I hear that James Stokoe managed to secure five nominations, the most of any creator, between his one-shot “Sobek” from Shortbox, and “Grunt” his book of art and unpublished comics from Dark Horse. Regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of Stokoe’s work, so I hope he secures at least one win from these nominations. If he manages to go five-for-five, then I’d be happy with that too. As for everyone else who is nominated, I’ll tell you right now that I didn’t read everything that was nominated. For good or for ill (more likely the latter than the former), this didn’t stop me from forming some opinions on who should win in their specific categories.
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Best Short Story:
Inman was robbed when he didn’t win for “When Your House is Burning Down, You Should Brush Your Teeth.” This injustice will not be rectified until he finally wins an Eisner for one of his stories. The fact that “You’re Not Going to Believe What I’m About to Tell You” is an excellent analysis of our polarized climate that doesn’t forsake his uniquely warped sense of humor is just further evidence that he deserves an Eisner on his shelf.
Best Single Issue/One-Shot
Stokoe nomination number one.
Best Continuing Series
“Bitter Root” kind of stretches the definition of this category since it has only recently started to release the issues comprising its second arc. While I haven’t read “Crowded” or this latest incarnation of “Daredevil,” the fact that they’re nominated here serves as a good incentive to start. “Bad Weekend” is a good enough reason for “Criminal” to win, but I’d rather wait until I read “Cruel Summer” first, and that graphic novella will have its own place to shine. Finally, while I do like “Immortal Hulk,” “The Dreaming” is not only a better example of how to perpetuate an existing IP, but a more rewarding one when you consider that it’s also a worthy follow-up to “The Sandman.”
Best Limited Series
Lots of love for Jeff Lemire in this category. Not sure why, though. I do plan on reading “Naomi” at some point; though, it has to pass into trade paperback form first. You know, like everything that Bendis writes at DC that isn’t one of his creator-owned titles.
Best New Series
“Undiscovered Country” and “Something is Killing the Children” are on my “to read” list. Between the three series here that I have read, “Once & Future” is an easy pick. Why? Because if you asked me which volume I’d like to read next between that series, “Invisible Kingdom,” and “Doctor Doom” then “Once & Future” is the easy answer.
Best Humor Publication
James Stokoe nomination number two. Also, I can understand why vol. 1 of “The Way of the Househusband” is being nominated since the humor displayed there is novel. Don’t expect to see it in this category next year, though. I was also surprised to learn that a new volume of “Wondermark” had been published in reading these nominations. I’ll have to go pick it up now.
Best Graphic Album—Reprint
“Cover” was arguably the best of Bendis’ creator-owned titles that saw release when he started writing for DC last year, while I’ve heard plenty of good things about “LaGuardia” in addition to its cultural relevance. Still, “Bad Weekend” was a phenomenal work that was great not just by the standards of “Criminal,” but the Brubaker/Phillips oeuvre as a whole. They absolutely deserve the award for that.
Best Adaptation from Another Medium
Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia
ALRIGHT, the category I look forward to more than any other in a given year, and… they nominated nothing I read. If I was going to give the award to the title that I was most interested in reading, then “The Poe Clan” would get the nod since my appreciation of Moto Hagio’s brand of crazy shojo manga manages to trump my interest in seeing Taiyo Matsumoto draw cats. Still, I have to ask, “What the hell, Eisner judges?” Did none of you read “Die Wergelder,” or “I Am A Hero” last year?
Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
I just want to point out that if Sakai gets the Eisner for this category, “Grasscutter” will now be a two-time Eisner-winning story. This is after it originally won the award for best serialized story back in ‘99.
Best Writer
If you’ll permit me to be negative: That Zdarsky is being nominated for “Spider-Man: Life Story” should disqualify him from winning, regardless of how good his other titles are.
Best Writer/Artist
Stokoe nomination number three. While I’m rooting for him here, I imagine that my nieces would be pulling for Telgemeier in this particular competition.
Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
All due respect to the other nominees, but have you SEEN Evely’s work on “The Dreaming?” She had damn well better win this category!
Best Comics-Related Book
Stokoe nomination number four.
Best Publication DesignStokoe nomination number five.
That’s my tour of the Eisner nominations that are important to me. The full list can be found at any respectable comics site, as well as Bleeding Cool. Oh, and in addition to the comics nominated this year, Nell Brinkley (creator of the Brinkley Girl) and E. Simms Campbell (African-American cartoonist and contributor to the likes of Esquire, Life, Playboy and more) are also being inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame. Four more inductees will also be selected from a pool including: Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Moto Hagio, Don Heck, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Francoise Mouly, Keiji Nakazawa, Thomas Nast, Lily Renée Peter Phillips, Stan Sakai, Louise Simonson, Don and Maggie Thompson, James Warren, and Bill Watterson.
Were I on the voting panel, Hagio, Sakai, and Watterson would make it in with no problem. As for the fourth… let’s go with Bechdel since the beginning and ending of “Fun Home” were pretty great after all.
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