2007 Eisner Awards Shine Spotlight on Comic Industry’s Best

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DC Comics was the big winner at the 19th annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, held Friday July 27 at the San Diego Convention Center. Vertigo/DC’s Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall was a multiple recipient, for Best Anthology and Best Short Story (by Bill Willingham and James Jean), plus shares in the Best Cover Artist (Jean), Best Painter (Jill Thompson), and Best Lettering (Todd Klein) categories. Darwyn Cooke chalked up three DC Eisners: one for Batman/The Spirit #1 for Best Single Issue (with Jeph Loeb) and two for Absolute DC: New Frontier: Best Graphic Album–Reprint and Best Publication Design. Paul Pope brought in two Eisners for his Batman: Year 100: Best Limited Series and Best Writer/Artist. In all, DC can boast of ten awards plus shares of three others.

Other multiple award winners on the night were Ed Brubaker (Best Writer and Best New Series for Marvel Icon’s Criminal) and Bob Burden (Best Title for a Younger Audience for Gumby, and Best Writer/Artist Humor for Flaming Carrot Comics).

Besides DC, other publishers with multiple awards were Fantagraphics (Jason’s The Left Bank Gang for Best U.S. Edition of International Material, The Complete Peanuts for Best Archival Collection–Comic Strips, and Tony Millionaire for Best Writer/Artist–Humor); Dark Horse (Old Boy for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material–Japan and shares of the awards for Jill Thompson, Tony Millionaire, and Best Coloring’s recipient Dave Stewart); Desperado/Image, which published Flaming Carrot Comics and the winner for Best Comics-Related Book, The Art of Brian Bolland; and Marvel (for Brubaker, Criminal, and a share of Klein’s Best Lettering).

The two big graphic novel awards went to critically acclaimed books. Gene Yuan Lang’s American Born Chinese was named Best Graphic Album–New, while the Best Reality-Based Work went to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.

Sergio Aragonés once again presented the Hall of Fame awards. Dick Ayers, known for his Silver Age western and war comics art, was present to accept. Also inducted into the Hall of Fame were Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, Wayne Boring, Robert Kanigher, Joe Orlando, and Ogden Whitney. Ramona Fradon, who was a 2006 inductee but wasn’t on hand to get it, received her award a year late, to standing ovation.

Among the other awards given out over the evening were the Comic-Con’s Clampett and Manning awards. The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, presented by Bob’s daughter Ruth, went to Neil Gaiman for his years of work raising money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and other causes. The Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award was presented to David Petersen, writer/artist of Mouse Guard, published by Archaia Studios Press.

The third annual Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing went to seminal DC writer Gardner Fox (accepted by Roy Thomas) and to Archie Comics and Sabrina co-creator George Gladir, who was on hand to receive the award. Maggie Thompson once again handled the special In Memoriam salute.

The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award was presented by Joe Ferrara This year’s winner was Earth-2 Comics of Sherman Oaks, California.

The awards were handed out in a rollicking, fast-paced ceremony MC’d by Bongo Comics’ Bill Morrison, aided onstage of Jane Wiedlin of Go-Gos fame. Presenters ran the gamut from Eisner nominees such as Gaiman, Bechdel, Pope, Thompson, Eric Powell, and Ellen Forney to TV celebs Tom Lennon and Ben Garant of Reno 911, voice actors Maurice LaMarche (Pinky and the Brain) and John DiMaggio (Futurama), stand-up comedian Brian Posehn (The Sarah Silverman Show) and BBC talk show legend Jonathan Ross. All the presenters were brought on stage with specialized theme songs, a new element to the awards.

Bechdel and Forney celebrated the record number of female Eisner nominees by re-creating the famous Madonna-Brittany Spears kiss. Eric Powell and co- presenter Dwight Albatross delighted audiences with their suggestions for spicing up the Eisners, including awarding wrestling-style belts to the winners. Lennon and Garant had the audience in stitches by talking about how Hollywood shouldn’t be co-opting the comics at Comic-Con (“It’s all about the comics!”) and then plugging their upcoming film Balls of Fury. And Jonathan Peterson capped the night by emulating Bechel and Forney’s smooch, planting a big kiss on a very red Neil Gaiman.

The major sponsor for the 2007 Eisner Awards is mycomicshop.com. The principal sponsors are Century Guild, Comickaze Comics, Diamond Comic Distributors, Gentle Giant, and Quebecor. Supporting sponsors are Alternate Reality Comics (Las Vegas), Atlantis Fantasyworld (Santa Cruz, CA), Comic Relief–The Comic Bookstore (Berkeley, CA), comicsunlimited.com, Flying Colors Comics and Other Cool Stuff (Concord, CA), Golden Apple (Los Angeles, CA), Isotope Comics (San Francisco), and Strange Adventures (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Ballots were tabulated by Mel Thompson and Associates. Jackie Estrada is the Eisner Awards administrator.

The following is a complete list of the 2007 award winners.

2007 Eisner Awards Winners

Best Short Story

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

Best Continuing Series

Best Limited Series

Best New Series

Best Title for a Younger Audience

Best Humor Publication

Best Anthology

Best Digital Comic

Best Reality-Based Work

Best Graphic Album - New

Best Graphic Album - Reprint

Best Archival Collection/Project - Strips

Best Archival Collection/Project - Comic Books

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan

Best Writer

Best Writer/Artist

Best Writer/Artist - Humor

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)

Best Cover Artist

Best Coloring

Best Lettering

Special Recognition

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

Best Comics-Related Book

Best Publication Design

Hall of Fame

• Ross Andru & Mike Esposito
• Dick Ayers
• Wayne Boring
• Joe Orlando

Other Awards:

• Allen Bellman
• Renée French
• Gary Friedrich
• Adam Hughes
• Miriam Katin
• Mel Keefer
• Joseph Michael Linsner
• David Morrell
• Lily Renée Phlllips
• Mike Ploog
• Dan Vado
• Mark Verheiden
• F. Paul Wilson