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The Ninth Art Lighthouse Awards 2003
Every week, the crew at the Ninth Art lighthouse cast an eye over the choppy waters of comicdom and make their pick of the freshest catches, while steering readers clear of the industry's hidden hazards. And every year, the crew cast their net a little wider, making their selection of the finest comics and creators from 2003. As well as naming the winners, they've also named their contenders for the shortlist in each category in the Rolls of Honour. Welcome to the third annual Ninth Art Lighthouse Awards.
BEST PUBLISHER Winner: TokyoPop Bookstores have always been the Holy Grail of comics distribution, and over the past year TokyoPop has stolen a march on the major US publishers by managing to get more of its product in more bookshops than DC or Marvel could ever dream of. It's not hard to ascertain the secret of TokyoPop's success: it publishes books relevant to a large variety of readers (from female oriented Shuojo manga to good old giant-robots-n-teenage-boys-save-the-galaxy stuff), in formats close to the size and thickness of paperback novels. And TokyoPop is hardly sitting on its laurels. As well as a full translation/import schedule for next year, we hear TokyoPop is planning to start publishing its own Western-originated titles, and is in negotiations with some top ex-DC/Marvel talent. The Roll Of Honour: DC Vertigo/DC WildStorm: Shared billing as role models for imprints of a megalithic publisher. DC's policy with regard to its imprints is to be congratulated. WildStorm has a definite affinity for slightly rougher edged superheroics, and Vertigo remains a home for innovation. Both have consolidated their positions in the last year, and look set to move forwards next year. NBM: It's gratifying to see more comics publishers willing to bring great European albums into the English language, to put classic works back into print, and to take chances on unconventional material from little-known talents. NBM (Nantier Beall Minoustchine) is one of the only publishers doing all three. It was also one of the first, and thanks to its ComicsLit line, it's still one of the best. Oni Press: Oni continues to be a repository for hip and happening comics. It has no 'house genre' as such; it just publishes the highest quality bubblegum and the hardest hitting noir. Meanwhile, its policy of collecting all its series into trade paperbacks means they're available long after that disposable moment. Oni Press just keeps on swinging.
BREAKTHROUGH TALENT Winner: Jeffrey Brown
The Roll Of Honour: Andy Diggle & Jock: The dream team of comics in 2003. After only two issues of THE LOSERS had hit the market, DC snapped up both of them for two-year exclusives. And it was easy to see why. Diggle's hell-for-leather plotting and Jock's truly exceptional graphic design sense made them a standout team. Our prediction: together, they get a BATMAN title by the end of 2004. Mike Hawthorne: Almost unknown a year ago, QUEEN & COUNTRY's Hawthorne now looks set to be a very busy man indeed as he juggles projects for Image, Oni, NBM and Beckett. The influences of Oeming, Mignola and Timm are clear enough, but Hawthorne has already demonstrated enough proficiency and skill to show that he's a talent worth watching in his own right. Josh Middleton: Despite the non-appearance of Com.X's gorgeous SKY BETWEEN BRANCHES in 2003, Josh Middleton's sumptuous art has found a worthy showcase in Marvel's NYX. His work is gorgeous, with a restrained use of lines and artfully washed-out palette, and shows significant improvement on his previous work of note for CrossGen's MERIDIAN.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT Winner: Dan DiDio
The Roll Of Honour: Avi Arad: DAREDEVIL wasn't a great movie, and HULK fell well short of the mark, but between the X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN movies, the CEO and president of Marvel Studios remains a man in demand. With more than a dozen Marvel movie adaptations in the pipeline, he's doing more than anyone to demonstrate the broad entertainment appeal of the superhero and draw spandex out of the ghetto. Retailers: It's been said that comics publishers and comics readers would get on fine if Comic Shop Guy did a better job, but it's been increasingly hard for the retailers to take the necessary gambles with their orders. There have been assaults on their cash flows with non-returnable, print-to-order books and poor quality end product that doesn't live up to solicitations, not to mention censors attacking retailers for selling adult books to adults. In a changing market, the specialist retailers who stay in business are the ones doing it right. Alan Moore: In 1985, Alan Moore wrote a Superman Annual that asked the question, "What do you get for the man who has everything?" Moore's answered that question for himself now: retirement. That may not sound like an achievement, but just look at the library of works he's left behind: From WATCHMEN and V FOR VENDETTA to LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and PROMETHEA, his is a legacy that will provoke discussion for decades to come.
BEST NEW SERIES Winner: SHONEN JUMP In January, Viz released its first issue of SHONEN JUMP, an English-language version of the Japanese anthology. Featuring seven serials printed on cheap newsprint, SHONEN JUMP was offered to both the direct market and to newsstand and bookstore distributors. Now, at the end of the year, the results are in. SHONEN JUMP sells in excess of 300,000 copies an issue (with special promotional issues cracking over half a million), and sales just keep going up. Anchored with popular series DRAGON BALL Z and YU-GI-OH, SHONEN JUMP continues to diversify with everything from pirates (ONE PIECE) and ninjas (NARUTO) to tournaments of the board game Go (HIKARU NO GO), providing something for everyone. An anthology title can work, provided you pack it with great series, give it a reasonable price point (over 300 pages for under five dollars), and actually get it into the hands of its target audience. Who knew? The Roll Of Honour: HOW LOATHSOME: While many attempts have been made to encapsulate the feel of a subculture in visual media, few have been able to get it quite right. HOW LOATHSOME, by Ted Naifeh and Tristan Crane, is one of the ones that succeeds, and how. Naifeh's thick, inky black-and-white art illuminates (but only slightly) the darkly humorous tales of the cultural underworld. Dodgy drug deals, otherworldly gangsters and gender confusion mark out San Francisco's well-dressed lowlifes, and speak to the teenager in us all. THE LOSERS: This was the year that Andy Diggle and Jock's THE LOSERS threw a grenade into the continuity-obsessed, often self-referential world of mainstream comics. Action-packed and funny, with plots ripped from the headlines, more happens in five pages of THE LOSERS than in whole arcs of other comics. Throw in attention-grabbing covers, and you have a recipe for success that other publishers will no doubt be trying to imitate in 2004. LOVE FIGHTS: What's this? Andi Watson doing a book about superheroes? Surely not! Ah, yes, dear reader; this is a real treat. Watson's delicate yet dextrous art, and his gently-paced tales of relationships, would not seem ideally suited to the subject matter, but this is the best superhero book of the year. Spandex in-jokes, comics industry in-jokes, talking super-cats and classic farce all meet to make one of 2003's most enjoyable titles. SLEEPER: Sometimes all you have to do to get great work out of someone is let them do what they want. SLEEPER is clearly the book that Ed Brubaker has always wanted to write, and it shows. Illustrated by Sean Phillips, SLEEPER is tense, compelling noir about one man's attempt to stay on the side of the angels while working undercover in America's most dangerous criminal organisation. It's superheroes, but not as we know them.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES Winner: COURTNEY CRUMRIN
The Roll Of Honour: ARTESIA: Most creators who leave their publisher to go the self-publishing route wither and die; the fact that Mark Smylie's ARTESIA just got stronger than ever says so much about the quality of this fine title. A fantasy book focusing heavily on warcraft and military tactics, Smylie's entrancing stories coupled with lush painted art are always a real delight. Now he's taken the time to collect all the comics from his Sirius run, there's really no excuse to miss out. FINDER: Perhaps not the most visible year for this series, but the ongoing tale is still superlatively written and drawn. Meanwhile, Carla Speed McNeil has been promoting her work around the globe, providing art for QUEEN & COUNTRY, and preparing for a new arrival in her family. While people who seem to have far less demands on their time have lowered their output, FINDER's continued quality is worthy of notice. GOTHAM CENTRAL: After POWERS and TOP TEN, there may not have seemed much need for another superhero/police procedural hybrid, least of all one that borrows from Batman's rogues gallery. Yet Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, and extraordinarily gifted Michael Lark have made this the best book in the DC 'universe', and Half A Life was one of the standout stories of the year. QUEEN & COUNTRY: A perennial favourite at the lighthouse, Greg Rucka's spy thriller never disappoints and never succumbs to formula. It's provided an excellent showcase for talents as varied as Jason Alexander, Carla Speed McNeil and Mike Hawthorne in 2003, and it always shows a rare respect for its audience's intelligence. Absolutely essential.
BEST BOOKSHELF COMIC Winner: PERSEPOLIS
The Roll Of Honour: BLANKETS: After a debut like GOOD-BYE, CHUNKY RICE there was bound to be a lot of expectation for the next work by Craig Thompson. Thankfully, there was no sign of sophomore slump in this extremely hefty volume of maybe-biography. BLANKETS is a tender, languorous story about growing up, learning to come to terms with faith, and first love. Thompson's smooth brushwork and naturalistic script have combined in one of the most satisfying reads of the year. PLANETES: Makoto Yukimura's PLANETES is in many ways a throwback to the early days of science fiction. With its quiet, personal stories of a future of space travel and debris collectors, PLANETES will draw you in to the stories effortlessly, as Yukimura's characters gracefully move through your imagination. Coupled with beautifully detailed and delicate art, PLANETES truly is a work of art. SANDMAN: ENDLESS NIGHTS: The Gaiman/McKean Axis seems to have the enormous and sumptuous bookshelf tome market sewn up. This year saw Gaiman's most celebrated characters get a whacking great big hardback of their own, featuring adventures and stories of the Endless at work and play. Gaiman's acclaimed literary talent has attracted the crème de la crème of comics artists, including Milo Manara, Frank Quitely and Bill Sienkiewicz.
BEST DEBUT Winner: HAWAIIAN DICK
The Roll Of Honour: Comica: London's Institute of Contemporary Art launched its new Comica events strand this year, under the stewardship of Paul Gravett. In 2003, the strand played host to such diverse talents as Joe Sacco, Chris Ware, Posy Simmonds and Grant Morrison. With the promise of more of the same in 2004, Comica could be Britain's answer to Angoulême, and a welcome alternative to the usual approach to comic events in the English-speaking world. MALINKY ROBOT: Sonny Liew's MALINKY ROBOT is as odd as its title. Featuring two kids in a futuristic slum, it's instantly enchanting with its oddball characters, meandering sense of story, and generally odd demeanour. Shot directly from pencils, Liew's art helps communicate its quirky, laid back nature. Most comics are about the destination, but Liew remembers that the journey is often what's important. MARIA'S WEDDING: Sometimes Oni press seem to magically produce new talent as though from thin air. One of 2003's notables was Jose Garibaldi, artist on MARIA'S WEDDING, an original graphic novel written by the more recognisable team of Nunzio DeFillipis and Christina Weir. Coming from a background mainly of illustration and animation, Garibaldi is capable of conveying subtle emotion with simple lines. Hopefully canny publishers will be using his talents a great deal in the future.
TALENT DESERVING OF WIDER RECOGNITION Winner: Paul Hornschemeier
The Roll Of Honour: Moyoco Anno: Creator of the phenomenally popular Japanese series HAPPY MANIA (released in translation by TokyoPop in 2003), Anno is that rarest of phenomena: a great artist who is also a great writer. (Or maybe it's vice-versa?) Her HAPPY MANIA can best be described as SEX & THE CITY in comic book format, and it's one of the most compelling female-oriented titles of the year. Rod Espinosa: A lot of people complain about the lack of all-ages comics; Rod Espinosa goes out and does something about it. His fantasy epic THE COURAGEOUS PRINCESS was a beautifully illustrated story, but his new NEOTOPIA goes a step further. His futuristic-meets-medieval 'Prince & The Pauper' retread is one of the few monthly books that always demands your attention. In an ideal world, Espinosa's books would sell millions of copies; there's an audience waiting for him that doesn't even know he's out there. Derek Kirk Kim: It must have been a strange year for Derek Kirk Kim. After having published his webcomic over several months, he finally put out its contents in the far more reading-in-bed-friendly paper format as SAME DIFFERENCE AND OTHER STORIES, and found himself making a big splash. Years of effort have turned him into a fine craftsman, equally adept at humour, drama, myth - and seemingly anything he turns his hand to.
THE LIGHTHOUSE AWARDS 2003
Best Publisher: TokyoPop
Breakthrough Talent: Jeffrey Brown
Outstanding Achievement: Dan DiDio
Best New Series: SHONEN JUMP, by various
Best Continuing Series: The COURTNEY CRUMRIN series, by Ted Naifeh
Best Bookshelf Comic: PERSEPOLIS, by Marjane Satrapi
Best Debut: HAWAIIAN DICK, by B Clay Moore and Steven Griffin
Talent Deserving Of Wider Recognition: Paul Hornschemeier The 9A Lighthouse Crew are Trafalgar, Shannon, Fastnet, Plymouth, Viking, German Bight, Finisterre, Forties, Dogger, Cromarty and Fisher. Ninth Art endorses the principle of Ideological Freeware. The author permits distribution of this article by private individuals, on condition that the author and source of the article are clearly shown, no charge is made, and the whole article is reproduced intact, including this notice. Back. |
At a casual glance, it's easy to write off Jeffrey Brown's comics. CLUMSY and UNLIKELY look like they're haphazardly scrawled on the page, and you wonder just why Top Shelf even bothered to publish him. Then you look a little closer and you begin to understand. Brown's "diary comics" are incredibly heartfelt; there's a lot more effort and detail put into his books than one might think, and his stories of love and loss are entrancing. Brown seems determined to make sure that he portrays the sequence of events as realistically as possible, reputation be damned. Unblushing, unvarnished and utterly compelling, CLUMSY and UNLIKELY truly are a portrait of an artist as a young man. 
Marvel has its creative ups and downs, while DC just keeps chugging along, hobbled by the conservative approach of publisher Paul Levitz - or so the theory goes. But this year saw Dan DiDio making his mark as DC's editorial vice president, with the announcement of a string of exclusive signings that knocked Marvel into the shade. DiDio has lured the industry's biggest talents back to DC, and made a clear commitment to improving the quality of DC's superhero output, steering the publisher away from complacency, seeking out new talents and taking creative risks. It's still early days for the DiDio regime, but after a strong start, hopes are high that 2004 could be a banner year for DC. 
Last year's breakthrough talent winner Ted Naifeh has reason to feel equally satisfied in 2003. This year saw the first multi-issue story arc for COURTNEY CRUMRIN, a magical horror comic that appeals to all ages with its post-Potter sorcery and sassy eponymous heroine. The sense of fun infused in this title is undeniable, and if there was one horror story we all wish we could be trapped in, it's one in which school bullies are eaten by goblins wearing hooded training tops. Naifeh's Mignola-esque artwork has gone from strength to strength, its sinuous black inks and charming caricatures making it easily as pretty as the most opulent of computer-coloured titles. The current third series, COURTNEY CRUMRIN IN THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM, is as wonderful as the preceding two and well worth investigating. 
On very rare occasions, a comic creator comes along with an extraordinary personal story, and matches it with the skill to tell it exceptionally well. In this case, Marjane Satrapi tells the story of her childhood during Iran's violent transition from secular nation to fundamentalist Islamic state with a simple clarity that allows for tremendous emotional range and a surprising degree of humour. It's a very intimate and affecting perspective on a part of history that has obvious topicality, and has a lot to teach in that regard - but it's also worth reading just for the opportunity to experience a very different creative voice. A clear and compelling work of autobiography that shows the comic form at its most accessible and absolute best.
If 'tropical pulp' sounds like something that gets stuck in the blender blades after making a daiquiri, you need to take that daiquiri and a copy of the first HAWAIIAN DICK collection, BYRD OF PARADISE, and kick back. While it's the accomplished line work and extraordinarily proficient computer colouring from artist Steven Griffin that has grabbed the lion's share of the attention, writer B Clay Moore also shows a great gift as a storyteller in his first published work. Together, they've created the year's most wonderfully unexpected treasure - and the best part is, it looks like they have the talent to do it all over again.
In some ways, Paul Hornschemeier is the second coming of Chris Ware. It's easy to make a comparison between the two: obsessive attention to detail, soft colouring that's just as awe-inspiring as the gentle inks, and quietly personal stories of loss and regret. Hornschemeier still has his own identity, though. His stories are a little more accessible than Ware's, through both his characters and the directions he chooses to put them in. Currently his attention is focused on FORLORN FUNNIES, published by Absence of Ink. A combination of stories driven primarily by dream logic, FORLORN FUNNIES has a slow burning emotional effect. Meticulously crafted from start to finish, Hornschemeier's comics could and should be a worldwide success. With a collection of the heartbreaking MOTHER, COME HOME due in shops in the new year, it's possible that Hornschemeier will get his due recognition in 2004.