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Moyashimon Wins Major Japanese Comic Prize

This weekend, the winners of the 12th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, were announced in Japan. The awards, which were named after the Astro Boy creator, recognize the best in manga and comics that follow Tezuka’s influential approach. The winner of 2 million yen (about $20,000) and this year’s Manga Grand Prize is artist Masayuki Ishikawa, whose Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture had also been nominated for the top honor in the two previous years.

Part scientific education and part bizarre entertainment, Moyashimon follows a college student who discovers that he can see and communicate with the germs and micro-organisms all around him. The off-beat franchise was first published in manga form in 2004, before it was adapted into a short-lived anime series late last year. Watch a clip of the show (with English subtitles!) after the jump.

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Brace Yourself For New York Comic Con

photo: medium at large

It’s New York Comic Con, it’s New York Comic Con! Yes, today is the first day for fanboys, virgins, and all manner of furries to descend upon Manhattan’s Javits Center for a long weekend of pen-and-ink revelry. We have our own spies stationed there all weekend attending panels and collecting intel, but for now, enjoy the official NYCC blog’s picture of the very first desperate and/or misanthropic fans lined up waiting to sweaty-palmedly bumrush their favorite creators (above). Our personal favorite is the black warlock with the conk. That shit is hot in the shire, son! After the jump, peep some superhero ha with NYCC’s official promo videos. “This is a PUMPKIN BOMB, man. I will END YOU.” LOLGoblin!

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Comic O.G. Will Eisner Gets A Documentary

Will Eisner is to comics as KRS-One is to hip-hop. Though they come from bygone eras and relative to today’s creative output their stuff seems mad old school, they’re basically the G.O.A.T.s. Where KRS literally made The Blueprint, with his album of the same name, Eisner figuratively made the blueprint with his definitive tome on how to tell stories with pictures, Comics And Sequential Art. Plus both have abnormally large noses.

Anyhow, Will passed in ’05, but since homeboy invented the graphic novel with Contract With God (1978), and The Spirit, his most famous creation, is currently being adapted into a movie directed by Frank Miller and staring Scarlett Johansson, he’s clearly as relevant today as ever. Need more proof? A documentary called Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist (watch the trailer after the jump) is being screened at New York Comic Con this Friday at noon. You must learn!

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Your Favorite Superhero Could Be An Evil Alien

Just as a precaution, we pretty much assume everyone we meet is a Skrull. Just on the off chance.

Well, according to “Secret Invasion,” the year’s most highly-anticipated comic from Marvel, we might be on the right track. Apparently the evil shape-shifting aliens are among us, posing as some of our most beloved superheroes. Writer Brian Michael Bendis has a blockbuster on his hands with this one, and the good folks at EW recently leaked a preview of the premiere issue’s first 12 pages, which won’t hit shelves until April. Check ’em out after the jump…

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Wikipedia for Comics

Wikipedia spin-offs continue to pop up. First Chickipedia, now Comic Vine—a new online resource for all things superhero related. The site is a throwback for former comic card collectors with each entry’s extensive biography, accompanied by a user-generated ranking of the heroes by their super human attributes (speed, strength, etc.). Fan boys have another reason to sweat.

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“Kick-Ass” Only Lives Up To Half Its Name

You gotta love the name Kick-Ass. John Romita Jr.’s cover and interior art definitely live up to the title. From the jump pain, brutality and general mayhem of all sorts take center stage in the comic. But Mark Millar’s story arc doesn’t really get traction.

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The Marvelous Uncanny X-Men

Seeing Complex in the new Uncanny X-Men feels a little surreal. Our Man of Next Year (December/January 2008), Marvel penciler Mike Choi gave Complex a nod by drawing us on the newsstand with a few other fine magazines, and gossip rags. Big ups to Marvel’s newest prodigy. The new Uncanny X-Men is due this March.

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