San Diego Comic-Con Announces 2020 Eisner Awards Nominations

Led by IDW with 13 nominations and Image with 11, nominations for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were announced by Comic-Con International. In addition to IDW and Image, Fantagraphics received 13 nominations, Dark Horse received 10, Dark Horse got 10 and First Second and D&Q each notched 9.

A Complete list of Eisner nominations across 31 categories can be found on the San Diego Comic-Con website.

Among the book-format nominations are Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden (First Second) and BTTM FDRS, by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore (Fantagraphics) for Best New Graphic Novel. The House by Paco Roca (Fantagraphics) was nominated for Best International Material, Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (D&Q) was nominated for the Best International Material-Asia, and Erica Eng’s Fried Rice Comic was among the titles nominated for Best Webcomic.

Comics creator James Stokoe led all artists with five nominations. In addition Marguerite Abouet and Mathieu Sapin’s Akissi: More Tales of Mischief (Flying Eye/Nobrow), Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls (Graphix), Raina Telegemeier’s Guts (Graphix), and Jerry Craft’s New Kid, were all nominated for Best Publication for Kids. Mariko Tamaki was nominated twice for Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass (DC) with Steve Pugh, and for Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (First Second), with artist Rosemary Valero-O'Connell

Eisner Award winners are usually announced at a gala ceremony at the San Diego Comic-Con, which has been canceled this year due to the pandemic. This year winners will be announced in July; more details on the event will come later.

Eisner Awards Administrator Jackie Estrada said “The judging process was very challenging this year,” noting that judges usually travel to San Diego. “With the country in lockdown, they all had to stay in their respective homes,” she said. “The process took two months longer than usual, so the window for voting is significantly shorter than in previous years. We encourage professionals in comics to cast their votes as soon as they can,” Estrada said.