Pat Brosseau, Batman: The Knight, Wonder Woman: The Villainy of Our Fears (DC): Creepshow, Dark Ride, I Hate This Place, Skybound Presents: Afterschool (Image Skybound) The charges of cultural appropriation also led to scrutiny over the makeup of this year’s Eisner judges: a laudable but far from diverse group. Sixty Years in Winter, by Ingrid Chabbert and Aimée de Jongh, translation by Matt Madden (Europe Comics) Pug Lord: told my classmate she will never look good in a formal evening gown because she has a lot of tattoos. If you know this man you know that he himself is COVERED in tattoos and is almost always in formal attire.

WINNER: James Tynion IV, House of Slaughter, Something Is Killing the Children, Wynd (BOOM! Studios); The Nice House on the Lake, The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country (DC), The Closet, The Department of Truth (Image) Pat Brosseau , Batman: The Knight, Wonder Woman: The Villainy of Our Fears (DC): Creepshow, Dark Ride, I Hate This Place, Skybound Presents: Afterschool (Image Skybound) Tom King, Batman: Killing Time, Batman: One Bad Day, Gotham City: Year One, The Human Target, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (DC); Love Everlasting (Image) Other projects with more than two nominations are The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Best Graphic Album–New, Best Painter/Multimedia Artist, Best Letterer; Abrams), and Joe Hill’s Rain by David M. Booher and Zoe Thorogood (Best Adaptation from Another Medium, Best Painter/Multimedia Artist, Best Cover Artist; Syzygy/Image). Over 20 titles had two nominations. The Eisner Award trophies will be presented in a gala awards ceremony to be held at the San Diego Hilton Bayfront Hotel during Comic-Con on the evening of July 21.I really cannot overstate this: every single shred of critique aimed at Thomas Woodruff is long overdue. He abused and ruined the careers of fellow creatives for little reason beyond fear they could reveal the long shadow of his inadequacies for two decades. A few days of him receiving justifiable call outs concerning a consistent pattern of harmful behavior and Tiki: A Very Ruff Year, by David Azencot and Fred Leclerc, translation by Nanette McGuinness (Life Drawn/Humanoids) Named for acclaimed comics creator Will Eisner, the awards are celebrating their 35th year of bringing attention to and highlighting the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels. Illustration had a business class! Animation had two! Why not Comics? He told me he didn’t want the students to become too “business savvy” and “lose their artistic soul.”

Other publishers with multiple nominations include Abrams (with seven plus one shared), Drawn & Quarterly (six), Z2 (six), IDW (five), First Second (four plus one shared), Penn State University/Graphic Mundi (four), Ablaze (three plus one shared), Humanoids (three plus one shared), Andrews McMeel (three), TwoMorrows (three), VIZ Media (three), and BOOM! (two plus one shared). Six companies have two nominations each, and another 33 companies or individuals have one nomination each. Geneviève Castrée: Complete Works,by Geneviève Castrée, translation by Phil Elverum and Aleshia Jensen (Drawn & Quarterly)Especially in our era, where Florida and much of the country are demonizing LGBTQ+ teachers, and work, Tom’s graphic novel is remarkable and unique, a decade long undertaking that is unapologetically queer and about celebrating diversity. There have been too few LGBTQ+ Eisner nominees and winners, and too few queer graphic novels that have nominated/won…. Marvel Comics received 9 nominations (plus 3 shared), including 2 each in the Short Story, Single Issue, and Continued Series categories. Dark Horse had 9 (plus 2 shared), led by 2 for Jeff Lemire's Mazebook Dark Horse Direct Edition (Best Graphic Album–Reprint, Best Publication Design). Former SVA admissions counselor Jennifer 'Steen' Lloyd (who worked with the institution while Woodruff was a department chair) alleges that Woodruff advocated in meetings that certain nationalities be limited in terms of admissions to the programs. Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge: The Diamond Jubilee Collection, by Carl Barks; edited by David Gerstein (Fantagraphics) Popverse has reached out to the Eisner Awards organiation and its parent company Comic-Con International: San Diego for comment. Inside the 2023 Eisner Awards judging Image credit: Comic-Con International: San Diego

Tom King, Batman: Killing Time, Batman: One Bad Day, Gotham City: Year One, The Human Target, Love Everlasting, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (DC) How Comics Travel: Publication, Translation, Radical Literacies,by Katherine Kelp-Stebbins (Ohio State University Press) WINNER: Barnstormers, by Scott Snyder and Tula Lotay (Comixology Originals) Behind the Curtain, by Sara del Giudice, translation by M. B. Valente (Europe Comics) The Deluxe Gimenez: The Fourth Power & The Starr Conspiracy, by Juan Gimenez, edited by Alex Donoghue and Bruno Lecigne (Humanoids)Named for acclaimed comics creator Will Eisner, the awards are celebrating their 35th year of bringing attention to and highlighting the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels. The 2023 Eisner Awards judging panel consists of librarian Moni Barrette, educator/collector Peter Jones, retailer Jen King, journalist Sean Kleefeld, scholar/comics creator A. David Lewis, and comics instructor/curator TJ Shevlin. Parker: The Martini Edition — Last Call, by Richard Stark, Darwyn Cooke, Ed Brubaker, and Sean Phillips (IDW) As criticism of Woodruff grew, some on social media suggested that his nominations be reconsidered in light of his past actions. One of this year's Eisner Awards judges, A. David Lewis, has responded publicly about the petition, tweeting that it’s “a slippery slope, rescinding nominations based on opinions of character.” A request to strip Woodruff of his Eisner Awards nominations gains traction

The purpose of the judging was to sincerely put forward some of the best work submitted for consideration, and to have missed the problematic aspects of the book's narrative has been hugely disappointing," says our source familiar with the situation. (The book has been criticized for potentially racist depictions of characters, as well as scenes of child sexuality.) "The judges, I think, took the book as highly experimental and abstract, not accounting for the more concrete, racial elements to it."

Best Graphic Album—New

It was such an unknown quantity that it didn't create discussion until the voting itself began," says Popverse's anonymous source. "It made the screened 'shortlist' as a debut comic from someone the judges had not heard of before." The full list of nominees can be found below, and the winners will be announced during the evening of Friday, July 21, at the San Diego Hilton Bayfront Hotel. You can apply to vote here until June 2, with the deadline to vote lasting until June 9. Geneviève Castrée: Complete Works, by Geneviève Castrée, translation by Phil Elverum and Aleshia Jensen (Drawn & Quarterly)