Weekly Reading: Supreme #52a - part 1

Published by Awesome Entertainment in September 1997

The cover:

Title: The Return of Darius Dax!

(As always: Supreme is currently out of print. There are a number of ways to read it, which can be found on the How do I read Moore's Awesome works page.)

Here we are at the finish line for The Story of the Year! Of course, this being Awesome, there are a few strange things about it.

Originally, Moore planned that the end of this story would conclude in a gigantic annual, much like the ones he enjoyed as a child, containing a long original story, reprints, schematics or maps and various features. Somewhere along the way (at least several issues ago from seeing the in-house ads), Awesome decided to split up the 80 pages into two issues because their printer couldn't print an issue that big. Rather than making them issue #52 and #53, they decided to go the #52a and #52b route.

The problem, of course, was by this point variant covers had come into fashion. And variant covers for the same issues were often distinguished by letters, such as #1a, #1b, #1c, etc. So a lot of fans only picked up a single copy of either #52a or #52b and either missed the first part or second part of the story. Even to this day, when buying the series as loose copies, you have to make sure the seller is selling you a copy of each, because they often think it's just a variant cover thing.

(This also makes it a bit complicated for my weekly readings. I am going to treat each as a separate issue, and deal with one each week. Since they're long--40 pages each--I'm going to do the main story in this weekly reading and deal with the extras in a post later this week.)

Don't be fooled by this Chris Sprouse cover. As he said in his Modern Masters interview, he only handled the covers for these two so that he could get ahead on his work starting with issue #53. As we learn on the inside cover, J. Morrigan and Mark Pajarillo are handling the pencilling. Uh oh. Are we going to get good Mark Pajarillo (issue #48) or not so good (issue #49)? At least we get some nice Todd Klein work on the credits page.

We open this issue with a wonderful establishing shot of the Citadel under a blood red moon. This is clearly the work of J. Morrigan and is a nicely handled page. Supreme's now elderly former girlfriend Judy Jordan is reciting the elegy for Keats by Shelley about someone not being dead, but merely awakening from life. She is telling this to Hilda, who is translating it into reverse for Supreme inside the Hell of Mirrors where the pair imprisoned him last issue. There's another nice bit where we see Judy's shadow and it appears to be that of a taller, thinner man.

Supreme's not really listening, as he's getting pounded on by the villains he imprisoned in the Hell of Mirrors: the Shadow Supreme, the Televillain and Korgo the Space Tyrant. The Shadow Supreme goes to see why this old woman gave them Supreme and discovers that the old woman is the one who originally created him: Darius Dax! Korgo demands that Dax release them from the Hell of Mirrors, but Dax says no, that he doesn't want the competition, which, in a nicely handled moment, Korgo can appreciate.

And then we get to the portion where Mark Pajarillo took over and... okay, so it isn't going to be good Pajarillo.

Supreme wants to know what happened to Judy, so Dax tells his story. He starts from when a teenaged Dax stole the supremium meteorite from Dr. Wells in Littlehaven for his tremendroid, which we saw back in issue #42. Besides being defeated during that incident, the supremium radiation gave him lymphatic cancer. In 1967, the doctors in prison told him he had roughly a year to live.

So Darius wrote a special memoir with his time remaining, one that was a secret device containing all of his memories and personality in a special dust. As his body died, he sent the memoir to Judy, who opened the package and breathed in the dust. All that was Dax took over her body completely and eventually built the High Impact Lethal Defense Automaton (Hilda) and waited for Supreme to return.

The villains in the Hell of Mirrors decide to take Supreme to see The End. Dax, meanwhile, arms the Citadel with Korgo's planet smasher (referenced way back in issue #43)!

Morning is rising in Omegapolis and Diana Dane is eating a donut in a diner when Sally Crane approaches her. Sally says that she's looking for an apartment and that Ethan really likes Diana, as only Sally can: "See, Ethan isn't like me. He wouldn't even notice you were wearing too much make-up." They get interrupted when the Citadel drops its cloud cover and comes into view hovering over the city, and... oh... this is what we get:

 

Um... that's...something.

Anyway, Dax announces that unless he is put in charge of North America, it's going to get smaller, one destroyed city at a time. He then goes and switches bodies with Magno, the super humanoid, that Supreme brought back from the Allied Supermen of America's hideout in issue #44.

Suprema and Radar fly to the Citadel to confront Dax, though Suprema isn't so sure it is Dax, what with the voice being that of an old woman. "Trust me, mistress, I have an (untranslatable) feeling in my hackles. The meat of the voice is an old woman, but I'd know the bone of it anywhere. It's Dax," Radar assures her.

At the Citadel, they find Hilda with a Rigellian fission-bazooka. Hilda makes an electric bolt that knocks out Radar and his speakers and then threatens Suprema with the bazooka.

Meanwhile, Diehard and Glory turn up. Glory goes to confront Hilda while Diehard goes to check inside, but he quickly gets blasted out again. Dax in the Magno body comes out, eyes smoking green. Magno is quite the body, as it was designed to absorb the powers of the entire Allied Supermen.

And we're back to the work of J. Morrigan. Thank goodness!

The villains drag Supreme to the throne of The End, a presence we feel more than we see, as Moore wisely only lets us get glimpses of him. The villains offer to let The End finish Supreme, but he tells them, "You. Are. Specks. Go. Away."

They wonder at him not wanting to be involved at the end...

"The. End? This. Is. Not. It. I. Am. It." he yells at them.

It's a shame, but we never get to see more of The End. In my imagination, he's always sort of hovered over the ignoble way the series concluded. He was the villain Supreme couldn't finally defeat.

Sorry, I got off on a tangent there. This story ends as the villains decide to kill Supreme themselves while Dax is, no doubt, destroying the world. As the Televillain whines, "I wish I had a television" to see it.

It's kind of a weird place to end, especially with issue #52b basically taking up the idea of television right away. It makes me think that maybe Moore wasn't involved with the breaking of this story into two pieces.

Anyway, it's quite the predicament. Will our heroes prevail? What will happen with Dax and Hilda? Stay tuned for the next... no... for the same, but slightly differently numbered issue!

Look for a post later this week on the ton of extras that were packed into this issue.

As always, please check out the Supreme Annotations Page, for all of the details and references that I completely missed.

The other Awesome comics: Introduction

While little changed in the pages of Supreme when Maximum became Awesome, with even the numbering staying the same (that they didn't relaunch it as yet another "First Issue!" seems surprisingly restrained, considering the comic scene in the late 1990s), that can't be said for the rest of the Extreme/Maximum books. Some series were cancelled while others were put on hiatus until after Judgment Day sorted out the new universe.

In a nice explanation for where Awesome was going to go, in a post-Image/pre-Awesome press release, Rob Liefeld explained the decision as a moving away from the darker elements of Extreme:

This is from the 11/27/96 Diamond Dateline.

EXTREME ANNOUNCES NEW PHILOSOPHY FOR 1997.

Extreme Studios-whose books will now be published under the Maximum Press
banner-has announced that its 1997 publishing plans will embrace a new
philosophy designed to reduce the amount of graphic violence, language,
and adult/mature situations that have characterized several of its titles.

"For the past two years," said Extreme Studios President Rob Liefeld, "I
have watched our titles and the subject matter they contain grow darker and
darker...I feel that we've gotten way too close to the edge and it's time
to pull back."

Liefeld continued by citing the bold, bright books that influenced him as
a young comics reader, such as The Legion of Super-Heroes, The Teen Titans,
The Avengers, and X-Men.  "When I look at our current slate of titles," he
said, "I don't see the same attributes that attracted me as a fan."

Liefeld assumed responsibility for creating so many books which glorified
the dark side of human nature, such as Priest, Prophet and Avengelyne.  "While
we realize there is a segment of fandom that craves the dark side," he said,
"we feel that shifting our focus towards a lighter, less menacing tone is the
right move for our company."

To that end, Priest, Darkchylde, and Celestine-Extreme books that, in
Liefeld's view, "explore and promote evil"-have been canceled.
Avengelyne, which Liefeld defined as a character fighting for good, will
be toned down and made more accessible for younger readers.

Other Extreme titles-such as Youngblood, Glory, Prophet and NewMen-will
become more prominent in the company's line-up, starting with the release
of Extreme  Genesis #0, which will introduce readers to these books and
explain how they exist outside the Image Comics Universe. (Previously
scheduled for a January 1997 release Extreme Genesis has been rescheduled
for February.)

As I talked about before, I believe Extreme Genesis was what eventually became Judgment Day.

(UPDATE: 5/8/18 - So my friend Rob explained that Extreme Genesis was not Judgment Day, but was a planned crossover among all Liefeld's comics, which at the time were being printed under the Maximum imprint, and would see the heroes 20 years in the future. However, some combination of Moore's Judgment Day plan, acquiring the license to Fighting American, and the offering of a lot of investor money made him abandon Extreme Genesis and the Maximum branding and create Awesome.)

Now Liefeld didn't completely stick with this pledge, as we'll see with Menace, Chapel and some of the other odds and ends that Awesome would put out (and that I'll talk about in a post later), but Awesome did put together a few titles at the launch of the company that were supposed to capitalize on this more broad-based appeal. Beyond Supreme, the other three main titles were Coven, Kaboom and Fighting American.

 

I've been reading them and will do separate posts about each series as well as a post about the other odds and ends Awesome somehow managed to let escape into the world. One consistent for all of these three other main series was their writer: Jeph Loeb.

One of Liefeld's coups in starting Awesome was to lure Loeb to come and be his publisher. Loeb, who wrote movies (Teen Wolf and Commando? Seriously, how did I not know this about Jeph Loeb before this?) and television (Smallville, Lost and Heroes), was doing very well in comics by the mid-'90s, having written Batman: The Long Halloween, for which he'd win an Eisner award. He also happened to have teamed up with Liefeld on the Heroes Reborn series of Captain America for Marvel (more on that when I get to Fighting American). At the launch of Awesome in 1997, Loeb wrote each of the three series that Moore wasn't doing himself. Some of the series are good and some are a little forgettable.

Don't feel bad for Loeb, though. After Awesome, he'd return to DC to work on a little comic you may have heard of called Batman: Hush with some guy named Jim Lee. Questionable career move there Teen Wolf guy!

The Eisner Awards of 1997

 

As I mentioned in the weekly reading of issue 51, Alan Moore won the Eisner for Best Writer for his work on From Hell and Supreme. I shouldn't get too excited about this, considering he won it based on From Hell alone the year before, but I think the Eisners were right to recognize what he was doing at Awesome, as well. I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at some of the other winners (and a few also rans) to get a good snapshot of what the comics industry looked like in 1997.

Moore beat out Kurt Busiek for Astro City and Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Neil Gaiman for The Sandman (which had finished its run) and Death: The Time of Your Life, John Ostrander for The Spectre, James Robinson for Starman and Leave It to Chance, and Mark Waid of Kingdom Come and other series.

In other awards, DC Comics was producing some of the most recognized work with Batman: Black and White and Kingdom Come picking up several awards. Kurt Busiek's brilliant Astro City was recognized as it started up its second volume. James Robinson was getting recognized for Leave it to Chance and Starman as was Mike Mignola for Hellboy: Wake the Devil.

Our good friend Todd Klein (the most honored man in Eisner history--as of 2013, he had only not won the best lettering award five times!) won best lettering, though not for his work on Supreme. Then again, he was cited for Sandman, Death, House of Secrets, The Dreaming, Batman, The Spectre and Kingdom Come, so they may have just run out of room on the award!

The Hall of Fame inductees had ties to Moore's Supreme and Awesome work as Gil Kane (who will work on Supreme and Judgment Day), Julius Schwartz (the longtime Superman editor who hired Moore to write Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow) and Curt Swan (the brilliant silver-age Superman artist) were all inducted with Peanuts creator Charles Schulz.

The full list of winners and nominees is below:

1997 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners

The nominated creators have been recognized by their peers for having produced some of the outstanding achievements in comics in 1996.
(Winners are in bold and marked with *)
 
Best Short Story

• "Gentlemanhog," Jim Woodring, Frank #1 (Fantagraphics)
• "Heroes," Archie Goodwin and Gary Gianni, Batman: Black & White #4 (DC Comics) *
• "Joy Ride," Carol Lay, Joy Ride and Other Stories (Kitchen Sink)
• "The Nearness of You," Wizard Presents Kurt Busiek's Astro City, vol. 2, #1/2 (Homage/Wizard Press)
• "Oracle-Year One: Born of Hope," John Ostrander, Kim Yale, Brian Stelfreeze, and Karl Story, Batman Chronicles #5 (DC)
• "Perpetual Mourning," Ted McKeever, Batman: Black & White #1 (DC)

Best Single Issue

• Giant THB Parade, Paul Pope (Horse Press)
• Kane #13: "Point of View," Paul Grist (Dancing Elephant Press)
• Kurt Busiek's Astro City, vol. 2, #1: "Welcome to Astro City," Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Will Blyberg (Jukebox Productions/Homage) *
• Elric #0: Neil Gaiman's "One Life Furnished in Early Moorcock," adapted by P. Craig Russell (Topps)
• Optic Nerve #3, Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Sandman #75: "The Tempest," Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess (DC/Vertigo)
• Stray Bullets #10: "Here Comes the Circus," David Lapham (El Capitan)

Best Serialized Story

• Captain America #450-453: "Man Without a Country," Mark Waid, Ron Garney, and Scott Koblish (Marvel)
• Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol. 2, #2-3: "Everyday Life/Adventures in Other Worlds," Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Will Blyberg (Jukebox Productions/Homage)
• Starman #20-23: "Sand and Stars," James Robinson, Tony Harris, Guy Davis, and Wade von Grawbadger (DC) *
• Strangers in Paradise #10-13: "It's a Good Life" Terry Moore (Abstract Studios/Homage)
• Usagi Yojimbo #1-2: "Noodles," Stan Sakai (Dark Horse)
• Walt Disney's Comics & Stories #604-606: "The Universal Solvent," Don Rosa (Gladstone)

Best Continuing Series

• Akiko, Mark Crilley (Sirius)
• Kane, Paul Grist (Dancing Elephant Press)
• Kurt Busiek's Astro City, Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Will Blyberg (Jukebox Productions/Homage) *
• Starman, James Robinson, Tony Harris, and Wade von Grawbadger (DC)
• Strangehaven, Gary Spencer Millidge (Abiogenesis Press)
• Strangers in Paradise, Terry Moore (Abstract Studios/Homage)

Best Limited Series

• Age of Reptiles: The Hunt, Ricardo Delgado (Dark Horse)
• Batman: Black and White, Mark Chiarello and Scott Peterson, eds. (DC)
• Death: The Time of Your Life, Neil Gaiman, Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham, and Mark Pennington (DC/Vertigo)
• Gon, Masashi Tanaka (Paradox Press)
• Kingdom Come, Mark Waid and Alex Ross (DC) *
• The System, Peter Kuper (DC/Vertigo Verite)
• Terminal City, Dean Motter and Michael Lark (DC/Vertigo)

Best New Series

• Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller, Barry Windsor-Smith (Dark Horse)
• Coventry, Bill Willingham (Fantagraphics)
• Leave It to Chance, James Robinson and Paul Smith (Homage) *
• Nowhere, Debbie Drechsler (Drawn & Quarterly)
• The Wretch, Phillip Hester and others (Caliber)

Best Comics Publication for a Younger Audience

• Akiko, Mark Crilley (Sirius)
• Leave It to Chance, James Robinson and Paul Smith (Homage) *
• Patty Cake, Scott Roberts (Permanent Press/Tapestry)
• Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Kurt Busiek and Pat Olliffe (Marvel)
• Usagi Yojimbo, Stan Sakai (Dark Horse)
• Walt Disney's Comics & Stories, John Clark, ed. (Gladstone)

Best Humor Publication

• Empty Love Stories #2, Steve Darnall and various artists (Slave Labor)
• Joy Ride and Other Stories, Carol Lay (Kitchen Sink)
• Patty Cake, Scott Roberts (Permanent Press/Tapestry)
• Ragmop, Rob Walton (Planet Lucy)
• Sergio Aragones Destroys DC (DC) and Sergio Aragones Massacres Marvel (Marvel), Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones *

Best Anthology

• Batman: Black and White, Mark Chiarello and Scott Peterson, eds. (DC) *
• Big Book of Hoaxes, Carl Sifakis and various artists, Jim Higgins, ed. (Paradox Press)
• A Decade of Dark Horse, Randy Stradley, ed. (Dark Horse)
• Negative Burn, Joe Pruett, ed. (Caliber)
• Shi: Kaidan, Peter Guittierrez and various artists, Tony Bedard, ed. (Crusade)

Best Graphic Album-New

• Adolf: graphic novel series (vols. 2-5), Osamu Tezuka (Cadence Books)
• Batman and Captain America, John Byrne (DC/Marvel)
• Castle Waiting: The Curse of Brambly Hedge, Linda Medley (OLIO)
• Fax from Sarajevo, Joe Kubert (Dark Horse Books) *
• Marilyn: The Story of a Woman, Kathryn Hyatt (Seven Stories Press)

Best Graphic Album-Reprint

• Daddy's Girl, Debbie Drechsler (Fantagraphics)
• It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken, Seth (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Kurt Busiek's Astro City: Life in the Big City, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (Jukebox Productions/Homage)
• Mr. Monster: Origins, Michael T. Gilbert (Graphitti Designs)
• Sandman: The Wake, Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, Jon J. Muth, Charles Vess (DC/Vertigo)
• Stray Bullets: Innocence of Nihilism, David Lapham (El Capitan) *

Best Archival Collection

• Aviation Art of Russell Keaton (Kitchen Sink)
• Blueberry Saga: Confederate Gold, Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud (Mojo Press)
• Li'l Abner, vol. 22-24, Al Capp (Kitchen Sink)
• Nine Lives to Live: A Classic Felix Celebration, Otto Mesmer (Fantagraphics)
• Tarzan: The Land That Time Forgot and The Pool of Time, Russ Manning (Dark Horse) *

Best Writer

• Kurt Busiek, Kurt Busiek's Astro City (Jukebox Productions/Homage); Untold Tales of Spider-Man (Marvel)
• Neil Gaiman, The Sandman; Death: The Time of Your Life (DC/Vertigo)
• Alan Moore, From Hell (Kitchen Sink); Supreme (Maximum Press) *
• John Ostrander, The Spectre (DC)
• James Robinson, Starman (DC); Leave It to Chance (Homage)
• Mark Waid, Flash; Impulse; Kingdom Come (DC); Captain America (Marvel)

Best Writer/Artist-Humor

• Mark Crilley, Akiko (Sirius)
• Marc Hempel, Tug & Buster (Art & Soul)
• Batton Lash, Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre (Exhibit A Press)
• Carol Lay, Joy Ride and Other Stories (Kitchen Sink)
• Don Rosa, Walt Disney's Comics & Stories; Uncle Scrooge (Gladstone) *
• Masashi Tanaka, Gon (Paradox Press)

Best Writer/Artist-Drama

• Paul Grist, Kane (Dancing Elephant Press)
• Joe Kubert, Fax from Sarajevo (Dark Horse)
• David Laphham, Stray Bullets (El Capitan)
• Mike Mignola, Hellboy: Wake the Devil (Dark Horse/Legend) *
• Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo (Dark Horse)
• Osamu Tezuka, Adolf graphic novel series (Cadence Books)

Best Penciller

• Ron Garney, Captain America (Marvel)
• Phil Jiminez, Tempest (DC)
• Michael Lark, Terminal City (DC/Vertigo)
• Steve Rude, Nexus: Executioner's Song (Dark Horse) *

Best Inker

• Jimmy Palmiotti, Ash (Event); Vampirella Lives (Harris)
• George Perez, Teen Titans (DC)
• Joe Sinnott, Untold Tales of Spider-Man '96 (Marvel)
• Cam Smith, Supergirl (DC)
• Al Williamson, Spider-Man, Untold Tales of Spider-Man #17-18 (Marvel) *

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

• Brent Anderson/Will Blyberg, Kurt Busiek's Astro City , vol. 2 (Jukebox Productions/Homage)
• Tony Harris/Wade von Grawbadger, Starman (DC)
• Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez/Kevin Nowlan, Dr. StrangeFate (DC)
• Paul Smith, Leave It to Chance (Homage)
• Charles Vess, Book of Ballads and Sagas (Green Man Press); Sandman #75 (DC/Vertigo) *
• Aron Weisenfeld/Richard Bennett, Deathblow and Wolverine (Wildstorm/Image/Marvel)

Best Painter

• Dan Brereton, Thrillkiller (DC)
• Joseph Michael Linsner, Dawn (Sirius)
• Miguelanxo Prado, Tangents (NBM)
• Alex Ross, Kingdom Come (DC) *

Best Coloring

• Monica Bennett, Deathblow and Wolverine (Wildstorm/Image/Marvel)
• Jeromy Cox, Leave It to Chance (Homage)
• Matt Hollingsworth, Preacher; Death: The Time of Your Life (DC/Vertigo); Bloody Mary (DC/Helix); Challengers of the Unknown (DC) *
• Trish Mulvihill, Wonder Woman; Firebrand (DC); Batman and Captain America (DC/Marvel)
• Daniel Vozzo, The Invisibles; The Dreaming; The Sandman (DC/Vertigo)

Best Lettering

• Todd Klein, The Sandman,: Death: The Time of Your Life; House of Secrets; The Dreaming (DC/Vertigo); Batman; The Spectre; Kingdom Come (DC) *
• Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo; Space Usagi (Dark Horse)
• Dave Sim, Cerebus (Aardvark-Vanaheim)
• Richard Starkings and Comicraft, Batman: The Long Halloween (DC);Generation X (Marvel)
• Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Company #7 (Fantagraphics)

Best Cover Artist

• Mark Chiarello, Terminal City (DC/Vertigo)
• Tony Harris, Starman (DC)
• Michael Kaluta, Books of Magic (DC/Vertigo); Vermillion (Helix)
• Jerry Ordway, Power of Shazam (DC)
• Alex Ross, Kingdom Come (DC); Kurt Busiek's Astro City (Jukebox Productions/Homage) *
• Steve Rude, Nexus: Executioner's Song; Nexus/Madman (Dark Horse)

Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition

• Ricardo Delgado, Age of Reptiles *
• Debbie Drechsler, Daddy's Girl; Nowhere
• Jon "Bean" Hastings, Smith Brown Jones
• Batton Lash, Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre
• Gary Spencer Millidge, Strangehaven
• Rob Walton, Ragmop

Best Editor

• Tom Brevoort, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Daily Bugle
• M. M. Carwald, Amalgam line
• Andy Helfer, Gon; Big Book of Little Criminals (Paradox Press)
• Scott Peterson/Mark Chiarello, Batman: Black & White (DC)
• Joe Pruett, Negative Burn (Caliber)
• Dan Raspler, Kingdom Come; Hitman; The Spectre; Sergio Aragones Destroys the DC Universe (DC) *

Best Comics-Related Periodical

• Comics Buyer's Guide (Krause Publications)
• The Comics Journal (Fantagraphics) *
• Comic Relief (Page One)
• Jack Kirby Collector (TwoMorrows)

Best Comics-Related Book

• Alex Toth by Design, Alex Toth and Darrell McNeil (Gold Medal Productions)
• Batman Collected, Chip Kidd (Bullfinch Press/Little, Brown)
• Graphic Storytelling, Will Eisner (Poorhouse Press) *
• Great Women Superheroes, Trina Robbins (Kitchen Sink)
• National Cartoonists Society Album, 50th Anniversary edition, Bill Janocha, ed. (NCS)

Best Comics-Related Product

• Akiko Kimono limited print-Mark Crilley (Sirius)
• Hellboy bust, Randy Bowen (Bowen Designs) *
• Jack Kirby portfolio (Dark Horse)
• Kingdom Come cards (Skybox)
• Lillith Limited print-Joe Linsner (Sirius)
• Shi statue, Clayburn Moore (Moore Studios)

Best Publication Design

• Acme Novelty Library #7, designed by Chris Ware (Fantagraphics) *
• Black Eye Productions publications, designed by Michel Vrana: Berlin (with Jason Lutes), Dear Julia (with Brian Biggs), The Sands (with Tom Hart)
• Buzz Buzz and Giant THB Parade, designed by Paul Pope and C. Rambler (Horse Press)
• Fax from Sarajevo, designed by Brian Gogolin (Dark Horse Books)
• It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken, designed by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly)
• Mr. Monster: Origins limited edition hardcover, designed by Richard Bruning and Beatman/Brainstorm Unltd. (Graphitti)
• The Sandman: The Wake hardcover edition, designed by Dave McKean (DC/Vertigo)

Hall of Fame

• Bill Everett
• Al Feldstein
• Bill Finger
• Gardner Fox
• Carmine Infantino
• Gil Kane *
• Paul S. Newman
• Charles Schulz *
• Julius Schwartz *
• E. C. Segar
• Joe Simon
• art spiegelman
• Curt Swan *