Each year, the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards honor the best of the graphic format. In addition to several awards for series and collections, the Eisners recognize outstanding achievements in writing, pencilling, coloring and lettering. Categories range far and wide, covering titles for children, teens and adults and including reality-based works in addition to the expected comics and graphic novels.
Three excellent titles lead the pack this year with three nominations each: Hawkeye, Saga and The Wake. I was happy to see a couple of my personal favorites on the list as well: Vivek J. Tiwary’s The Fifth Beatle, featuring incredible artwork by Andrew C. Robinson and Kyle Baker, and Tom Gauld’s hilarious collection, You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack.
Here is a selection of this year’s Eisner-nominated titles. Follow the links to DPL’s online catalog, where you can read reviews and place hold requests. You can find the full list of nominees on the Eisner Awards website.
Best Continuing Series
- East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta
- Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja
- Nowhere Men by Eric Stephenson and Nate Bellegarde
- Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
- Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
Best Limited Series
- The Black Beetle: No Way Out by Francesco Francavilla
- Colder by Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra
- 47 Ronin by Mike Richardson and Stan Sakai
- Trillium by Jeff Lemire (collected edition to be released in August)
- The Wake by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy (collected edition to be released in November)
Best New Series
- High Crimes by Christopher Sebela and Ibrahim Moustafa (not yet available in a collected edition)
- Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark
- Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch
- Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
- Watson and Holmes by Karl Bollers, Rick Leonardi, Paul Mendoza et al.
Best Humor Publication
- The Adventures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks
- The Complete Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes and Rob Davis
- The (True!) History of Art by Sylvain Coissard and Alexis Lemoine
- Vader’s Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown
- You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack by Tom Gauld
Best Reality-Based Work
- A Bag of Marbles by Joseph Joffo, Kris, and Vincent Bailly
- The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story by Vivek J. Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson, and Kyle Baker
- Hip Hop Family Tree, vol. 1 by Ed Piskor
- March (Book One) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
- Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust
- Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Bagge
Can’t get enough of the graphic format? DPL’s collection is growing every day! Check out our new Graphic Novels On Order feature to see our latest additions.
And keep an eye on our Facebook page, comics fans! DPL will be returning to Denver Comic Con this summer and we’ll be giving away some passes in the very near future!