Eisner Awards 2006

Say, if Solo won best anthology, what're the odds that DC'll give it a reprieve?

I hope Cooke's Solo wins Best Issue, if only because half the other choices were eh and half I haven't read.

The declining sales of the comic book serialization of Age of Bronze is in the news lately. I appreciate all the supportive response from readers. You guys are great! But a bit of information seems to have been generally overlooked: the book collection sales aren't in any trouble! It's not a question of Age of Bronze's survival, but a question of format. I don't really care in what format someone reads Age of Bronze; I simply want it to be read. So if any of you wants to buy the book collections, please go ahead. But understand that buying an Age of Bronze graphic novel doesn't help sales of the comic book serialization.

As in, ex-Low bassist Zak Sally?

Very good to see Age of Bronze get some love again. Such a great comic.

There's a lot of Ellis nominations! I think he's pretty mediocre. (Hides.)

can Hignite get the goddam award now he's run out of money and had to give up the mag please?

Eisner Award Winners for 2006

Best Short Story
"Teenage Sidekick," by Paul Pope, in Solo #3 (DC)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
Solo #5, by Darwyn Cooke (DC)

Best Serialized Story
Fables #36-38, 40-41: "Return to the Homelands," by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and Steve Leialoha (Vertigo/DC)

Best Continuing Series
Astonishing X-Men, by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday (Marvel)

Best Limited Series
Seven Soldiers, by Grant Morrison and various artists (DC)

Best New Series
All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)

Best Publication for a Younger Audience
Owly: Flying Lessons, by Andy Runton (Top Shelf)

Best Anthology
Solo, edited by Mark Chiarello (DC)

Best Digital Comic
PVP, by Scott Kurtz, www.pvponline.com

Best Reality-Based Work
Nat Turner, by Kyle Baker (Kyle Baker Publishing)

Best Graphic Album-New
Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, by Alan Moore and Gene Ha (ABC)

Best Graphic Album-Reprint
Black Hole, by Charles Burns (Pantheon)

Best Archival Collection/Project-Comic Strips
The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, by Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)

Best Archival Collection/Project-Comic Books
Absolute Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (DC)

Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material
The Rabbi's Cat, by Joann Sfar (Pantheon)

Best Writer
Alan Moore, Promethea, Top Ten: The Forty-Niners (ABC)

Best Writer/Artist
Geof Darrow, Shaolin Cowboy (Burlyman)

Best Writer/Artist-Humor
Kyle Baker, Plastic Man (DC); The Bakers (Kyle Baker Publishing)

Best Penciller/Inker
John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); Planetary (WildStorm/DC)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
Ladronn, Hip Flask: Mystery City (Active Images)

Best Cover Artist
James Jean, Fables (Vertigo/DC); Runaways (Marvel)

Best Coloring
Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #16 (ACME Novelty)

Best Lettering
Todd Klein, Wonder Woman, Justice, Seven Soldiers #0 (DC); Desolation Jones (WildStorm/DC); Promethea, Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, Tomorrow Stories Special (ABC); Fables (Vertigo); 1602: New World (Marvel)

Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
Aaron Renier (Spiral-Bound)

Best Comics-Related Periodical
Comic Book Artist, edited by Jon B. Cooke (Top Shelf)

Best Comics-Related Book
Eisner/Miller, edited by Charles Brownstein and Diana Schutz (Dark Horse Books)

Best Publication Design (tie)
Acme Novelty Library Annual Report to Shareholders, designed by Chris Ware (Pantheon)
Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays, designed by Philippe Ghielmetti (Sunday Press Books)

Hall of Fame
Judges' Choices: Floyd Gottfredson, William Moulton Marston
- Vaughn Bodé
- Ramona Fradon
- Russ Manning
- Jim Steranko

Sad that "Age Of Bronze" and "Rocketo" didn't get anything, tho.

No matter how you cut it, this is a pretty astonishing selection.
It was a very good year.

?

As for your question, I'm sort of iffy on the Eisner's timeline. "Villains United"? Not the sort of thing I'd usually see the Eisners enjoying, but if they're spandex-friendly enough for "All Star Superman" and "Seven Soldiers"...Jessica Abel's "La Perdida", maybe? Not that I'd take it over most of the stuff nominated on there.

Let's see if next year Ellen Forney's great "I Love Led Zeppelin" and that Blechdel thing (which I haven't read yet) get something.

lost girls
fun home
embrodries
la predida
in the floyd archives
gemma bovary
reflections
niger
woodsmen pete
birds of prey
grey horses/salamender dream
gabrielle bells work for mome

and for the hall of fame:
francosie mouly
lynda berry
alison bechdel
julie bell
lea hernadez

that wasnt so hard was it?

*Almost all of the books on your list were actually published too late for this year's Eisners, aside from "Gemma Bovery" and "Salamander Dream," which both would've had to compete in the extremely tight Best Graphic Album catagories; "In the Floyd Archives," which came out in 2001; one or two of Gabrielle Bell's MOME stories; and "Embroideries," which did get nominated (in "Best Reality-Based Work"), but lost not unreasonably to "Nat Turner." (Also, Marco Corona, who did Reflections, is to my knowledge not a woman.) I mean, I"m _sure_ that both Fun Home and Lost Girls are gonna make it onto next year's list. So might the collection of "La Perdida"--although Jessica Abel got nominated for Best Writer/Artist for the serialized version back in 2003.

*It's probably worth noting that the awards' administrator is a woman, & there's virtually always at least one woman among the five judges who determine the nominees. (This year, it was the awesome Nisha Gopalan.)

*As for the Hall of Fame, that's usually reserved for people who are no longer particularly active in the business--you know, if you seriously think Lea Hernandez is up there with Floyd Gottfredson and Ramona Fradon and Jim Steranko, then we have a genuine difference of opinion.

Be very careful with ideas like "systematic," I guess I'm saying.

and thanks for the info

some thots
i cant really judge ramona fradons work, because well i dont like super hero art, and thats where i fuck up... (altough this is awesome:
http://lambiek.net/artists/f/fradon_ramona/fradon_aquaman.gif)

looking thru the catalogs, of fantagraphics, d&q, marvel, DC, etc there is a paucity of female talent, that seems systematic (ie Fantagraphics has three women in their catalog this time; d and q has 5; and well for the majors--read this: http://www.sequentialtart.com/article.php?id=259

a couple of questions:
how much power does the admin have?
is there a requirement for gender parity?
do you think that there are womens voices that are talked about in equal levels in comics?
as an eisner judge, did you consider diversity as a priority?
are there seperate judges for super hero work and indie work?
why do the eisners reward super hero comics more than they reward other work (or is this fair?)

*How much power does the Eisner administrator have? Well, she picks the judges, and while she doesn't vote, she did sometimes say "you should really make sure you take a look at this." (Jackie knows more about comics than pretty much anyone; when she points at something, I look.)

*Is there a requirement for gender parity? No; there'd be no sensible way to design or enforce it. The Eisners are about good work, & loaded as that "good" is, it's the best we can do.

*Do I think that there are women's voices that are talked about in equal levels in comics? I'm not sure exactly what that question means; if it means "do I think there are women creators who get talked about as much as men creators do," sure--the buzz book of the year in trade graphic-novel publishing is "Fun Home," and the breakout cartoonist of the moment, I think, is Hope Larson.

*As an Eisner judge, did I consider diversity as a priority? Probably not as a priority-qua-priority, but as something to keep in mind. (And diversity of content and style more than of creators, pretty much.)

*Are there separate judges for superhero work and indie work? Of course not; no more than there are for SF movies and non-SF movies in the Oscars.

*Why do the Eisners reward superhero comics more than they reward other work? Yeah, that's definitely not a fair question. Look at the nominees, up on the top of the page. Superhero proportions: Best Short Story, 1 of 5; Best Single Issue, 3 of 5 and that's pushing it; Best Serialized Story, 1 of 4; Continuing Series, 3 of 6 and that's only if you count "Rocketo"; Limited Series, 1 of 4; New Series, 2 of 5; Younger Audience, only "Franklin Richards" even vaguely counts; Anthology, 1 of 5; Digital Comic, zilch; Reality-Based, zilch; Graphic Album-New, 1 of 5; Graphic Album - Reprint, zilch; Archival Collection - Comic Strips, zilch; Archival Collection - Comic Books, 3 of 5; Foreign Material, zero; Writer, at last, five of five, although you sort of have to push it with Ellis; Writer/Artist, zero unless you count "Shaolin Cowboy"; Writer/Artist - Humor, 1 of 5 if "Plastic Man" counts; Penciller/Inker, five of five; Painter/Multimedia Artist, I suppose you could say Guinan counts; Cover Artist, two or three of five; Coloring, 1 of 5; Lettering, 2 of 4 but everybody already knows Todd Klein's going to win...; Wider Recognition, zero; Comics-Related Periodical, only two of five ever have much to do with superheroes; Comics-Related Book, 1 or 2 of five touch on superheroes; Publication Design, 1 of 5.

So the only categories where superhero comics actually have any real kind of hegemony in this year's Eisner nominees were "writer" and "penciller/inker"--and that, I'd wager, has a lot to do with the fact that in most indie comics those aren't separate categories--!

in what world is David Heatley even vaguely hyped, beyond (I'm guessing) Anthony's own enthusiasm for seeing straight boys rooting each other and putting things up their bottoms, which is only one of his stories ever anyway?

who is Hope Larson's husband (and why is that relevant)?

how is Joe Matt a misogynist?

and Gemma Bovary was published SEVEN YEARS AGO, what the fuck.

scott o malley, and the scout pilgrim work.

i didnt call joe matt a misogynst

gemma has been republished, this year, in NA, i think.

wasn't meaning to be nasty - that's a great comic, one of the best "short" stories of the decade, but I genuinely do assume that you particularly like those aspects of it. it's like guessing that Huk likes something because Green Arrow points his finger in it. sorry for offense in arm-waving rhetoric though.

yeah Joe Matt bit wasn't you, just fulminating at the thread while I thought of it. Joe not understanding women is a long way from him hating women - and his issues with relating to people are clearly not female-specific, but much broader and related to social awkwardness and internal notions of self-sufficiency. and ANYWAY he's presumably over it to some degree now what with being all shacked up in Hollywood with hott teenage girlfriends and whatnot.

now that I know who Larson's husband is, a) his hype is WAY HIGHER than any of the others on your list, and in a completely different realm to David B, the next-most-acclaimed, b) profoundly related to his work and its appeal to a specific audience - you have to know what a Bob-omb is to think it funny to reference in a comic, and REALLY CARE what it is to think it awesome to have a hero in a comic's band named after one (er, or whatever, I flipped through one book in a shop once) and c) still a pretty spurious point of comparison - judge her hype on its own terms, not in comparison to that of who she roots.

his hype is larger than almsot anyone working today, so is dave b's. much more than larson.

b) larson's hype vs o'malley's hype is MAD irrelevant! it's quite appallingly sexist to even propose comparing them!


(altho feel free to come back in six months when still no-one gives a shit about Late Bloomer and fire off some shots about its hype outshining that of the new Binky Brown reprint)

y) count Alan Moore in Lost Girls articles in mainstream print and web. count O'Malley articles in mainstream print and web. BLUSH WITH SHAME.

¤) David B's hype is still tiny compared to Brad Meltzer's! and David Heatley's is tiny x tiny compared to David B's! I bought both issues of Deadpan, but only cos I saw them in the Fanta catalogue they've been mailing me for ten years and I recognised him from that strip in Kramer's #5

ə) would be more but 1am drunk and I have to go to work unlike Gaz

can we talk about the Harveys now? someone email me results and I will try and think about @ w0rk

Does the "B" stand for "BORING"??? OMG MUAHAHAHAHAH HAH HAHAHA god I hate myself.

BEST WRITER
Ed Brubaker / CAPTAIN AMERICA / Marvel Comics

BEST ARTIST
J.H. Williams III / PROMETHEA / ABC/WildStorm/DC Comics

BEST CARTOONIST
Chris Ware / ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY # 16 / ACME Novelty Library

BEST LETTERER
Chris Ware / ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY # 16 / ACME Novelty Library

BEST INKER
Charles Burns / BLACK HOLE # 12 / Fantagraphics Books

BEST COLORIST
Laura Martin / ASTONISHING X-MEN / Marvel Comics

BEST COVER ARTIST
James Jean / FABLES / DC/Vertigo

BEST NEW TALENT - TIE
R. Kikuo Johnson / NIGHT FISHER / Fantagraphics Books
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa / MARVEL KNIGHTS FOUR / Marvel Comics

BEST NEW SERIES
YOUNG AVENGERS / Marvel Comics

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES
RUNAWAYS / Marvel Comics

BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL
MAAKIES / Tony Millionaire
Self-syndicated

BEST ANTHOLOGY
SOLO / DC Comics

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM - ORIGINAL
TRICKED / Top Shelf

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM - PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED
BLACK HOLE / Pantheon Books

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY
LOVE AND ROCKETS, VOLUME 2, # 15 / Fantagraphics Books

BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT
LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND: SO MANY SPLENDID SUNDAYS / Sunday Press Books

BEST AMERICAN EDITION OF FOREIGN MATERIAL
BUDDHA / Vertical Books

BEST ONLINE COMICS WORK
AMERICAN ELF / James Kochalka / www.americanelf.com

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS
Kyle Baker / PLASTIC MAN / DC Comics

SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION
LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND: SO MANY SPLENDID SUNDAYS / Sunday Press Books

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION
COMICS JOURNAL / Fantagraphics Books

Several of those Harvey results seem fine, but the apparent Marvel block-voting fucks up the worth of the entire program*. And I dunno what was nominated. But I do like Tony Millionaire's view on it still being worth winning:

Winning a Harvey Award is an exceptionally great experience, but only if you win one. If you lose, it is meaningless, humiliating and shameful. I've rarely lost a Harvey, which is proof that I'm a better cartoonist than most.

If you ever get good enough to win a Harvey, you will be able to hold it, enjoy it, scorn lesser cartoonists. It is much better for smashing your wife's face in than for instance an Eisner. The Eisner is a poor weapon, the globe will fall out before you can bring the trophy down onto the head.

For good smashing, hold the Harvey upside down, the heavy black cube at the end will do great damage. The long glass part is also good, it could easily snap the neck of the wife.

Sorry to the losers! Good fortune to me!