San Diego, CA – Artist Aaron Conley won the 2014 Russ Manning Newcomer Award at the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, held on Friday, July 25 at Comic-Con International. Conley is the artist The Sabretooth Swordsman, published by Dark Horse Comics. Former Manning Award recipient Jeff Smith (BONE) presented the award.
The Manning Award has been given out annually at the San Diego Comic-Con since 1982. It is presented to a comics artist who, early in his or her career, shows a superior knowledge and ability in the art of creating comics. It is named for Russ Manning, the artist best known for his work on the Tarzan and Star Wars newspaper strips and the Magnus, Robot Fighter comic book. Russ was a popular guest at the San Diego convention in the 1970s.
The first recipient of the award was former Manning assistant Dave Stevens. Other past recipients include Jan Duursema, Steve Rude, Scott McCloud, Art Adams, Eric Shanower, Dan Brereton, Jeff Smith, Gene Ha, Alexander Maleev, Goran Sudzuka, Eric Wight, David 
Petersen, Cathy Malkasian, Eleanor Davis, Marion Churchland, and Tyler Crook. For a complete list of Manning Award recipients, click here.
