The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘Kill Me, Don’t Be Absurd’ Edition
by Richard Bruton
Put down the knitting, the book and the broom, it’s time for the Sunday Spotlight…
HARVEY AWARDS ANNOUNCES 2025 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES…
The Harvey Awards have their 37th iteration at the New York Comic Con (happening 9th-12th October). But they’ve already announced six of the Hall of Fame recipients for 2025 – all rather legends in the medium… Wendy and Richard Pini, Patrick McDonnell, John Byrne, Peter David, and Barbara Shermund.
Of course, the Harvey Awards are named for the legend that is Harvey Kurtzman, creator of MAD, one of the finest cartoonists there’s ever been, not to mention an author, satirist, editor, and designer. This year’s Harvey Awards Hall of Fame inductees are, likewise, a rather talented crop of folks. First, there’s the husband and wife team of Wendy and Richard Pini, creators of ElfQuest, a huge, huge book, massively influential in its time.
‘What an astonishing surprise! Wendy and I are honored to be inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame. We used to wonder why this or that book of ElfQuest always seemed to fly under the ‘award radar.’ This acknowledgement brings the answer into focus. ElfQuest isn’t a single issue or series; rather, it is the cumulative work of both our lives, and we are deeply grateful for the recognition.’ – Richard Pini
Next, there’s cartoonist and author Patrick McDonnell, of Mutts fame. Then we have two recipients famous for their work at Marvel and DC, writer/artist John Byrne and writer Peter David. Sadly, of course, the award for David is a posthumous one, as he passed away on 24 May 2025 at the age of 68 following many years of health issues. And finally, a name few will recognise, I think – Barbara Shermund, one of the first women cartoonists to work for The New Yorker (again, a posthumous award, as Shermund passed in 1978, aged 79).
WENDY & RICHARD PINI DONATE $500K TO COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY FOR THE UNIVERSITY’S COMIC AND GRAPHIC NOVEL COLLECTION…
Following on from the Harvey Hall Of Fame announcement (above), although this actually happened back in February and I completely missed it, Wendy and Richard Pini, creators of ElfQuest, donated half a million Dollars to Columbia University. The donation is to help fund the growing collection of comics, graphic novels, and related prose works at the University.
Karen Green, curator for comics and cartoons at Columbia’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library says:
‘The money will go for acquisitions and stewardship for circulating and archival collections. Stewardship is a really all-embracing and umbrella term, covering digitization, preservation, anything to make sure things are accessible safely. There was a big ‘et cetera’ to the grant.’
The Pinis have already donated their huge personal archive to the University in 2013, a move they made, like an increasing number of other older comic creators, to secure their work for posterity. And that reassurance of having their work safe and secure for the future is part of the reasoning behind the Pinis incredibly generous donation. As Richard Pini says:
‘…Part of it is making sure the thought behind (the original ElfQuest donation) goes on and on and on, having it preserved in a way we never thought it could. That was really important to us, and that’s why I thought about this. Let’s just do this monstrous thing, and know that it’s there for the ages. We want the story to live on. Columbia will last longer than this house (in upstate New York where they live), and longer than we will. So how do we make sure that Columbia has what it needs that we can provide? I just want her artwork to live forever.’
The ‘her’, of course, is Wendy Pini, and I, for one, can’t help but feel the love that comes through in that final sentence there, not to mention immense and justifiable pride in all Wendy and Richard have achieved in comics.
If you have never heard of ElfQuest, do yourselves a favour and go look at the ElfQuest comics library, where nearly every issue of the comic from 1978 and 2013 are available for you to read for free. Simply put, ElfQuest is nearly unique, the Pinis remaining in creative control and ownership of their characters throughout the entire publishing history. The ElfQuest comics and collections have been published over the years by many companies, including the Pini’s own WaRP, but also licenced and distributed by Marvel, DC and Dark Horse Comics. In short, their tales of ‘high fantasy with science-fictional roots,’ as Wendy Pini calls it, have entertained so many for so many years. Their incredibly generous donations will ensure that theirs and countless other creators’ work will be preserved for generations to come.
HEAD TO FORBIDDEN PLANET NEW YORK FOR THEIR HEAVY METAL SIGNING… 8 OCTOBER…
Issue #3 of Heavy Metal has a release and signing party on 8th October at Forbidden Planet’s New York City store. Special guests include John Stanisci, David Baron, Tom Napolitano, Marco Failla, and Dave Kelly.
PATCHWORK: A GRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY OF JANE AUSTEN – CHATTING WITH AUTHOR KATE EVANS AT THE CARTOON MUSEUM, LONDON – 28 OCTOBER…
Kate Evans‘ new graphic novel, a biography of Jane Austen, Patchwork, is published on 28th October. To coincide with this, Evans will be in conversation with Dr Nicola Streeten at the Cartoon Museum, London on the very same day.
The book delves deep into Austen’s life, including comic excerpts of Austen’s novels. On the day, you’ll have the chance to see Evans’ 17 foot long quilt emulating Austen’s own quilt,, and mirroring a portion of the book itself done in thread paintings.
Patchwork: A Graphic Biography of Jane Austen, by Kate Evans, is published by Verso on 28th October. The Cartoon Museum event takes place on publication day – doors 6.30 for a 7.00pm start. More details and booking details here.
AND FINALLY… HAPPY 75TH TO PEANUTS…
Charles Schulz‘s Peanuts was 75 years old on 2nd October 2025. It doesn’t need me to say that it’s brought joy to millions of readers over the years, and continues to do so.
