James Gunn Congratulates DC Comics Artists, Writers on Eisner Wins

DC Studios head James Gunn is congratulating the DC comic book artists and writers who won Eisner Awards this year. In a tweet, Gunn said “Congrats to all the folks at @DCOfficial comics who won more Eisner Awards than any other comics publisher.”

The winning writers & artists included the late Kevin Conroy (Batman: TAS), who won Best Short Story for his DC Pride (2022) story “Finding Batman” with J. Bone. Acclaimed writer Tom King won a pair of Eisners: Best Single Issue/One-Shot for Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler (with Mitch Gerads), and Best Limited Series for his work on The Human Target with Greg Smallwood. Human Target also snagged a second Eisner: Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team for Smallwood’s artwork. 

Equally-acclaimed writer Tom Taylor also one Best Continuing Series for his work on Nightwing, with the series also winning Best Cover Artist (for multiple covers) for the cover artwork of Bruno Redondo. 

Finally, Batman and Something’s Killing the Children writer James Tynion IV won Best Writer for his acclaimed series The Nice House on the Lake, as well as The Sandman Universe: NIghtmare Country. Artist Jordie Bellaire also won Best Coloring for The Nice House on the Lake, as well as the limited series Suicide Squad: Blaze. 

All of these comic book series are ones that we personally highlighted on our ComicBook Nation podcast over the last year, as part of the larger discussion about how creators like Tynion, Taylor, King and others (Joshua Williamson, Chip Zdarsky) are currently helping to lead major DC characters and books (Superman, Batman) into new exciting new eras of story, while also producing original works (SKTC, TNHOTL) which are adding new blood to the comic book medium – and launching new multimedia IP in the process. As of writing this, Something Is Killing the Children is poised to be a breakout hit for Netflix, while The Nice House on the Lake seems inevitable as something like an HBO (or MAX) miniseries event. 

Obviously, James Gunn is showing love to ‘Team DC’ as both a longtime comic book fan, and the head of a studio looking to better synergize its multimedia ventures with its publishing IPs. Recently, DC Publisher and CCO Jim Lee made it clear that Gunn’s love  and respect for the comic book medium isn’t just PR for DC Universe movies and TV shows – it’s lucrative publicity for the comics that inspire them: 

“It’s amazing to have partners in Peter [Safran] and James [Gunn], particularly James. He was a comics fan growing up and knows our mythology inside out, and having that kind of ally in the live-action space allows us to really leverage what he is doing and allow us to market and sell comic books to new readers.” Lee said to THR during Comic-Con 2023. “These are people who are interested in his movies, his TV shows, and if they want to take a deep dive into these characters, he directs them to the comic books.”

Currently, Gunn is waiting to get to work on Superman: Legacy, the critical reboot film that will launch the new, rebooted, DCU franchise.