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2008 EISNER WINNERS AND NOMINEES

2008 THEME: "THE MAGIC OF COMICS"

EISNER ARCHIVES

2007 EISNER'S

WHAT ARE THE EISNER AWARDS?
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Award is given for creative achievement in comic books and is generally referred to as the “Oscars” of the comic book industry. It is named in honor of the pioneering writer and artist Will Eisner (creator of "The Spirit" and several award-winning graphic novels), and they are handed out each year in a ceremony at the San Diego Comic-Con International, the largest and oldest comics convention in the United States. Eisner was a regular participant and presenter in the award ceremony until his death in 2004. The Eisner Award was created in 1988 response to the discontinuation of it’s predecessor the Kirby Awards which ceased in the previous year.

The Awards are given out in more than two dozen categories covering the best publications or outstanding works (ie: Best Short Story, Best Graphic Album, etc.) and best creators or individual achievement (ie: Best Writer, Best Artist, etc.) from the previous year. Each category is comprised of  nominees chosen by a five-member blue-ribbon panel that considers thousands of entries submitted by publishers and creators. Ballots with these nominees are then sent out in the early Spring to comic-book professionals from all parts of the comic industry including: writers, artists, and other creators; publishers; editors; and retailers and distributors (a downloadable pdf of the ballot is also be available online).

The six Hall of Fame inductees each year are picked by the judges (who chose 2 inductees before ballots are sent out) and by the voters themselves (top 4 vote-getters form the nominee list). The results are announced at a gala awards ceremony at the San Diego Comic-Con International.
THE JUDGES-2008
The 2008 Eisner Awards judging panel consists of...
  -John Davis (director of pop culture markets, Bookazine)
  -Paul DiFilippo (SF and comics author)
  -Atom! Freeman (owner of Brave New World Comics in Santa Clarita, CA)
  -Jeff Jensen (senior writer, Entertainment Weekly)
  -Eva Volin (supervising children's librarian for the Alameda Free Library in Alameda, CA).
OUTSTANDING WORKS-2008
BEST SHORT STORY:
“Mr. Wonderful,” by Dan Clowes, in New York Times Sunday Magazine (online at https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/ma...gesClowes.html)

NOMINEES:

“Book,” by Yuichi Yokoyama, in New Engineering (PictureBox)
“At Loose Ends,” by Lewis Trondheim, in Mome #8 (Fantagraphics)
“Town of Evening Calm,” by Fumiyo Kouno, in Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (Last Gasp)
“Whatever Happened to Fletcher Hanks?” by Paul Karasik, in I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! (Fantagraphics)
“Young Americans,” by Emile Bravo, in Mome #8 (Fantagraphics)
BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR ONE SHOT:
Justice League of America #11: “Walls,” by Brad Meltzer and Gene Ha (DC)

NOMINEES:
Amelia Rules! #18: “Things I Cannot Change,” by Jimmy Gownley (Renaissance)
Delilah Dirk and the Treasure of Constantinople, by Tony Cliff (self-published)
Johnny Hiro #1, by Fred Chao (AdHouse)
Sensational Spider-Man Annual: “To Have or to Hold,” by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca (Marvel)
BEST CONTINUING SERIES:
Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra, and Jose Marzan, Jr. (Vertigo/DC)

NOMINEES:
The Boys, by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson (Dynamite)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, by Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, Georges Jeanty, and Andy Owens (Dark Horse)
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)
The Spirit, by Darwyn Cooke (DC)
BEST LIMITED SERIES:
The Umbrella Academy, by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá (Dark Horse)

NOMINEES:
Atomic Robo, by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegender (Red 5 Comics)
Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, by Peter David, Robin Furth, and Jae Lee (Marvel)
Nightly News, by Jonathan Hickman (Image)
Parade (with Fireworks), by Michael Cavallaro (Shadowline/Image)
BEST NEW SERIES:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, by Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, Georges Jeanty, and Andy Owens (Dark Horse)
 
NOMINEES:
Immortal Iron Fist, by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, and others (Marvel)
Johnny Hiro, by Fred Chao (AdHouse)
The Infinite Horizon, by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto (Image)
Scalped, by Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra (Vertigo/DC)
NEW CATEGORY ADDED THIS YEAR!
BEST PUBLICATION FOR KIDS:
Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 and Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, by David Petersen (Archaia)

NOMINEES:
Amelia Rules! and Amelia Rules! Funny Stories, by Jimmy Gownley (Renaissance)
Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, edited by Jeremy Barlow (Dark Horse)
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, by Peter Sis (Frank Foster Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Yotsuba&!, by Kiyohiko Azuma (ADV)
NEW CATEGORY ADDED THIS YEAR!
BEST PUBLICATION FOR TEENS:

Laika, by Nick Abadzis (First Second)

NOMINEES:
The Mighty Skullboy Army, by Jacob Chabot (Dark Horse)
The Annotated Northwest Passage, by Scott Chantler (Oni)
PX! Book One: A Girl and Her Panda, by Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson (Shadowline/Image)
Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso (Center for Cartoon Studies/Hyperion)
BEST HUMOR PUBLICATION:
Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, by Nicholas Gurewitch (Dark Horse)

NOMINEES:
Dwight T. Albatross’s The Goon Noir, edited by Matt Dryer (Dark Horse)
Johnny Hiro, by Fred Chao (AdHouse)
Lucha Libre, by Jerry Frissen, Bill, Gobi, Fabien M., Nikola Witko, Hervé Tanquelle et al. (Image)

Wonton Soup, by James Stokoe (Oni)
BEST ANTHOLOGY:
5, by Gabriel Bá, Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon, Vasilis Lolos, and Rafael Grampa (self-published)

NOMINEES:
Best American Comics 2007, edited by Anne Elizabeth Moore and Chris Ware (Houghton Mifflin)
Mome, edited by Gary Groth and Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened, edited by Jason Rodriguez (Villard)
24Seven, vol. 2, edited by Ivan Brandon (Image)
BEST DIGITAL COMIC:
Sugarshock!, by Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon, https://www.myspace.com/darkhorsepres...m=1&storynum=2

NOMINEES:
The Abominable Charles Christopher, by Karl Kerschl, www.abominable.transmission-x.com
Billy Dogma, Immortal, by Dean Haspiel, www.deanhaspiel.com/immortal.html
The Process, by Joe Infurnari, www.theprocesscomic.com
PX! By Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson, www.pandaxpress.com
BEST REALITY BASED WORK:
Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso (Center for Cartoon Studies/Hyperion)

NOMINEES:

Laika, by Nick Abadzis (First Second)
The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam, by Ann Marie Fleming (Riverhead Books/Penguin Group)
Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm, by Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly (Vertigo/DC)
White Rapids, by Pascal Blanchet (Drawn & Quarterly)
BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM-NEW:
Exit Wounds, by Rutu Modan (Drawn & Quarterly)

NOMINEES:
The Arrival, by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)
Bookhunter, by Jason Shiga (Sparkplug Books)
Essex County, vols. 1-2: Tales from the Farm/Ghost Stories, by Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
Percy Gloom, by Cathy Malkasian (Fantagraphics)
BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM-REPRINT:
Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, by David Petersen (Archaia)

NOMINEES:
Agents of Atlas Hardcover, by Jeff Parker, Leonard Kirk, and Kris Justice (Marvel)
Gødland Celestial Edition, by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli (Image)
James Sturm’s America: God, Gold, and Golems, by James Sturm (Drawn & Quarterly)
Super Spy, by Matt Kindt (Top Shelf)
BEST ARCHIVAL COLLECTION/PROJECT-STRIPS:
Complete Terry and the Pirates, vol. 1, by Milton Caniff (IDW)

NOMINEES:
The Complete Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, by Winsor McCay (Ulrich Merkl)
Little Sammy Sneeze, by Winsor McCay (Sunday Press)
Popeye, vol. 2: Well Blow Me Down, by E. C. Segar (Fantagraphics)
Sundays with Walt and Skeezix, by Frank King (Sunday Press)
BEST ARCHIVAL COLLECTION/PROJECT-COMIC BOOKS:
I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! by Fletcher Hanks (Fantagraphics)

NOMINEES:
Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus, vol. 1, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (Marvel)
Apollo’s Song, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
The Completely MAD Don Martin, by Don Martin (Running Press)
Daredevil Omnibus, by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (Marvel)
BEST U.S. EDITION OF INTERNATIONAL MATERIAL:
I Killed Adolf Hitler, by Jason (Fantagraphics)

NOMINEES:
The Arrival, by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)
Aya, by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Obrerie (Drawn & Quarterly)
Garage Band, by Gipi (First Second)
The Killer, by Matz and Luc Jacamon (Archaia)
BEST U.S. EDITION OF INTERNATIONAL MATERIAL-JAPAN:
Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White, by Taiyo Matsumoto (Viz)

NOMINEES:
The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories, by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
MW, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)
New Engineering by Yuichi Yokoyama (PictureBox)
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, by Fumiyo Kouno (Last Gasp)
BEST COMICS-RELATED PERIODICAL/JOURNALISM:
Newsarama, produced by Matt Brady and Michael Doran (www.newsarama.com)

NOMINEES:
Comic Art #9, edited by Todd Hignite (Buenaventura Press)
Comic Foundry, edited by Tim Leong (Comic Foundry)
The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth, Michael Dean, and Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics)
The Comics Reporter, produced by Tom Spurgeon and Jordan Raphael (
www.comicsreporter.com)
BEST COMICS RELATED BOOK:
Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean, by Douglas Wolk (Da Capo Press)

NOMINEES:
The Art of P. Craig Russell, edited by Joe Pruett (Desperado)
The Artist Within, by Greg Preston (Dark Horse)
Manga: The Complete Guide, by Jason Thompson (Del Rey Manga)
Meanwhile . . . A Biography of Milton Caniff, by R. C. Harvey (Fantagraphics)
Understanding Manga and Anime, by Robin Brenner (Libraries Unlimited/Greenwood Publishing)
BEST PUBLICATION DESIGN:
Process Recess 2, designed by James Jean and Chris Pitzer (AdHouse)

NOMINEES:
(The Complete) Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, designed by Ulrich Merkl (Ulrich Merkl)
Complete Terry and the Pirates, designed by Dean Mullaney (IDW)
Heroes, vol. 1, designed by John Roshell/Comicraft (WildStorm/DC)
Little Sammy Sneeze, designed by Philippe Ghielmetti (Sunday Press)
Sundays with Walt and Skeezix, designed by Chris Ware (Sunday Press)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT-2008
BEST WRITER:
Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Criminal, Daredevil, Immortal Iron Fist (Marvel)

NOMINEES:
James Sturm, Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow (Center for Cartoon Studies/Hyperion)
Brian K. Vaughan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse); Ex Machina (WildStorm/DC), Y: The Last Man (Vertigo/DC),
Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse)
Brian Wood, DMZ, Northlanders (Vertigo/DC); Local (Oni)
BEST WRITER/ARTIST:
Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #18 (Acme Novelty)

NOMINEES:
Jeff Lemire, Essex County: Tales from the Farm/Ghost Stories (Top Shelf)
Rutu Modan, Exit Wounds (Drawn & Quarterly)
Shaun Tan, The Arrival (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)
Fumi Yoshinaga, Flower of Life; The Moon and Sandals (Digital Manga)
BEST WRITER/ARTIST-HUMOR:
Eric Powell, The Goon (Dark Horse)

NOMINEES:
Kyle Baker, The Bakers: Babies and Kittens (Image)
Fred Chao, Johnny Hiro (AdHouse)
Brandon Graham, King City (Tokyopop); Multiple Warheads (Oni)
James Stokoe, Wonton Soup (Oni)
BEST PENCILLER/INKER or PENCILLER/INKER TEAM:
Pia Guerra/Jose Marzan, Jr., Y: The Last Man (Vertical/DC)

NOMINEES:
Steve Epting/Butch Guice/Mike Perkins, Captain America (Marvel)
Jae Lee, Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (Marvel)
Takeshi Obata, Death Note, Hikaru No Go (Viz)
Ethan Van Sciver, Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps (DC)
BEST PAINTER/MULTIMEDIA ARTIST (Interior):
Eric Powell, The Goon: Chinatown (Dark Horse)

NOMINEES:
Ann-Marie Fleming, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (Riverhead Books/Penguin Group)
Bryan Talbot, Alice in Sunderland (Dark Horse)
Ben Templesmith, Fell (Image); 30 Days of Night: Red Snow; Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse (IDW)
BEST COVER ARTIST:
James Jean, Fables (Vertigo/DC); The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse); Process Recess 2; Superior Showcase 2 (AdHouse)

NOMINEES:
John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); Lone Ranger (Dynamite)
J. G. Jones, 52 (DC)
Jae Lee, Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (Marvel)
Jim Lee, All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder (DC); World of Warcraft (WildStorm/DC)
BEST COLORING:
Dave Stewart, BPRD, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cut, Hellboy, Lobster Johnson, The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse); The Spirit (DC)

NOMINEES:

Jimmy Gownley, Amelia Rules! (Renaissance)
Steve Hamaker, Bone, vols. 5 and 6 (Scholastic); Shazam: Monster Society of Evil (DC)
Richard Isanove, Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (Marvel)
Ronda Pattison, Atomic Robo (Red 5 Comics)
Alex Wald, Shaolin Cowboy (Burlyman)
BEST LETTERING:
Todd Klein, Justice, Simon Dark (DC); Fables, Jack of Fables, Crossing Midnight (Vertigo/DC); League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier (WildStorm/DC); Nexus (Rude Dude)

NOMINEES:
Jared K. Fletcher, Catwoman, The Spirit (DC); Sentences: Life of MF Grimm (Vertigo/DC)
Jimmy Gownley, Amelia Rules! (Renaissance)
Lewis Trondheim, “At Loose Ends,” Mome 7 & 8 (Fantagraphics)
Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #18 (Acme Novelty)
SPECIAL RECOGNITION:
Chuck BB, Black Metal (artist, Oni)

NOMINEES:
Matt Silady, The Homeless Channel (writer/artist, AiT/PlanetLar)
Jamie Tanner, The Aviary (writer/artist, AdHouse)
James Vining, First in Space (writer/artist, Oni)
HALL OF FAME
2008 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES:
VOTER'S CHOICES (4):
John Broome, Arnold Drake,  Len Wein, Barry Windsor-Smith
JUDGE'S CHOICES (2):  R. F. Outcault, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson

NOMINEES:
Matt Baker
Reed Crandall
Rudolph Dirks
George Evans
Creig Flessel
Graham Ingels
Mort Meskin
Tarpe Mills
Gilbert Shelton
George Tuska
Mort Weisinger
OTHER 2008 EISNER AWARDS
BOB CLAMPETT HUMANITARIAN AWARD:
Paul Levitz
RUSS MANNING PROMISING NEWCOMER AWARD:
Cathy Malkasian
BILL FINGER AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN COMIC WRITING AWARD:
Archie Goodwin, Larry Lieber
WILL EISNER SPIRIT OF COMICS RETAILING AWARD:
Atom! and Portlyn Freeman of Brave New World

EISNER SYMBOL © Copyright 2008 Comic-Con International. No right given or implied by Alternate Reality, Incorporated.

Article © 2008 Alternate Reality, Inc.

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