Seattle, WA — On March 23, it was announced that Mark of Aeacus, the erotic thriller written by Charles "Zan" Christensen and drawn by Mark Brill, has been nominated for a 2008 Queer Award by the Comic Book Queers podcast. Its fellow nominees in the category "Best Queer Indie Book" are Strangers In Paradise, Shortpacked, Love Omnibus and So Super Duper. This will be the second annual Queerie awards handed out by the podcast, which discusses the comics industry from a decidedly queer perspective.

"I'm such a big fan of the show," said Christensen, whose book was also favorably reviewed on the 50th episode of Comic Book Queers. "I got an email yesterday from Brian Andersen, who I got to know a little better last month at WonderCon in San Francisco, and he let me know we were both nominees. I feel like the beauty pageant contestant who says to her new best girlfriend, 'No, I hope you win! Seriously!' I know the awards are more than a little tongue-in-cheek—I was also hoping to be nominated for 'Creator who looks most like they would have a manly but alluring scent like that of a forest, or in the case of women, an English tea garden'—but it's still a thrill to be nominated."

"I'm excited to be recognized for being exceptionally queer!" said Brill. "Do I need to rent a tux?"

The Queerie Award winners will be announced on April 26th, at a show taping at Brainstorm Comics.

The first issue of The Mark of Aeacus was published in September 2007 by Vancouver-based publisher Class Comics, known for its wide variety of gay comics erotica. Although it is still definitely aimed at adult readers and is sexually-charged, The Mark of Aeacus is the first series that Class has published that has no explicit sexual content.

"On a personal level, I am extremely proud of this nomination," said Class Comics founder Patrick Fillion, "because it proves that there is an audience for Class Comics titles like The Mark of Aeacus. This book is Class’ first attempt at offering a new line of titles which feature gay characters and situations, but that don’t depict hardcore sexuality. We’ve been planning several other new titles in this vein but, in a way, Aeacus is the 'pilot' for this wave of books. To see it receive such acclaim is truly heartwarming, and proves to us that there is indeed a demand for its kind of material."

An online survey has been launched to tally votes for the 2008 Queerie Awards. The voting deadline is not posted on the ballot, but last year's Queerie Award winners were announced in mid-April in Episode 30’s video podcast , featuring the cast of the podcast dressed as glamorous movie stars, complete with clips.

Prism Comics promotes the works of the LGBT community in comics. It does not implicitly endorse any other material or products associated with those works. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s).