Zap! Biff! Pow! 2017 Eisner Award Winners Announced

In between all the network meet-and-greet panels and movie trailers at San Diego Comic-Con, something wonderful happens. The best in comics, whether indie or conglomerate, small press or superhero, are honored at the Eisner Awards ceremony. This year’s event took place on Comic-Con weekend, July 22-24, 2017. The nominees and winners are as follows:

Best New Series:

• WINNER: Black Hammer by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston (Dark Horse)
• Clean Room, by Gail Simone and Jon Davis-Hunt (Vertigo/DC)
• Deathstroke: Rebirth, by Christopher Priest, Carlo Pagulayan, et al. (DC)
• Faith, by Jody Houser, Pere Pérez, and Marguerite Sauvage (Valiant)
• Mockingbird, by Chelsea Cain and Kate Niemczyk (Marvel)

 Best Limited Series:

• WINNER: The Vision, by Tom King and Gabriel Walta (Marvel)
• Archangel, by William Gibson, Michael St. John Smith, Butch Guice, and Tom Palmer (IDW)
• Han Solo, by Marjorie Liu and Mark Brooks (Marvel)
• Kim and Kim, by Magdalene Visaggio and Eva Cabrera (Black Mask)

 Best Continuing Series:

• WINNER: Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)
• Astro City, by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (Vertigo/DC)
• The Mighty Thor, by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman (Marvel)
• Paper Girls, by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (Image)

Best Writer:

• WINNER: Brian K. Vaughan, Paper Girls, Saga, We Stand On Guard (Image)
• Chelsea Cain, Mockingbird (Marvel)
• Max Landis, Green Valley (Image/Skybound), Superman: American Alien (DC)
• Jeff Lemire, Black Hammer (Dark Horse); Descender, Plutona (Image); Bloodshot Reborn (Valiant)

 Best Writer/Artist:

• WINNER: Sonny Liew, The Art of Charlie Chan, Hock Chye (Pantheon)
•  Jessica Abel, Trish Trash: Roller Girl of Mars (Papercutz/Super Genius)
• Tom Hart, Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir (St. Martin’s)

 Best Penciller/Inker (Individual or Team):

• WINNER: Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)
• Mark Brooks, Han Solo (Marvel)
• Francois Schuiten, The Theory of the Grain of Sand (IDW)
• Brian Stelfreeze, Black Panther (Marvel)

 Best Cover Artist (for multiple covers):

• WINNER: Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)
• Mike Del Mundo, Avengers, Carnage, Mosaic, The Vision (Marvel)
• David Mack, Abe Sapien, BPRD Hell on Earth, Fight Club 2, Hellboy and the BPRD 1953 (Dark Horse)
• Sean Phillips, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed (Image)
• Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (for multiple covers)

• WINNER: Jill Thompson, Wonder Woman: The True Amazon
• Federico Bertolucci, Love: The Lion (Magnetic)
• Brecht Evens, Panther (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Manuele Fior, 5,000 km per Second (Fantagraphics)
• Dave McKean, Black Dog (Dark Horse)
• Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)

Best Coloring:

• WINNER: Matt Wilson, Cry Havoc, Paper Girls, The Wicked + The Divine (Image); Black Widow, The MightyThor, Star-Lord (Marvel)
• Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Green Valley (Image/Skybound)
• Elizabeth Breitweiser, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed, Velvet (Image);
• Outcast by Kirkman & Azaceta (Image/Skybound)
• Sonny Liew, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon)
• Laura Martin, Wonder Woman (DC); Ragnorak (IDW); Black Panther (Marvel)

Best Lettering:

• WINNER: Todd Klein, Clean Room, Dark Night, Lucifer (Vertigo/DC); Black Hammer (Dark Horse)
• Sonny Liew, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon)
• Tom Gauld, Mooncop (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Nick Hayes, Woody Guthrie (Abrams)

Best Short Story:

• WINNER: “Good Boy,” by Tom King and David Finch, in Batman Annual #1 (DC)
• “The Comics Wedding of the Century,” by Simon Hanselmann, in We Told You So: Comics as Art (Fantagraphics)
• “Monday,” by W. Maxwell Prince and John Amor, in One Week in the Library (Image)
• “Shrine of the Monkey God!” by Kim Deitch, in Kramers Ergot 9 (Fantagraphics)

Best Publication for Early Readers (up to 8):

• WINNER: Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea, by Ben Clanton (Tundra)
• Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World, by James Sturm (Toon)
• Burt’s Way Home, by John Martz (Koyama)
• The Creeps, Book 2: The Trolls Will Feast! by Chris Schweizer (Abrams)
• I’m Grumpy (My First Comics), by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House Books for Young Readers)

Best Publication for Kids (9-12):

• WINNER: Ghosts, by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic)
• The Drawing Lesson, by Mark Crilley (Watson-Guptill)
• Hilda and the Stone Forest, by Luke Pearson (Flying Eye Books)
• Rikki, adapted by Norm Harper and Matthew Foltz-Gray (Karate Petshop)
• Science Comics: Dinosaurs, by MK Reed and Joe Flood (First Second) 

Best Publication for Teens (13-17):

• WINNER: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel)
• Bad Machinery, vol. 5: The Case of the Fire Inside, by John Allison (Oni)
• Batgirl, by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque (DC)
• Jughead, by Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm (Archie)
• Monstress, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Image)
• Trish Trash: Roller Girl of Mars, by Jessica Abel (Papercutz/Super Genius) 

Best Humor Publication:

• WINNER: Jughead, by Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm (Archie)
• The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp, by Lee Marrs (Marrs Books)
• Hot Dog Taste Test, by Lisa Hanawalt (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Man, I Hate Cursive, by Jim Benton (Andrews McMeel)
• Yuge! 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump, by G. B. Trudeau (Andrews McMeel)

Best Academic/Scholarly Work:

• WINNER: Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation, by Carolyn Cocca (Bloomsbury)
• Brighter Than You Think: Ten Short Works by Alan Moore, with essays by Marc Sobel (Uncivilized)
• Forging the Past: Set and the Art of Memory, by Daniel Marrone (University Press of Mississippi)
• Frank Miller’s Daredevil and the Ends of Heroism, by Paul Young (Rutgers University Press)
• Pioneering Cartoonists of Color, by Tim Jackson (University Press of Mississippi)

Best Reality-Based Work:

• WINNER: March (Book Three), by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (Top Shelf)
• Dark Night: A True Batman Story, by Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso (Vertigo/DC)
• ·   Glenn Gould: A Life Off Tempo, by Sandrine Revel (NBM)
• Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir, by Tom Hart (St. Martin’s)
• Tetris: The Games People Play, by Box Brown (First Second)

Best Webcomic:

• WINNER: Bird Boy, by Anne Szabla (http://bird-boy.com)
• Deja Brew, by Taneka Stotts and Sara DuVall (Stela.com)
• Jaeger, by Ibrahim Moustafa (Stela.com)
• The Middle Age, by Steve Conley (steveconley.com/the-middle-age)
• On Beauty, by Christina Tran (sodelightful.com/comics/beauty/)

Best Digital Comic:

• WINNER: Bandette, by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover (Monkeybrain/comiXology)
• Edison Rex, by Chris Roberson and Dennis Culver (Monkeybrain/comiXology)
• Helm, by Jehanzeb Hasan and Mauricio Caballero (www.crookshaw.com/helm/)
• On a Sunbeam, by Tillie Walden  (www.onasunbeam.com)
• Universe!, by Albert Monteys (Panel Syndicate)

The Hall of Fame Awards were selected by a panel of judges and voters from the convention. The Judges’ Panel included Milt Gross, H. G. Peter, Antonio Prohias, Dori Seda. Voters’ Choices included Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, George Perez, Walter Simonson and Jim Starlin. William Messner-Loeb and Jack Kirby were honored with the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing Anne Szabla was given the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award.