IMPACT author Steve Ellis and his High Moon collaborators David Gallaher and Scott O. Brown have won a 2009 Harvey Award for best online comics work. The prestigious award ceremony, named after comic great Harvey Kurtzman, was held Saturday at the Baltimore Comic-Con.

Steve won’t have time to rest on his laurels anytime soon. He has a new intrigue-style comic called Box 13 coming out for the iPhone this week, and he’s working on a Marvel Winter Guard project, due out this December. If you’re in the Brooklyn area this Saturday, stop by Bergen Street Comics for a High Moon and Scream book signing.

Happy Friday everyone! We’re wrapping up the week with a fourth installment of super-awesome designer Wendy Dunning’s exploits at Mid-Ohio-Con:

With a Little Help from Your Friends
Comic Art Collaboratives and Groups
I found that Columbus has a couple of groups of folks that get together to share their art with each other. One of these is Sunday Comix, founded by Max Ink. Sunday Comix meets once a month (on a Sunday) so that members can share works in progress and get feedback. It’s open to artists, writers and readers. Their website is www.sundaycomix.blogspot.com. They are sponsoring Comix from the Crypt, a haunting art show of member’s works, now through the end of the month of October. A couple of members are pictured here.

Also in Columbus is a group called PANEL. This is a writers and artists collaborative that publishes anthologies with Ferret Press. The anthologies come out twice a year, with the current one being number 14, PANEL of Horror. I stopped to talk to Brent Bowman, who did the cover art for PANEL of Horror.

Q: How long have you been doing this?
A: So long, I can’t remember. But more in the last 4 years since I’ve been with PANEL.

Brent is working on a comic called Allied Powers (www.alliedpowerscomic.com). The writer is Craig Bogart, who has his own comic called The Ineffables (www.theineffables.com). I picked up a couple of issues of both. The Ineffables is kooky fun from the two issues I’ve read so far, and I have not yet broken into Allied Powers.

PANEL website: www.ferretpress.com/weblog
Ferret Press: www.ferretpress.com

The moral of the story: hook up with some of your comic buds to keep the comics dream alive.

Here’s a book by some comic artists that work together: Wreaking Havoc. Written by Jim Pavalec, Chris Seaman, Chuck Lukacs and Thomas Manning, this book shows you how to draw the characters and creatures that wreak havoc and their weapons of destruction. And if October has you in the mood for some horror, check out Jim Pavalec’s Hell Beasts or Steve Ellis’s Scream.

Fellow IMPACTians, wait no more. Today we bring you badass designer Wendy Dunning’s third installment about her adventures at Mid-Ohio-Con last weekend in Columbus, Ohio:

Lots of folks think small press publications when they think indie comics, but nothing is more independent than putting the entire thing together yourself. That’s what Ryan Claytor does with his autobiographical series And Then One Day. This is no straight-up autobiography; rather than Ryan telling the story of his life, he asked his friends to do the work and then translated that into comic form. Check the series out on Ryan’s website www.elephanteater.com. It’s a great site, and you can preview samples from his books as well as order them and other assorted goodies.

I first saw Ryan in San Diego at the 2008 Comic-Con, and with this con being a little less crazy, I stopped to ask him a few questions:

Q: When did you know you wanted to do these comics?
A: It was shortly after college. I’d collected comics as a kid, but just kind of forgot about them. Then a friend asked for a ride to a comic store, and I just got inspired again, especially by the work of Sergio Aragonés. Then I did an internship with Marvel, and I’ve been doing my own stuff for about 5 years.

Q: What’s your favorite comic?
A: Groo the Wanderer

Q: What’s your favorite TV show?
A: I like to watch HGTV. I’m hoping to own a house someday.

For more on creating your own comics check out Insider’s Guide to Creating Comics and Graphic Novels or Manga Pro Superstar Workshop.