2005 Eisner Award Nominations

[randomguy]

Courtesty of our own TZ News (http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=2873), the Eisner Award nominations for 2005 have been made available. This year contains an entirely new category, best digital comic, and some genuine surprises. I'll come back and post my own meandering opinions later on, but for now...

Comments?

[Cyber E.]

Just to note, that link tells me that I don't have permission to access that page. Anywhoo...

Wow! That's a lot of nods to Vaughn, and to say it's deserved is an understatement. His work on Ex Machina has been nothing short of simply great writing month after month and I'm glad to see that it's being recognized. Not to mention John Cassaday and the endlessly delicious artwork that graces the pages of Conan issue after issue. Some very good people and books have been nominated, it's hard to decide who deserves the award more...

-CE

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

If that link doesn't work, you can try the general Comics News link (http://news.toonzone.net/section.php?ID=1), or just jump straight to the Newsarama.com article (http://news.toonzone.net/section.php?ID=1).

Bully for Brian K. Vaughan, racking up a whopping 7 nominations, mostly for Ex Machina. Listen not to the troll on Newsarama claiming "nothing happens" in the title; he knows not of what he speaks. A stooge among stooges, he is.

Nice to see Courtney Crumrin in the Twilight Kingdom getting a nomination, as well as DC: The New Frontier, Demo from AiT/PlanetLar (which was uneven, but extremely good when it was "on"), Age of Bronze: Sacrifice (what the crap-tacular Troy movie only wishes it could have been), and We3 (gud Eisner Awards dog).

More love for the Vertical Inc. Buddha reprints, which is always cool. I'm also pretty torn over whether Paul Chadwick or Stan Sakai ought to get the nod for best writer/artist.

I'm also kind of confused why Dave Sim is getting a nomination for Best Letterer for Cerebus this year, since the series officially ended more than a year ago. Ah, well -- it's not like he'll show up at San Diego to accept the award anyway and he deserved one of these things for Cerebus years ago.

Insert "lack of nominations for overhyped event comics of last year" joke here.

-- Ed/Ace

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Comicon.com's PULSE News has provided a page that links to their coverage of all the nominees (http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/pulse.cgi?http%3A//www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi%3Fubb%3Dget_topic%26f%3D36%26t%3D003668), in case you've forgotten, never remembered, or just want a stroll down memory lane.

Heidi MacDonald's the Beat weblog quotes a bunch of this year's nominees (http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/archives/2005/04/eisner_award_re.html).

Finally, if you're not sure what to think about the awards, you can always steal what Tom Spurgeon had to say (http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/commentary/1369/) and all the cool kids on the Comics Interwebs will think you're cool, too. Unless they don't agree with him, in which case they'll just think you're a Tom Spurgeon wannabe. I don't agree with him about a lot of it, but that's just me.

-- Ed/Ace

[sKorpia]

I, for one, am very happy to see Andy Runton's Owly and Kazu's Copper gettin' some love. They both deserve it by the bushel. Also glad to see Whedon, Willingham, and Vaughan recognized.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Glad to see Vaughan get his dues, as well as nominations for Astonishing X-Men, Fables, WE3, Demo, and other great works.


I just have one major beef. The only thing Plastic Man should be getting nominated for is a bonfire. Seriously, how does Kyle Baker keep getting work? Let alone Eisner nominations? Is there some drug I've been missing out on or something? I'm just not seeing it.

[randomguy]

Just to note, that link tells me that I don't have permission to access that page. Anywhoo...Yeah, that would be my fault. Sorry about that. The link should be fixed now, though.

At any rate, this year's Eisners, for whatever reason, pushed my buttons a whole lot more than last year's did. Maybe it's that my tastes have shifted over the course of the last year, but I found a lot more of my favorite books and creators nominated this time around.

Massive congratulations to Brian K. Vaughan for his shockingly (well, not that shocking) huge list of nominations. He deserves each and every one of them. I like and follow all of the other nominated writers, but Vaughan really deserves the award this year. The volume, quality, and consistency of his work is astounding.

Notably, this is the first year is a while where Bendis isn't nominated for this category. Peculiar, since he's still writing the same books that got him nominated last year. Could The Avengers have sullied his chances? I'd like to think so, but I'm a dork like that.

I'm also very happy to see Whedon and Astonishing X-Men get the recognition. It's the only superhero title on the list with any considerable number of nominations (unless you count Ex Machina), but it really deserves the recognition.

So, here are my picks. I'll skip categories where I'm not familiar with the nominees:


Best single issue or one-shot: Ex Machina #1. There's not a weak nominee in the bunch, but Ex Machina #1's great art, brilliant use of chronology, political insights, and stunning ending make it the winner in my book.
Best serialized story: Another tough call. The Planetary, Fables, and Y: The Last Man storylines were all incredibly creative and interesting, Ex Machina's "State of Emergency" was a great mystery. But, amazingly, I have to give this one to "Gifted", which hit an astounding number of emotional notes and finally made the X-Men cool again. I do this reluctantly, given how much I love the other books, but I think Astonishing X-Men deserves this one.
Best continuing series: Ex Machina. Y: The Last Man is very compelling, as is Stray Bullets, but I think Ex Machina is the most dense book, with each issue feeling crammed with brilliance. Nearly all the other books, with the exception of The Goon (which just doesn't push my buttons the way Ex Machina does) read better in collected format, so I gotta go with Ex Machina for how satisfying and compelling it is in monthly doses.
Best Limited Series: Tough call #3. Gonna have to go with We3, despite how much I personally adore DC: The New Frontier. In my mind, the Eisners exist to reward innovation in particular, and it don't get more creative than We3.
Best New Series: Ex Machina, edging out Astonishing X-Men ever-so-slightly.
Best Humor Publication: The Birth of a Nation, by Baker, Hudlin, and McGruder. This is biting, exceedingly clever satire, and is equal parts hilarious and thoughtful. That's a winning combination.
Best Digital Comic: Mom's Cancer. This was an incredibly hard choice, mainly because sKorpia is right: Kazu Kibuishi's Copper is insanely charming and beautiful and funny. Mom's Cancer, however, has an incredible anecdotal strength and is amazingly powerful in a lot of ways. Next year, however, it should definitely go to Copper.
Best Graphic Album: Tie between It's A Bird and The Originals. I thought long and hard, and I can't choose between these two.
Best Graphic Album, Reprint: Locas, though just barely. Bone One Volume Edition is a great collection, and a huge step forward for affordability and printing quality, but it's a fairly simple reprint job. Locas, meanwhile, is an endeavor of a re-release, with material carefully assembled from 20 years of Love and Rockets stories. It also has the better graphic design. So it's my pick.
Best Archival Collection/Project: The Complete Peanuts, just because it rules.
Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material: No contest. Buddha.
Best Writer: Brian K. Vaughan, for reasons already mentioned.
Best Writer/Artist: Tough call between Chadwick and Stan Sakai, but I'm gonna have to go with Sakai, because he's kept Usagi Yojimbo one of the most compelling and beatiful reads on the stand for so many issues.
Best Writer/Artist Humor: Eric Powell, The Goon.
Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker team: John Cassaday. I like Cary Nord a lot, but Astonishing X-Men and Planetary are just way too beautiful to look at.
Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (Interior): No contest, Juanjo Guarnido for Blacksad, which is one of the best-looking comics out there.
Best Coloring: Gonna have to go with Dave Stewart, who does a huge number of books that all look different. Lauren Martin is damn good, but Dave Stewart edges her out slightly.
Best Lettering: For the love of all that is good and holy, give Dave Sim an award.
Best Cover Artist: First thing's first: I am amazed Michael Turner is on there. That said, of those listed, I'd give the award to Tony Moore, for his The Walking Dead covers. It's a travesty that Jock, who draws the stellar The Losers covers, isn't nominated, though. He deserves a win, even.
Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition: I have to give this one to poor Sean McKeever, who just tries and tries and tries, but every one of his books bombs. Hang in there, buddy!
Best Comics-Related Book: The Art of Usagi Yojimbo is too gorgeous not to win.
Best Publication Design: Ditto.
And those are my picks. It'll be interesting to see how they stack up with the winners. One thing's for sure: the ceremony just isn't going to feel the same this year. Things will be a little more somber and a little less charming without Mr. Eisner there to hand out the awards himself.

[screw on head]

For Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team, I'm going to go with Cary Nord/Thomas Yeats over John Cassaday. The Conan book has an incredible feel to it. This guy is somehow emulating Frank Frazetta to the perfect degree while retaining his own style in the look of this book. I think I've bought more Cassaday last year, but he really hasn't blown me away. He has this style that, when it looks off, you know it and that deviation isn't something I'm forgiving over because he's trying to go with this quasi-realistic style and just isn't hitting the mark. I've gotta pick up more Conan issues than I am, but from what I've seen, I'd give Nord/Yeats my vote for sure.

For best coloring, I'm going with Dave Stewart. He's one of those colorists that I can't pick out. He's very versatile from project to project and his colors always just fit with the artist he's colouring over. He has some fantastic sensibilities on him. One of my favorite colouring jobs from him is his pass over Bruce Timm's story in Tom Strong. He brought that 'New Frontier' coloring style to Timm artwork, and used it in some surprisingly appropriate ways. He gets how to light a Timm girl, which amazed me. Anyway, he's a talent more than deserving this win.