BlackOps Tagged With Five Glyph Award Nominations

    PHILADELPHIA, PA, April 12, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The award-winning creative team of Mshindo Kuumba, and Uraeus (Richard G. Tyler II), recognized in independent and underground comic circles as BlackOps, has been honored with five 2014 GLYPH AWARD NOMINATIONS.

The GLYPH COMICS AWARDS (GCA), which recognize the best comic books, graphic novels, comic strips, writers and artists, in Black-themed comic, sci-fi, and fantasy storytelling, is an annual celebration held Friday, May 16, 2014, from 6pm to 9pm, at the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) located at 7th and Arch Streets in Philadelphia, PA. The ceremony marks the official kickoff of the 13th Annual East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) which takes place Saturday, May 17, 2013. http://www.ecbacc.com

The nominations include BEST ARTIST (M. Kuumba for Anikulapo); BEST COVER (Indigo: Hit List 3.0); BEST REPRINT PUBLICATION (M. Kuumba for Early Days); BEST MALE CHARACTER (M. Kuumba for Anikulapo); and BEST FEMALE CHARACTER (R. Tyler for Indigo).

In an age when comic franchises dominate international box offices, Glyph Comics Awards Chairperson, Pamela Thomas, says "Black Comic books deserve a second look for the job that they do. Amid the numerous television shows and cinematic films starring heroes with fantastic abilities, very few, if any, feature African Americans in regular starring roles or depict them as being just as fantastic. But Black comics books are closing this gap. Within the pages of Black comic books, African Americans are the stars and can have their unique cultural stories told."

With this goal in mind, BlackOps continues to raise the bar by exhibiting excellence in performance, and specializing in the development of gold-standard, multimedia content that represents the very best that the African-American, and global African community has to offer. They seek to build on a highly successful 2013 campaign, highlighted by a Glyph Comics Award for Best Cover (Indigo: Hit List 2.0), and a clean sweep at the Urban Action Expo Awards in NYC (sponsored by HBO and Cinemax), with awards for Best Comic, and Best Art/Design (Indigo: Hit List 2.0).

Mshindo Kuumba is an art director, visual artist, comics creator, and cover artist who has lent his skills to such comic creations as Jaycen Wise, Indigo, The Horsemen, Ebony Warrior, Batman Chronicles, Nightwing, and Supergirl; as well as the award-winning Dynasty of the Magi video game franchise. His masterworks have also graced the covers of Vertigo Comic's Django Unchained, Queen Afua's Heal Thyself, and Charles Saunder's Dossouye, and Imaro novels.

Richard G. Tyler II is a writer, designer, artist, and publisher recognized, under the pseudonym Uraeus, as the creator of the award-winning spy-fi franchise, Indigo: Essence of the Assassin, as well as the underground, action/adventure series, Jaycen Wise, described in Black Comix: African American Independent Comics Art and Culture (Random House) as "an icon of black comics."

The complete list of GCA nominees can be seen at http://ecbacc.com/wordpress3/2014/2014-glyph-comics-awards-nominees/

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