Hogan's Alley Newsletter!

The next issue of the outstanding journal of comic strips and other comics-oriented cultural ephemera, Hogan's Alley, is coming soon, and editor Tom Heintjes has issued a newsletter, portions of which follow:

Dear fellow comics fan:

We're deep into production on Hogan's Alley #15, and we wanted to stay
in touch as we produce what we think is our most eclectic and
interesting issue yet. (Yeah, we say that every time, and this time we
mean it!)

FREE HOGAN'S ALLEY DAY: In observance of Free Comic Book Day
(Saturday, May 5), Hogan's Alley will mail a free copy to whomever
requests one on that date. So mark your calendars and remember to drop
us an e-mail on May 5, and we'll mail you an issue of our choosing.

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. The staff of
Hogan's Alley, using our peerless insight, a Ouija board and the Magic
8-Ball, has made our fearless predictions for some of the categories:

NOMINEES FOR THE COMIC BOOK DIVISION AWARD: Acocella Marchetto
("Cancer Vixen"), Gene Luen Yang ("American Born Chinese") and Marjane
Satrapi ("Chicken With Plums"). The fact that this division includes
so many non-Anglo names speaks to the impressive cultural diversity
that the comic-book form has attracted in recent years. SHOULD WIN:
Yang's culturally aware, Printz Award-winning novel transcends the
label of "comic book" and can be enjoyed by young adults and older
readers alike. WILL WIN: Marchetto's high-profile work in The New
Yorker has created a pre-existing fan base, and her courageous self-
portrait in "Vixen" is icing on the cake.

NOMINEES FOR THE EDITORIAL CARTOON AWARD: Mike Lester (The Rome News-
Tribune), Glenn McCoy (Universal Press) and Mike Ramirez (formerly of
the Los Angeles Times, now with Investor's Business Daily). Apart from
the obvious bias toward cartoonists named Mike, the nominees are
notable for their overall conservative perspective. SHOULD WIN:
Ramirez, an idiosyncratic stylist with a strongly iconoclastic point
of view, grabbed headlines in the cartooning biz when he was
unceremoniously and ham-handedly fired from the Times. WILL WIN: Among
strong competition, Ramirez.

NOMINEES FOR THE NEWSPAPER PANEL AWARD: Tony Carillo ("F Minus"),
Kieran Meehan ("Meehan") and Hilary Price ("Rhymes With Orange"). Is
this a category that attracts cartoonists who enjoy writing more than
drawing? (And we mean that as a compliment.) The three nominees offer
three types of observational humor with a postironic twist. SHOULD
WIN: For a long time now, Price has been writing strong material that
compares favorably with much of the current crop of New Yorker
cartoonists. WILL WIN: Price.

NOMINEES FOR THE NEWSPAPER STRIP DIVISION AWARD: Bill Griffith ("Zippy
the Pinhead"), Stephan Pastis ("Pearls Before Swine") and Mark Tatulli
("Lio"). The NCS created a Murderers Row with this lineup--each strip
is a starkly off-kilter accomplishment in the tremulous environment of
the daily comics page. SHOULD WIN: Griffith has been keeping the
comics page safe for surreality with the daily version of "Zippy"
since 1986 and could be said to have paved the way for others like
him. And as much as we enjoy "Lio," it's the new kid on the block
compared to the other nominees. WILL WIN: Pastis' strip is a winning
combination: a critical darling and darkly funny. And it doesn't hurt
that Pastis is a favorite among his voting peers.

NOMINEES FOR THE REUBEN AWARD: Those in the running for the top award
(despite common misperception, this award is the ONLY Reuben Award
given each year; the others are divisional awards) are Bill Amend
("Foxtrot"), Dave Coverly ("Speed Bump") and Dan Piraro ("Bizarro").
It's a lineup mercifully devoid of "living legends," allowing for a
more level playing field. (It's never fun for a cartoonist to go up
against a Jack Davis or a Will Eisner.) SHOULD WIN: Piraro is beloved
by his peers and demonstrates daily that the comics page can still be
hospitable to brilliant art. Always solid and occasionally
transcendent gagwriting only adds to his credentials. WILL WIN: While
Coverly and Piraro will no doubt hold the hardware in their hands one
day, Amend will win for the years of popular work he's produced, and
making headlines with his unusual move to Sundays-only status gains
him respect from his voting colleagues (and, lucratively, opened up
plenty of spots on the comics page for them to occupy).