Accepting the ’Ringo Award for Best Humor Webcomic

This has been a bonkers week. I spent Wednesday through Friday at the National Cartoonists Society event for their annual Reuben Awards. I was nominated for Best Online Longform Comic, along with Dave Kellett and Phil Foglio. Then, on Saturday, it was off to Baltimore for the ’Ringo Awards dinner, where I was nominated for Best Humor Webcomic.

The Reubens

As we were walking to the dinner, I shared my doubts that I'd be accepting an award that night. My wife grabbed me by the arm and said, "Just take a moment to think about what Brad Guigar from 23 years ago would think about this moment." Holy moly. She was right. When I was starting in 2000, no one was considering me for membership in a professional organization. The National Cartoonist Society flatly refused membership to webcartoonists at that time. That wasn't out of spite, necessarily. The concept of independently publishing comics on the Web was brand new at that point in time. And folks need a little time to get used to new things. Fast-forward a couple of decades, and I'm not only a member, but they're nominating me for an award?! The Me from 2000 would be gobsmacked.

Phil Foglio won the award, and I was overjoyed. You don't feel bad about losing to a guy like Phil. You feel pride that your name was mentioned in the same sentence as his.

Old friends and new

I had an amazing time at the NCS event, where I saw many old friends and made a few new ones. Including this guy...

The event was held in Jersey City, NJ, and it was three days of pure happiness. On Friday, Dave Kellett and I performed our podcast live as part of the Farewell Brunch. We were overjoyed to interview outgoing NCS president Jason Chatfield (The New Yorker, "Ginger Meggs") and Sarah Andersen ("Sarah's Scribbles," "Fangs," "Cryptid Club"). Both of them filled my heart.

Hearts full... arteries, too

OK... that reminds me of one of my favorite moments. You know you're at an NCS event when the brunch conversation goes like this:

"D'ya wanna hear about MY heart attack?"

The son of a well-known syndicated comics legend had just mesmerized us with a harrowing tale of clogged arteries and life-saving medical wizardry when another household name at the table delivered that line with all of the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old who had just captured their first frog!

And I mean that sincerely. These folks are storytellers by nature, and they LOVE getting cued for a good tale. The NCS is a grey group, so OF COURSE, there will be a couple of stories like this in the mix. But both narratives were compelling — and told masterfully. It was a privilege to be at that table, hearing those tales.

But still... "D'ya wanna hear about MY heart attack?" was an exclamation that made me beam with a weird kind of joy.

The ’Ringo Awards

On Saturday, it was off to Baltimore for the ’Ringo Awards, where I had been nominated for Best Humor Webcomic. The dinner was outstanding (and that's hard to do for such a large crowd). Plus, when these folks assemble a goodie bag, they pull out all the stops.

The danged thing weighed at least twenty pounds and was stuffed with books my kids are fighting over as we speak! I even took home a pair of stemless wine glasses embossed with the ’Ringo Awards logo. I've attended the Reubens, the Eisners, and the Harvey Awards. Nobody treats you like family like the ’Ringos.

Then this happened...

To say I was caught off-guard is putting it mildly. If you watch the video, you may see my hands shaking. Although my wife was foremost on my mind at that moment, I feel bad that I neglected to mention colorist Alex Heberling, whose tireless efforts to make my work look beautiful are beyond exaggeration.

As always, I want to thank you for your kindness, your encouragement — and for making this community such a welcoming place of comics camaraderie. Thank you to everyone who nominated me for these awards and to those of you who voted for me. I'm still a little overwhelmed by the experience.