After an astounding premier live awards ceremony at Heroes Con on June 4-6,  the non-profit Inkwell Awards is gearing up for their fifth season of recognizing inking excellence in the comic book community and promoting the art form.  One highlight is the recruitment of additional star talent to the roster of Inkwell Ambassadors, a role that adds exposure and credibility to the organization and it's mission.  Two of the three additions from their 2011 Inkwell tour stop at Pittsburgh Comicon are artists Phil Jimenez and Eric Basaluda.

Artist Phil Jimenez is known for his work as a writer and penciler, often inking his own pencil work, and has a reputation for utilizing meticulous detail in his art.  First hired at DC in 1991, his career has propelled him to notable runs on series such as Wonder Woman, The Invisibles, Team Titans, Tempest, and event projects like War of the Gods, 52 and Infinite Crisis.  For Marvel he produced fan-favorite art for Amazing Spider-Man, …

I doubt there’s been a more polarizing figure in the history of comic books than Stan Lee.  Depending on whom you believe he’s a shyster, a creator, a fraud, a visionary, a liar, misunderstood or an opportunist.  It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t have a strong opinion of the man and there are distinct camps, those who believe that Stan Lee had no input into the creation of the Marvel Universe as we know it and that he took credit for the work of Jack Kirby.  There are those who believe that both Stan and Jack collaborated, and those who feel that the Kirby camp continually try to dismiss Stan’s role and place in the history of comic books.  Stan, self-admittedly, has a shockingly poor memory; however this is nothing new – he’s been stating that for decades now.  Stan doesn’t remember things as well as people would want him to, but then, for some, it matters not – unless Stan were to come out and state that Jack Kirby created, wrote and edited everything that Marvel produced in the …