Eisner Awards Current Info

DC Comics can boast of six award winners at the 35th Annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, held July 21 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. Batman was involved in four of the wins: Best Short Story (“Finding Batman” by Kevin Conroy and J. Bone), Best Single Issue (Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler, by Tom King and Mitch Gerads), Best Continuing Series (Nightwing by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo), and Best Cover Artist (Redondo). In addition, Human Target (by Tom King and Greg Smallwood) won awards for Best Limited Series and Best Penciller/Inker.

Other multiple award winners were Kate Beaton’s Ducks (Best Graphic Memoir, Best Writer/Artist; Drawn & Quarterly), Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s The Night Eaters Book 1 (Best Graphic Album­–New, Best Painter/Multimedia Artist; Abrams ComicArts), and Parker: The Martini Edition (Best Graphic Album–Reprint,  Best Publication Design; IDW).

Presenters during the gala evening included voice actors Maurice LaMarche, Adam McArthur, and Eric Bauza; Batman movie producer Michael Uslan; actors David Dastmalchain, Felicia Day, and Janeshia Adams-Ginyard; comedian Stephen Glickman; comics creators Mark Buckingham and Wendy and Richard Pini; Comic-Con Special Guests Keith Knight, Stephen Notley, John Semper, and David F. Walker; and Clampett Award winner Bill Morrison.

The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, presented by Bob’s daughter Ruth, was presented to Beth Accomando and Scott Dunbier. The Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award went to artist Zoe Thorogood; it was presented by past Russ Manning assistant Bill Stout.

The 17th annual Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing was presented by Mark Evanier to two recipients: Barbara Friedlander and the late Sam Glanzman. Sam’s son Thomas accepted the award on his behalf. Maggie Thompson introduced the special In Memoriam video salute to those from the Comic-Con family who died in the past year.

The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, given to a store that has done an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large, was awarded by Joe Ferrara to Cape & Cowl (Oakland, CA). Accepting was the owner, Eitan Manhoff.

The afterparty sponsor was HarperAlley. The principal sponsors were Gentle Giant Studios, mycomicshop.com, and Pan-Universal Galactic Worldwide. Supporting sponsors were Alternate Reality Comics (Las Vegas), Atlantis Fantasyworld (Santa Cruz, CA), Diamond Comics Distributors, and Golden Apple Comic and Art Foundation.

Eisner Awards Administrator Jackie Estrada opened and closed the ceremony. The Eisner Awards and ceremony are underwritten by San Diego Comic Convention.

Best Short Story
“Finding Batman” by Kevin Conroy and J. Bone in DC Pride 2022 (DC)

Best Single Issue/One-Shot
Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler, by Tom King and Mitch Gerads (DC)

Best Continuing Series
Nightwing, by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo (DC)

Best Limited Series
The Human Target, by Tom King and Greg Smallwood (DC)

Best New Series
Public Domain, by Chip Zdarsky (Image) 

Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 8)
The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! by Mo Willems (Union Square Kids)

Best Publication for Kids (ages 9-12)
Frizzy, by Claribel A. Ortega and Rose Bousamra (First Second/Macmillan)

Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)
Do a Powerbomb! by Daniel Warren Johnson (Image)

Best Humor Publication 
Revenge of the Librarians, by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly) 

Best Anthology
The Nib Magazine, edited by Matt Bors (Nib)

Best Reality-Based Work
Flung Out of Space, by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer (Abrams ComicArts)

Best Graphic Memoir
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, by Kate Beaton (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Graphic Album—New
The Night Eaters, Book 1: She Eats the Night, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Abrams ComicArts)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint
Parker: The Martini Edition—Last Call, by Richard Stark, Darwyn Cooke, Ed Brubaker, and Sean Phillips (IDW)

Best Adaptation from Another Medium
Chivalry by Neil Gaiman, adapted by Colleen Doran (Dark Horse)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material
Blacksad: They All Fall Down Part 1, by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido, translation by Diana Schutz and Brandon Kander (Dark Horse

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia
Shuna's Journey, by Hayao Miyazaki; translation by Alex Dudok de Wit (First Second/Macmillan)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips (at least 20 years old)
Come Over Come Over, It’s So Magic, and My Perfect Life, by Lynda Barry, edited by Peggy Burns (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books (at least 20 Years Old)
The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta, edited by Dian Hansen (TASCHEN)

Best Writer
James Tynion IV, House of Slaughter, Something Is Killing the Children, Wynd (BOOM! Studios); The Nice House on the Lake, The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country (DC), The Closet, The Department of Truth (Image)

Best Writer/Artist
Kate Beaton, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Greg Smallwood, The Human Target (DC)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
Sana Takeda, The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night (Abrams ComicArts); Monstress (Image)

Best Cover Artist (for multiple covers)
Bruno Redondo, Nightwing (DC)

Best Coloring
Jordie Bellaire, The Nice House on the Lake, Suicide Squad: Blaze (DC); Antman, Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age (Marvel) 

Best Lettering
Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo (IDW)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism
PanelXPanel magazine, edited by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and Tiffany Babb (panelxpanel.com)

Best Comics-Related Book
Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects, by Benjamin L. Clark and Nat Gertler (Schulz Museum)

Best Academic/Scholarly Work
The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader: Critical Openings, Future Directions, edited by Alison Halsall and Jonathan Warren (University Press of Mississippi)

Best Publication Design
Parker: The Martini Edition—Last Call, designed by Sean Phillips (IDW)

Best Webcomic
Lore Olympus, by Rachel Smythe (WEBTOON)

Best Digital Comic
Barnstormers, by Scott Snyder and Tula Lotay (Comixology Originals)

Hall of Fame:
Judges’ Choices: Jerry Bails, Tony DeZuniga, Justin Green, Bill Griffith. Jay Jackson, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Jack Katz, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Win Mortimer, Diane Noomin, Gaspar Saladino, Kim Thompson, Garry Trudeau, Mort Walker, Tatjana Wood
Voters’ Choices: Brian Bolland, Anne Nocenti, Tim Sale, Diana Schutz 

Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award: Beth Accomando, Scott Dunbier

Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award: Zoe Thorogood

Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing: Barbara Friedlander, Sam Glanzman

SAN DIEGO – Comic-Con is proud to announce the nominees for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards 2023. The nominations are for works published between January 1 and December 31, 2022 and were chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of judges.

Once again, this year’s nominees in 32 categories reflect the wide range of material being published in the U.S. today in comics and graphic novels, representing some 150 print and online titles from over 50 publishers, produced by creators from all over the world.

Image and DC received the most nominations: Image with 20 (plus 6 shared) and DC with 11 (plus 5 shared). Image’s nominees span a spectrum of titles, with multiple nominations for Clementine, The Department of Truth, It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, Killadelphia, Love Everlasting, Monstress, and Rain. Topping DC’s nominees are Human Target and Nightwing, with 3 each.

Fantagraphics has 9 nominations, including in the Archival Collection categories, with 3 in the Comic Strip category and 2 in the Comic Book category.

Marvel Comics received 9 nominations (plus 3 shared), including 2 each in the Short Story, Single Issue, and Continued Series categories. Dark Horse had 9 (plus 2 shared), led by 2 for Jeff Lemire’s Mazebook Dark Horse Direct Edition (Best Graphic Album–Reprint, Best Publication Design).

Other publishers with multiple nominations include Abrams (with 7 plus 1 shared), Drawn & Quarterly (6), Z2 (6), IDW (5), First Second (4 plus 1 shared), Penn State University/Graphic Mundi (4), Ablaze (3 plus 1 shared), Humanoids (3 plus 1 shared), Andrews McMeel (3), TwoMorrows (3), VIZ Media (3), and BOOM! (2 plus one shared).  Six companies have 2 nominations each, and another 33 companies or individuals have 1 nomination each.

Other projects with more than two nominations are The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Best Graphic Album–New, Best Painter/Multimedia Artist, Best Letterer; Abrams), and Joe Hill’s Rain by David M. Booher and Zoe Thorogood (Best Adaptation from Another Medium, Best Painter/Multimedia Artist, Best Cover Artist; Syzygy/Image). Over 20 titles had 2 nominations.

When it comes to creators, Zoe Thorogood leads the pack with 5 nominations: the 3 for Rain plus 2 for her memoir It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (Image), followed by Tom King with 4 (Best Writer, Best Single Issue: Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler; DC; Best New Series: Love Everlasting, Image; and Best Limited Series: The Human Target, DC). Six creators have 3 nominations. They are Sean Phillips (Best Penciller/Inker, and 2 for Parker: The Martini Edition, IDW), Bruno Redondo (Best Penciller/Inker, Best Cover Artist, and Best Continuing Series for Nightwing, DC), Mark Russell (Best Writer, Best Limited Series for Superman: Space Age, DC; and Best New Series for Traveling to Mars, Ablaze), Sana Takeda (Best Painter/Multimedia Artist, Best Cover Artist, Best Graphic Album–New for Night Eaters, Abrams), James Tynion IV (Best Writer, Best Continuing Series for The Department of Truth, Image; and Best Limited Series for The Nice House on the Lake, DC), and Chip Zdarsky (Best Writer, Best Continuing Series for Daredevil, Marvel; Best New Series for Public Domain, Image). Another thirteen creators had 2 nominations.

Named for acclaimed comics creator Will Eisner, the awards are celebrating their 35th year of bringing attention to and highlighting the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels. The 2023 Eisner Awards judging panel consists of librarian Moni Barrette, educator/collector Peter Jones, retailer Jen King, journalist Sean Kleefeld, scholar/comics creator A. David Lewis, and comics instructor/curator TJ Shevlin.

Voting for the awards is being held online using a two-step process. The first step is for prospective voters to apply at https://https://form.jotform.com/230927489799177. After filling out the form, eligible voters will be invited to go to the ballot and cast their votes. Those who previously registered will automatically be invited to fill out the new ballot. All professionals in the comic book industry are eligible to vote. The deadline for voting is June 9. New voters must have registered by June 2 in order to be invited to the ballot. Questions about the voting process should be sent to the Eisner Awards administrator, Jackie Estrada at jackie@comic-con.org

The Eisner Award trophies will be presented in a gala awards ceremony to be held at the San Diego Hilton Bayfront Hotel during Comic-Con on the evening of July 21.

The Eisner Awards are presented under the auspices of San Diego Comic Convention, a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation organized for charitable purposes and dedicated to creating the general public’s awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, including nonprofit educational organizations dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture.

Best Short Story

• “The Beekeeper’s Due,” by Jimmy Stamp and Débora Santos, in Scott Snyder Presents: Tales from the Cloakroom (Cloakroom Comics)
• “Finding Batman” by Kevin Conroy and J. Bone in DC Pride 2022 (DC)
• "Good Morning," by Christopher Cantwell and Alex Lins, in Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #4 (Marvel)
• “Silent All These Years,” by Margaret Atwood and David Mack, in Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes (Z2)
• “You Get It,” by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto, in Amazing Fantasy #1000 (Marvel)

Best Single Issue/One-Shot

• Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler, by Tom King and Mitch Gerads (DC)
• Mary Jane & Black Cat Beyond, by Jed Mackay and C. F. Villa (Marvel)
• Moon Knight: Black, White, and Blood #3, edited by Tom Brevoort (Marvel)
• Star Trek #400, edited by Heather Antos (IDW)
• A Vicious Circle Book 1, by Mattson Tomlin and Lee Bermejo (BOOM! Studios)

Best Continuing Series

• Daredevil, by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto and Rafael de Latorre (Marvel)
• The Department of Truth, by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds (Image)
• Killadelphia, by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander (Image)
• The Nice House on the Lake, by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno (DC)
• Nightwing, by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo (DC)
• She-Hulk, by Rainbow Rowell, Rogê Antônio, Luca Maresca, and Takeshi Miyazawa (Marvel)

Best Limited Series

• Animal Castle, by Xavier Dorison and Felix Delep, translation by Ivanka Hahnenberger (Ablaze)
• Batman: One Bad Day, edited by Dave Wielgosz and Jessica Berbey (DC)
• The Human Target, by Tom King and Greg Smallwood (DC)
• Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age, by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham (Marvel)
• Superman: Space Age, by Mark Russell, Michael Allred, and Laura Allred (DC)

Best New Series

• The Atonement Bell, by Jim Ousley and Tyler B. Ruff (Red 5)
• Love Everlasting, by Tom King and Elsa Charretier (Image)
• Public Domain, by Chip Zdarsky (Image)
• Star Trek, by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Ramon Rosanas (IDW)
• Traveling to Mars, by Mark Russell and Roberto Meli (Ablaze)

Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 8)

• Beneath The Trees: A Fine Summer, by Dav (Magnetic Press)
• Fox + Chick: Up and Down: and Other Stories, by Sergio Ruzzier (Chronicle Books)
• Grumpy Monkey Who Threw That? by Suzanne Lang and Max Lang (Random House Studio)
• Hey, Bruce!: An Interactive Book, by Ryan Higgins (Disney/Hyperion)
• The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! by Mo Willems (Union Square Kids)

Best Publication for Kids (ages 9-12)

• Adventuregame Comics: Leviathan, by Jason Shiga (Amulet/Abrams)
• Frizzy, by Claribel A. Ortega and Rose Bousamra (First Second/Macmillan)
• Isla To Island, by Alexis Castellanos (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster)
• Little Monarchs, by Jonathan Case (Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House)
• Swim Team, by Johnnie Christmas (HarperAlley)

Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)

• Chef's Kiss, by Jarrett Melendez and Danica Brine (Oni)
• Clementine Book One, by Tillie Walden (Image Skybound)
• Do A Powerbomb! by Daniel Warren Johnson (Image)
• Heartstopper Volume 4, by Alice Oseman (Scholastic Graphix)
• Wash Day Diaries, by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith (Chronicle Books)

Best Humor Publication

• Cryptid Club, by Sarah Andersen (Andrews McMeel)
• I Hate This Place, by Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin (Image Skybound)
• Killer Queens, by David Booher and Claudia Balboni (Dark Horse)
• Mr. Lovenstein Presents: Failure, by J. L. Westover (Image Skybound)
• Revenge of the Librarians, by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Anthology

• Creepshow, edited by Alex Antone and Jon Moisan (Image Skybound)
• The Illustrated Al: The Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic, edited by Josh Bernstein (Z2)
• The Nib Magazine, edited by Matt Bors (Nib)
• Sensory: Life on the Spectrum, edited by Bex Ollerton (Andrews McMeel)
• Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes, The Graphic Album, edited by Rantz Hoseley (Z2)

Best Reality-Based Work

• Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense, by Noël Simsolo and Dominique Hé, translation by Montana Kane (NBM)
• Alice Guy: First Lady of Film, by José-Louis Bocquet and Catel Muller, translation by Edward Gauvin (SelfMadeHero)
• But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust, edited by Charlotte Schallié (University of Toronto Press)
• Flung Out of Space, by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer (Abrams ComicArts)
• Invisible Wounds: Graphic Journalism, by Jess Ruliffson (Fantagraphics)
• Pinball: A Graphic History of the Silver Ball, by Jon Chad (First Second/Macmillan)

Best Graphic Memoir

• Down to the Bone: A Leukemia Story, by Catherine Pioli, translated by J. T. Mahany (Graphic Mundi/Penn State University Press)
• Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, by Kate Beaton (Drawn & Quarterly)
• It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth: An Auto-Bio-Graphic-Novel, by Zoe Thorogood (Image)
• So Much for Love: How I Survived a Toxic Relationship, by Sophie Lambda, translation by Montana Kane (First Second/Macmillan)
• Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure, by Lewis Hancox (Scholastic Graphix)

Best Graphic Album—New

• The Book of Niall, by Barry Jones (Ellie & Beatty)
• Crushing, by Sophie Burrows (Algonquin Young Readers)
• The Night Eaters, Book 1: She Eats the Night, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Abrams ComicArts)
• Ultrasound, by Conor Stechschulte (Fantagraphics)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint

• Days of Sand, by Aimée de Jongh, translation by Christopher Bradley (SelfMadeHero)
• Geneviève Castrée: Complete Works, by Geneviève Castrée, translation by Phil Elverum and Aleshia Jensen (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Mazebook Dark Horse Direct Edition, by Jeff Lemire (Dark Horse)
• One Beautiful Spring Day, by Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics)
• Parker: The Martini Edition—Last Call, by Richard Stark, Darwyn Cooke, Ed Brubaker, and Sean Phillips (IDW)
• Super Spy Deluxe Edition, by Matt Kindt (Dark Horse)

Best Adaptation from Another Medium

• Chivalry by Neil Gaiman, adapted by Colleen Doran (Dark Horse)
• Rain by Joe Hill, adapted by David M. Booher and Zoe Thorogood (Syzygy/Image)
• Ten Days in a Madhouse, by Nellie Bly, adapted by Brad Ricca and Courtney Sieh (Gallery 13/Simon $ Schuster)
• Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes, The Graphic Album, edited by Rantz Hoseley (Z2)
• A Visit to Moscow by Rabbi Rafael Grossman, adapted by Anna Olswanger and Yevgenia Nayberg (Turner)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

• Always Never, by Jordi Lafebre, translation by Montana Kane (Dark Horse)
• Blacksad: They All Fall Down Part 1, by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido, translation by Diana Schutz and Brandon Kander (Dark Horse)
• Down to the Bone: A Leukemia Story, by Catherine Pioli, translation by J. T. Mahany (Graphic Mundi/Penn State University Press)
• The Pass, by Espé, translation by J.T. Mahany (Graphic Mundi/Penn State University Press)
• Tiki: A Very Ruff Year, by David Azencot and Fred Leclerc, translation by Nanette McGuinness (Life Drawn/Humanoids)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia

• Black Paradox, by Junji Ito, translation by Jocelyne Allen (VIZ Media)
• The Hellbound vols. 1-2, by Yeon Sang-ho and Choi Gyu-seok, translation by Danny Lim (Dark Horse)
• Look Back, by Tatsuki Fujimoto, translation by Amanda Haley (VIZ Media)
• PTSD Radio vol. 1, by Masaaki Nakayama, translation by Adam Hirsch (Kodansha)
• Shuna's Journey, by Hayao Miyazaki; translation by Alex Dudok de Wit (First Second/Macmillan)
• Talk to My Back, by Yamada Murasaki, translation by Ryan Holmberg (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips (at least 20 years old)

• Bungleton Green and the Mystic Commandos, by Jay Jackson (New York Review Comics)
• Come Over Come Over, It’s So Magic, and My Perfect Life, by Lynda Barry, edited by Peggy Burns (Drawn & Quarterly)
• The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1922-1924, by George Herriman, edited by J. Michael Catron (Fantagraphics)
• Macanudo: Welcome to Elsewhere, by Liniers, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
• Pogo The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips: Volume 8: Hijinks from the Horn of Plenty, by Walt Kelly, edited by Mark Evanier and Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books (at least 20 Years Old)

• The Deluxe Gimenez: The Fourth Power & The Starr Conspiracy, by Juan Gimenez, edited by Alex Donoghue and Bruno Lecigne (Humanoids)
• The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta, edited by Dian Hansen (TASCHEN)
• Home to Stay! The Complete Ray Bradbury EC Stories, by Ray Bradbury and various; edited by J. Michael Catron (Fantagraphics)
• The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus 1 (Abrams ComicArts)
• Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: The Diamond Jubilee Collection, by Carl Barks; edited by David Gerstein (Fantagraphics)

Best Writer

• Grace Ellis, Flung Out of Space (Abrams ComicArts)
• Tom King, Batman: Killing Time, Batman: One Bad Day, Gotham City: Year One, The Human Target, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (DC); Love Everlasting (Image)
• Mark Russell, Traveling to Mars (Ablaze), One-Star Squadron, Superman: Space Age (DC); The Incal: Psychoverse (Humanoids)
• James Tynion IV, House of Slaughter, Something Is Killing the Children, Wynd (BOOM! Studios); The Nice House on the Lake, The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country (DC), The Closet, The Department of Truth (Image)
• Chip Zdarsky, Stillwater (Image Skybound); Daredevil (Marvel)

Best Writer/Artist

• Sarah Andersen, Cryptid Club (Andrews McMeel)
• Kate Beaton, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Espé, The Pass (Graphic Mundi/Penn State University)
• Junji Ito, Black Paradox, The Liminal Zone (VIZ Media)
• Zoe Thorogood, It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (Image)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

• Jason Shawn Alexander, Killadelphia, Nita Hawes’ Nightmare Blog (Image)
• Alvaro Martínez Bueno, The Nice House on the Lake (DC)
• Sean Phillips, Follow Me Down, The Ghost in You (Image)
• Bruno Redondo, Nightwing (DC)
• Greg Smallwood, The Human Target (DC)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)

• Lee Bermejo, A Vicious Circle (BOOM! Studios)
• Felix Delep, Animal Castle (Ablaze)
• Daria Schmitt, The Monstrous Dreams of Mr. Providence (Europe Comics)
• Sana Takeda, The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night (Abrams ComicArts); Monstress (Image)
• Zoe Thorogood, Rain (Syzygy/Image)

Best Cover Artist (for multiple covers)

• Jen Bartel, She-Hulk (Marvel)
• Bruno Redondo, Nightwing (DC)
• Alex Ross, Astro City: That Was Then . . . (Image); Fantastic Four, Black Panther (Marvel)
• Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)
• Zoe Thorogood, Joe Hill’s Rain (Syzygy/Image)

Best Coloring

• Jordie Bellaire, The Nice House on the Lake, Suicide Squad: Blaze (DC); Antman, Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age (Marvel)
• Jean-Francois Beaulieu, I Hate Fairyland 2022, Twig (Image)
• Dave McCaig, The Incal: Psychoverse (Humanoids)
• Jacob Phillips, Follow Me Down, The Ghost in You, That Texas Blood (Image)
• Alex Ross and Josh Johnson, The Fantastic Four: Full Circle (Abrams ComicArts)
• Diana Sousa, Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins; The Mighty Nein Origins: Yasha Nydoorin; The Mighty Nein Origins: Fjord Stone; The Mighty Nein Origins: Caleb Widogast (Dark Horse)

Best Lettering

• Pat Brosseau, Batman: The Knight, Wonder Woman: The Villainy of Our Fears (DC): Creepshow, Dark Ride, I Hate This Place, Skybound Presents: Afterschool (Image Skybound)
• Chris Dickey, The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night (Abrams ComicArts)
• Todd Klein, Chivalry (Dark Horse); Fables (DC); Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age (Marvel)
• Nate Piekos, Black Hammer Reborn, Minor Threats, Shaolin Cowboy, Stranger Things: Kamchatka (Dark Horse), I Hate Fairyland, Twig (Image)
• Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo (IDW)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

• Alter Ego, edited by Roy Thomas (TwoMorrows)
• Comic Book Creator, edited by Jon B. Cooke (TwoMorrows)
• The Comics Journal #308, edited by Gary Groth, Kristy Valenti, and Rachel Miller (Fantagraphics)
• PanelXPanel magazine, edited by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and Tiffany Babb (panelxpanel.com)
• Rob Salkowitz, Forbes, ICv2, Publishers Weekly

Best Comics-Related Book

• The Art of the News: Comics Journalism, edited by Katherine Kelp-Stebbins and Ben Saunders (Oregon State University Press)
• Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects, by Benjamin L. Clark and Nat Gertler (Schulz Museum)
• The Charlton Companion, by Jon B. Cooke (TwoMorrows)
• Gladys Parker: A Life in Comics, A Passion for Fashion, by Trina Robbins (Hermes Press)
• Resurrection: Comics in Post-Soviet Russia, by José Alaniz (Ohio State University Press)

Best Academic/Scholarly Work

• Bandits, Misfits, and Superheroes: Whiteness and Its Borderlands in American Comics and Graphic Novels, by Josef Benson and Doug Singsen (University Press of Mississippi)
• Graphic Medicine, edited by Erin La Cour and Anna Poletti (University of Hawai’i’ Press)
• How Comics Travel: Publication, Translation, Radical Literacies, by Katherine Kelp-Stebbins (Ohio State University Press)
• The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader: Critical Openings, Future Directions, edited by Alison Halsall and Jonathan Warren (University Press of Mississippi)
• Teaching with Comics and Graphic Novels. By Tim Smyth (Routledge)

Best Publication Design

• A Frog in the Fall (and later on), designed by Linnea Sterte, Olle Forsslöf, and Patrick Crotty (PEOW)
• Joan Jett & the Blackhearts 40X40: Bad Reputation/I Love Rock-n-Roll, designed by Josh Bernstein and Jason Ullmeyer (Z2)
• Mazebook Dark Horse Direct Edition, designed by Tom Muller (Dark Horse)
• Parker: The Martini Edition—Last Call, designed by Sean Phillips (IDW)
• Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes, The Graphic Album, designed by Lauryn Ipsum (Z2)

Best Webcomic

• Deeply Dave, by Grover, http://www.deeplydave.com/
• Delilah Dirk: Practical Defence Against Piracy, by Tony Cliff, https://www.delilahdirk.com/dd4/dd4-p46.html
• Lore Olympus, by Rachel Smythe (WEBTOON), https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/lore-olympus/list?title_no=1320&page=5
• The Mannamong, by Michael Adam Lengyel, https://mannamong.com/episode-1/
• Spores, by Joshua Barkman, https://falseknees.com/22ink1.html

Best Digital Comic

• All Princesses Die Before Dawn, by Quentin Zuttion, translation by M. B. Valente (Europe Comics)
• Barnstormers, by Scott Snyder and Tula Lotay (Comixology Originals)
• Behind the Curtain, by Sara del Giudice, translation by M. B. Valente (Europe Comics)
• Ripple Effects, by Jordan Hart, Bruno Chiroleu, Justin Harder, and Shane Kadlecik (Fanbase Press)
• Sixty Years in Winter, by Ingrid Chabbert and Aimée de Jongh, translation by Matt Madden (Europe Comics)

Judges Choose 15 for 2023 Eisner Hall of Fame

Voters Will Select 4 More Inductees

SAN DIEGO – San Diego Comic Convention (Comic-Con) has announced that the Eisner Awards judges have selected 15 individuals to automatically be inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame for 2023. These inductees include 11 deceased comics pioneers and 4 living creators. The deceased greats are: Jerry Bails, Tony DeZuniga, Justin Green, Jay Jackson, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Win Mortimer, Diane Noomin, Gaspar Saladino, Kim Thompson, and Mort Walker. The judges’ living choices are Bill Griffith, Jack Katz, Garry Trudeau, and Tatjana Wood.

The judges have also chosen 16 nominees from whom voters will select 4 to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer. These nominees are Gus Arriola, Brian Bolland, Gerry Conway, Edwina Dumm, Mark Evanier, Creig Flessel, Bob Fujitani, Warren Kremer, Todd McFarlane, Keiji Nakazawa, Ann Nocenti, Paul Norris, Bud Plant, Tim Sale, Diana Schutz, and Phil Seuling. More information on the inductees and nominees can be found below.

Voting for the Hall of Fame is being held online. A two-step voting process has been put in place for enhanced security. The first step is for prospective voters to apply at https://form.jotform.com/230927489799177 . After filling out a form, eligible voters will be invited to go to the ballot and cast their votes. Individuals who were approved to vote in 2022 will be sent an invitation to participate and do not need to reregister. Those who are eligible to vote include comic book/graphic novel/webcomic creators (writers, artists, cartoonists, pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists); comic book/graphic novel publishers and editors; comics historians and educators; graphic novel librarians; and owners and managers of comic book specialty retail stores. The deadline for voting is April 28. Voters must have registered by April 18 in order to be invited to the ballot. Questions about the voting process should be sent to the Eisner Awards administrator, Jackie Estrada at jackie@comic-con.org

The 2023 Eisner Awards judging panel consists of librarian Moni Barrett, educator/collector Peter Jones, retailer Jen King, journalist Sean Kleefeld, scholar/comics creator A. David Lewis, and instructor/curator TJ Shevlin.

The Eisner Hall of Fame trophies will be presented in a special program during Comic-Con on the morning of July 21. This is a change from previous years, when the Hall of Fame was part of the Friday night Eisner Awards ceremony. This year the Hall of Fame winners will have their own special spotlight in the daytime, giving more fans the opportunity to attend.

2023 Eisner Hall of Fame Judges’ Choices

These individuals will automatically be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Deceased Inductees:

Jerry Bails (1933–2006)
Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," Jerry Bails was one of the first to approach comic books as a subject worthy of academic study, and he was a primary force in establishing 1960s comics fandom. He was the founding editor of the fanzines Alter-Ego, The Comicollector, and On the Drawing Board, the forerunner to the long-running newszine The Comic Reader, designed to showcase the latest comic news. He then headed the drive to establish the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors. Another important contribution was his Who's Who of American Comic Books, published in four volumes during 1973–1976.

Tony DeZuniga (1932–2012)
Tony DeZuniga was the first Filipino comic book artist whose work was accepted by American publishers and was instrumental in recruiting many other Filipino artists to enter the U.S. comics industry in the early 1970s. He is best known for co-creating Jonah Hex and Black Orchid. DeZuniga divided his time between DC and Marvel, drawing not only Jonah Hex and Conan but also many other well-known characters including Doc Savage, Thor, The X-Men, Swamp Thing, Batman, Dracula, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Red Sonja, The Punisher, and Spider-Man.

Justin Green (1945–2022)
Justin Green is most noted for the 1972 underground title Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary. This autobiographical comic book detailed Green's struggle with a form of OCD known as scrupulosity, within the framework of growing up Catholic in 1950s Chicago. Intense graphic depiction of personal torment had never appeared in comic book form before, and it had a profound effect on other cartoonists and the future direction of comics as literature. The underground comix pioneer was also a contributor to such titles as Bijou Funnies, Insect Fear, Arcade, Young Lust, and Sniffy Comics. In the 1990s, Green focused his cartooning attention on a series of visual biographies for Pulse!, the in-house magazine for Tower Records. It ran for ten years and was later collected as Musical Legends.

Jay Jackson (1905–1954)
Jay Paul Jackson was an African American artist who spent many years working for the Chicago Defender, in addition to working as an illustrator for science fiction magazines such as Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. Jackson introduced the world to the first black superhero on January 6, 1945, in “the oldest, longest continuously running black comic strip,” Bungleton Green, in the Chicago Defender. Bungleton Green, the name of the character as well as the strip, became the literal embodiment of the black ideal, a man who in all ways was equal, even superior, to the whites whose relentless oppression Jackson constantly fought.

Jeffrey Catherine Jones (1944–2011)
Jeff Jones began creating comics in 1964. While attending Georgia State College, Jones met fellow student Mary Louise Alexander, whom she married in 1966. After graduation, the couple moved to New York City but split up in the early 1970s (writer/editor Louise Jones Simonson was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2020). In New York Jones found work drawing for King Comics, Gold Key, Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella, as well as Wally Wood’s Witzend. In the early 1970s when National Lampoon began publication, Jones had a strip in it called Idyl. From 1975 to 1979 Jones shared workspace with Bernie Wrightson, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Michael Wm Kaluta, collectively named The Studio. By the early 1980s, Jones had a recurring strip in Heavy Metal titled I'm Age. In the late 1990s, Jones started taking female hormones and had sex reassignment surgery. She passed away in May of 2011.

Aline Kominsky-Crumb (1948–2022)
Kominsky-Crumb was born Aline Goldsmith in 1948, in Long Island, New York. In 1971 she moved to San Francisco and fell in with the all-female collective that founded Wimmen’s Comix, and contributed stories to the anthology’s inaugural issues. In 1975, she departed Wimmen’s Comix and with fellow former contributor Diane Noomin launched Twisted Sisters, which would eventually spawn an anthology and a limited series featuring work by many Wimmen’s Comix contributors. Kominisky married Robert Crumb in 1978, a few years after the couple began co-creating the comic Dirty Laundry, about their life together. Aline drew her own character, “the Bunch,” later collected into Love That Bunch. In 1981 she took the editorial reins of Crumb’s Weirdo anthology and remained the series’ editor through its 1993 conclusion. In 1990, the Crumbs moved to a small village in southern France, where they continued to collaborate. Aline’s 2007 memoir, Need More Love, earned her critical acclaim.

Win Mortimer (1919–1998)
Canadian artist James Winslow Mortimer began working for DC Comics in 1945 and quickly became a cover artist for comics featuring Superman, Superboy, and Batman. He succeeded Wayne Boring on the Superman newspaper strip in 1949, leaving it in 1956 to create the adventure strip David Crane for the Prentice-Hall Syndicate. During the same period, Mortimer returned to DC and worked on a large variety of comics, ranging from humor titles such as Swing with Scooter to superhero features starring the Legion of Super-Heroes and Supergirl. He and writer Arnold Drake co-created Stanley and His Monster in 1965. By the early 1970s, he was freelancing for other publishers. At Marvel, he drew virtually every story in the TV tie-in children's comic Spidey Super Stories (1974–1982) as well as the short-lived Night Nurse series. Mortimer's work at Gold Key Comics included Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, The Twilight Zone, and Battle Of The Planets.

Diane Noomin (1947–2022)
Pioneering female underground cartoonist Diane Noomin (married to cartoonist Bill Griffith) is best known for her character Didi Glitz and for editing the groundbreaking anthology series Twisted Sisters. Noomin's comics career began in the early 1970s and included appearances in Wimmen’s Comix, Young Lust, Arcade, Titters, Weirdo, and many others. DiDi first appeared in a story called "Restless Reverie" in Short Order Comix #2 (Family Fun, 1974). Noomin has said that she used DiDi as a shield in addressing material which in later years was increasingly autobiographical. Most recently, Noomin edited the anthology Drawing Power: Women's Stories of Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Survival (Abrams ComicArts, 2019), which was inspired by the global #MeToo Movement. The book won the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Anthology.

Gaspar Saladino (1927–2016)
Gaspar Saladino started at DC in 1949 and worked for more than 60 years in the comics industry as a letterer and logo designer. It has been calculated that he designed 416 logos, lettered 52,769 comic book pages and 5,486 covers, and produced 411 house ads. The logos he designed for DC included Swamp Thing, Vigilante, Phantom Stranger, Metal Men, Adam Strange, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, and Unknown Soldier, among others. For Marvel, Saladino's logos, which he either created or updated, include The Avengers, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, Captain America and the Falcon, and Marvel Triple Action. During the early 1970s Saladino lettered the interiors for the then-new Swamp Thing. It was in the pages of this series that he created the concept of character-designated fonts, with Swamp Thing's distinctive outlined, "drippy" letters.

Kim Thompson (1956–2013)
Kim Thompson was born in Denmark in 1956 and grew up in the rich and varied publishing world of European comics. He arrived in the U.S. in the 1970s and immediately joined with Gary Groth, founder of Fantagraphics, to serve as co-publisher for the next three decades. Kim began working with The Comics Journal, helping produce the news reports, interviews, criticism, and commentary that would guide and outline the growth of both mainstream comics and the independent comics publishing movement going into the 1980s. By the early 1980s, Fantagraphics began publishing a list that included many of the most acclaimed comics and graphic novels of the era—among them the Hernandez Brothers’ Love and Rockets and many others—and Thompson was instrumental in their acquisition and publication. Thompson was also a key figure in bringing the best of European graphic novels to the U.S., acquiring and translating works.

Mort Walker (1923–2018)
Mort Walker was one of the best known gag-a-day cartoonists in the world. He created three long-running and famous newspaper comics: his signature series Beetle Bailey (1950–  ), Hi and Lois with Dik Browne (1954– ), and Boner's Ark (1968-2000). Mort Walker was not only a creative spirit in comedy, but he also loved his profession. He wrote various essays and books about comics. He was the first to think up names for comics symbols and imagery which had previously remained unnamed. The man also turned the National Cartoonists' Society into an actual professional organization and established its annual Reuben Award to honor artists and writers. He founded a Museum of Cartoon Art (1974–2002), whose huge collection of original artwork is nowadays part of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

Living Inductees:

Bill Griffith (1944– )
Known for his non sequitur-spouting character Zippy the Pinhead, Griffith had his first work published in 1969 in the East Village Other and Screw. His first major comic book titles included Tales of Toad and Young Lust, a bestselling series parodying romance comics. He was co-editor of Arcade, The Comics Revue for its seven-issue run in the mid-’70s. The first Zippy strip appeared in Real Pulp #1 (Print Mint) in 1970. The strip went weekly in 1976, first in the Berkeley Barb and then syndicated nationally. Today the daily Zippy appears in over 200 newspapers worldwide. Most recently, he produced the autobiographical Invisible Ink: My Mother’s Love Affair with a Famous Cartoonist.

Jack Katz (1927– )
Jack Katz began his career at the age of 16, doing art for Archie Comics and Fawcett's Bulletman, and working as an assistant on several strips for King Features in the second half of the 1940s. In the early 1950s, he went to work as a comic book penciler for Marvel/Atlas Comics and continued into the early 1970s. He did art on many war, mystery, and romance titles, mainly for Marvel, but also for Better Publications. Katz was additionally present in DC's romance titles and in the horror magazines of Warren Publishing and Skywald in the 1970s. Then he dropped out of mainstream comics to devote 12 years to his First Kingdom project: a complex science fiction epic that tells of man's migration into space, the ensuing galactic battles, and the great mystery of mankind's origin before the fall of civilization. Katz completed this series with issue number 24 in 1986.

Garry Trudeau (1948– )
Trudeau attended Yale University and was a cartoonist and writer for The Yale Record. He also created a comic strip called Bull Tales that moved to the Yale Daily News in 1969. Universal Press Syndicate bought the strip and started selling it nationwide to over 400 newspapers under the title Doonesbury. In his long career, Trudeau has been groundbreaking in dealing with topics like homosexuality in comic strips. He also has been a strong advocate of cartoonists’ rights. In 1975, Trudeau was the first comic strip artist to win the Pulitzer Prize, followed by the Reuben Award in 1996. Doonesbury was made into an animated short film in 1977 and a Broadway musical in 1984.

Tatjana Wood (1926– )
Tatjana Weintrob immigrated from Germany to New York in 1948, attending the Traphagen School of Fashion. In 1949, she met comics artist Wally Wood, and they married in 1950. During the 1950s and 1960s, she sometimes made uncredited contributions to Wood's artwork. Beginning in 1969, she did extensive work for DC Comics as a comic book colorist. She was the main colorist for DC's covers from 1973 through the mid-1980s. She did coloring on the interiors of such acclaimed series as Grant Morrison's acclaimed run on Animal Man, Alan Moore's issues of Swamp Thing, and Camelot 3000. She won the Shazam Award for Best Colorist in 1971 and 1974.

2023 Eisner Awards Hall of Fame Nominees

Voters will choose 4 individuals from these 16 to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Gus Arriola (1917–2008)
Gus Arriola wrote and drew the Mexican-themed comic strip Gordo. The strip prominently featured Mexican characters and themes, set a high standard with its impeccable art and design, and had a long and successful life in newspapers (1941–1985). R.C. Harvey wrote in Children of the Yellow Kid: “A strip remarkable for its graphic evolution is Gus Arriola’s Gordo. A pioneer in producing ‘ethnic’ comics, Arriola drew upon his own Mexican heritage in creating a strip about a portly south-of-the-border bean farmer. . . . When the strip started, it was rendered in the big-foot style of MGM animated cartoons, upon which Arriola had been working until then. But over the years, Arriola dramatically changed his way of drawing, producing eventually the decorative masterpiece of the comics page, the envy of his colleagues. He frequently made the strip educational, informing his readers about the culture of Mexico.”

Brian Bolland (1951– )
Brian Bolland is a British comic artist originally known for his work on Judge Dredd. He was one of the first British artists to be recruited by DC Comics in the early days of what became known as "the British Invasion," which revolutionized the industry in the 1980s. One of his earliest works for DC was Justice League of America #200 in 1982, though he is better remembered for the 12-issue limited series Camelot 3000, DC's first-ever "maxi-series." He also drew the Batman graphic novel The Killing Joke, written by Alan Moore, and a Judge Dredd/Batman team-up, also by Moore. In recent years, he has concentrated mainly on providing cover art, most of it for DC.

Gerry Conway (1952– )
Gerard F. "Gerry" Conway is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics vigilante The Punisher (with artist Ross Andru) and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. He is also known for co-creating the DC Comics superhero Firestorm (with artist Al Milgrom), and for scripting the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.

Edwina Dumm (1893–1990)
Edwina Dumm drew the comic strip Cap Stubbs and Tippie for nearly five decades. After graduating from high school, Edwina took a job as a stenographer for the Columbus Board of Education and enrolled in a cartooning correspondence course from the Landon School in Cleveland. Upon completing the course, she became a staff artist at the Daily Monitor in 1916 and began drawing a daily editorial cartoon at that time. She was the first woman in the nation to work as an editorial cartoonist for a daily newspaper. In 1918 she moved to New York City and submitted work to the Adams Syndication Service. Her new creation, Cap Stubbs and Tippie, followed the adventures of a mischievous little boy and his shaggy dog; it premiered as a daily strip in 1918. A Sunday page was added in 1934. Edwina's success in New York City expanded well beyond her comic strips. She illustrated several books, and she achieved her dream of creating a cover for Life magazine in 1930 when she illustrated the cover for its January issue. Edwina's achievements were honored in 1978, when she received the Gold Key Award from the National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame, making her the only woman to receive this honor.

Mark Evanier (1952– )
Mark Evanier entered the comics industry in 1969 as an assistant to the great Jack Kirby, whom he wrote about in his award-winning book Kirby, King of Comics. Mark has written hundreds of comic books, most notably Blackhawk, Crossfire, DNAgents, and New Gods. He has worked with Sergio Aragonés for over 40 years on Groo the Wanderer.  He is also a historian of comic books and animation.

Creig Flessel (1912–2008)
Creig Flessel drew the covers of many of the first American comic books, including the pre-Batman Detective Comics #2–17 (April 1937–July 1938). He had debuted in comics the year before with stories in the seminal More Fun Comics #10 (May 1936). He drew many early adventures of the Golden Age Sandman and has sometimes been credited as the character's co-creator. When DC Comics editor Vin Sullivan left DC and formed his own comic book publishing company, Magazine Enterprises, Flessel signed on as associate editor. Flessel continued to draw comics, often uncredited, through the 1950s, including Superboy stories in both that character's namesake title and in Adventure Comics; and anthological mystery and suspense tales in American Comics Group’s (ACG's) Adventures into the Unknown.

Bob Fujitani (1921–2020)
Artist Bob Fujitani (half-Japanese, half-Irish) drew comics for a variety of publishing houses beginning in the early 1940s. His Golden Age credits include work for Ace/Periodical House (Lash Lightning), Avon (Eerie, western), Dell (adventure and historical comics), Harvey (Green Hornet, Shock Gibson), Hillman (Flying Dutchman), Holyoke (Cat-Man), Lev Gleason (Crime Does Not Pay, Two-Gun Kid), and Quality (Black Condor, Dollman). He is also well remembered by fans for his art on the Gold Key series Turok, Son of Stone and Doctor Solar. In the comic strip world, he worked as a ghost inker on the Flash Gordon daily in the 1960s and the 1970s and on the Rip Kirby daily in the 1990s.

Warren Kremer (1921–2003)
Warren Kremer was born in the Bronx as the son of a sign painter, from whom he inherited his steady drawing hand. He studied at the School of Industrial Arts and went straight into print services, working for pulp magazines. He gradually took on more comics work in Ace Publications, his first title being Hap Hazard. Kremer ended up working for Harvey Comics, where he stayed for 35 years and became a leading penciller, working on titles such as Casper, Little Max, Joe Palooka, Stumbo the Giant, Hot Stuff, Richie Rich and Little Audrey. After Harvey closed its doors in 1982, Kremer worked for Star Comics, Marvel’s kids imprint, and contributed to titles like Top Dog, Ewoks, Royal Roy, Planet Terry, and Count Duckula.

Todd McFarlane (1961– )
Todd McFarlane began drawing comics professionally in 1984. He eventually worked his way to the top of Marvel's artist roster with successful runs on The Incredible Hulk and Amazing Spider-Man. Marvel gave McFarlane a new title that he solely could write, pencil, and ink: Spider-Man. The first issue appeared in September 1990 and became the best-selling comic book of all time, selling more than 2.5 million copies. Following this incredible success, he left Marvel in August 1991 to form his own publishing company: Image Comics, together with his colleagues Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Here, he launched his series Spawn, which went on to become a 1997 movie and an animated TV series. He also founded Todd McFarlane Toys and a film/animation studio.

Keiji Nakazawa (1939–2012)
Keiji Nakazawa was born in Hiroshima and was in the city when it was destroyed by a nuclear weapon in 1945. He settled in Tokyo in 1961 to become a cartoonist. He produced his first manga for anthologies like Shonen Gaho, Shonen King, and Bokura. By 1966, Nakazawa began to express his memories of Hiroshima in his manga, starting with the fictional Kuroi Ame ni Utarete (Struck by Black Rain) and the autobiographical story Ore wa Mita (I Saw It). Nakazawa's life work, Barefoot Gen (1972), was the first Japanese comic ever to be translated into Western languages. Barefoot Gen was adapted into two animated films and a live-action TV drama and has been translated into a dozen languages.

Ann Nocenti (1957– )
Ann Nocenti is an American journalist, filmmaker, teacher, comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work at Marvel in the late 1980s, particularly the four-year stint as the editor of Uncanny X-Men and The New Mutants (written by Chris Claremont) as well as her run as a writer of Daredevil, illustrated primarily by John Romita, Jr. Ann has co-created such Marvel characters as Longshot, Mojo, Spiral, Blackheart and Typhoid Mary. She also wrote Catwoman for DC Comics.

Paul Norris (1914–2007)
Paul Norris studied at the Dayton (Ohio) Art Institute and moved to New York in 1940, where he got a job at Prize Publications, creating the series Power Nelson, Futureman, and Yank and Doodle. Moving to work for National, he launched Aquaman with Mort Weisinger, and collaborated on various other comics. In 1942, he drew his first newspaper strip, taking over Vic Jordan for the New York Daily PM. After returning from World War II, he was hired by King Features Syndicate and worked on several comic books starring Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim. Norris was also the artist of several episodes of Secret Agent X-9 during the period 1943–1946. His big break came in 1948, when he took over the Jungle Jim Sunday feature from Austin Briggs. In 1952, he took over the Brick Bradford daily strip from Clarence Gray, which he continued until 1987.

Bud Plant (1952– )
In his over 50 years in the comics industry, Bud Plant has been a retailer, distributor, and publisher. In 1972 Bud co-founded what became the comics retailer Comics & Comix in Berkeley, California, with John Barrett and Robert Beerbohm. In 1973 Comics & Comix helped host the first Bay Area comics convention, Berkeleycon 73, at the University of California, Berkeley campus. He also published a selection of comics and zines during the1970s, most notably Jack Katz’s First Kingdom. As a wholesale comics distributor in the 1970s and 1980s during the growth of the direct market, Plant absorbed some of his smaller rivals in the 1980s, and then sold his business to Diamond Comics Distributors in 1988. He still, as Bud Plant's Art Books, sells quality reprints and graphic novels. He exhibited at the first 48 San Diego Comic-Cons, but stopped in 2018.

Tim Sale (1956–2022)
Artist Tim Sale began working in comics in 1983, and in the course of his career he worked with Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Harris Comics, and Oni Press, with his art gracing characters including Batman, Superman, Harley Quinn, and the Justice Society of America. With Jeph Loeb he created Batman: The Long Halloween, Challengers of the Unknown Must Die!, Superman for All Seasons, Batman: Dark Victory, Daredevil: Yellow, Spider-Man: Blue, Hulk: Gray, Catwoman: When in Rome, and Captain America: White. In 1999, Sale earned an Eisner Award for Best Short Story for "Devil's Advocate," with writer Matt Wagner in Grendel: Black, White, and Red #1. He also received Eisners for Best Graphic Album – Reprint for Batman: The Long Halloween and Best Penciller/Inker for Superman for All Seasons and Grendel Black, White, and Red.

Diana Schutz (1955– )
Diana Schutz is a Canadian-born comic book editor who started out editing a newsletter for Berkeley’s Comics & Comix in 1981. She went on to serve as editor-in-chief of Comico during its peak years, followed by a 25-year tenure at Dark Horse Comics. Some of the best-known works she has edited are Frank Miller's Sin City and 300, Matt Wagner's Grendel, Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, Paul Chadwick's Concrete, Mike Mignola's Hellboy, and Sergio Aragonés's Groo. In addition to editing, she has translated many French and Spanish comics works into English. Diana is now an adjunct instructor of comics history and criticism at Portland State University.

Phil Seuling (1934–1984)
Phil Seuling was a comic book retailer, fan convention organizer, and comics distributor primarily active in the 1970s. He was the organizer of the annual New York Comic Art Convention, originally held in New York City every July 4 weekend beginning in 1968. Later, with his Sea Gate Distributors company, Seuling developed the concept of the direct market distribution system for getting comics directly into comic book specialty shops, bypassing the then-established newspaper/magazine distributor method, where no choices of title, quantity, or delivery directions were permitted. He received an Inkpot Award at the 1974 San Diego Comic-Con.

Eisner Awards Now Accepting Submissions for 2023

Comic-Con Sets March 31 Deadline

Comic-Con International (Comic-Con), the largest comic book and popular arts event of its kind in the world, has announced that submissions are being accepted for consideration by the judges for the 2023 Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards.

The tentative categories include best short story, best single issue/one-shot, best continuing series (at least two issues must have been published in 2022), best limited series (at least half of the series must have been published in 2022), best new series, best limited series, best publications for kids and teens, best anthology, best humor publication, best U.S. edition of international material, best graphic album–new, best graphic album–reprint, best reality-based work, best memoir, best adaptation from another medium, best digital comic, best webcomic, best archival collection, best writer, best writer/artist, best penciller/inker (individual or team), best painter (interior art), best lettering, best coloring, best cover artist, best comics journalism periodical or website, best comics-related book, best scholarly/academic work, and best publication design. The judges may add, delete, or combine categories at their discretion.

Publishers may submit a maximum of five nominees for any one category, and the same item or person can be submitted in more than one category. Each imprint, line, or subsidiary of a publisher may submit its own set of entries. Creators can submit materials for consideration if their publisher is either no longer in business or is unlikely to participate in the nomination process. Only ONE copy of each book need be submitted, even it if is being nominated in multiple categories. In addition, pdfs of the works are welcome. The cover letter should list the items being submitted and in what category, and it should include both a mailing address and an e-mail address for the person or company submitting the material. (Guidelines for preparing submissions letters are provided with the downloadable pdf of the Call for Submissions.) There are no entry fees.

All physical submissions should be sent to Jackie Estrada, Eisner Awards Administrator, Comic-Con International, 4375 Jutland Drive, San Diego, CA 92117, before the deadline of March 31.  No submissions should be sent directly to the judges. Note that this is a new address; please do not ship items to State Street or the previous P.O. Box.

The best digital comic and best webcomic categories are open to any new, professionally produced long-form original comics work posted online in 2022. “Digital comics” are complete issues of comics or graphic novels that are available for online viewing or for download. “Webcomics” are comics stories that are serialized online (such as a daily or weekly) and/or that use formats other than the traditional comic book page and take advantage of being online (horizontal, scrolled, etc.). The URLs and any necessary access information should be emailed to Eisner Awards administrator Jackie Estrada: jackie@comic-con.org.

The Eisner Award nominees will be announced in May, and online voting will be available to professionals in the comics industry, including creators, editors, publishers, distributors, and retailers. The results will be announced at the awards ceremony at Comic-Con on Friday, July 21

CLICK HERE for a downloadable pdf of the Call for Entries.

Moni Barrette is a 16-year public librarian who expanded her expertise in libraries, comics, and relationship building through her role at LibraryPass as the Director of Content Management and Publisher Relations. As co-founder of the nonprofit Creators Assemble, President of the American Library Association’s Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table, and adjunct lecturer at SDSU, she is dedicated to promoting learning through the use of comics and popular culture.

Jen King has been part of the comics industry for 30 years, owning stores Planet Comics and currently Space Cadets Collection Collection in Houston. She co-founded the Comic Book Shopping Network and The Experience and organized the industry group Plan C Distribution. She serves on the board for CBLDF and finance committee for Binc and is a member of ComicsPRO.

A. David Lewis is the Eisner Award–nominated author of American Comics, Religion, and Literary Theory: The Superhero Afterlife, as well as co-editor of both Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels and Muslim Superheroes: Comics, Islam, and Representation. The founder of two university library collections for comics and graphic novels, Dr. Lewis is currently program director for the MHS degree at the MCPHS University School of Arts and Sciences, where his teaching and research focus on Graphic Medicine, specifically the depiction of cancer in comic books and graphic novels. Finally, he is the author of such comics as The Lone and Level Sands and Kismet, Man of Fate, telling the modern-day adventures of the WWII Muslim superhero.

The judges are chosen by SDCC’s awards subcommittee, made up of individuals from the board of directors, staff, and various departments. The judges are selected to represent all aspects of the comics industry, including creators, retailers, academic/historians, journalists, and fans.

The judges will select the nominees that will be placed on the Eisner Awards ballot in some 30 categories. The nominees will then be voted on by professionals in the comic book industry, and the results will be announced in an awards ceremony at Comic-Con in July.

Guidelines for submitting material for the judges will be announced on the Comic-Con website later in January.

 The Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards are presented by San Diego Comic Convention during Comic-Con each summer in San Diego.

Barbara Randall Kesel’s comics career started in the mid-1980s at DC Comics, where she went from freelance writer to editor before heading west. She joined Dark Horse Comics in the early ’90s as an editor before returning to the freelance life. An unexpected meeting at Comic-Con International led to the challenge of helping to start up CrossGen Comics in Florida in 2000. A few freelancing years later, she’s now working for a tech startup that will be launching an app using comics to introduce a new computer technology.

Rik Offenberger has worked in the comic field as a retailer, distributor, reporter, public relations coordinator, writer, and publisher since 1990. He owns and operates the e-mail based Super Hero News service, and his published works in print can be seen in The Comics Buyers Guide, Comic Retailer, Borderline Magazine, and Comics International. On the internet he has worked as a writer and/or editor for Silver Bullet Comicbooks, Comic Book Resources, Newsarama, and First Comics News. He was the public relations coordinator at Archie Comics for a decade. For TwoMorrows Publications, Rik co-wrote The MLJ Companion with Paul Castiglia and Jon B. Cooke, and for Gemstone Publishing wrote chapters of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide to Lost Universes.

Aaron Trites has over 15 years of comic retail experience, currently as the owner of Now Or Never Comics in San Diego, and previously at Comicazi in Boston, the 2017 recipient of the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award. He has a background in community management and event coordination, building social spaces online and in person at venues ranging from Abbey Road Studios to PAX Australia.