The 2008 Harvey Award nominations are out, and ComicMix is proud to have EZ Street nominated for “Best Online Comic.” Congratulations to Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley!

Sure, EZ Street is up against some tough competition — Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Penny Arcade, Perry Bible Fellowship, and The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo — but we think it will do okay.

This year’s Harvey Awards will be handed out at the Baltimore Comic-Con, held September 27-28, 2008.  Convention hours are Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday, 10 AM to 5 PM.  The ceremony and banquet for the 2008 Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, September 27, hosted once again by Kyle Baker.

If you are a comics creative professional and would like to vote, you can download the .pdf Final Ballot or download .txt Final Ballot (for email) and send it to pjcjmc3 [at] sbcglobal.net. Final ballots are due to the Harvey Awards by Friday, August 15, 2008.  Full details for submission of completed ballots can be found on the final ballot.  Voting is open to anyone involved in a creative capacity within the comics field.  Those without Internet access may request that paper ballots be sent to them via mail or fax by calling the Baltimore Comic-Con (410-526-7410) or e-mailing baltimorecomicccon [at] yahoo.com.

The full list of nominees is after the jump. (more…)

George Takei, known for his roles on Star Trek and Heroes, as well as co-writing Star Trek comics with Peter David, was the first to pay $70 for a same-sex marriage license in West Hollywood early today. George is expected to marry his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, on September 14th in Los Angeles. (We won’t know for sure until we get the invite.)

George was quoted as saying "it’s going to be the only day like this in our lives and it is the only day like this in the history of America." He also told reporters and a swelling crowd outside the West Hollywood city auditorium "may equality live long and prosper."

We wish the two of them continued happiness, and we’re calling dibs on being the ones to buy them the toaster oven.

Sixty years ago next year, the remnants of the Fleischer Studio teamed up with the folks at St. John Comics (Tor, Three Stooges, and the original 3-D comics) to create Casper The Friendly Ghost #1. It lasted five issues. Paramount, owners of the Fleischer operation, took the license over to Harvey Comics and a legend floated off the ground.

While children’s comics have been largely ignored in the American marketplace for the past decade or two, Casper stayed alive in movies and on DVD. His present owner, Classics Media, has big plans for the ghost’s 60th.

They’ve got a major Halloween push coming this fall, including clothing and music and games and toys and greeting cards and tattoos.

They’ve also got a new teevee show which already has been sold in 60 markets, including France, Britain, and Japan.

As for comics, well, Dark Horse recently released a nifty reprint anthology, mostly in black-and-white but still a great value.

Not bad for a small child who’s been dead for 60 years.

Dash Shaw has a strange habit of defining things, of explaining all the elements of his world in minute detail.

In his new 700-plus page graphic novel Bottomless Belly Button (Fantagraphics, $29.99), that microscopic focus takes on monumental scope as Shaw relates the foibles and piccadiloes of the Loony family when the patriarch and matriarch announce a divorce after decades of marriage.

The family (the parents, their three children, one spouse, two grandchildren) gather at the family’s beach house, and Shaw begins by explaining “there are many types of sand” before giving an eight-page summary of these types.

We’re then introduced to the family through a sequence of diagrams, charts and vignettes, quickly establishing their characters and relationship dynamics. In short, their behavior is befitting of their name.

Shaw told me recently that he uses such definitions to orient readers, and from this point [[[Bottomless Belly Button]]] truly takes off in a story that mirrors The Squid and the Whale while never falling into that film’s cold, intellectual trappings.

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According to USA Today, DC Comics is going to break its long-standing tradition and actually commit to a new series based on a teevee show before it goes on the air. 

J.J. Abrams, instigator of the series Alias and Lost and director of the upcoming Star Trek: The Next Damn Movie, has a new show going up on the Fox Network called Fringe, which is supposed to be in the X-Files vein. The show debuts August 27th; DC’s book – which reportedly is without writer or artist — is supposed to ship the first issue August 13th. We’re not taking bets on that.

Fringe stars Charlotte Rampling (Zardoz), Mark Valley (Boston Legal), Blair Brown (Altered States) and a bunch of others. Abrams’ writing posse of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who huddled over Mission Impossible 3 and the aforementioned Alias and Star Trek: The Next Remake, have hooked up for the new series.

Maybe they’ll knock out the comic book while they’re at it.