Michael DeForge's webcomic Leaving Richard's Valley wins Cartoonist Studio Prize
Toronto comic creator Michael DeForge has won the Cartoonist Studio Prize for best web comic, a $1,000 award presented by the Slate Book Review and Vermont's Center for Cartoon Studies.
DeForge's comic strip Leaving Richard's Valley follows a group of cute, anthropomorphic creatures working through their feelings on life, death, art, love and fame, as well as their relationship to a charismatic man named Richard. The strip can be found on Instagram @richardsvalley.
"DeForge's series is frequently funny, sometimes harrowing and always deeply strange," Slate declared in their announcement.
A Western World is DeForge's upcoming print comic, to be published by Koyama Press in May 2018. His previous work includes the Lose series, Ant Colony and Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero.
Israeli comic creator Keren Katz won the Cartoonist Studio Prize for best print comic for her book This Academic Hour. She will also receive $1,000.
"Like dispatches from another dimension, Katz's drawings distend the ordinary geometry of the comics page, much as desire contorts the imagination," Slate praised in their announcement.
The judges for this prize were Slate writer Jacob Brogan, Kevin Czap representing faculty and students at the Center for Cartoon Studies and Andrew Farago of San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum.