Fanbase Press’ coverage of the 2018 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards continues with the “Countdown to the Eisners” series. From Monday, June 4, through Friday, July 13, 2018, 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 20.
In order for there to be a future for the comic industry, there must be new comic stories told on a regular basis, and this category annually recognizes the best sequential art story told for that year. A category since 1991, past winners of the Best Graphic Album award include Elektra Lives Again, Blankets, and last year’s Wonder Woman: The True Amazon.
Here are the 2018 Eisner Award nominees for the Best Graphic Album—New category:
Crawl Space by Jesse Jacobs (Koyama Press)
“It might freak you out and make you sad, but Crawl Space is a compelling example of the medium at its best.” ― Mike Donachie, The Toronto Star
According to publisher Koyama Press, Crawl Space tells the story of a special place in the basement where a rainbow-hued world exists and “a group of kids have found retreat from their suburban mundanity with a coterie of iridescent creatures. But in the fraught realm of adolescence, can friendship survive the appeal of the surreal?”
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Eartha by Cathy Malkasian (Fantagraphics)
Malkasian’s fourth graphic novel, Eartha, is described on the publisher’s website as “a metaphorical fable that resonates with contemporary themes.” Featuring the tale of a city that doubles as a tourist spot for unfinished dreams, and what happens when those dreams mysteriously cease their regular pilgrimage, Eartha is “an expansive tale of pastoral life, city corruption, greed, and addictions and reverberates with questions plaguing us today, such as the alienating effects of hyper-connectivity and the self-destructive obsession with novelty.”
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My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)
The first sequential art story from Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters has been heralded by many as the debut graphic novel of the year. Partially inspired by Ferris’ youth in the city of Chicago, her love of B-movie monsters, and the horror genre, the graphic novel is drawn with Bic pen on lined notebook paper and tells the story of a ten-year-old girl who attempts to solve the murder of her upstairs neighbor, a holocaust survivor. As the publisher explains, “When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge.”
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Stages of Rot by Linnea Sterte (Peow)
A visual sci-fi/fantasy that is short on words, Stages of Rot’s plot centers around the decaying corpse of a whale and the various life forms that are drawn to it in search of food, shelter, and more. The graphic novel is described by the publisher as “fantastical” and “very different from anything you’ve read before”
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The Story of Jezebel by Elijah Brubaker (Uncivilized Books)
“Jezebel is a light-hearted take on a biblical tale of tragedy and woe. Brubaker manages to stay faithful to his material, while keeping his tongue firmly in cheek. From irreverent prophets to a wise-cracking deity, God’s wrath has never been more fun!” – Dylan Horrocks, Hicksville, Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen
According to the publisher’s website, The Story of Jezebel answers the question, “What if God wrote for Comedy Central?” Brubaker’s graphic novel is described as “darkly humorous” and “a mix of satirist wit and visual verve.”
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Stay tuned to the Fanbase Press website tomorrow 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 2018 Eisner Award Ceremony from the Hilton Bayfront Hotel at San Diego Comic-Con on the evening of Friday, July 20th!
