What are comics without their visuals? While writers give us story and structure to the tales they tell, it’s the art that helps to build entire worlds — and much of that work falls to talented cartoonists. This year, comic readers had the privilege of enjoying the work of some incredible cartoonists across a wide range of stories. From Patrick Horvath’s Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, Jeff Lemire’s Minor Arcana, Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men, Ben Stenbeck’s Our Bones Dust, to Zoe Thorogood’s Hack/Slash: Back to School, 2024 was an incredible year for some outstanding visuals brought to life by these creators. With such a wealth of art to choose from, picking a “best” for the year was no easy task for our ComicBook staff. But while a wealth of art is a great “problem” to have, only one can be our winner this year.
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And the winner for the 2024 ComicBook Golden Issue Award for Best Cartoonist is…
Jeff Lemire for Minor Arcana!
While comics readers are no stranger to the incredible work of Jeff Lemire, the launch of Minor Arcana back in September took them on a whole new adventure. Lemire’s first ever creator-owned ongoing series from BOOM! Studios Minor Arcana brings to life a perfect storm of elements — small town life, magical realism, and supernatural mystery — in a way that feels as grounded as it does magical. The series follows Theresa, the daughter of a small-town tarot reader who comes back home (begrudgingly) to care of her. However, while coming back to her hometown and dealing with her mother’s fraudulent psychic skills isn’t exactly what Theresa wanted for herself, she soon finds herself discovering that the magic may be real and she has a much bigger role to play.
While the story itself is fascinating, it’s Lemire’s art that really elevates the tale. Through his unique and expressive style, we don’t have to be told about the struggles and toll this homecoming has on Theresa. It’s in her expressions, the way her body is postured, and each little detail on the page reveals a bit more about this complex and wholly relatable character than mere words can express. Lemire’s skill also extends to the small-town Theresa calls home, capturing all the faded promise — and still lingering hope — of a small town in decline. The use of crisp lines brings things together even as the images help expand Theresa’s world and experiences. And when it comes to bringing in the elements of the supernatural, well, it’s not hard to believe that magic is real and the cards may hold more truth than one could guess.
Just four issues in, Lemire is creating something special with Minor Arcana and each issue gets richer, both in terms of the story and in terms of the world Theresa has found herself acknowledging perhaps for the first time in her life. It’s what makes Lemire our Golden Issues Award winner for Best Cartoonist — and we can’t wait to see where the story takes us next year.
The nominees for the 2024 ComicBook Golden Issues Award for Best Cartoonist are:
- Patrick Horvath, Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees
- Jeff Lemire, Minor Arcana
- Peach Momoko, Ultimate X-Men
- Ben Stenbeck, Our Bones Dust
- Zoe Thorogood, Hack/Slash: Back to School
