Eisner Award nominations announced!

The prestigious Eisner Award nominations have been announced for 2014 and Marvel finds its name strewn all about the list. As this is a Marvel based blog, I'm only going to really talk about the Marvel nominations, though I may use very loose pretenses to talk about other people too (fair warning). The full list of the nominations can be seen here.

Marvel saw nominations in a number of categories particularly for Fraction and Aja's HAWKEYE. I'm going to list off the categories and say who is competing in them with a particularly highlight on the Marvel nominee and likely some running commentary on my thoughts on the nomination.

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
-DEMETER, by Becky Cloonan (self-published) (Cloonan could be seen at Marvel last year as one of the guest artists on the two-part finale of YOUNG AVENGERS. Check her work out, it's continually strong stuff)
-HAWKEYE 11: "Pizza Is My Business," by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel) (the infamous dog issue is highlighted here because it's GREAT)
-LOVE AND ROCKETS: NEW STORIES 6, by Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
-VIEWOTRON 2, by Sam Sharpe (self-published)
-WATSON AND HOLMES 6, by Brandon Easton, and N. Steven Harris (New Paradigm Studios)

Very excited to see HAWKEYE 11 on the list of nominees. HAWKEYE is a great book with a number of incredible single issues and it seems hard to pick just one but it's hard to go against this choice. Also cool to see Marvel on here at all alongside a number of indie titles; Marvel typically doesn't write for single issues so the idea that one issue from a meaningful run would be chosen is pretty neat.

Best Continuing Series
-EAST OF WEST, by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta (Image) (Hickman, obviously, is a big part of Marvel over the last several years and EAST OF WEST is one of those books I keep telling myself I'll get around to reading at some point. His other non-Marvel work is often just as heady, if not more so, than his Marvel titles, like the incredibly interesting THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS)
-HAWKEYE, by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel) (I believe this is the second nomination for HAWKEYE as best continuing series in two years but I'm certainly not about to do any research)
-NOWHERE MEN, by Eric Stephenson and Nate Bellegarde (Image)
-SAGA (by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples) (I believe SAGA won this category last year but, again, saying so definitively would require more research than I'm willing to do right now. Marvel fans will know Vaughan from legendary runs on books like ULTIMATE X-MEN and, most notably, RUNAWAYS)
-SEX CRIMINALS, by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky (Image) (Fraction makes a second appearance on the list here for the Mature Readers Only title SEX CRIMINALS, probably one of the most fun books out there right now)

I'm disappointed in myself for only really reading two of the series on this list. SAGA is another one I keep telling myself I'll read and I really should read NOWHERE MEN as it's one of the big staples of Image comics. Nice again to see a superhero series cracking through the incredible lineup of entire genre-encompassing work that Image is putting out. It's a testament to how good and how inventive HAWKEYE is that it's considered here.

Best Writer
-Kelly Sue DeConnick, PRETTY DEADLY (Image); CAPTAIN MARVEL (Marvel) (Kelly Sue DeConnick gets the nomination everyone agrees she deserves for her incredible series with Emma Rios, also nominated, PRETTY DEADLY as well as the fantastic CAPTAIN MARVEL)
-Matt Fraction, SEX CRIMINALS (Image); HAWKEYE, FANTASTIC FOUR, FF (Marvel) (Fraction is at the absolute top of his game just a couple years removed from his own fear that he was on his way out of comics. Hard to vote against this guy. Also a little surprised that his work with Howard Chaykin on SATELLITE SAM isn't recognized here)
-Jonathan Hickman, EAST OF WEST, THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS (Image); AVENGERS, INFINITY (Marvel) (Similarly surprised that NEW AVENGERS isn't mentioned here. Hickman too is seeing a lot of payoff for his story-driven epics that all deserve a lot of credit)
-Scott Snyder, BATMAN (DC); AMERICAN VAMPIRE, THE WAKE (DC/Vertigo) (I kind of fell off of BATMAN as it started to feel like it was requiring too much universe reading to truly keep up but there's no doubt that Snyder can write a great story. I've been interested in AMERICAN VAMPIRE and THE WAKE but, if this post proves nothing else, it should prove that I have a whole bunch of comics I'd like to read. Did I tell you guys I'm all caught up on INVINCIBLE? Pretty cool, huh?)
-Eric Stepenson, NOWHERE MEN (Image)
-Brian K. Vaughan, SAGA (Image)

Geez, hard to pick a winner out of this bunch. Like I said above, Fraction's on the absolute top of his game and his great work on HAWKEYE rocketed him to great books like SEX CRIMINALS and SATELLITE SAM. Hard to go against that, though he has worthy adversaries here including Hickman and DeConnick. I would be a little sad to see a non-Marvel writer win this but it's hard to argue that the nomination committee (or whoever it is that does this) pretty much nailed this category.

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (Interior art)
-Andrew C. Robinson, THE FIFTH BEATLE (Dark Horse)
-Sonia Sanchez, HERE I AM (Capstone)
-Fiona Staples, SAGA (Image)
-Ive Svorcina, THOR (Marvel) (Svorcina gets a well-deserved look here for his run of art in the THOR books, though I guess I didn't realize Svorcina was the one responsible for the painting-like feel of Ribic's work. This is why colorists deserve more attention)
-Marguerite Van Cook, 7 MILES A SECOND (Fantagraphics)
-Judith Vanistendael, WHEN DAVID LOST HIS VOICE (SelfMadeHero)

Best Cover Artist
-David Aja, HAWKEYE (Marvel)
-Mike Del Mundo, X-MEN LEGACY (Marvel)
-Sean Murphy/Jordie Bellaire, THE WAKE (DC/Vertigo) (Jordie Bellaire, colorist extraordinaire, makes her first but not last appearance on the nomination list)
-Emma Rios, PRETTY DEADLY (Image) (She's an incredible artist; everyone should check out PRETTY DEADLY. DeConnick herself said on a recent Nerdist Writer's Panel that she feels she took maybe a little too long to start clearing up some confusions in the plot but that Emma Rios' art kept people onboard long enough to keep them interested and to get them to some of the reveals - I'd say DeConnick isn't wrong, it's very easy just to look at the book)
-Chris Samnee, DAREDEVIL (Marvel)
-Fiona Staples, SAGA (Image)

Really packed house with Marvel artists here, so it's hard to make a pick, not to mention Rios on PRETTY DEADLY. Okay, it's not too hard. I've adored all of Mike Del Mundo's covers on my much beloved X-MEN LEGACY so obviously that's what I'm picking. Very excited that he's getting attention for said covers. A little sad not to see Jamie McKelvie on here for the stunning YOUNG AVENGERS covers but I guess you can't fit everyone.

Best Coloring
-Jordie Bellaire, THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS, NOWHERE MEN, PRETTY DEADLY, ZERO (Image); THE MASSIVE (Dark Horse); TOM STRONG (DC); X-FILES SEASON 10 (IDW); CAPTAIN MARVEL, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (Marvel); NUMBERCRUNCHER (Titan); QUANTUM AND WOODY (Valiant) (Geez, Bellaire is just ALL OVER THE PLACE on a slew of amazing books. Again, colorists deserve tons of respect and it's nice to see Bellaire getting a good deal of it here. She, along with fellow nominee Matt Hollingsworth, does a great job keeping the tone and feel of a book the same even as the artist switches from issue to issue while still letting the art shine through in its own unique way)
-Steve Hamaker, MYLO XYLOTO (Bongo); STRANGERS IN PARADISE 20TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 1 (Abstract Studio); RASL (Cartoon Books)
-Matt Hollingsworth, HAWKEYE, DAREDEVIL: END OF DAYS (Marvel); THE WAKE (DC/VERTIGO)
-Frank Martin, EAST OF WEST (Image) (Martin is also a great Marvel colorist, though his work isn't referenced here)
-Dave Stewart, ABE SAPIEN, BALTIMORE: THE INFERNAL TRAIN, BPRD: HELL ON EARTH, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, HELLBOY: HELL ON EARTH, THE MASSIVE, THE SHAOLIN COWBOY, SLEDGEHAMMER 44 (Dark Horse)



Lot of really good nominees on this list and just another reminder that I have to read more comics. Also nominated for various categories include names people familiar with Marvel will recognize like Francisco Francavilla (Best Limited Series for THE BLACK BEETLE: NO WAY OUT), Christopher Sebela (nominated for Best New Series for HIGH CRIMES), Greg Rucka (also nominated for Best New Series for the fantastic LAZARUS), Ben Acker and Ben Blacker (Best Anthology for the amazing and much recommended THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR graphic novel from Archaia), and, of course, Jack Kirby (Best Archival Collection/Project - Comic Books for IN THE DAYS OF THE MOB at DC - good luck voting against Jack Kirby).