Fanbase Press’ coverage of the 2019 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards continues with the “Countdown to the Eisners” series. From Wednesday, May 29, through Wednesday, July 10, 2019, Fanbase Press will highlight each of the Eisner Awards’ 31 nomination categories, providing comic book industry members and readers alike the opportunity to learn more about the nominees and their work. Stay tuned for Fanbase Press’ continued coverage of the Eisner Awards, including live coverage of the ceremony at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, July 19.
Formerly called Best Finite Series, the Limited Series Category over the years has shone a spotlight on some of comics’ most beloved and renowned works. Past winners include Watchmen, Marvels, Kingdom Come, The New Frontier, and Sin City (twice). Several of the creators nominated this year are veterans of the category, a testament to their ongoing strong work across different contained titles.
Here are the 2019 Eisner Award nominees for the Best Limited Series category:
Batman: White Knight by Sean Murphy (DC)
In the book that inaugurated DC’s Black Label imprint, writer-artist Murphy brings a high-energy style to Batman that walks the line between Neal Adams’s photorealism and Bruce Timm’s stylized animation. The twist this time on the old Batman-Joker formula? The Joker is the good guy, helping police hunt down a crazed, violent Dark Knight. Den of Geek praised the series for the way it “crams in thought-provoking themes, shocks aplenty, Easter Eggs at every turn,” while IGN said that “the gorgeous artwork is worth the price of admission all on its own.”
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Eternity Girl by Magdalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew (DC/Vertigo)
What a pedigree this creative team has: Visaggio is both a past Eisner and GLAAD nominee, while Liew is a past Eisner winner. Together, they unfold the tale of former shape-shifting superhero Chrysalis, now broken, alone, and desperate to be rid of the burden of immortality. Newsarama called out Eternity Girl as a good match for Vertigo’s Young Animal, and “the type of series this forward-thinking imprint should be doing.” If you’re ready for a dark, edgy (but never tipping over into full-on grimness) miniseries that will require taking some leaps as a reader, look no further.
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Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles by Mark Russell, Mike Feehan, and Mark Morales (DC)
Writer Mark Russell, a 2018 Eisner nominee for The Flintstones, is back guiding the adventures of other characters from the Hanna-Barbera pantheon. How does a gay, playwriting pink mountain lion fit into the real-life 1950s Communist “Red Scare?” And what’s Huckleberry Hound’s involvement in these shenanigans? You’ll have to read this smartly observed, rollicking political satire to find out. Exit Stage Left has already been honored with GLAAD’s 2019 Outstanding Comic Award; an Eisner might be next in line.
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Mister Miracle by Tom King and Mitch Gerads (DC)
King and Gerads both won Eisners in 2018 as writer and artist of this paranoid, post-modern take on Jack Kirby’s “Super Escape Artist” Scott Free and his wife Big Barda. Newsarama called it “a fantastical and contemporary tale, one with a confidence that feels excitingly era-defining.” IGN praised King and Gerads for the way they “blend the larger-than-life nature of the Fourth World with a very grounded and emotionally charged story of a hero at his lowest ebb.” Ladies and gentlemen, can Mister Miracle perform the feat of derring do and claim Eisner gold twice in a row? Darkseid Is.
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X-Men: Grand Design: Second Genesis by Ed Piskor (Marvel)
Writer-artist Piskor in another returning Eisner name, with the sequel to his 2018 nominated series, X-Men: Grand Design. This time, the stories being retold through a striking new artistic lens are those of the “all-new, all-different” team of mutants who went on to massive popular success as the Uncanny X-Men under Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, and Paul Smith. Whether your favorite mutant is Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Phoenix, or any of the others, they’re reassembled here in a book Comicbook.com called “one of the most enjoyable reads coming out from Marvel Comics.”
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Stay tuned to the Fanbase Press website each day as we continue our “Countdown to the Eisners” coverage! Plus, follow Fanbase Press’ Facebook, Twitter (@Fanbase_Press), and Instagram (@fanbasepress) with the hashtag #FPSDCC to stay up to date on our SDCC and Eisner Awards updates, including a live-tweet of the 2019 Eisner Award Ceremony from the Hilton Bayfront Hotel at San Diego Comic-Con on the evening of Friday, July 19th!
