Marvel, DC Comics and IDW led all publishers with 11 nominations for the 2012 Will Eisner Comics industry Awards, awarded each year at a gala awards ceremony at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Independent houses Dark Horse (with 10 nominations) and NBM (with 6) followed; and Ramon Perez’s adaptation of Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand (Archaia), Craig Thompson’s Habibi (Pantheon) and Sarah Olekysk’s Ivy (Oni) were among the titles nominated for the Best Graphic Album-New, the Eisner Award for the best new graphic fiction work of the year.
Representing the best comics work across a wide range of genres, among the many standout works nominated for this year’s Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards are Amelia Rules: The Meaning of Life ... And Other Stuff by Jimmy Gownley (Atheneum) for Best Publication for kids; and The Someday Funnies, edited by Michel Choquette, and Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular and the New Land, edited by Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle (both from Abrams ComicArts) were both nominated for Best Anthology. Some of the titles nominated for Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia, an Eisner category created to show off manga, include Kaoru Mori's A Bride’s Story (Yen Press), Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto’s Drops of God (Vertical) and Stargazing Dog by Takashi Murakami (NBM). First Second, Macmillan's graphic novel imprint, also received 6 Eisner nominations.
Among the nominees for Best Reality-Based Work, the Eisner nonfiction award, are Marzi: A Memoir by Marzena Sowa and Sylvain Savaoia (Vertigo/DC), Onwards Towards our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki (D&Q) and GB Tran’s Vietnamerica (Villard). Anders Nilsen’s Big Questions (D&Q), Dan Clowes The Death Ray (D&Q) and Darwyn Cook’s Richard Stark’s Park: The Martini Edition (IDW), were among the titles nominated for Best Graphic Album – Reprint, for works released in serial form before being collected into a single book. And for the second year in a row, PW’s graphic novel reviews editor Heidi MacDonald and her popular comics news and culture blog, The Beat, were nominated for Best Comics-Related Journalism.
Named after Will Eisner, the legendary comics innovator and creator of the comics strip The Spirit, the Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards honor the best artists and the best works published in comics in the previous year. The awards are presented each year during a gala awards ceremony at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel during the San Diego Comic-Con International.
