Cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the band Gorillaz, is nominated for the Designer of the Year award. BBC]** A fund to support journalists, writers, cartoonists and artists is launched. The fund is intended to help those who become persecuted for their work in the Middle East or North Africa. The fund was developed at the International Conference on Freedom of Expression in the Arab World, held in Amman, Jordan in December 2005. International Freedom of Expression Exchange]The Comics Reporter]** Comic book writer J. Torres is to write a series of graphic novels based on the popular television drama series . newsarama]** German manga Yonen Buzz's first volume is released in English by Tokyopop.
The Children's Publishing division of Reader's Digest announce a licensing deal with Marvel Comics which will see them launch a line of interactive books based on popular Marvel characters. Newsarama]* January 31, 2006:
Spike TV have greenlit a thirteen episode series based on the Blade comics and films. newsarama]** Todd McFarlane Toys announce a deal with Warner Bros. allowing it to produce a line of action figures based on characters from the Hanna-Barbera library. Newsarama]