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.
One of the oldest of all Eisner Award categories, the award for Best Writer/Artist represents both the creative teams and those extremely talented and lucky individuals who excel in impressively merging both the sequential visuals and scripted story that represent the very DNA of the comic book medium. Past award winners include such prestigious individuals as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons for Watchmen, Jeff Smith for Bone, Jaime Hernandez for Love and Rockets, and many more.
Here are the 2018 Eisner Award nominees for the Best Writer/Artist category:
Lorena Alvarez, Nightlights (Nobrow)
Lorena Alvarez describes herself as a freelance illustrator and artist, based in Bogotá, Colombia, who likes to “work with color and experiment with diverse techniques” and approaches “each project in a unique way.” Alvarez has provided illustrations for children books, independent publications, advertising, and fashion magazines.
This year, Alvarez has been nominated for Nightlights, a title that Rogues Portal has stated “might be one of the most beautiful comic books that I have read in a long time. Nobrow Press clearly saw the potential with this brilliant creator and have published an oversized comic book that does justice to the art within. My breath was taken away time and time again as I was drawn through the story.”
Click here to purchase.
Chabouté, Moby Dick (Dark Horse); Alone, Park Bench (Gallery 13/Simon & Schuster)
Christophe Chabouté hails from Alsace, France, and has, over the years, received multiple awards for his work as an illustrator and storyteller. Chabouté was described by Paste Magazine as “a master of black and white, with evocative panels and a skill using swaths of darkness to create a sense of place without excessive detail.”
Chabouté has been nominated for his work on there titles this year, including Moby Dick, Park Bench, and Alone, a title Library Journal has described as a “beautifully illustrated and carefully paced tale filled with equal parts sadness, humor, and tender moments of human connection that examines the powers of creative limitations, made all the more memorable for its minimal dialog. Already an international best seller and selected for the prestigious Angoulême International Comics Festival in France, available here in English for the first time, this ultimately moving story about an unlikely and surprisingly inspiring protagonist is sure to be embraced by all readers.”
Click here to purchase. (Moby Dick)
Click here to purchase. (Alone)
Click here to purchase. (Park Bench)
Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters (Fantagraphics)
Emil Ferris is an American writer, cartoonist, and designer who, amazingly, overcame West Nile in order to create what has often been described as the debut graphic novel of the year. While recovering from the paralysis, Ferris crafted her tale of a 10-year-old fan of monster movies and her mission to solve a neighbor’s murder in 1960s Chicago.
Terry Gross of NPR: Fresh Air has described My Favorite Thing Is Monsters as an “extraordinary book” that has “instantly rocketed Ferris into the graphic novel elite alongside Art Spiegelman, Alison Bechdel, and Chris Ware. You see, she’s produced something rare, a page-turning story whose pages are so brilliantly drawn you don’t want to turn them.”
Click here to purchase.
Cathy Malkasian, Eartha (Fantagraphics)
A previous Eisner Award winner for her first graphic novel, Percy Gloom, Cathy Malkasian has also spent more than twenty years working in television and film animation, with credits including such projects as Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys feature film, PBS’ Curious George, and more.
In Eartha, Malkasian is described by NPR Books as creating “an extended dream with a fixed moral compass, a story about the central and transformative power of believing in humanity, even when ― especially when ― it lets you down.”
Click here to purchase.
Jiro Taniguchi, Furari, Louis Vuitton Travel Guide: Venice (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
Having, unfortunately, passed in early 2017, Jiro Taniguchi was a Japanese manga writer and artist who was actual knighted as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 2011. Having won many awards and prizes for his work, Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has praised Taniguchi, calling him “a manga poet. The Kieslowski of the page. A serene, profound observer of the world.”
This year, Taniguchi is nominated for his work on both Furari and Louis Vuitton Travel Guide: Venice. The former has been called a “gorgeous art book” that is “excellent for Jiro fans or art fans alike,” while Furari has been described as “a lovely, quiet story about a man working on maps and measuring distances in pre-modern Japan” and “sort of a historic version of The Walking Man.”
Click here to purchase. (Furari)
Click here to purchase. (Louis Vuitton Travel Guide: Venice)
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!
