Editor’s Note: Arlington-based comic book editor Jason Rodriguez is sending us his dispatches from a cross-country trip investigating the comics scene around the country. Read Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.

Let’s just get it out of the way: I lost. I lost to a fantastic book, 5, an independently produced anthology with a lot of love and creator support on its side. The book had some gorgeous work from twin brothers Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, and Rafael Grampa. It deserved to win, all of the books nominated deserved to win (well, except Best American Comics 2007 since it was a reprint collection). I just didn’t think it would win. Since the awards are done and I can be honest, I thought Mome would have taken it home. I saw it getting overwhelming indie-creator support and a healthy dose of retailer support. I actively tried to garner some creator support for my own book, sending out hard-and-digital copies of the books to whoever wanted one so they could vote with confidence, but I didn’t think that would be enough to turn the tide on Mome. And then 5 came along and spanked us both. I also want to give some love to the fantastic 24Seven Volume 2, the fifth book nominated for Best Anthology. Ivan Brandon did a great job putting the Robots-in-NYC anthology together and it deserved the nom.

The whole thing happened so fast. Paul Dini read off the nominees and a second later I realized I had lost. In retrospect, I’m kind of happy that the anthology that beat me only had one syllable in its title; it made the whole experience quick and painless. Well, the beers made it painless. Now I’m up for two Harvey Awards in September. Best Anthology and Special Award for Excellence in Presentation. With the former, I’m up against Mome again and I doubt it’ll be knocked back twice. With the latter, I’m up against Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, which proved to have a tremendous following by picking up eight Harvey Nominations. So I’m not expecting much at the Harvey’s this year. Just a free meal, really.

I should point out that if I lose both Harvey awards, the books I’ve edited will be 0-for-10 at major award ceremonies, making me a contender for the Susan Lucci Of Comics Award.

Anyway – there’s more to San Diego than the Eisner Awards.