Saga, Vision & Jughead Win at 2017 Eisner Awards

Celebrating the best of the best in the comic book industry.

By Jesse Schedeen

Tonight marked the presentation of the 29th annual Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards, honoring the best and brightest in the industry in 2016.

Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' Saga is always a perennial favorite at the Eisners, and that was certainly the case this year. Saga won the coveted award for Best Continuing Series, while Vaughan won the award for Best Writer and Staples for both Best Penciler/Inker and Best Cover Artist.

Writer Tom King took home two awards, winning for Best Short Story (along with artist David Finch) for "Good Boy" in Batman Annual #1 and Best Limited Series (along with artist Gabriel Hernandez Walta) for Vision. Writer Ryan North and artist Erica Henderson also won two awards, one for Best Publication for Teens for The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and the other for Best Humor Publication (along with writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Derek Charm) for Jughead. And Sonny Liew won two awards for The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, one for Best Publication Design and another for Best US Edition of International Material - Asia.

Other notable winners included Jill Thompson's Wonder Woman: The True Amazon for Best Graphic Album - New, Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston's Black Hammer for Best New Series, John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell's March: Book 3 for Best Reality-Based Work and Love is Love for Best Anthology.

The full list of nominees is below, with the winners in bold.

Best Short Story

• “The Comics Wedding of the Century,” by Simon Hanselmann, in We Told You So: Comics as Art (Fantagraphics)
• “The Dark Nothing,” by Jordan Crane, in Uptight #5 (Fantagraphics)
• “Good Boy,” by Tom King and David Finch, in Batman Annual #1 (DC)
• “Monday,” by W. Maxwell Prince and John Amor, in One Week in the Library (Image)
• “Mostly Saturn,” by Michael DeForge, in Island Magazine #8 (Image)
• “Shrine of the Monkey God!” by Kim Deitch, in Kramers Ergot 9 (Fantagraphics)

Best Single Issue/One-Shot

• Babybel Wax Bodysuit,by Eric Kostiuk Williams (Retrofit/Big Planet)
• Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In,by Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, and Jill Thompson (Dark Horse)
• Blammo #9, by Noah Van Sciver (Kilgore Books)
• Criminal 10th Anniversary Special,by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
• Sir Alfred #3, by Tim Hensley (Pigeon Press)
• Your Black Friend, by Ben Passmore (Silver Sprocket)

Best Continuing Series

• Astro City,by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (Vertigo/DC)
• Kill or Be Killed, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
• The Mighty Thor,by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman (Marvel)
• Paper Girls, by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (Image)
• Saga,by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)

Best Limited Series

• Archangel,by William Gibson, Michael St. John Smith, Butch Guice, and Tom Palmer (IDW)
• Briggs Land,by Brian Wood and Mack Chater (Dark Horse)
• Han Solo, by Marjorie Liu and Mark Brooks (Marvel)
• Kim and Kim,by Magdalene Visaggio and Eva Cabrera (Black Mask)
• The Vision,by Tom King and Gabriel Walta (Marvel)
• We Stand on Guard,by Brian K. Vaughan and Steve Skroce (Image)

Best New Series

• Black Hammer,by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston (Dark Horse)
• Clean Room, by Gail Simone and Jon Davis-Hunt (Vertigo/DC)
• Deathstroke: Rebirth, by Christopher Priest, Carlo Pagulayan, et al. (DC)
• Faith,by Jody Houser, Pere Pérez, and Marguerite Sauvage (Valiant)
• Mockingbird,by Chelsea Cain and Kate Niemczyk (Marvel)

Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 8)

• Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World,by James Sturm (Toon)
• Burt’s Way Home,by John Martz (Koyama)
• The Creeps, Book 2: The Trolls Will Feast!by Chris Schweizer (Abrams)
• I’m Grumpy (My First Comics), by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random
• House Books for Young Readers)
• Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea, by Ben Clanton (Tundra)

Best Publication for Kids (ages 9-12)

• The Drawing Lesson,by Mark Crilley (Ten Speed Press)
• Ghosts,by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic)
• Hilda and the Stone Forest,by Luke Pearson (Flying Eye Books)
• Rikki,adapted by Norm Harper and Matthew Foltz-Gray (Karate Petshop)
• Science Comics: Dinosaurs, by MK Reed and Joe Flood (First Second)

Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)

• Bad Machinery, vol. 5: The Case of the Fire Inside,by John Allison (Oni)
• Batgirl,by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque (DC)
• Jughead, by Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm (Archie)
• Monstress, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Image)
• Trish Trash: Roller Girl of Mars,by Jessica Abel (Papercutz/Super Genius)
• The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl,by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel)

Best Humor Publication

• The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp,by Lee Marrs (Marrs Books)
• Hot Dog Taste Test, by Lisa Hanawalt (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Jughead, by Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm (Archie)
• Man, I Hate Cursive,by Jim Benton (Andrews McMeel)
• Yuge! 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump,by G. B. Trudeau (Andrews McMeel)

Best Anthology

• Baltic Comics Anthology š! #26: dADa,edited by David Schilter and Sanita Muizniece (kuš!)
• Island Magazine, edited by Brandon Graham and Emma Rios (Image)
• Kramers Ergot 9, edited by Sammy Harkham (Fantagraphics)
• Spanish Fever: Stories by the New Spanish Cartoonists,edited by Santiago Garcia (Fantagraphics)
• Love Is Love, edited by Sarah Gaydos & Jamie S. Rich (DC/IDW)

Best Reality-Based Work

• Dark Night: A True Batman Story,by Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso (Vertigo/DC)
• Glenn Gould: A Life Off Tempo,by Sandrine Revel (NBM)
• March (Book Three),by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell (Top Shelf)
• Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir,by Tom Hart (St. Martin’s)
• Tetris: The Games People Play,by Box Brown (First Second)

Best Graphic Album—New

• The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye,by Sonny Liew (Pantheon)
• Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash,by Dave McKean (Dark Horse)
• Exits,by Daryl Seitchik (Koyama)
• Mooncop,by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Patience,by Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
• Wonder Woman: The True Amazon by Jill Thompson (DC Comics)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint

• Demon,by Jason Shiga (First Second)
• Incomplete Works,by Dylan Horrocks (Alternative)
• Last Look,by Charles Burns (Pantheon)
• Meat Cake Bible,by Dame Darcy (Fantagraphics)
• Megg and Mog in Amsterdam and Other Stories,by Simon Hanselmann (Fantagraphics)
• She’s Not into Poetry,by Tom Hart (Alternative)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

• Equinoxes, by Cyril Pedrosa, translated by Joe Johnson (NBM)
• Irmina,by Barbara Yelin, translated by Michael Waaler (SelfMadeHero)
• Love: The Lion, by Frédéric Brémaud and Federico Bertolucci (Magnetic)
• Moebius Library: The World of Edena, by Jean “Moebius” Giraud et al. (Dark Horse)
• Wrinkles,by Paco Roca, translated by Erica Mena (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia

• The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye,by Sonny Liew (Pantheon)
• Goodnight Punpun, vols. 1–4, by Inio Asano, translated by JN PRoductions(VIZ Media)
• orange: The Complete Collection,vols. 1–2, by Ichigo Takano, translated by Amber Tamosaitis, adaptation by Shannon Fay (Seven Seas)
• The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime,by Toshio Ban and Tezuka Productions, translated by Frederik L. Schodt (Stone Bridge Press)
• Princess Jellyfish,vols. 1–3 by Akiko Higashimura, translated by Sarah Alys Lindholm (Kodansha)
• Wandering Island, vol. 1, by Kenji Tsuruta, translated by Dana Lewis (Dark Horse)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips (at least 20 years old)

• Almost Completely Baxter: New and Selected Blurtings,by Glen Baxter (NYR Comics)
• Barnaby, vol. 3, by Crockett Johnson, edited by Philip Nel and Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
• Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, Colorful Cases of the 1930s,edited by Peter Maresca (Sunday Press)
• The Realist Cartoons,edited by Paul Krassner and Ethan Persoff (Fantagraphics)
• Walt & Skeezix 1931–1932,by Frank King, edited by Jeet Heer and Chris Ware(Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books (at least 20 Years Old)

• The Complete Neat Stuff,by Peter Bagge, edited by Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
• The Complete Wimmen’s Comix, edited by Trina Robbins (Fantagraphics)
• Fables and Funnies,by Walt Kelly, compiled by David W. Tosh (Dark Horse)
• Trump: The Complete Collection,by Harvey Kurtzman et al., edited by Denis Kitchen and John Lind (Dark Horse)
• U.S.S. Stevens: The Collected Stories, by Sam Glanzman, edited by Drew Ford (Dover)

Best Writer

• Ed Brubaker, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed, Velvet (Image)
• Kurt Busiek, Astro City (Vertigo/DC)
• Chelsea Cain, Mockingbird (Marvel)
• Max Landis, Green Valley (Image/Skybound), Superman: American Alien (DC)
• Jeff Lemire, Black Hammer (Dark Horse); Descender, Plutona (Image); Bloodshot Reborn (Valiant)
• Brian K. Vaughan, Paper Girls, Saga, We Stand On Guard (Image)

Best Writer/Artist

• Jessica Abel, Trish Trash: Roller Girl of Mars (Papercutz/Super Genius)
• Box Brown, Tetris: The Games People Play (First Second)
• Tom Gauld, Mooncop (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Tom Hart, Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir (St. Martin’s)
• Sonny Liew,The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

• Mark Brooks, Han Solo (Marvel)
• Dan Mora, Klaus (BOOM!)
• Greg Ruth, Indeh (Grand Central Publishing)
• Francois Schuiten,The Theory of the Grain of Sand (IDW)
• Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)
• Brian Stelfreeze, Black Panther (Marvel)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)

• Federico Bertolucci, Love: The Lion (Magnetic)
• Brecht Evens, Panther (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Manuele Fior, 5,000 km per Second (Fantagraphics)
• Dave McKean, Black Dog (Dark Horse)
• Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)
• Jill Thompson, Wonder Woman: The True Amazon (DC); Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In (Dark Horse)

Best Cover Artist (for multiple covers)

• Mike Del Mundo, Avengers, Carnage, Mosaic, The Vision (Marvel)
• David Mack, Abe Sapien, BPRD Hell on Earth, Fight Club 2, Hellboy and the BPRD 1953 (Dark Horse)
• Sean Phillips, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed (Image)
• Fiona Staples, Saga (Image)
• Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)

Best Coloring

• Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Green Valley (Image/Skybound)
• Elizabeth Breitweiser, Criminal 10th Anniversary Special, Kill or Be Killed, Velvet (Image);
• Outcastby Kirkman & Azaceta (Image/Skybound)
• Sonny Liew,The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon)
• Laura Martin, Wonder Woman (DC); Ragnorak (IDW); Black Panther (Marvel)
• Matt Wilson, Cry Havoc, Paper Girls, The Wicked + The Divine (Image); Black Widow, The Mighty Thor, Star-Lord (Marvel)

Best Lettering

• Dan Clowes, Patience (Fantagraphics)
• Brecht Evens, Panther (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Tom Gauld, Mooncop (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Nick Hayes, Woody Guthrie (Abrams)
• Todd Klein, Clean Room, Dark Night, Lucifer (Vertigo/DC); Black Hammer (Dark Horse)
• Sonny Liew,The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

• The A.V. Club comics coverage, including Comics Panel, Back Issues, and Big Issues, by Oliver Sava et al., www.avclub.com
• Comic Riffs blog, by Michael Cavna, http://ift.tt/2pEWGyM
• Critical Chips,edited by Zainab Akhtar (Comics & Cola)
• PanelPatter.com, edited by Rob McMonigal
• WomenWriteAboutComics.com, edited by Megan Purdy and Claire Napier

Best Comics-Related Book

• blanc et noir: takeshi obata illustrations,by Takeshi Obata (VIZ Media)
• Ditko Unleashed: An American Hero,by Florentino Flórez and Frédéric Manzano (IDW/Editions Déese)
• Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, by Michael Tisserand (Harper)
• The Life and Legend of Wallace Wood,vol. 1, edited by Bhob Stewart and J. Michael Catron (Fantagraphics)
• More Heroes of the Comics,by Drew Friedman (Fantagraphics)

Best Academic/Scholarly Work

• Brighter Than You Think: Ten Short Worksby Alan Moore, with essays by Marc Sobel (Uncivilized)
• Forging the Past: Set and the Art of Memory,by Daniel Marrone (University Press of Mississippi)
• Frank Miller’s Daredevil and the Ends of Heroism,by Paul Young (Rutgers University Press)
• Pioneering Cartoonists of Color,by Tim Jackson (University Press of Mississippi)
• Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation,by Carolyn Cocca (Bloomsbury)

Best Publication Design

• The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye,designed by Sonny Liew (Pantheon)
• The Complete Wimmin’s Comix, designed by Keeli McCarthy (Fantagraphics)
• Frank in the Third Dimension, designed by Jacob Covey, 3D conversions by Charles Barnard (Fantagraphics)
• The Realist Cartoons,designed by Jacob Covey (Fantagraphics)
• Si Lewen’s Parade: An Artist’s Odyssey, designed by Art Spiegelman (Abrams)

Best Webcomic

• Bird Boy, by Anne Szabla, http://bird-boy.com
• Deja Brew,?by Teneka Stotts and Sarah DuVall (Stela.com)
• Jaeger, by Ibrahim Moustafa (Stela.com)
• The Middle Age, by Steve Conley, http://ift.tt/2p2rUfj
• On Beauty, by Christina Tran,? http://ift.tt/2n0oL0k

Best Digital Comic

• Bandette, by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover (Monkeybrain/comiXology)
• Edison Rex, by Chris Roberson and Dennis Culver (Monkeybrain/comiXology)
• Helm, by Jehanzeb Hasan and Mauricio Caballero, http://ift.tt/2pFfIFf
• On a Sunbeam,by Tillie Walden, www.onasunbeam.com
• Universe!, by Albert Monteys (Panel Syndicate)

In addition to the general Eisner Awards, there were several other honorary awards given out during the ceremony. Joe Ferrara and Marc Andreyko both received the Bud Clampett Humanitarian Award, the former for his work with prostate cancer awareness and the latter for his part in organizing the Love is Love anthology. Comicazi won the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award. Anne Szalba won the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award. And two classic creators were honored with the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing - William Messner-Loebs and Jack Kirby.

There were also a number of creators inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. The judges inducted four creators - Milt Gross, HG Peter, Antonio Prohias and Dori Seda. Five more creators were chosen by voters - Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, George Perez, Walt Simonson and Jim Starlin.

Editor's Note: An IGN employee, Joshua Yehl, contributed to Love Is Love in the Best Anthology category.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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