I love awards, although it’s just an honor to be nominated, right? The Hugo Awards are named for Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories. They are science fiction’s most celebrated award and are sponsored by the World Science Fiction Society, who hands them out at each year’s Worldcon. They’ve been around since 1955, and the new 2010 nominees have just been announced.

The good news for funnybook fanatics is that the Hugos have a comic book category and this year’s nominees (under the heading of “Best Graphic Story”) offer a pretty wide-ranging bunch.

In alphabetical order, they are:

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Written by Neil Gaiman; Pencilled by Andy Kubert; Inked by Scott Williams (DC Comics)

Captain Britain And MI13. Volume 3: Vampire State. Written by Paul Cornell; Pencilled by Leonard Kirk with Mike Collins, Adrian Alphona and Ardian Syaf (Marvel Comics)

Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages. Written by Bill Willingham; Pencilled by Mark Buckingham; Art by Peter Gross & Andrew Pepoy, Michael Allred, David Hahn; Colour by Lee Loughridge & Laura Allred; Letters by Todd Klein (Vertigo Comics)

Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm. Written by Kaja and Phil Foglio; Art by Phil Foglio; Colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)

Schlock Mercenary: The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse. Written and Illustrated by Howard Tayler

I enjoyed Gaiman & Co.’s Batman story, but it’s Batman. I also liked the Captain Britain comics, but I have a bias because at one time I was Leonard Kirk’s editor and at another time, he illustrated some comic books I wrote (Dinosaurs For Hire). I’ve never read Fables, so I can’t comment except to say that lots of folks love it. Girl Genius and Schlock Mercenary are excellent choices because, unlike the other three nominees, they are characters created by the nominees, not products of the corporate comics environment, and both are hugely popular and successful webcomics.

Congratulations to all nominees and good luck!