: Darwyn Cooke (“Betty Saves the Day” from Rocketeer Adventures #2), Duncan Fegreto (“Hellboy: The Fury”) and J.H. Williams (“Batwoman”) SHOULD WIN: Fegreto admirably filled Mike Mignola’s artistic shoes on “Hellboy,” producing striking images and beautiful compositions in service of a compelling story. WILL WIN: Cooke’s neo-retro look is the winner, and The Rocketeer’s blend of vintage style with a contemporary feel will play well with NCS voters.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE EDITORIAL CARTOON AWARD: Lisa Benson, Mike Lester and Michael Ramirez. Notably, the nominees all bring a conservative perspective to their work. SHOULD WIN: Benson’s gender has nothing to do with the quality of her work, but we would love to hand her the plaque for the chutzpah involved in breaking into the boys’ club of editorial cartooning. WILL WIN: The run-up to the election year clearly inspired Ramirez, who is well known and liked among NCS members and who is clearly feeling the election-year zeitgeist.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE GAG CARTOON DIVISION AWARD: Matthew Diffee, Zach Kanin, and Barbara Smaller. It’s not at all surprising that all the nominees have a New Yorker affiliation, as that magazine remains one of the few high-profile gag cartoon vehicles. SHOULD WIN: Smaller’s brilliant ideas, coupled with the artistics chops to get them across effectively, make her a standout. WILL WIN: The Smaller they are, the bigger they win.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE ANIMATION FEATURE DIVISION AWARD: Mark McCreery (character design, “Rango”), Carlos Saldanha (director, “Rio”) and Jennifer Yuh-Nelson (director, “Kung Fu Panda: the Kaboom of Doom”). Like last year, no Pixar nominees to dominate the balloting. SHOULD WIN: Yuh-Nelson’s work on the “Kung Fu Panda” sequel was delightful and lively, but voters might dismiss a sequel. WILL WIN: It’s Johnny Depp’s world, we just live in it. Meaning that McCreery stands likely to walk away with the plaque for his striking character designs on “Rango.”

 

NOMINEES FOR THE TELEVISION ANIMATION DIVISION AWARD: Ben Bocquelet and Antoine Perez (production design, “The Amazing World of Gumball”), Penn Ward (character design, “Adventure Time”) and Erik Wiese (production design, “The Mighty B”). SHOULD WIN: Wiese and “The Mighty B” delivered a mighty entertaining cartoon, but…. WILL WIN: Ward and “Adventure Time” are riding a wave of pop-cultural zeitgeist.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION AWARD: Glen LeLievre, Michael McParlane and Bob Rich. McParlane is nominated after having won this category at last year’s event. SHOULD WIN: McParlane had another very strong year and deserves something to add to the award cabinet, but we think voters will avoid a repeat winner. WILL WIN: Bob Rich, who produced beautifully detailed, imaginative work all year, takes home the hardware.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE NEWSPAPER PANEL AWARD: Mark Parisi (“Off the Mark”), Stephanie Piro (“Smile”) and Wiley Miller (“Non Sequitur”). This category has become an annual slugfest, putting up another very strong group of nominees. SHOULD WIN: Parisi’s success comes as a result of a prolonged period of excellence, his deceptively simple style delivering outstanding gags. WILL WIN: Parisi gets the well-deserved nod from his NCS colleagues.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE GRAPHIC NOVEL AWARD: Chester Brown (“Paying for It”), Rick Geary (“The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti”) and Ben Katchor (“The Cardboard Valise”). SHOULD WIN: Brown’s autobiographical tale of his life as a john is as difficult to read as it is astonishing in its candor, but it might prove a bit unsavory for some NCS voters. WILL WIN: Geary’s story—a treatment of two of the last century’s best-known anarchists—features both Geary’s seductive graphic style and a subject more palatable to those casting ballots.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE GREETING CARD AWARD: Dave Klug, Glenn McCoy and Rick Stromoski. Finally, a McCoy nomination! SHOULD WIN: McCoy won last year’s newspaper panel division, and his panel gags transfer well to greeting cards. WILL WIN: Stromoski’s energetic compositions make his cards crackle while recipients cackle, and voters reward him for his work.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE ADVERTISING ILUSTRATION AWARD: Nick Galifianakis, Kevin Kallauger, and Tom Stiglich. SHOULD WIN: We’re big KAL fans and thought he had a fantastic year in advertising illustration (and everything else he did). WILL WIN: Galifianakis’ meticulously rendered newspaper illustrations set the perfect tone for the work they accompanied, especially when coupled with the Washington Post’s relationship-advice column.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE NEWSPAPER STRIP DIVISION AWARD: Glenn McCoy (“The Duplex”), Jeff Parker and Steve Kelley (“Dustin”) and Mike Peters (“Mother Goose and Grimm”). Peters’ well-oiled cartoon machine rolls on, impressing NCS members with the versatility of its delivery. SHOULD WIN: Parker and Kelley won this division last year, also for “Dustin,” and it’s unlikely the same team wins back to back, even if it’s merited. WILL WIN: What’s an award season without a McCoy?

 

NOMINEES FOR THE MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILUSTRATION AWARD: Victor Juhasz, Bruce McCall and Edward Sorel. SHOULD WIN: Juhasz’s brilliant work is always a masterful complement to the prose it accompanies, and his caricatures have an utterly inimitable style in terms of concept and execution. WILL WIN: McCall’s inventive faux-retro look has legions of fans, many of whom cast ballots.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE BOOK ILUSTRATION AWARD: Barbara Lehman (“The Secret Box”), Mark Pett (“The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes”) and John Rocco (“Blackout”). Though we despair for the future of book illustration, this year’s roster of nominees heartens us for the moment. SHOULD WIN: Rocco’s painterly, understated artwork made his book a standout, but… WILL WIN: Pett’s book combined comics-style storytelling with an appealingly contemporary look, and Pett is well-liked among his NCS brethren, which sends some fence-sitting votes his way.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE ONLINE COMIC STRIP AWARD: Matthew Inman (“The Oatmeal”), Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins (“Penny Arcade”) and Jon Rosenberg “Scenes from a Multiverse”) The NCS has struggled for a way to embrace online cartooning, bringing back this division after a hiatus of several years. SHOULD WIN: Inman’s deeply idiosyncratic strip is one of our favorites, and we often see his strip passed around the Internet, today’s equivalent to taping a strip to the office cubicle WILL WIN: Krahulik and Holkins have created a true webcomic juggernaut, establishing a model for webcomics from a creative perspective as well as a business one.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE REUBEN AWARD: In the running for the top award are Brian Crane, Stephan Pastis, and Tom Richmond. Three top-tier creators with three very different points of view. There won’t be any vote-splitting this year.. SHOULD WIN: With Pastis’ fourth Reuben nomination, his days as the reigning Susan Lucci of the NCS will be over. (His strip’s self-mocking sequence about never winning the award won’t hurt, either.) WILL WIN: Last year’s winner, Richard Thompson, rode the strength of his brilliant work and a torrent of goodwill to Reuben victory. Pastis isn’t quite the overwhelming favorite to win that Thompson was, but his sustained mordantly funny work on “Pearls Before Swine,” and his ambitious forays into merchandising and new media, nets him the statuette.

 

ANSWERS TO TRIVIA TIME:

A. Rube Goldberg, 84 years old (born in 1883 and won it in 1967)

B. Charles Schulz (1955 and 1964)

C. The Billy DeBeck Memorial Award (given from 1946 through 1953)

D. Leonard Starr, “Mary Perkins On Stage” (1965)

E. Hal Foster, “Prince Valiant” (1957)

 

Speaking of Reuben Awards, shortly after the National Cartoonist Society’s awards weekend, we’ll unveil this year’s online photo album capturing moments both dignified and mortifying, and we’ll send you a newsletter to let you know when it’s available.

 

HOGAN IS TWITTERING: If you'd like to receive cartooning news and the occasional cartooning-related observation from Hogan's Alley, we’re HOGANMAG on Twitter. We recently began sending Twitter followers a "Today in Comics History" fact a day that has been fascinating. For example, did you know that on this date—May 15—in 2006, “Lio” by Mark Tatulli made its debut? You would know all this and more by following @Hoganmag on Twitter! Just click http://twitter.com/hoganmag. We’ll be live-tweeting the NCS awards on May 26, so start following us today!

 

A SITE FOR SORE EYES: Our e-mail newsletter readers can get a first look at the new Hogan’s Alley website at http:///www.hoganmag.com. We’ve got a long way to go, but we intend to make much of our out-of-print archives available. Feel free to reply to posts and start a dialogue with us!

 

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