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.
A category since 1993, the award for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art) has been bestowed upon some of the best talent in the industry, including Dave Dorman for his work on Aliens: Tribes, Fionia Staples for Saga, six-time winner Jill Thompson, and five-time winner Alex Ross (who also won four years in a row).
Here are the 2018 Eisner Award nominees for the Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art) category:
Federico Bertolucci, Love: The Dinosaur, Little Tails (Lion Forge/Magnetic)
“Animalistic Ferocity has Never Looked as Gorgeous as it Does in LOVE” – The Comics Beat
An Italian comic artist and illustrator, Federico Bertolucci is most well known for his work on his LOVE series, a text- and dialogue-free series of graphic novels depicting the point of view of various wildlife.
In addition to Love: The Dinosaur, Bertolucci is also nominated this year for his children’s series, Little Tails. As described on the publisher’s website, the main characters of Little Tails, Chipper and Squizzo, are a precocious puppy and squirrel who love to explore new and exciting environments, flying their cardboard box airplane to wondrous worlds full of fascinating animals and creatures. Each volume of the series follows the pair as they tour a different location.
Click here to purchase. (Love: The Dinosaur)
Click here to purchase. (Little Tails)
EFA, Monet: Itinerant of Light (NBM)
“BEST OF 2017. This is certainly one of the most visually stunning comics released this year, and another worthy addition to an ever-growing number of comics dedicated to exploring the lives of the masters.”
-AJ Frost, The Beat
“Efa captures some of that fresh outlook in his luminous illustration of Rubio’s intelligent biographical script…” – Publisher’s Weekly
EFA is apparently the pen name for Spanish artist Ricard Fernandez, who has been pursuing his dream of working in comics since the age of 16. He’s published quite a few graphic novels and series during his career, but Monet: Itinerant of Light marks his first work translated into English.
Click here to purchase.
Jean-Pierre Gibrat, Flight of the Raven (EuroComics/IDW)
Jean-Pierre Gibrat is a French comic artist and scriptwriter who’s known for his graphic novels, Le sursis and Le vol du Corbeau. Before entering the comics world in the 1970s, he studied philosophy, publicity art, and plastic art.
Flight of the Raven is described on the publisher’s website as a story that “takes place in Paris during the German occupation and stars a memorable heroine in the French Resistance fighter named Jeanne. With the help of an apolitical cat burglar named François, she tries to save her comrades, including her missing sister Cécile, from the Gestapo.”
Click here to purchase.
Cyril Pedrosa, Portugal (NBM)
“Expectations for this volume, already a best seller in France, will be high. Luckily, this masterpiece is actually even better than the hype.” – Library Journal
“One of top ten graphic novels of 2017. As much a triumph of atmosphere as action. The book’s artist as a young man may be disenchanted, but the dazzling, meditative panels are entirely enchanting.” – Michael Cavna, The Washington Post
A French comic book artist, colorist, and writer, Cyril Pedrosa has won multiple awards for his work, and the title he is nominated for this year, Portugal, is a semi-biographical graphic novel exploring his heritage and background.
Click here to purchase.
Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)
“Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda take eastern and western comics storytelling traditions and styles and create something wholly their own and remarkable: a beautifully told story of magic and fear, inhumanity and exploitation, of what it means to be human and the monsters we all carry inside us. Also, some of the best cats in comics. A delight.” -Neil Gaiman
A Japanese comic book artist and illustrator, in addition to her work on the Hugo Award-winning Monstress, Takeda has also worked on titles such as X-Men, Venom, Civil War II, X-23, and more.
As described on Image’s website, Monstress is set in an alternate matriarchal 1900s Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steam punk. The title tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers.
Click here to purchase.
Stay tuned to the Fanbase Press website tomorrow as we continue our “Countdown to the Eisners” coverage with the Best Continuing Series! 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!
