Of course it does, just as I’m trying to get things together for SDCC 2013. Well, let’s see what we’ve got.

• Probably the biggest news of the day is the release of the official Harvey Awards nominees, wherein indy- and web-type creators are killing it:
  • Creator-owned SAGA takes seven nominations, including Best Writer, Best Artist, Best Colorist, Best Cover Artist, Best New Series, Best Continuing or Limited Series, and Best Single Issue or Story.
  • Longtime independent creator Terry Moore has been justly recognized for Rachel Rising, which has unfortunately now gotten fully into the “critical lauded, but nowhere near widely read” territory. Seriously, if you backed The Sleep of Reason or read Broodhollow you should be reading Rachel Rising, which is nominated for Best Cartoonist and Best Continuing or Limited Series.
  • Ed Ryzowski, who colors Evil, Inc, The Gutters, Looking for Group, and Terminals, is nominated for Best Colorist alongside colleagues from Marvel, Image, and Archie.
  • Adventure Time is tabbed for Best New Series (against the aforementioned SAGA and the critically-acclaimed breakout hit of the year, Hawkeye), Special Award for Humor in Comics (okay, that’s actually a nomination for writer Ryan North, who is competing with Jim Zub for Skullkickers among others), and Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers.
  • That last category, Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers? Other nominees include Cow Boy (where artist Chris Eliopoulos is also up for Best Letterer), Amelia Rules, and Drama; this category is an embarrassment of riches.
  • Most directly relevant to this page, the nods for Best Online Comics Work have been given to:
    • Bandette, Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover
    • Battlepug, Mike Norton
    • The Dreamer, Lora Innes
    • Nimona, Noelle Stevenson
    • Sheldon, Dave Kellett

  And that’s just scratching the surface. Every year there’s talk about the Harveys getting gamed by publisher block-voting, but this year appears to feature a hell of a lot of strong work. Fleen congratulates all the nominees.

• Speaking of Broodhollow, it just keeps getting better and better, and the first arc of the ongoing story finished up today and oh man did Kris Straub deliver up a satisfying twist to the story. End of the arc seems a good place to make a book, and coincidentally the Kickstarter for Broodhollow Book One: Curious Little Thing launched about four hours back.

  My guess is that as good as Broodhollow is (and it is very, very good) three days a week, it is going to be even moreso to devastating degree in large chunks. It is one of the most prickling-unease-crawling-at-the-back-of-your-brain stories that you will ever read, and I urge you in the strongest possible terms to back it now. Also, to keep the patterns and check all the doors and look directly at that which haunts you because then it can’t get you.

• Speaking of Ryan North, The AV Club gave an absolutely glowing review to This Is How You Die, which North edited along with Matt Bennardo and David Malki !. Remember, TIHYD drops tomorrow, and if you’re flying to SDCC your mission is to see if it can be purchased in an airport bookstore.
• Speaking of Jim Zub, I’m a little late on this one, but did you see that he’s going to be writing a Samurai Jack comic series for IDW? I don’t feel so bad about him getting jerked around by DC back in January now, since I imagine he’ll have far more creative independence working on Samurai Jack than he would have in an environment driven by editorial fiat.

  In other news, that’s another book I’ll have to add to my pull list come October, and with any luck it’ll go from five-issue miniseries to ongoing. That’s more likely to occur if lots of us buy it, and more Zub is always a good thing, so write yourself a note to buy it when it comes out.

• Lastly, best of luck to the Team Venture crew (a significant fraction of whom are the creators of Little Gamers as they set out on the first leg of their drive to Ulan Bator. You can follow their progress here, where it seems that they’re currently in the Czech Republic, in a corner of the world where Western infrastructure (beer, wifi, democratic regimes) are reasonably common and the countries fit into single time zones. They’ve got a long way to go yet, and vast open countries to cross, and we at Fleen wish them safe travels and sane adventure.