The 2007 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Nominees

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After poring through the thousands of books, and comics submitted, a five-person blue-ribbon panel of judges have arrived at the 2007 nominees for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, considered the “Oscars” of the comic book industry. And they’ve come up with quite an eclectic mix.

The judges’ choices, in 29 categories, encompass the full spectrum of the comic artform, from new takes on the traditional superhero (Ed Brubaker’s Daredevil and Captain America for Marvel and Grant Morrison’s All Star Superman and Paul Pope’s Batman: Year 100 at DC) to experimental (Brian Chippendale’s Ninja graphic album, the Kramer’s Ergot anthology). The nominations also range from highly acclaimed graphic novels published by noncomics houses (Houghton Mifflin’s Fun Home, First Second’s American Born Chinese, Abrams’ Mom’s Cancer) to such relatively unknown small-press titles as Onion Head Monster Attacks, Truth Serum, and The Preposterous Adventures of Ironhide Tom.

No one creator or title dominates this year’s nominations. Creators with the most nominations (at four) are Brubaker, writer Bill Willingham (Vertigo/DC’s Fables and its spinoffs), and cartoonist Bob Burden. Burden’s version of Gumby with artist Rick Geary is up for three Eisners (including Best Writer), while his Flaming Carrot Comics is up for Best Humor Publication.

Perhaps the most noticeable trends in this year’s choices are many more female nominees and greater representation of manga.

Led by multiple nominations for Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), Renée French (The Ticking), and Tove Jansson (Moomin), female creators garnered more Eisner Awards nominations this year than in any previous year, with some 24 nominations for 20 creators. One of the female creators, 8-year-old Alexa Kitchen, is the youngest Eisner nominee ever; her Drawing Comics Is Easy (Except When It’s Hard) is up for Best Publication for a Younger Audience. At the other end of the age spectrum, octogenarian “good-girl” artist Lily Renée (Peters) Phillips is on the ballot in the Hall of Fame category. Some of the women on the ballot are past nominees and winners (Jill Thompson, Linda Medley, Melinda Gebbie, Ellen Forney, Becky Cloonan), but many are newcomers, including Gabrielle Bell, Hope Larson, Danica Novgorodoff, Lilli Carré, Svetlana Chmakova, and Lark Pien.

The growing presence of Japanese comics in American publishing is reflected in a new category created by the judges: Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan. Besides the five titles nominated there, manga works can be found in the archival category (Tezuka’s Ode to Kirohito, Tatsumi’s Abandon the Old in Tokyo) and in the nomination of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster for Best Continuing Series and Project X Challengers: Cup Noodle for Reality-Based Work.

The diversity of the nominations can also be seen in the publishers with the highest number of nominations: indie publisher Fantagraphics Books and venerable “mainstream” publisher DC Comics. Fantagraphics can claim 22 nominations (plus 1 shared), while DC and its various imprints have 18 along with 7 shared (in such categories as coloring, lettering, and cover art). Humor is a strong area for Fantagraphics, with multiple nominations going to Tony Millionaire’s Billy Hazelnuts, Michael Kupperman’s Tales Designed to Thrizzle, Ivan Brunetti’s Schizo, and Jason’s The Left Bank Gang, not to mention its repackaging of the early Popeye newspaper strips. Meanwhile, DC’s standout title is the Vertigo hardcover Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, nominated in the short story, anthology, cover artist, and lettering categories, along with Best Writer for Willingham. Other DC books with multiple nominations are the regular Fables series, Pope’s Batman: Year 100, Darwyn Cooke’s Absolute DC: The New Frontier, Morrison’s All Star Superman, and WildStorm’s Ex Machina (for Penciller/Inker and Cover Artist).

Over 40 other publishers can boast of nominations this year. Marvel Comics had one of its best years ever with nine nominations and a share of two others. Brubaker’s titles (Captain America, Daredevil, and Criminal) account for five of the Marvel nods. Marvel’s forebears Stan and Jack are both on the ballot: Stan Lee in the short story category, and Jack Kirby in the archival category for the hardcover Eternals collection. Dark Horse can claim five nominations of its own and a share of five others; its two multiple nominees are Millionaire’s Sock Monkey: The Inches Incident and Ian Edginton and D’Israeili’s Scarlet Traces: The Great Game. Top Shelf’s seven nominations include three for French’s The Ticking and three for Lost Girls.

Image Comics, primarily courtesy of the Desperado imprint, has five nominations and one shared, while Drawn & Quarterly is close behind with five of its own (including Moomin). New Holtzbrinck imprint First Second scored four nominations (plus one shared), with two each going to Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese and Lewis Trondheim’s A.L.I.E.E.E.N. Also with four is Abrams, which published Brian Fies’s Mom’s Cancer as well as two highly lauded comics history projects: Dan Nadel’s Art Out of Time and the Library of Congress Cartoon America.

Besides Houghton Mifflin, four publishers have three nominees each (AdHouse, Tokyopop, and Wildcard, which published Gumby), while a dozen publishers have two nominations each. A full list of the all the nominations is presented below.

This year’s judges made a few changes in the categories. In addition to splitting the Foreign Publication category into two in order to create a separate category for manga, they dropped the Best Serialized Story category, they reinstated the Best Humor Publication category, and they changed “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition” to “Special Recognition.”

2007 Eisner Judges Eisner Awards judges for 2007: comics writer Chris Reilly,
pop culture blogger Whitney Matheson (USA Today),fantasy author Jeff VanderMeer, retailer James Sime (Isotope, San Francisco), and librarian Robin Brenner.

The 2007 Eisner judges are librarian Robin Brenner (Brookline, Massacusetts), pop culture blogger Whitney Matheson (Pop Candy at usatoday.com), comics writer Christopher P. Reilly (Punch & Judy), retailer James Sime (Isotope Comics, San Francisco), and fantasy author/critic Jeff VanderMeer (bookslut.com).

Ballots will be going out in May to comics creators, editors, publishers, and retailers. The results will be announced in a gala awards ceremony on the evening of Friday, July 27 in Ballroom 20 at the San Diego Convention Center.

Sponsors for the 19th annual Eisner Awards include mycomicshop.com (major sponsor), Century Guild, Comickaze Comics, Diamond Comic Distributors, and Imaginary Friends Studios (principal sponsors); and Alternate Reality, Atlantis Fantasyworld, Comic Relief–The Comic Bookstore, comicsunlimited.com, Flying Colors Comics and Other Cool Stuff, Isotype Comics, and Strange Adventures (supporting sponsors).

Jackie Estrada has been administrator of the Awards since 1990. She can be reached at jackiee@mindspring.com.

MASTER NOMINEE LIST

2007 Eisner Awards

Best Short Story

* “The Black Knight Glorps Again,” by Don Rosa, in Uncle Scrooge #354 (Gemstone)

* “Felix,” by Gabrielle Bell, in Drawn & Quarterly Showcase 4 (Drawn & Quarterly)

* “A Frog’s Eye View,” by Bill Willingham and James Jean, in Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)

* “Old Oak Trees,” by Tony Cliff, in Flight 3 (Ballantine)

* “Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man,” by Stan Lee, Oliver Coipel, and Mark Morales, in Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man (Marvel)

* “Willie: Portrait of a Groundskeeper,” by Eric Powell, in Bart Simpsons’s Treehouse of Horror #12 (Bongo)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

* Batman/The Spirit #1: “Crime Convention,” by Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke (DC)

* A Late Freeze, by Danica Novgorodoff (Danica Novgorodoff)

* The Preposterous Adventures of Ironhide Tom, by Joel Priddy (AdHouse)

* Skyscrapers of the Midwest #3, by Joshua Cotter (AdHouse)

* They Found the Car, by Gipi (Fantagraphics)

Best Continuing Series

* All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)

* Captain America, by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting (Marvel)

* Daredevil, by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, and Stefano Gaudiano (Marvel)

* Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)

* The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard (Image)

* Young Avengers, by Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung, and various inkers (Marvel)

Best Limited Series

* Batman: Year 100, by Paul Pope (DC)

* The Looking Glass Wars: Hatter M, by Frank Beddor, Liz Cavalier, and Ben Templesmith (Desperado/Image)

* The Other Side, by Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart (Vertigo/DC)

* Scarlet Traces: The Great Game, by Ian Edginton and D’Israeli (Dark Horse)

* Sock Monkey: The Inches Incident, by Tony Millionaire (Dark Horse)

# Best New Series

* Criminal, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel Icon)

* East Coast Rising, by Becky Cloonan (Tokyopop)

* Gumby, by Bob Burden and Rick Geary (Wildcard)

* Jack of Fables, by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Tony Akins, and Andrew Pepoy (Vertigo/DC)

* The Lone Ranger, by Brett Matthews and Sergio Cariello (Dynamite)

Best Publication for a Younger Audience

* Chickenhare, by Chris Grine (Dark Horse)

* Drawing Comics Is Easy (Except When It’s Hard), by Alexa Kitchen (Denis Kitchen Publishing)

* Gumby, by Bob Burden and Rick Geary (Wildcard)

* Moomin, by Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)

* To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel, by Sienna Cherson and Mark Siegel (Simon & Schuster)

Best Humor Publication

* Flaming Carrot Comics, by Bob Burden (Desperado/Image)

* Onionhead Monster Attacks, by Paul Friedrich (Hellcar)

* Schizo #4, by Ivan Brunetti (Fantagraphics)

* Tales Designed to Thrizzle, by Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics)

* Truth Serum, by Jon Adams (City Cyclops)

Best Anthology

* Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, by Bill Willingham and various (Vertigo/DC)

* Hotwire Comix and Capers #1, edited by Glenn Head (Fantagraphics)

* Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators, edited by Frédéric Boilet (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

* Kramers Ergot 6, edited by Sammy Harkham (Buenaventura Press)

* Project: Romantic, edited by Chris Pitzer (AdHouse)

Best Digital Comic

* Bee, in “Motel Art Improvement Service,” by Jason Little, beecomix.com

* Girl Genius, by Phil and Kaja Foglio, www.girlgeniusonline.com

* Minus, by Ryan Armand, www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus1.html

* Phables, by Brad Guigar, www.phables.com

* Sam and Max, by Steve Purcell, telltalegames.com/community/comics/samandmax/issue-3

* Shooting War, by Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman, www.shootingwar.com

Best Reality-Based Work

* Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin)

* I Love Led Zeppelin, by Ellen Forney (Fantagraphics)

* Mom’s Cancer, by Brian Fies (Abrams)

* Project X Challengers: Cup Noodle, by Tadashi Katoh (Digital Manga)

* Stagger Lee, by Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix (Image)

Best Graphic Album—New

* American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang (First Second)

* Billy Hazelnuts, by Tony Millionaire (Fantagraphics)

* Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin)

* Ninja, by Brian Chippendale (Gingko Press)

* Scrublands, by Joe Daly (Fantagraphics)

* The Ticking, by Renée French (Top Shelf)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint

* Absolute DC: The New Frontier, by Darwyn Cooke (DC)

* Castle Waiting, by Linda Medley (Fantagraphics)

* Mom’s Cancer, by Brian Fies(Abrams)

* Shadowland, by Kim Deitch (Fantagraphics)

* Truth Serum, by Jon Adams (City Cyclops)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips

* The Complete Peanuts, 1959–1960, 1961–1962, by Charles Schulz (Fantagraphics)

* Mary Perkins On Stage, by Leonard Starr (Classic Comics Press)

* Moomin, by Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)

* Popeye: I Yam What I Yam, by E. C. Segar (Fantagraphics)

* Walt & Skeezix, vol. 2, by Frank King (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books

* Abandon the Old In Tokyo, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)

* Absolute Sandman, vol. 1, by Neil Gaiman and various (Vertigo/DC)

* Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries, 1900–1969, by Dan Nadel (Abrams)

* The Eternals, by Jack Kirby (Marvel)

* Ode to Kirihito, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

* A.L.I.E.E.E.N., by Lewis Trondheim (First Second)

* De:TALES, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (Dark Horse)

* Hwy 115, by Matthias Lehmann (Fantagraphics)

* The Left Bank Gang, by Jason (Fantagraphics)

* Pizzeria Kamikaze, by Etgar Keret and Asaf Hanuka (Alternative)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan

* After School Nightmare, by Setona Mizushiro (Go! Comi)

* Antique Bakery, by Fumi Yoshinaga (Digital Manga)

* Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)

* Old Boy, by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi (Dark Horse Manga)

* Walking Man, by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

# Best Writer

* Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Daredevil (Marvel); Criminal (Marvel Icon)

* Bob Burden, Gumby (Wildcard)

* Ian Edginton, Scarlet Traces: The Great Game (Dark Horse)

* Grant Morrison, All Star Superman, Batman, 52, Seven Soldiers (DC)

* Bill Willingham, Fables, Jack of Fables, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)

Best Writer/Artist

* Allison Bechdel, Fun Home (Houghton Mifflin)

* Renée French, The Ticking (Top Shelf)

* Gilbert Hernandez, Love and Rockets, New Tales of Old Palomar (Fantagraphics); Sloth (Vertigo/DC)

* Paul Pope, Batman: Year 100 (DC)

* Joann Sfar, Klezmer, Vampire Loves (First Second)

Best Writer/Artist—Humor

* Ivan Brunetti, Schizo(Fantagraphics)

* Lilli Carré, Tales of Woodsman Pete (Top Shelf)

* Michael Kupperman, Tales Designed to Thrizzle (Fantagraphics)

* Tony Millionaire, Billy Hazelnuts (Fantagraphics); Sock Monkey: The Inches Incident (Dark Horse)

* Lewis Trondheim, A.L.I.E.E.E.N. (First Second); Mr. I (NBM)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

* Mark Buckingham/Steve Leialoha, Fables (Vertigo/DC)

* Tony Harris/Tom Feister, Ex Machina(WildStorm/DC)

* Niko Henrichon, Pride of Baghdad (Vertigo/DC)

* Michael Lark/Stefano Gaudiano, Daredevil (Marvel)

* Sonny Liew, Wonderland (SLG)

* Steven McNiven/Dexter Vines, Civil War (Marvel)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)

* Nicolas De Crecy, Glacial Period (NBM)

* Melinda Gebbie, Lost Girls (Top Shelf)

* Ben Templesmith, Fell (Image); The Looking Glass Wars: Hatter M (Desperado/Image); Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse (IDW)

* Jill Thompson, “A Dog and His Boy” in The Dark Horse Book of Monsters; “Love Triangle” in Sexy Chix (Dark Horse);”Fair Division,” in Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)

* Brett Weldele, Southland Tales: Prequel Saga (Graphitti); Silent Ghost (Markosia)

Best Cover Artist
* John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); The Escapists (Dark Horse); The Lone Ranger (Dynamite)

* Tony Harris, Conan (Dark Horse); Ex Machina (WildStorm/DC)

* James Jean, Fables, Jack of Fables, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo/DC)

* Dave Johnson, 100 Bullets (Vertigo/DC); Zombie Tales, Cthulu Tales, Black Plague (Boom!)

* J. G. Jones, 52 (DC)

Best Coloring

* Kristian Donaldson, Supermarket (IDW)

* Hubert, The Left Bank Gang (Fantagraphics)

* Lark Pien, American Born Chinese (First Second)

* Dave Stewart, BPRD, Conan, The Escapists, Hellboy (Dark Horse); Action Comics, Batman/The Spirit, Superman (DC)

* Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #17 (ACME Novelty)

Best Lettering

* Ivan Brunetti, Schizo(Fantagraphics)

* Todd Klein, Fables, Jack of Fables, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, Pride of Baghdad, Testament (Vertigo/DC); Fantastic Four: 1602, Eternals (Marvel); Lost Girls (Top Shelf)

* Clem Robins, BPRD, The Dark Horse Book of Monsters, Hellboy (Dark Horse); Loveless, 100 Bullets, Y: The Last Man (Vertigo/DC)

* Richard Sala, The Grave Robber’s Daughter, Delphine (Fantagraphics)

* Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #17 (ACME Novelty)

Special Recognition

* Ross Campbell, Abandoned (Tokyopop); Wet Moon 2 (Oni)

* Svetlana Chmakova, Dramacon(Tokyopop)

* Hope Larson, Gray Horses (Oni)

* Dash Shaw, The Mother’s Mouth (Alternative)

* Kasimir Strzepek, Mourning Star (Bodega)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

* Alter Ego, edited by Roy Thomas (TwoMorrows)

* Comic Art 8, edited by Todd Hignite (Buenaventura Press)