Night Falls on the Day Prize, but the Night Is Filled Stars...

The finalists for the 2008 SPACE Prize were announced on Monday. The winner will be picked from three voting bodies. Two rotating judges will have one vote each and one "popular vote" will be culled from votes by all the registered SPACE 2008 Exhibitors (via emails sent to SPACE Coordinator, Bob Corby). The judges for this year are the 2007 Day Prize winners, Matt and Carol Dembicki (acting as one legal entity), and the “God-father of Small Press Comics,” Tim Corrigan.

The finalists were chosen from all the books that were collected for the Howard E. Day Memorial Prize at SPACE 2008. It wasn’t until afterward that Dave Sim revealed that he was disbanding the Day Prize (and all future convention appearances) in order to focus on writing and drawing comics. Says Corby, “Losing the Day Prize is small consolation for having regularly produced Dave Sim work on comic store shelves. We'd like to thank Dave Sim for having the Day Prize here at SPACE for the last 7 years and wish him the best on his projects.” Among the finalists are local talents Craig Bogart (The Ineffables) and Max Ink (Blink). Max also happens to be the coordinator of Sunday Comix (and the author of this blog entry). "There were a lot of great books submitted this time around and I'm honored to be included," says Ink.

The winner of the SPACE Prize will receive a cash prize of $300.00 and a plaque. The plaque presentation will be held during SPACE 2009 on April 18 and 19, 2009 at the Aladdin Shire CenterColumbus. in

THE 2008 SPACE Prize Finalists:

Birth
Alterna Comics
Michael S. Bracco
23 Trumpet Lane Suite A
Levittown NY 11756
$12.00
(buy online)

Blink: Barefoot in America,
Breakfast in the Park
ONWARDStudio
Max Ink
1440 W. Rich St. 5
Columbus OH 43223
$4.00

(buy online)

Breathers 1
Justin Madson
708 Birch St.
Baraboo WI 53913
$6.50

(buy online)

Clockwork Creature: Chapter One
Ambrosia Publishing
Kyle Strahm- Artist Writer
Wesley Craig Green-Editor
96 Wilcox St.
Timmins Ontario, Canada P4N 3K9
$6.95
(buy online)

Concepcion
Pretentious Comics
Rickey Gonzales
P.O.Box 14376
Chicago IL 60614
$3.00
(buy online)

The Secret History
of the Ineffables Part 1
Mystery City Comics
Craig Bogart
2714 Ruhl Ave.
Bexley OH 43209
$3.00

Lackluster World 5
Gen:Eric Publishing
Eric Adams
2245 Hannaford Ave.
Cincinnati OH 45212
$7.00
(buy online)

The Serial Squad !
Bad Place Productions
Paul E. Schultz- Writer/Artist
Jon Hodges- Editor
P.O.Box 18755
Cleveland Heights OH 44118
$5.95 & $2.00 S&H
(buy online)

A Thorn in the Side
Carbon-Based Books
Bill Knapp
2526 Rainbow Dr.
Lafayette IN 47904
$14.95 & $2.25 S&H
(buy online)

Autumn Cons

The San Diego Comic-Con is seen as the premiere comic book convention. Well, sure-- for the Summer comic book conventions. But here in the east side of the Mid West, the Mid-Ohio-Con is the "must-attend"reigning champ of and Autumn comic book conventions. This year, it's moved from its usual late November Thanksgiving weekend to an early October (4 & 5) show date. This year's guest list is building up to an impressive one. (The recent addition of Chris Claremont is quite a coup.)

Here in Ohio and beyond, there are a few other conventions that are deserving of your attention: Canton Comic & Sci-Fi Convention (Sept 14), INDYFEST (Sept 21), Screaming Tiki Con (Oct 17-19), Toledo Comic & Sci-Fi Convention, (Nov 16) and the XCape Con (Nov 22-23).