Awards | Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams II's "The Sandman: Overture" took the prize for best graphic novel at the Hugo Awards on Saturday night. In contrast to last year, when voters opted for "no award" in many categories rather than support the Sad Puppies or Rabid Puppies slates, there were only two no-awards, and all the major categories had actual winners. The best dramatic presentation (long form) award went to the movie "The Martian," and the best novel prize was awarded to N.K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season." [The Guardian]
Awards | Artist Joe Giella will receive the Hero Initiative's Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Harvey Comics Awards ceremony on September 3. Giella, who recently retired after 70 years of drawing comics for DC, Timely, Fawcett, and other publishers as well as, more recently, the newspaper comics "Mary Worth" and "The Phantom." [WMAR]
Conventions | New York Comic Con will venture even further out of the confines of the Javits Center this year than in previous years: ReedPOP has just announced that some celebrity panels and premiere programming will be held at the theater at Madison Square Garden. Programming on Friday, October 7, will include three BBC America panels: A "Doctor Who" panel featuring the current doctor, Peter Capaldi, and co-star Pearl Mackie; the world premiere of "Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency," followed by a panel made up of the actors and production staff; and a panel featuring the cast and production staff of the new "Doctor Who" spinoff "Class." AMC will present a "Walking Dead" panel on Saturday, October 8, and other programming is in the works. The walking distance from the Javits to the theater is just under a mile. [New York Comic Con]
Creators | English professor Greg Wright talks about writing the comic "Holliston," a spinoff of the TV show, which Wright refers to as "'The Big Bang Theory' for horror nerds." [Midland Daily News]
Creators | Writer David Shapiro talks about "American Malheur," the graphic novel that he is co-writing about the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Reserve. Shapiro and his collaborators, Christopher Herndon and Leah Sottile, plan to put the incident in context and use it to explore the history of right-wing extremism; they have started the graphic novel but haven't found a publisher yet. [The Oregonian]
Political Cartoons | Gary Varvel, political cartoonist for the Indianapolis Star, talks politics and cartooning in a radio interview with local radio host Tony Katz. [WIBC]
Graphic Novels | "The Invisible War: A Tale on Two Scales" is a new graphic novel that is set during the Battle of the Somme in World War I but also focuses on the smaller, more interior struggle between the bacteria that cause dysentery and the viruses that destroy them. The illustrations have a science-fiction flair, and the topic is an important one, as the bacteria-eating viruses, called phages, may be an important weapon against antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the future. [ABC News]
Retailing | Marcus King, owner of Titan Comics & Games in London, Kentucky, shares a lighthearted look about how Pokemon Go is affecting his business—and the rest of his life. [ICv2]
Retailing | Corveaux and Lucia Millions will celebrate the grand opening of their store, Versus Comics, in Rockaway Beach, Oregon, by hiding Poké Balls around town. [Tillamook County Pioneer]