Named for legendary comics creator Will Eisner, the Eisner Awards saw their 29th presentation last night.  Celebrities including Community star Danny Pudi, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Heroes’ star Greg Grunberg, and game show host Wayne Brady among several comic books greats were on hand to present awards for the past year’s best works in comics at San Diego Comic-Con 2017.

We previewed the nominees earlier this year here at borg.com.  One of our favorites, artist Jill Thompson, took all three categories she was nominated in this year–for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist for her Wonder Woman: The True Amazon and Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In, for Best Graphic Album-New for Wonder Woman: The True Amazon, and for her Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In for Best Single Issue/One-Shot (with Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer).

    

Sonny Liew and his The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon), was the big individual winner, for Best U.S. Edition of International Material–Asia, Best Writer/Artist, and Best Publication Design.  Saga also took multiple awards, earning its creators four awards.  Archie Comics received multiple wins for Erica Henderson and Ryan North for Best Publication for Teens for The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Best Humor Publication for Jughead.

Eisner Hall of Fame Awards were presented by comics legend Sergio Aragones, who inducted new members Milt Gross (Banana Oil), H.G. Peter (Wonder Woman), Antonio Prohias (Spy vs. Spy), Dori Seda (Lonely Nights Comics), Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets), George Perez (Wonder Woman, Crisis on Infinite Earths), Walter Simonson (Fantastic Four et al), and Jim Starlin (Captain Marvel et al).  The Bill Finger Award was presented to William Messner-Loebs (The Flash et al) and comics legend Jack Kirby was also honored.

Here are some highlights from the awards ceremony:

Best Digital Comic–Bandette, by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover.

Best Webcomic–Bird Boy, by Anne Szabla.

Best Writer–Brian K. Vaughan, for Saga, We Stand On Guard (Image).

Best Writer/Artist–Sonny Liew, for The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye.

Best Publication Design, Best U.S. Edition of International Material–The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye.

Best Cover Artist, Best Penciller/Inker–Fiona Staples, for Saga.

Best Humor Publication–Jughead, by Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm.

Best Coloring–Matt Wilson, for Cry Havoc, Paper Girls, The Wicked + The Divine (Image); Black Widow, The Mighty Thor, Star-Lord (Marvel).

Best Lettering–Todd Klein, for Clean Room, Dark Night, Lucifer (Vertigo/DC); Black Hammer (Dark Horse).

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist–Jill Thompson, for Wonder Woman: The True Amazon (DC Comics), Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse).

Best Publication for Teens–The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson.

Best Single Issue/One-Shot–Beasts of Burden: What The Cat Dragged In (Dark Horse).

Best Graphic Album-New–Wonder Woman: The True Amazon (DC Comics).

Best Anthology–Love is Love (IDW/DC).

Best New Series–Black Hammer, by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston (Dark Horse).

Best Limited Series–The Vision, by Tom King and Gabriel Walta (Marvel).

Best Continuing Series– Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image).

Best Reality-Based Work–March (Book Three), by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (Top Shelf).

A broad range of voices were selected this year for consideration.  Fantagraphics, Image, Pantheon, Drawn & Quarterly, Dark Horse, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Archie Comics, IDW, First Second, and Abrams were all well represented in the nominations.

Check out the Eisner Awards website here for the complete list of winners (expected to be updated Saturday).

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com