UPDATE 8/21: What a night. So here are the winners:

BEST LETTERER: John Workman, THOR, Marvel Comics

BEST COLORIST: Jose Villarrubia, CUBA : MY REVOLUTION, Vertigo/DC Comics

BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL: DOONESBURY, Garry Trudeau, Universal Press Syndicate

BEST ONLINE COMICS WORK: HARK! A VAGRANT, Kate Beaton, http://harkavagrant.com/ (assuming fellow nominee Scott Kurtz, http://www.pvponline.com/, ever lets her have it.)

BEST AMERICAN EDITION OF FOREIGN MATERIAL: BLACKSAD, Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido, Dark Horse Comics

BEST INKER: Mark Morales, THOR, Marvel Comics

BEST NEW SERIES: AMERICAN VAMPIRE, Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque, Vertigo/DC Comics

MOST PROMISING NEW TALENT: Chris Samnee, THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER, Marvel Comics

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS: Roger Langridge, THE MUPPET SHOW, BOOM! Studios

BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC PUBLICATION FOR YOUNGER READERS: TINY TITANS, Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, DC Comics

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED: BEASTS OF BURDEN: ANIMAL RITES, Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson, Dark Horse Comics

BEST ANTHOLOGY: POPGUN # 4, edited by D.J. Kirkbride, Anthony Wu and Adam P. Knave, Image Comics

BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT: DAVE STEVENS’ THE ROCKETEER: ARTIST’S EDITION, designed by Randall Dahlk & edited by Scott Dunbier, IDW

BEST COVER ARTIST: Mike Mignola, HELLBOY, Dark Horse Comics

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION: THE ART OF JAIME HERNANDEZ: THE SECRETS OF LIFE AND DEATH, edited by Todd Hignite, Abrams ComicArts

SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION: DAVE STEVENS’ THE ROCKETEER: ARITIST’S EDITION, designed by Randall Dahlk & edited by Scott Dunbier, IDW

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM – ORIGINAL: SCOTT PILGRM VOLUME 6: SCOTT PILGRIM’S FINEST HOUR, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Oni Press

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES: LOVE AND ROCKETS: VOLUME 3, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Fantagraphics

BEST WRITER: Roger Langridge, THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER, Marvel Comics

BEST ARTIST: Darwyn Cooke, RICHARD STARK’S PARKER: THE OUTFIT, IDW

BEST CARTOONIST: Darwyn Cooke, RICHARD STARK’S PARKER: THE OUTFIT, IDW

BEST SINGLE ISSUE or STORY: DAYTRIPPER, Fabio Moon and Gabiel Ba, Vertigo/DC Comics

Special Awards: to Paul McSpadden, Harvey Award Administrator, presented by Denis Kitchen.

Hero Initiative Dick Giordano Humanitarian of the Year: Mike Gold, presented by Mark Wheatley

Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award: Stan Lee, presented by Mark Waid

Update: No wifi here, so live results will be on Twitter. Follow us there!

The 2011 Harvey Awards are being presented at a banquet tonight at the Baltimore Comic-Con, and we’re liveblogging and tweeting the ceremony results and awards.

Named in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman, one of the industry’s most innovative talents, the Harvey Awards recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art.

Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by creators – those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. They are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. Thank you to all that have already participated by submitting a nomination ballot.

This will be the sixth year for the Harvey Awards in Baltimore, MD. Our Master of Ceremonies this year for the third year in a row will be Scott Kurtz (www.pvponline.com). And this year’s keynote speaker has a hard job, as last year’s infamous keynote speech from Mark Waid will be tough to top.

Below are the 2011 Harvey Award Nominees. Winners will be highlighted in bold as they are announced.
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Chalk up FRIGHT NIGHT as the newest cult reboot to hit theaters and we talk to original actor Chris Sarandon about his role in the new version, and his recollections about the first. Plus if you paid big bucks for a copy of ELSEWORLDS 80 PAGE GIANT, better unload it quick!

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When I started out in comics in the late 1970s when dinosaurs walked the earth, the comic book business was like a small town. It was possible to be at least a nodding acquaintance of all the major players on the publishing side, and quite a few of the retailers as well.It was a small town – a small town scattered around the world. And like all small towns, there was always gossip.

Gossip, being gossip, is often nothing but lies. However, I’ve always found it fascinating because 1) I’m petty and shallow and 2) even untrue gossip reveals something about our feelings for the person involved.

Back in the day, the gossip was a particularly heady mixture of sex, drugs, and the kind of behavior that can only be the result of hideous self-loathing and bad brain chemistry. People would date, cheat, marry, divorce, hook-up, stalk each other – the usual.

And then there were those who were less usual. I don’t know if the stories were true, but they were fascinating: Freelancers who lived in their cars because they couldn’t manage their money, as opposed to freelancers who lived in their cars because they worked for scumbags. People who were such hoarders that they couldn’t walk from one room to another. The editor who did so much coke that they’d find this person dancing on the desk. The editor who had sex in the elevator on way to the office. The freelancer whose wife, looking for him, screamed into the phone so loudly that you could hear her across the office, even though she was out of state.

There is something both charming and small-minded about <a href=”

kind of gossip. The small-mindedness is obvious. The majority uses gossip to keep everyone in line, obeying the rules. The charming part develops from the fact that we all knew each other and, for the most part, cared about each other.

Today, comics is a bigger business and a bigger scene. There’s more money at stake, and the stories (true or not) have changed accordingly. Now we hear about the men whose marriages fell apart because they were having affairs with their publicists. Or maybe they left their wives for an actress on the set of the movie based on their books. Or maybe it’s a coke habit. The same vices are involved, but the rise in status ups the ante. People (thankfully) can afford to go to rehab. They can afford to pay child support. The problems might grow with the money available, but so do the solutions.

There’s also a different tone. There is more envy, and, as a result, more a note of satisfaction when the person being discussed can’t handle success. It’s meaner.

We aren’t living in that small town anymore where we care about each other. We’re not even in Kansas anymore.

Martha Thomases, Dominoed Dare-Doll, has been a comic industry publicist for two decades, and no client ever made a pass at her. The stories she hears make her wonder what’s wrong with her.SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman