During Comic-Con International in San Diego, the 2019 Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards honored the best books, creators, and retailers of the past year.
Of particular note amongst the winners was Tom King, who brought home top honors for Best Writer (Heroes in Crisis), Best Limited Series (Mister Miracle), Best Short Story (The Talk of Saints) and Best Graphic Album – Reprint (The Vision). Meanwhile, King’s Mister Miracle artist Mitch Gerads picked up Best Penciller/Inker.
Taking home the award for Best Humor Publication was Giant Days, which also snagged the title for Best Continuing Series. For her graphic novel The Prince and the Dressmaker, cartoonist Jen Wang won Best Writer/Artist and Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17).
Other winners this year included: Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man No. 310 by Chip Zdarsky (Best Single Issue/One-Shot), Gideon Falls by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino (Best New Series), Johnny Boo and the Ice Cream Computer by James Kochalka (Best Publication for Early Readers – up to age 8), The Divided Earth by Faith Erin Hicks (Best Publication for Kids – ages 9-12), Puerto Rico Strong (Best Anthology), Is This Guy for Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman (Best Reality-Based Work), and My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies (Best Graphic Album—New).
Further winners included: Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection (Best Adaptation From Another Medium), Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu (Best U.S. Edition of International Material), Tokyo Tarareba Girls by Akiko Higashimura (Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia), Star Wars: Classic Newspaper Strips, Vol. 3 (Best Archival Collection/Project – Strips), and Bill Sienkiewicz’s Mutants and Moon Knights… And Assassins... Artifact Edition (Best Archival Collection/Project – Comic Books).
Winners on the creators end included Dustin Nguyen for Descender (Best Painter/Multimedia Artist), Jen Bartel for Blackbird (Best Cover Artist), Matt Wilson for The Wicked + The Divine (Best Coloring) and Todd Klein for Black Hammer: Age of Doom (Best Lettering). Back Issue and PanelxPanel tied for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism, Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists won Best Comics-Related Book, Sweet Little C*nt: The Graphic Work of Julie Doucet won Best Academic/Scholarly Work and Will Eisner’s A Contract With God: Curator’s Collection won Best Publication Design. On the digital end Umami snagged Best Digital Comic and The Contradictions by Sophie Yanow won Best Webcomic.
Jim Aparo, June Tarpé Mills, Dave Stevens, Morrie Turner, Bill Sienkiewicz, Wendy and Richard Pini, Paul Levitz, Jenette Kahn, and José Luis García-López were this year’s inductees to the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. Tula Lotay and Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez were honored with the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, E. Nelson Bridwell and Mike Friedrich won the 2019 Bill Finger Award, Le Revistera of Buenos Aires won the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award and Lorena Alvarez won the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award.
