Yes I’m back! And so is MC Vivek J. Tiwary! He starts out with a very moving speech (as usual) about how The Alcoholic by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel helped him get to a better place in his life, and how art is helping us get through dark times such as we have now.

And now the keynote speaker: Dean Haspiel! The shirts are barely staying on! Keep refreshing for up to the minute updates!

Despite calls to take off his shirt DEan delivers a somber, dignified speech. The heart of New York is its artists, he says, but the family is breaking up.

“The scene got taken hostage by the screen,” he says. Artists “made scary places cool enough to price us out. For the first time in my life I”m thinking of leaving NYC but I’m ga mental block about making that leap.”

“Come Sept. 3oth after many years in the same place, we will say our goodbyes. I’ll give a year to see how it shakes out, but I’m not sure.”

Haspiel recalls working in a comics shop as a teen and meeting Ben Oda who was lettering comics. The cartoonist world had become real to him. He started to make his own comics. “A superteam of Mercutio, Tybalt and Iago.” As a teen, he assisted Walt Simonson. Howard Chaykin and Bill Sienkiewicz. In Chicago he met Jessica Abel, JOhn Byrne and Harlen Ellison. “What a trio of talents.”

“I found my tribe at SPX, innovative but bucking the system. met people and got a fist bump from Will Eisner who said ‘You’re part of the future, kid.'” and now “When people ask how do I get attention for my comics I says ‘show up to your own party.”

Is comics a good career choice? A good way to spend the majority of your life?” He recalls the scene in American Splendor where Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) wakes up and says “I got a job…I got a job…”

“Every night when I go to sleep I have a panic attack and wonder what will happen? Will I get work? Is this where it stops? No one put a gun to my head but I chose comics. I pace around my apartment but eventually I lay down and pass out.

The only thing that lets me sleep for a few hours at a time is that I am not alone, that I have a family and I have all of you and we’re not breaking up, we are not going away. Some of you are wide awake when I am fighting sleep too.

“Sometime I wake up in the night and I think of you, and I think, ‘I got a family.’

“I got a family.”

Needless to say, this speech gets a standing ovation.

Whew.

Sorry for typos fixing as I go along. ‘

Up next Walt SImonson present a trio of awards:

Best Letterer: JOHN WORKMAN!

Best Colorist: Laura Allred

Best Comic Strip: Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed

And now Hope LArson is up to present. More ladies presenting this year, as word on the grapevine has it.

Best Online Comic: Battle Pug, Mike Norton

Best American EDition of Foreign Material, TIE

Two Brothers

Corto Maltese: Beyond the Windy Isles

Best Inker; Klaus Janson, Dark Knight III The Master Race

Best NEw Series: Paper Girls, Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

Terry Moore is now up to present and he live periscoping this! Log on now!

Best Newcomer: Tom King! A big crowd favorite.

Terry Moore jokes the next award is “Least promising newcomer.” but it is “Special Award for Humor in Comics.” All Valiant except Howard the Duck. “Don’t know how that Marvel one got in there,” jokes TErry.

And the winner is Chip Zdarsky, Howard The Duck! Mark Waid accepts. “Thank you for this award last year I turned this down when I was solely nominated, this year I have won as writer and Joe Quinones has NOTHING to do with the book. He is a nasty boy who needs to be punished.” Please check out the Periscope on this it is very funny!

VIvek is back to the podum to introduce Steve Geppi who began working in comics (as so many did) as a teenager. And when business ot rocky he decided to start his own business as a distributor. Vivek praises the Steve Geppi Entertainment museum but “it is only a small part of his colelciton and the rest is in a warehouse which is the shangrila, the area 51 for collectors.”

Geppi is up said he ran from the Orioles game, calls out Bob Chapman, “Where’s that ponytail? I put a bounty out on that yers ago and no one took me up on it.”

And the Hall of Fame inductee is Carl Barks! He died at age 99 but “no one ever lived a fuller life than Carl Barks.”

Geppi speaks of meeting Barks in and the painting he commissioned. GEppi also mentions Porky Pig #448. “I”m concenrabout the strap on Porky’s chest which way did it go?” So Barks calld the Mounties and figured out where it should go.

The night has been very special so far but it is only a third done…..

And now Katie Cook is up to present! Wow they really did up the female presenter qotient! Nice.

Best Original publication for YOunger Readers; LUmberjanes

Best Graphic Album Previously Published: The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal publshed by Iron Circus. go @ironspike!

Special Award for Exceent in Presentation: Peanuts a Tribute to Charles Shulz: Boom

Kristine Alger is up to present the Dick Giordano HUmanitarian of the Year Away to Beth Widera who started out as a teacher and ended up founding Megacon and supporting many lietracy efforts. Kristine breaks down in tears as she hands the award to her mother. Another standing ovation.

Now Dirk Wood is up, a “musician and right wing for the Grassholes” according to Vivek. Call sofr Wood to remove his shirt and firm denials. “A quick confession. I puleld the fire alarm today. I’m sorry.” Laughter. The BCC was evacuated by a fire alarm which must have been heckish. )I was long)

Best Domestic Reprint Project: Crimson Vol. 1 from Boom . Beat out three separate voluems of Quantum and Woody. Origianlly published by Wildstorm! “We are blown away to win this award!: says Ross Rochie, Boom! CEO.

Best Cover Artist: FIona Staples

Best Biographical or HIstorical Presentation: March Book Two

And now Charlie Kochman is up to induct Al Jaffee into the Harvey Kurtsman Hall of Fame. My Battery is about to die folks, follow me on Twitter! @comixace