Comic-Con 2020 Eisner Award Winners Announced

As is Comic-Con tradition, the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards announced this year’s winners during a ceremony on Thursday night. Phil LaMarr, known for voicing Green Lantern John Stewart in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Hermes Conrad in Futurama, and the leads characters of Samurai Jack and Static Shock, hosted the event. The awards take their name from innovative cartoonist Will Eisner, and many consider the Eisner Awards to be the Oscars of comics. There were 31 categories, plus the induction of Sergio Aragonés (Groo, MAD) into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, and the 2020 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award announcement.

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This year’s Eisner Awards were shrouded in controversy. There were voting irregularities during the online voting process that exposed voters’ personal information. Voting was halted and later reinstated, but there have been complaints that there wasn’t enough time provided to vote after the pause and that only those with compromised information received a notification about the second round of voting. Anyone who did not vote once they heard about the security breach never got the opportunity to cast a ballot.

But the awards moved forward, regardless of the issues. Here are the 2020 Eisner Awards winners:

Best Short Story

WINNER: “Hot Comb,” by Ebony Flowers, in Hot Comb (Drawn & Quarterly)
“How to Draw a Horse,” by Emma Hunsinger, The New Yorker, https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/how-to-draw-a-horse
“The Menopause,” by Mira Jacob, The Believer, https://believermag.com/the-menopause/
“Who Gets Called an ‘Unfit’ Mother?” by Miriam Libicki, The Nib, https://thenib.com/who-gets-called-an-unfit-mother/
“You’re Not Going to Believe What I’m About to Tell You,” by Matthew Inman, The Oatmeal, https://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe

Best Single Issue/One-Shot

WINNER: Our Favorite Thing Is My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)
Coin-Op No. 8: Infatuation, by Peter and Maria Hoey (Coin-Op Books)
The Freak, by Matt Lesniewski (AdHouse)
Minotäar, by Lissa Treiman (Shortbox)
Sobek, by James Stokoe (Shortbox)

Best Continuing Series

WINNER: Bitter Root, by David Walker, Chuck Brown, and Sanford Greene (Image)
Criminal, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
Crowded, by Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, and Ted Brandt (Image)
Daredevil, by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto (Marvel)
The Dreaming, by Simon Spurrier, Bilquis Evely et al. (DC)
Immortal Hulk, by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, and Ruy José et al. (Marvel)

Best Limited Series

WINNER: Little Bird by Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram (Image)
Ascender, by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (Image)
Ghost Tree, by Bobby Curnow and Simon Gane (IDW)
Naomi by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker, and Jamal Campbell (DC)
Sentient, by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta (TKO)

Best New Series

WINNER: Invisible Kingdom, by G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward (Berger Books/Dark Horse)
Doctor Doom, by Christopher Cantwell and Salvador Larocca (Marvel)
Once & Future, by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora (BOOM! Studios)
Something Is Killing the Children, by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera (BOOM! Studios)
Undiscovered Country, by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Daniele Orlandini (Image)

Best Publication for Early Readers

WINNER: Comics: Easy as ABC, by Ivan Brunetti (TOON)
Kitten Construction Company: A Bridge Too Fur, by John Patrick Green (First Second/Macmillan)
The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books)
A Trip to the Top of the Volcano with Mouse, by Frank Viva (TOON)
¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market, by Raúl the Third (Versify/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Who Wet My Pants? by Bob Shea and Zachariah Ohora (Little, Brown)

Best Publication for Kids

WINNER: Guts, by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic Graphix)
Akissi: More Tales of Mischief, by Marguerite Abouet and Mathieu Sapin (Flying Eye/Nobrow)
Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls, by Dav Pilkey (Scholastic Graphix)
New Kid, by Jerry Craft (Quill Tree/HarperCollins)
This Was Our Pact, by Ryan Andrews (First Second/Macmillan)
The Wolf in Underpants, by Wilfrid Lupano, Mayana Itoïz, and Paul Cauuet (Graphic Universe/Lerner Publishing Group)

Best Publication for Teens

WINNER: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (First Second/Macmillan)
Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh (DC)
Hot Comb, by Ebony Flowers (Drawn & Quarterly)
Kiss Number 8, by Colleen AF Venable and Ellen T. Crenshaw (First Second/Macmillan)
Penny Nichols, by MK Reed, Greg Means, and Matt Wiegle (Top Shelf)

Best Humor Publication

WINNER: The Way of the Househusband, vol. 1, by Kousuke Oono, translation by Sheldon Drzka (VIZ Media)
Anatomy of Authors, by Dave Kellett (SheldonComics.com)
Death Wins a Goldfish, by Brian Rea (Chronicle Books)
Minotäar, by Lissa Treiman (Shortbox)
Sobek, by James Stokoe (Shortbox)
Wondermark: Friends You Can Ride On, by David Malki (Wondermark)

Best Anthology

WINNER: Drawing Power: Women’s Stories of Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Survival, edited by Diane Noomin (Abrams)
ABC of Typography, by David Rault (SelfMade Hero)
Baltic Comics Anthology š! #34-37, edited by David Schilter, Sanita Muižniece et al. (kuš!)
Kramer’s Ergot #10, edited by Sammy Harkham (Fantagraphics)
The Nib #2–4, edited by Matt Bors (Nib)

Best Reality-Based Work

WINNER: They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker (Top Shelf)
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations, by Mira Jacob (One World/Random House)
Grass, by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, translation by Janet Hong (Drawn & Quarterly)
Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos, by Lucy Knisley (First Second/Macmillan)
Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight, by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm (Hill & Wang)
My Solo Exchange Diary, vol. 2 (sequel to My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness), by Nagata Kabi, translation by Jocelyne Allen (Seven Seas)

Best Graphic Album—New

WINNER: Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden (First Second/Macmillan)
Bezimena, by Nina Bunjevac (Fantagraphics)
BTTM FDRS, by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore (Fantagraphics)
Life on the Moon, by Robert Grossman (Yoe Books/IDW)
New World, by David Jesus Vignolli (Archaia/BOOM!)
Reincarnation Stories, by Kim Deitch (Fantagraphics)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint

WINNER: LaGuardia, by Nnedi Okorafor and Tana Ford (Berger Books/Dark Horse)
Bad Weekend by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
Clyde Fans, by Seth (Drawn & Quarterly)
Cover, vol. 1, by Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack (DC/Jinxworld)
Glenn Ganges: The River at Night, by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
Rusty Brown, by Chris Ware (Pantheon)

Best Adaptation from Another Medium

WINNER: Snow, Glass, Apples, by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran (Dark Horse Books)
Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dali, the Marx Brothers, and the Strangest Movie Never Made, by Josh Frank, Tim Hedecker, and Manuela Pertega (Quirk Books)
The Giver, by Lois Lowry and P. Craig Russell, (HMH Books for Young Readers)
The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel, by Margaret Atwood, adapted by Renee Nault (Nan A. Talese)
HP Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, vols. 1–2, adapted by Gou Tanabe, translation by Zack Davisson (Dark Horse Manga)
The Seventh Voyage, by Stanislaw Lem, adapted by Jon Muth, translation by Michael Kandel (Scholastic Graphix)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

WINNER: The House, by Paco Roca, translation by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)
Diabolical Summer, by Thierry Smolderen and Alexandre Clerisse, translation by Edward Gauvin (IDW)
Gramercy Park, by Timothée de Fombelle and Christian Cailleaux, translation by Edward Gauvin (EuroComics/IDW)
Maggy Garrisson, by Lewis Trondheim and Stéphane Oiry, translation by Emma Wilson (SelfMadeHero)
Stay, by Lewis Trondheim and Hubert Chevillard, translation by Mike Kennedy (Magnetic Press)
Wrath of Fantômas, by Olivier Bouquet and Julie Rocheleau, translation by Edward Gauvin (Titan)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia

WINNER – TIE: Cats of the Louvre, by Taiyo Matsumoto, translation by Michael Arias (VIZ Media)
WINNER – TIE: Witch Hat Atelier, by Kamome Shirahama, translation by Stephen Kohler (Kodansha)
BEASTARS, by Paru Itagaki, translation by Tomo Kimura (VIZ Media)
Grass, by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, translation by Janet Hong (Drawn & Quarterly)
Magic Knight Rayearth 25th Anniversary Edition, by CLAMP, translation by Melissa Tanaka (Kodansha)
The Poe Clan, by Moto Hagio, translation by Rachel Thorn (Fantagraphics)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips

WINNER: Krazy Kat: The Complete Color Sundays, by George Herriman, edited by Alexander Braun (TASCHEN)
Cham: The Best Comic Strips and Graphic Novelettes, 1839–1862, by David Kunzle (University Press of Mississippi)
Ed Leffingwell’s Little Joe, by Harold Gray, edited by Peter Maresca and Sammy Harkham (Sunday Press Books)
The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1916–1918, edited by R.J. Casey (Fantagraphics)
Madness in Crowds: The Teeming Mind of Harrison Cady, by Violet and Denis Kitchen (Beehive Books)
Pogo, Vol. 6: Clean as a Weasel, by Walt Kelly, edited by Mark Evanier and Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books

WINNER: Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo: The Complete Grasscutter Artist Select, by Stan Sakai, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
Alay-Oop, by William Gropper (New York Review Comics)
The Complete Crepax, vol. 5: American Stories, edited by Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics)
Jack Kirby’s Dingbat Love, edited by John Morrow (TwoMorrows)
Moonshadow: The Definitive Edition, by J. M. DeMatteis, Jon J Muth, George Pratt, Kent Williams, and others (Dark Horse Books)
That Miyoko Asagaya Feeling, by Shinichi Abe, translation by Ryan Holmberg, edited by Mitsuhiro Asakawa (Black Hook Press)

Best Writer

WINNER: Mariko Tamaki, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass (DC); Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me (First Second/Macmillan); Archie (Archie)
Bobby Curnow, Ghost Tree (IDW)
MK Reed and Greg Means, Penny Nichols (Top Shelf)
Lewis Trondheim, Stay (Magnetic Press); Maggy Garrisson (SelfMadeHero)
G. Willow Wilson, Invisible Kingdom (Berger Books/Dark Horse); Ms. Marvel (Marvel)
Chip Zdarsky, White Trees (Image); Daredevil, Spider-Man: Life Story (Marvel); Afterlift (comiXology Originals)

Best Writer/Artist

WINNER: Raina Telgemeier, Guts (Scholastic Graphix)
Nina Bunjevac, Bezimena (Fantagraphics)
Mira Jacob, Good Talk (Random House); “The Menopause” in The Believer (June 1, 2019)
Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, Grass (Drawn & Quarterly)
James Stokoe, Sobek (Shortbox)
Tillie Walden, Are You Listening? (First Second/Macmillan)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

WINNER: Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me (First Second/Macmillan)
Ian Bertram, Little Bird (Image)
Colleen Doran, Snow, Glass, Apples (Dark Horse)
Bilquis Evely, The Dreaming (DC)
Simon Gane, Ghost Tree (IDW)
Steve Pugh, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass (DC)

Best Painter/Digital Artist

WINNER: Christian Ward, Invisible Kingdom (Berger Books/Dark Horse)
Didier Cassegrain, Black Water Lilies (Europe Comics)
Alexandre Clarisse, Diabolical Summer (IDW)
David Mack, Cover (DC)
Léa Mazé, Elma, A Bear’s Life, vol. 1: The Great Journey (Europe Comics)
Julie Rocheleau, Wrath of Fantômas (Titan)

Best Cover Artist

WINNER: Emma Rios, Pretty Deadly (Image)
Jen Bartel, Blackbird (Image Comics)
Francesco Francavilla, Archie, Archie 1955, Archie Vs. Predator II, Cosmo (Archie)
David Mack, American Gods, Fight Club 3 (Dark Horse); Cover (DC)
Julian Totino Tedesco, Daredevil (Marvel)
Christian Ward, Machine Gun Wizards (Dark Horse), Invisible Kingdom (Berger Books/Dark Horse)

Best Coloring

WINNER: Dave Stewart, Black Hammer,B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know, Hellboy and the BPRD(Dark Horse); Gideon Falls (Image); Silver Surfer Black, Spider-Man (Marvel)
Lorena Alvarez, Hicotea (Nobrow)
Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Middlewest, Outpost Zero (Image)
Matt Hollingsworth, Batman: Curse of the White Knight, Batman White Knight Presents Von Freeze (DC); Little Bird, November (Image)
Molly Mendoza, Skip (Nobrow)

Best Lettering

WINNER: Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo (IDW)
Deron Bennett, Batgirl, Green Arrow, Justice League, Martian Manhunter (DC); Canto (IDW); Assassin Nation, Excellence (Skybound/Image); To Drink and To Eat, vol. 1 (Lion Forge); Resonant (Vault)
Jim Campbell, Black Badge, Coda (BOOM Studios); Giant Days, Lumberjanes: The Shape of Friendship (BOOM Box!); Rocko’s Modern Afterlife (KaBOOM!); At the End of Your Tether (Lion Forge); Blade Runner 2019 (Titan); Mall, The Plot, Wasted Space (Vault)
Clayton Cowles, Aquaman, Batman, Batman and the Outsiders, Heroes in Crisis, Superman: Up in the Sky, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (DC); Bitter Root, Pretty Deadly, Moonstruck, Redlands, The Wicked + The Divine (Image); Reaver (Skybound/Image); Daredevil, Ghost-Spider, Silver Surfer Black, Superior Spider-Man, Venom (Marvel)
Emilie Plateau, Colored: The Unsung Life of Claudette Colvin (Europe Comics)
Tillie Walden, Are You Listening? (First Second/Macmillan)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

WINNER: Women Write About Comics, edited by Nola Pfau and Wendy Browne, www.WomenWriteAboutComics.com
Comic Riffs blog, by Michael Cavna, www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/comics/
The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth, RJ Casey, and Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics)
Hogan’s Alley, edited by Tom Heintjes (Hogan’s Alley)
Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, edited by Qiana Whitted (Ohio State University Press)
LAAB Magazine, vol. 4: This Was Your Life, edited by Ronald Wimberly and Josh O’Neill (Beehive Books)

Best Comics-Related Book

WINNER: Making Comics, by Lynda Barry (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Art of Nothing: 25 Years of Mutts and the Art of Patrick McDonnell (Abrams)
The Book of Weirdo, by Jon B. Cooke (Last Gasp)
Grunt: The Art and Unpublished Comics of James Stokoe (Dark Horse)
Logo a Gogo: Branding Pop Culture, by Rian Hughes (Korero Press)
Screwball! The Cartoonists Who Made the Funnies Funny, by Paul Tumey (Library of American Comics/IDW)

Best Academic/Scholarly Work

WINNER: EC Comics: Race, Shock, and Social Protest, by Qiana Whitted (Rutgers University Press)
The Art of Pere Joan: Space, Landscape, and Comics Form, by Benjamin Fraser (University of Texas Press)
The Comics of Rutu Modan: War, Love, and Secrets, by Kevin Haworth (University Press of Mississippi)
The Peanuts Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life, edited by Andrew Blauner (Library of America)
Producing Mass Entertainment: The Serial Life of the Yellow Kid, by Christina Meyer (Ohio State University Press)
Women’s Manga in Asia and Beyond: Uniting Different Cultures and Identities, edited by Fusami Ogi et al. (Palgrave Macmillan)

Best Publication Design

WINNER: Making Comics, designed by Lynda Barry (Drawn & Quarterly)
Grunt: The Art and Unpublished Comics of James Stokoe, designed by Ethan Kimberling (Dark Horse)
Krazy Kat: The Complete Color Sundays, by George Herriman, designed by Anna-Tina Kessler (TASCHEN)
Logo a Gogo, designed by Rian Hughes (Korero Press)
Madness in Crowds: The Teeming Mind of Harrison Cady, designed by Paul Kopple and Alex Bruce (Beehive Books)
Rusty Brown, designed by Chris Ware (Pantheon)

Best Digital Comic

WINNER: Afterlift, by Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo (comiXology Originals)
Black Water Lilies, by Michel Bussi, adapted by Frédéric Duval and Didier Cassegrain, translated by Edward Gauvin (Europe Comics)
Colored: The Unsung Life of Claudette Colvin, by Tania de Montaigne, adapted by Emilie Plateau, translated by Montana Kane (Europe Comics)
Elma, A Bear’s Life, vol. 1: The Great Journey, by Ingrid Chabbert and Léa Mazé, translated by Jenny Aufiery (Europe Comics)
Mare Internum, by Der-shing Helmer (comiXology; gumroad.com/l/MIPDF)
Tales from Behind the Window, by Edanur Kuntman, translated by Cem Ulgen (Europe Comics)

Best Webcomic

WINNER: Fried Rice Comic, by Erica Eng, https://friedricecomic.tumblr.com
Cabramatta, by Matt Huynh, http://believermag.com/cabramatta/
Chuckwagon at the End of the World, by Erik Lundy, https://hollowlegcomics.tumblr.com/chuckwagon
The Eyes, by Javi de Castro, https://www.javidecastro.com/theeyes
reMIND, by Jason Brubaker, https://is.gd/T7rafM
Third Shift Society, by Meredith Moriarty, https://www.webtoons.com/en/supernatural/third-shift-society/list?title_no=1703