PAUL: Your grandfather is obviously intent on seeing you live in his dimension permanently. Is it just out of love or do you think it’s something else entirely?

EMILY: Sometimes I think he does it because he's bored. He wasn't this evil before he retired. Now he's got all this spare time, and it's either sitting around doing nothing or building a bigger and badder badbot. Like a hobby. Also, grandpa was an inventor. My dad is an inventor. Big competition thing going on there.

Antigone
Black & White, 32 pages
written by David Hopkins
illustrated by Tom Kurzanski
SRP: $2.95

Antigone stands against King Creon for the right to bury her dead brother. This new version of the Oedipus trilogy is a Goth fantasy, mixing ancient and modern -- a dark, twisted, distorted perspective, playfully obscure. From the creators of Karma Incorporated with epilogue by Greek literature expert Aaron Nelson Thomas.

The Eisner Awards, the comic book industry's answer to the Oscars, gave some love to the Dallas area over the weekend. PVP, written by Scott Kurtz of Little Elm, won the Eisner for best digital comic. And Zeus Toys and Comics in Turtle Creek Village won the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award. Zeus is the first Texas store to win the retail award in its 14-year history.

Richard Neal, Zeus' owner and one half of its full-time staff, said he was so shocked by his store's win that he forgot his acceptance speech. "Everything I was supposed to say went right out the window," Neal said yesterday. "I said, 'I sell your comic books, I love what I do,' then I squealed and ran off the stage."

Scott Hinze, host of Fort Worth's Fanboy Radio, said the retail prize is the Eisner with the most heated competition: "People will walk out if they don't win."

Stores are nominated by their customers. Neal credited Zeus' nomination to David Hopkins, the Arlington-based writer of Emily Edison, a graphic novel published this month by Irving's Viper Comics. "That was an honor in itself, that some of the small-press people in town nominated us," Neal said.

Hopkins said Neal, 36, has always supported local creators. Last year, Zeus bought 200 copies of his Karma Incorporated and gave them away. "It's just the sort of things that Richard does that are beyond the call of duty and rationale that make [Zeus] one of those stores you want to stand behind," Hopkins said.

David Hopkins fills this comic book with snappy dialogue and funny bits that had me giggling throughout. It's a thoroughly charming series of four stories that each stand alone but also fit together to tell a larger arc of reconciliation between Emily's estranged family members. This comic has a sweet spirit to it that is missing from so many current comic books, yet it is thoroughly modern in its style and presentation. Once again, Viper has a winner.

Marlena Hall, comic colorist (Dead@17: Protectorate, Villains back story, Karma Incorporated and others), is set to participate in 2006's blogathon for charity. On Saturday, July 29th, at 6:00 AM PST she will be updating her blog every 30 minutes for 24 hours. The (non-profit) organization she will be blogging for is Friends of Lulu. Sponsor her by going HERE. Sponsor money can be a flat pledge, or a per blog pledge. After it's over all sponsors will get an email telling them where exactly to send the money. Marlena's blog, Marlena's Empty Lunchbox, can be found HERE.

Helping her out with posting ideas will be her husband and art team partner, Benjamin Hall, who will be doing some sketches and pinups and Marlena will color some and post their progress on her blog. She will also be attending this year's San Diego Comic Con and will be writing about the convention and posting pictures from the event. For more information, please visit the blogathon website, or Marlena's website, BlueSkyComics.com, or send Marlena an email at marlena@blueskycomics.com.

Q: This seems like an ideal book for teenage girls. Was that your target demographic?

A: I was really wanting to do something my daughter would enjoy. I wish more girls were reading comics. So in a sense, I was writing for an audience that doesn't exist, but I hope it does.