Media Release -- Comic-Con International (Comic-Con) is proud to announce the nominations for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards 2013. The nominees, chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of judges, reflect the wide range of material being published in comics and graphic novel form today, from crime noire to autobiographical works to cartoon adventures.
Three titles lead the 2013 list with 5 nominations each. Chris Ware's critically acclaimed Building Stories (published by Pantheon) has nods for Best Graphic Album–New, Best Writer/artist, Best Coloring, Best Lettering, and Best Publication Design. Also garnering 5 nominations are Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's Fatale (published by Image) and Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye (published by Marvel). Both are nominated for Best Continuing Series, Best New Series, Best Writer, Best Penciller/Inker, and Best Cover Artist. (Fatale also shares the coloring nomination for Dave Stewart.)
Close behind with 4 nominations are BOOM!/kaboom's Adventure Time (Best New Series, Best Publication for Kids, Best Publication for Kids, and Best Humor Publication), Monkeybrain's online comic Bandette by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover (Best New Series, Best Penciller/Inker, Best Coloring, Best Digital Comic), and Carol Tyler's memoir You'll Never Know, Book 3: A Soldier's Heart (Best Graphic Album–New, Best Reality-Based Work, Best Writer/artist, Best Lettering; published by Fantagraphics). Titles with 3 nominations are Charles Burns's The Hive (Best Graphic Album–New, Best Writer/artist, Best Coloring; published by Pantheon) and Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples's Saga (Best Continuing Series, Best New Series, Best Writer). Thirteen titles have 2 nominations, and the remaining nominations are spread among dozens of books and comics in 29 categories.
Fantagraphics has the most nominations for a publisher, with 24. In addition to the Tyler book, the company has multiple nominees in the writer/artist, archival, international, and design categories. Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle has 2 nominations (Best Short Story, Best Single Issue), as does Lilli Carré's Heads or Tales (Best Single Issue, Best Graphic Album–Reprint). The publisher emerging with the second-most nominations this year with 17 (plus 1 shared) is Image, led by Fatale and Saga, along with 2 nominations each for The Manhattan Projects (Best Continuing Series, Best Writer for Jonathan Hickman), Prophet (Best Continuing Series, Best Writer for Brandon Graham), and Graham's Multiple Warheads (Best Cover Artist, Best Coloring).
IDW ranks third with 8 nominations (plus 1 shared), including 2 each in the archival categories. Close behind is Pantheon, with 8 nominations for Building Stories and 3 for The Hive. The 5 nods for Hawkeye account for the majority of Marvel's 7 (plus 1 shared) nominations. Dark Horse can boast of 6 nominations, plus 1 shared, followed by Drawn & Quarterly with 5 nominations, including 2 for Brecht Evens's The Making of.
Other publishers with multiple nominations include BOOM!, Monkeybrain, and Nobrow (4); Abrams ComicArts, Self Made Hero, Toon Books/Candlewick, Top Shelf, and the University Press of Mississippi (3); DC Comics with 2 nominations and 1 shared; and nine publishers with 2 nominations: Andrews McMeel, Archaia, Disney, First Second, FSG, Koyama, TwoMorrows, and Yen Press. Another 21 publishers have 1 nomination each.
Individual creators with the most nominations are Brandon Graham and Chris Ware with 5; David Aja, Colleen Coover, Sean Phillips, and Carol Tyler with 4; and Ed Brubaker, Charles Burns, Matt Fraction, Brian K. Vaughan, and the Adventure Time team (RyanNorth, Selli Paroline, and Braden Lamb) with 3. Nineteen creators can boast of 2 nominations.
Named for acclaimed comics creator the Will Eisner, the awards are celebrating their 25th year of highlighting the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels. The 2013 Eisner Awards judging panel consists of reviewer Michael Cavna ("Comic Riffs," Washington Post), academic/author Charles Hatfield (Cal State Northridge), retailer Adam Healy (Cosmic Monkey, Portland, OR), author/educator Katie Monnin (Teaching Graphic Novels), cartoonist/critic Frank Santoro (Storeyville; TCJ), and Comic-Con International registrar John Smith.
This year's judges restored three categories that had been dropped by last year's judges: Best New Series, Best Adaptation from Another Medium, and Best Painter/Multimedia Artist. However, they dropped the Best Limited Series category.
Voting for the awards is held online, and the ballot will be available soon at www.eisnervote.com. All professionals in the comic book industry are eligible to vote. The results of the voting will be announced in a gala awards ceremony on the evening of Friday, July 19 at Comic-Con International.
The voting in one Eisner Awards category, the Hall of Fame, is already completed. The judges chose the nominees earlier this year, and voting was conducted online.
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are presented under the auspices of Comic-Con International, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular artforms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture. Jackie Estrada has been administrator of the Awards since 1990. She can be reached at [email protected].
Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees 2013
"A Birdsong Shatters the Still," by Jeff Wilson and Ted May, in Injury #4 (Ted May/Alternative)
"Elmview" by Jon McNaught, in Dockwood (Nobrow)
"Moon 1969: The True Story of the 1969 Moon Launch," by Michael Kupperman, in Tales Designed to Thrizzle #8 (Fantagraphics)
"Moving Forward," by drewscape, in Monsters, Miracles, & Mayonnaise (Epigram Books)
"Rainbow Moment," by Lilli Carré, in Heads or Tails (Fantagraphics)
Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
Lose #4: "The Fashion Issue," by Michael DeForge (Koyama Press)
The Mire, by Becky Cloonan (self-published)
Pope Hats #3, by Ethan Rilly (AdHouse Books)
Post York #1, by James Romberger and Crosby (Uncivilized Books)
Tales Designed to Thrizzle #8, by Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics)
Best Continuing Series
Fatale, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
Hawkeye, by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel)
The Manhattan Projects, by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra (Image)
Prophet, by Brandon Graham and Simon Roy (Image)
Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)
Best New Series
Adventure Time, by Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb (kaboom!)
Bandette, by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover (Monkeybrain)
Fatale, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
Hawkeye, by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel)
Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)
Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 7)
Babymouse for President, by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House)
Benny and Penny in Lights Out, by Geoffrey Hays (Toon Books/Candlewick)
Kitty & Dino, by Sara Richard (Yen Press/Hachette)
Maya Makes a Mess, by Rutu Modan (Toon Books/Candlewick)
Zig and Wikki in The Cow, by Nadja Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler (Toon Books/Candlewick)
Best Publication for Kids (ages 8-12)
Adventure Time, by Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb (kaboom!)
Amulet Book 5: Prince of the Elves, by Kazu Kibuishi (Scholastic)
Cow Boy: A Boy and His Horse, by Nate Cosby and Chris Eliopoulos (Archaia)
Crogan's Loyalty, by Chris Schweizer (Oni)
Hilda and the Midnight Giant, by Luke Pearson (Nobrow)
Road to Oz, by L. Frank Baum, adapted by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel)
Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)
Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens, by Meredith Gran (kaboom!)
Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller, by Joseph Lambert (Center for Cartoon Studies/Disney Hyperion)
Ichiro, by Ryan Inzana (Houghton Mifflin)
Spera, vol. 1, by Josh Tierney et al. (Archaia)
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle, adapted by Hope Larson (FSG)
Best Humor Publication
Adventure Time, by Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb (kaboom!)
BBXX: Baby Blues Decades 1 & 2, by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman (Andrews McMeel)
Darth Vader and Son, by Jeffrey Brown (Chronicle)
Naked Cartoonists, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
Best Digital Comic
Ant Comic, by Michael DeForge [2]
Bandette, by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover [3]
It Will All Hurt, by Farel Dalrymple [4]
Our Bloodstained Roof, by Ryan Andrews [5]
Oyster War, by Ben Towle [6]
Best Anthology
Dark Horse Presents, edited by Mike Richardson (Dark Horse)
No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, edited by Justin Hall (Fantagraphics)
Nobrow #7: Brave New World, edited by Alex Spiro and Sam Arthur (Nobrow)
2000 AD, edited by Matt Smith (Rebellion)
Where Is Dead Zero?, edited by Jeff Ranjo (Where Is Dead Zero?)
Best Reality-Based Work
Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller, by Joseph Lambert (Center for Cartoon Studies/Disney Hyperion)
The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song, by Frank M. Young and David Lasky (Abrams ComicArts)
A Chinese Life, by Li Kunwu and P. Ôtié (Self Made Hero)
The Infinite Wait and Other Stories, by Julia Wertz (Koyama Press)
Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo & Me, by Ellen Forney (Gotham Books)
You'll Never Know, Book 3: A Soldier's Heart, by C. Tyler (Fantagraphics)
Best Graphic Album—New
Building Stories, by Chris Ware (Pantheon)
Goliath, by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Hive, by Charles Burns (Pantheon)
Unterzakhn, by Leela Corman (Schocken)
You'll Never Know, Book 3: A Soldier's Heart, by C. Tyler (Fantagraphics)
Best Adaptation from Another Medium
Chico and Rita, by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal (Self Made Hero)
Homer's Odyssey, adapted by Seymour Chwast (Bloomsbury)
Richard Stark's Parker: The Score, adapted by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)
Road to Oz, by L. Frank Baum, adapted by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel)
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle, adapted by Hope Larson (FSG)
Best Graphic Album—Reprint
Cruisin' with the Hound, by Spain (Fantagraphics)
Ed the Happy Clown, by Chester Brown (Drawn & Quarterly)
Everything Together: Collected Stories, by Sammy Harkham (PictureBox)
Heads or Tails, by Lilli Carré (Fantagraphics)
King City, by Brandon Graham (TokyoPop/Image)
Sailor Twain, or The Mermaid in the Hudson by Mark Siegel (First Second)
Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips
Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim, vol. 2, edited by Dean Mullaney (IDW/Library of American Comics)
Mister Twee Deedle: Raggedy Ann's Sprightly Cousin, by Johnny Gruelle, edited by Rick Marschall (Fantagraphics)
Percy Crosby's Skippy, vol. 1, edited by Jared Gardner and Dean Mullaney (IDW/Library of American Comics)
Pogo, vol. 2: Bona Fide Balderdash, by Walt Kelly, edited by Carolyn Kelly and Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics)
Roy Crane's Captain Easy: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips, vol. 3, edited by Rick Norwood (Fantagraphics)
Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
Crime Does Not Pay Archives, edited by Philip Simon and Kitchen, Lind & Associates (Dark Horse)
David Mazzucchelli's Daredevil Born Again: Artist's Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
Wally Wood's EC Stories: Artist's Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man, by Carl Barks, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's Romance Comics, edited by Michel Gagné (Fantagraphics)
Best U.S. Edition of International Material
Abelard, by Régis Hautiere and Renaud Dillies (NBM)
Athos in America, by Jason (Fantagraphics)
Blacksad: Silent Hell, by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido (Dark Horse)
The Making of, by Brecht Evens (Drawn & Quarterly)
Monsieur Jean: The Singles Theory, by Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian (Humanoids)
New York Mon Amour, by Benjamin LeGrand, Dominique Grange, and Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)
Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia
Barbara, by Osamu Tezuka (Digital Manga)
A Chinese Life, by Li Kunwu and P. Ôtié (Self Made Hero)
Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)
Nonnonba, by Shigeru Mizuki (Drawn & Quarterly)
Thermae Romae, by Mari Yamazaki (Yen Press/Hachette)
Best Writer
Ed Brubaker, Fatale (Image)
Matt Fraction, Hawkeye (Marvel); Casanova: Avaritia (Marvel Icon)
Brandon Graham, Multiple Warheads, Prophet (Image)
Jonathan Hickman, The Manhattan Projects (Image)
Brian K. Vaughan, Saga (Image)
Frank M. Young, The Carter Family (Abrams ComicArts)
Best Writer/Artist
Charles Burns, The Hive (Pantheon)
Gilbert Hernandez, Love and Rockets New Stories, vol. 5 (Fantagraphics)
Jaime Hernandez, Love and Rockets New Stories, vol. 5 (Fantagraphics)
Luke Pearson, Hilda and the Midnight Giant, Everything We Miss (Nobrow)
C. Tyler, You'll Never Know, Book 3: A Soldier's Heart (Fantagraphics)
Chris Ware, Building Stories (Pantheon)
Best Penciller/Inker
David Aja, Hawkeye (Marvel)
Becky Cloonan, Conan the Barbarian (Dark Horse); The Muse (self-published)
Colleen Coover, Bandette (Monkeybrain)
Sean Phillips, Fatale (Image)
Joseph Remnant, Harvey Pekar's Cleveland (Zip Comics/Top Shelf)
Chris Samnee, Daredevil (Marvel); Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom (IDW)
Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
Brecht Evens, The Making Of (Drawn & Quarterly)
Juanjo Guarnido, Blacksad (Dark Horse)
Teddy Kristiansen, The Red Diary/The RE[a]D Diary (MAN OF ACTION/Image)
Lorenzo Mattotti, The Crackle of the Frost (Fantagraphics)
Katsuya Terada, The Monkey King vol. 2 (Dark Horse)
Best Cover Artist
David Aja, Hawkeye (Marvel)
Brandon Graham, King City, Multiple Warheads, Elephantmen #43 (Image)
Sean Phillips, Fatale (Image)
Yuko Shimizu, The Unwritten (Vertigo/DC)
J, H. Williams III, Batwoman (DC)
Best Coloring
Charles Burns, The Hive (Pantheon)
Colleen Coover, Bandette (Monkeybrain)
Brandon Graham, Multiple Warheads (Image)
Dave Stewart, Batwoman (DC); Fatale (Image); BPRD, Conan the Barbarian, Hellboy in Hell, Lobster Johnson, The Massive (Dark Horse)
Chris Ware, Building Stories (Pantheon)
Best Lettering
Paul Grist, Mudman (Image)
Troy Little, Angora Napkin 2: Harvest of Revenge (IDW)
Joseph Remnant, Harvey Pekar's Cleveland (Zip Comics/Top Shelf)
C. Tyler, You'll Never Know, Book 3: A Soldier's Heart (Fantagraphics)
Chris Ware, Building Stories (Pantheon)
Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism
Alter Ego, edited by Roy Thomas (TwoMorrows)
ComicsAlliance, [7] edited by Joe Hughes, Caleb Goellner, and Andy Khouri
The Comics Reporter, [8] edited by Tom Spurgeon
Robot Six, [9] produced by Comic Book Resources
tcj.com, [10]edited by Timothy Hodler and Dan Nadel (Fantagraphics)
Best Comics-Related Book
The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist, edited by Alvin Buenaventura (Abrams ComicArts)
Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics, by Dewey Cassell (TwoMorrows)
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, by Sean Howe (HarperCollins)
Mastering Comics, by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden (First Second)
Team Cul De Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's, edited by Chris Sparks (Andrews McMeel)
Woodwork: Wallace Wood 1927–1981, edited by Frédéric Manzano (CasalSolleric/IDW)
Best Educational/Academic Work
Autobiographical Comics: Life Writing in Pictures, by Elisabeth El Refaie (University Press of Mississippi)
Comics Versus Art, by Bart Beaty (University of Toronto Press)
Crockett Johnson & Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children's Literature, by Philip Nel (University Press of Mississippi)
Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass, by Susan E. Kirtley (University Press of Mississippi)
The Poetics of Slumberland, by Scott Bukatman (University of California Press)
Best Publication Design
Building Stories, designed by Chris Ware (Pantheon)
Dal Tokyo, designed by Gary Panter and Family Sohn (Fantagraphics)
David Mazzucchelli's Daredevil Born Again: Artist's Edition, designed by Randy Dahlk (IDW)
Mister Twee Deedle: Raggedy Ann's Sprightly Cousin, designed by Tony Ong (Fantagraphics)
Wizzywig, designed by Ed Piskor and Chris Ross (Top Shelf)
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Celebrate 25 years!
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, considered the "Oscars" of comics, turn 25 in 2013. The most prestigious of the industry's awards, the Eisners are given out at a gala ceremony on the Friday night of Comic-Con International: San Diego.
The Awards encompass more than two-dozen categories covering both works and creators. Nominees are chosen by a blue-ribbon committee of judges, and the winners are chosen by professionals in the comics industry. Started in 1988, the awards are named for Will Eisner, the legendary creator of "The Spirit" and giant of the graphic novel. The Eisner Awards administrator is Jackie Estrada.
Judges Named for 2013 Eisner Awards
Comic-Con International is proud to announce that the judging panel has been named for the 2013 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. This blue-ribbon committee will select the nominations to appear on the Eisner Awards ballot. This year's judges are:
Michael Cavna, award-winning writer, editor, and artist with The Washington Post, for which he writes the popular "Comic Riffs" cartoon blog. As a journalist, his favorite interviews have included Bill Watterson, Neil Gaiman, Tim Burton, Marjane Satrapi ,and Hayao Miyazaki. As a cartoonist, Cavna—a San Francisco native and UCSD alum—began working professionally at age 12 and has drawn for numerous syndicates and national publications. He wrote the main text for the 2012 anthology book Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's (Andrews McMeel).
Charles Hatfield, professor of English at California State University, Northridge. Charles is the author of two books, the Eisner Award–winning Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby (2011) and Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature (2005). He has written essays on comics for many academic, trade, and fan publications and has written reviews for The Comics Journal and various comics blogs. Charles is co-editor of The Superhero Reader (coming in 2013 from the University Press of Mississippi), and is currently collaborating on two other books. He serves on the Modern Language Association's Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives as well as the editorial boards for several academic journals and book series in comics studies. (Photo courtesy photographer Lee Choo & CSU Northridge.)
Adam Healy, co-owner of Cosmic Monkey Comics in Portland, Oregon. Adam has been in comics retailing since 2003 and became co-owner (with Andy Johnson) of Cosmic Monkey in 2007. The popular store prides itself on the diversity of material it carries and on the comfortable environment it offers its customers. Adam has degrees in Psychology and Sociology, and is most proud of the Science, Foreign Language, and All-Ages sections of his store.
Dr. Katie Monnin, assistant professor of literacy at the University of North Florida. She has written four books about teaching comic books and graphic novels in 21st-century classrooms: Teaching Graphic Novels (2010, a finalist for ForeWord's Educational Book of the Year Award), Teaching Early Reader Comics and Graphic Novels (2011), Teaching Content Area Graphic Texts (2012), and Teaching Reading Comprehension with Graphic Texts (2013). Her next book, Get Animated! Teaching Children's Cartoons in the Elementary Classroom is set to be released fall 2013.
Frank Santoro, author of the graphic novel Storeyville (published by Picturebox) and a columnist for The Comics Journal. He co-founded the comics criticism magazine ComicsComics with Dan Nadel and Timothy Hodler. He has also created a correspondence course for comic book makers and has taught drawing at Parsons School of Design. His comics have been published in Kramers Ergot, Mome, and The Ganzfeld. He has exhibited at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and at The Fumetto Festival in Switzerland. He lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
John Smith, co-coordinator of the Attendee Registration Department, Comic-Con International: San Diego. John is a lifelong comics fan who has been involved with Comic-Con since 1991, when he started as a volunteer in the registration department. He has been co-registrar since 1997. For the last five years he has also been a judge for the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer award. His comics collecting days go back to childhood, when he lived in Los Angeles and regularly went to Cherokee Book Store on Hollywood Boulevard to buy back issues.
The judges met in San Diego in early April to select the nominees that will be placed on the Eisner Awards ballot. The nominees will now be voted on by professionals in the comic book industry, and the results will be announced in a gala awards ceremony on Friday, July 19 at Comic-Con in San Diego.
The Eisner Awards are presented under the auspices of Comic-Con International, San Diego, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular artforms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture.
