By Shaenon K. Garrity
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Roaming, by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, swept its categories in this year’s Eisner Awards, which were held at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con on July 26. Winning awards for best writer, best penciler/inker, and best new graphic album, the graphic novel, published by Drawn & Quarterly and one of two to top PW’s Graphic Novel Critics Poll last year, follows a group of college students on a trip to New York City together.
“It’s great to see that a book that’s about something simple can have a big impact,” Mariko Tamaki told PW. “It’s essentially a story about three girls who go to New York and have a not super fun time, but it was able to unite a bunch of readers and transcend.”
In the two nonfiction categories, Bill Griffith’s Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy won best reality-based Work, while Thien Pham’s Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam won best graphic memoir. In an emotional acceptance speech, Pham thanked the artists who supported him, including “the man above,” American Born Chinese creator and former fellow teacher Gene Yang.
“I’m only one-sixth Gene Yang now,” Pham said later, referring to Yang’s six Eisners to date, ”but this is a start.”
The awards for best continuing series and best writer/artist went to Daniel Warren Johnson for his smash run on Transformers. Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay accepted best new series for their horror comic Somna.
“I’ve had art block for years,” Cloonan told PW. “I’ve been drawing the whole time, but it’s been a struggle. But this past year, I feel like I’m back, like drawing is fun.”
Though DC and Marvel dominated the nomination lists, a wide range of publishers garnered awards, including such newer publishers as Mad Cave Studios, Silver Sprocket Press, and Dstlry, the latter of which launched just last year; web-based publishers including Webtoon and Comixology Originals; and crowdfunding platform Zoop, which funded best anthology winner Comics for Ukraine.
Penguin Random House and its imprints collected all three of the younger readers awards. The Art of Getting Noticed (Bigfoot and Nessie #1) by Chelsea M. Campbell and Laura Knetger won best publication for early readers, Pedro Martin’s Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir won best publication for kids, and Danger and Other Unknown Risks by Ryan North and Erica Henderson won best publication for teens.
My Picture Diary, alternative artist Fujiwara Maki’s 1980s record of her dysfunctional marriage, won best U.S. edition of international material from Asia. Manga was well-represented in other categories, much more so than in previous years, including nominations for My Girlfriend’s Child in best publication for teens, The Yakuza’s Bias in best humor publication, and The Summer Hikaru Died creator Mokumokuren in best writer/artist.
One particularly difficult moment of the night came with the announcement of a tie for best reprint graphic album, shared by Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha, and Nicola Scott and Hip Hop Family Tree: The Omnibus by the late Ed Piskor, who died by suicide in April following allegations of sexual misconduct. Piskor’s family, including his mother and brother, were in attendance to accept the award on his behalf.
Otherwise, the mood at the ceremony was bright, with lots of joking and expressions of solidarity in the face of such issues as book banning and AI art. Many creators expressed gratitude for the community of creators gathered at the Eisner Awards. Presenter Kevin Eastman, cocreator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, put it simply: “Comic-Con is my Christmas every year.”
The idea of “paying it forward” to up-and-coming artists came up in more than one speech. During the Hall of Fame announcements, inductees who were in the audience—including artist and publisher Jim Lee, Fantagraphics cofounder Gary Groth, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, and Scary Godmother creator Jill Thomoson—were encouraged to stand, eliciting roars of applause.
Oliver Bly, creator of The Mushroom Knight, accepted the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award, saying that it was hard to speak with Lee watching him. “Mr. Lee,” he joked, “if you could avert your eyes, that would make this much easier.”
Regine Sawyer sounded a call for greater diversity and acceptance in the comics business while accepting the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award on behalf of the organization she founded, Women in Comics (WinC) Collective International, which works to promote marginalized groups, especially women and LGBTQ people of color, in the comics industry. “We’re honored; we are so grateful to San Deigo Comic-Con,” Regine commented after the ceremony. “But it just makes us want to push forward ever harder, faster and stronger.”
For a full list of this year’s Eisner Award winners, click here.
