Well the Internet has been abuzz about the Harvey Award nominations, or more to the point, their lack of nominations. Tom Spurgeon, Robot 6, The Beat, and many others have been weighing in on the issue. The main problem being the way in which the nominations come about. Nominations for the Harvey Awards are collected through ballots and the ones with the highest amounts get nominated for the awards. That is whey we can see Grant Morrison and John Gallagher up against each other for best writer or Nascar Heroes racing to beat Love and Rockets and Y: The Last Man for best single issue.

Some people are claiming this is a case of ballot stuffing, and there have even been reports about previous years where Gemstone was handing out filled in ballots to their employees to turn in. One the one hand, I completely see this as being a terrible way to run an award show. The validity of the awards really comes into question when it becomes a popularity contest. On the other hand, what does it say about the comics not being nominated? Do they not have enough of a fan base to turn in a ballot for them and make them a contender? Or is this really a case that not too many people care about the Harveys any more. Unfortunately I think its the latter.

Colleen Doran, creator of the indie comic, A Distant Soil, has some great blog posts about her early days in the world of comics and how a contract nearly drove her to desolation. It always astonishes me what people are capable of when it comes to money, power, and fame. It is even sadder to hear about these kinds of things happening in our beloved field of comics.

I know when I was growing up, I never considered the idea that the very people responsible for making my favorite comic books were also being treated in such horrible ways. Colleen talks about how even though she got an advance on her work, the publisher gave her false numbers about the comics they published to get her into a contract, and then deducted many different costs against her advance so that she was looking to make hardly any money off of her comic for at least a couple of years. Like Colleen says in her posts, "I had made a serious beginner’s mistake. I had not researched my publisher."

Comic creators seriously have to look out for themselves. They are essentially small business owners and their product is themselves and what they can offer, just like a plumber or home inspector. New and old creators need to read the fine print to ensure they are not being taken advantage of. It stinks that this is the environment that some work in and there are some great publishers out there, but you always have to be careful when it comes to matters of money.

TwoMorrows, publisher of some great comics related material, is having a sale through the July 4th weekend. They have 31 items on sale at half off and you can be sure that there is something on the list that will catch your fancy. Check out the list:

• All-Star Companion, Volume 2 (by Roy Thomas)
• Alter Ego Collection, Volume 1 (by Roy Thomas)
• Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine (by Roy Thomas and Bill Schelly)
• Best of the Legion Outpost (by Glen Cadigan)
• Blue Beetle Companion (by Christopher Irving)
• BrickJournal Compendium 1 and BrickJournal Compendium 2 (by Joe Meno)
• Brush Strokes With Greatness: The Life & Art of Joe Sinnott (by Tim Lasiuta)
• Captain Victory: Graphite Edition (by Jack Kirby)
• Comic Book Artist Collection - Volume 3 (by Jon B. Cooke)
• Comic Book Nerd (by Pete Von Sholly)
• Comics Above Ground (by Durwin Talon)
• Comics Gone Ape! (by Michael Eury)
• Comics Introspective: Peter Bagge (by Christopher Irving)
• Crazy Hip Groovy Go-Go Way Out Monsters #29 and #32 (by Pete Von Sholly)
• Dick Giordano: Changing Comics One Day At A Time (by Michael Eury)
• G-Force: Animated (by George Khoury and Jason Hofius)
• I Have To Live With This Guy! (by Blake Bell)
• Jack Kirby Checklist: Gold Edition
• Justice League Companion (by Michael Eury)
• Modern Masters: In The Studio with George Perez DVD
• Modern Masters: In The Studio with Michael Golden DVD
• Nick Cardy: Behind The Art (by Nick Cardy and Eric Nolen-Weathington)
• Silver Star: Graphite Edition (by Jack Kirby)
• Streetwise (edited by Jon B. Cooke and John Morrow)
• Superheroes In My Pants (by Mark Evanier)
• The Art of George Tuska (by Dewey Cassell)
• Titans Companion, Volume 2 (by Glen Cadigan)
• T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Companion (by Jon B. Cooke)
• Wallace Wood Checklist

Some important notes from the press release:
"A special banner atop the TwoMorrows' home page links directly to the items on sale, and all major credit cards and Paypal are accepted at checkout. This sale is only valid for orders placed at www.twomorrows.com through the end of June, and does not include shipping costs. All items are in-stock, and ready for immediate shipping throughout the U.S. and abroad. Due to the expected large response to this sale, the company asks for customers' patience in case of minor shipping delays, as they work to keep up with the influx of orders."

So if you see something you like, head on over to www.twomorrows.com and buy something before time runs out.

Every Monday, around 3pm west coast time, Lying In The Gutters would appear over at CBR. I looked forward to that column each and every week. Rich Johnston did a very different job than mine, being one focused on rumors, gossip, and speculation, while mine is to inform and advise. I never wanted to compete with Rich, I doubt if I even could, so it was always great to read and get a different viewpoint into comics than the one I was used to.

I was glad to hear that Rich started his own site, especially hearing of his difficult job situation, and have been following the new incarnation of Gutters via Bleedingcool.com. The one thing I miss though is that Monday article full of gossip, rumors, and speculation. We get that dripped out to us through the week, but I miss that big buffet of red, yellow, and green lights. It filled my gullet satisfyingly and while I like the new site, I really enjoyed that long form article, not each part of the article being its own post. Oh well, times change and we need to change with them. It looks like Rich is doing well. With over 1000 forum members and climbing, Bleedingcool.com looks to have a long life on the web.