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.
Initiated as an Eisner Award category in 1992, the Best Cover Artist category has featured some of the comic book industry’s most talented creators whose work first catches of the eye of readers from the comic book shelf. Previous winners of the Best Cover Artist award have included Brian Bolland, Alex, Ross, Fiona Staples, and Darwyn Cooke.
Here are the 2018 Eisner Award nominees for the Best Cover Artist category:
Jorge Corona, No. 1 with a Bullet (Image)
Jorge Corona is a Venezuelan comic book illustrator and cover artist who – in addition to his work on the Eisner Award-nominated No. 1 with a Bullet – has worked with co-creator Jacob Semahn on the comic book series Goners, as well as Big Trouble in Little China from BOOM! Studios and a plethora of other titles.
According to David Pepose of Newsarama, “More than most genres, the most effective horror plays with your perceptions and your emotions, making you feel like something isn’t quite right – that something could leap out of the shadows at any moment. And in that regard, Corona and Hickman are truly a dream team with the visuals of No. 1 With a Bullet.”
As described by writer Jacob Semahn in an interview with publisher Image Comics, No. 1 with a Bullet “explores both innovation and invasion. The more I looked around at our world—the post-facts, the online victimization, the shouting past each other into the digital void—the more I wondered if technology has helped us more than hurt us.”
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Nick Derington, Mister Miracle (DC); Doom Patrol (DC Young Animal)
Nick Derington is an American comic book writer and illustrator who is known for his work on Black Bolt, The Phantom, Infinity Countdown, and much more. This year, he is nominated for his cover art on both Mister Miracle and Doom Patrol.
Multiversity Comics noted of Derington’s work, “Derington is a master of layouts. Each page, each panel is almost lyrical in its movement through the narrative, and while the plot may tie even the most observant of readers in knots, Derington’s beautiful linework and keen sense of structure will draw you in making you wonder why he doesn’t just draw every comic ever.”
Click here to purchase. (Mister Miracle)
Click here to purchase. (Doom Patrol)
Brian Stelfreeze, Black Panther (Marvel)
Brian Stelfreeze is a comic book illustrator who was worked for over 30 years in the comic book industry on such titles as DC’s Batman: Shadow of the Bat to Zorro and Agent X. This year, he is nominated for his cover art for Black Panther which is written by New York Times best-selling writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Vox’s Alex Abad-Santos noted of Stelfreeze’s work on the Black Panther series, “Stelfreeze’s art is crisp and expressive. He’s almost drawing a sleek space opera of sorts, since Wakanda’s technology is so advanced. The mêlées are exciting, rattling Star Wars–like sequences. But with a flick of the page, Stelfreeze is able to deftly shift into solemn drama, conveying weighty moments and relationships with the same precision.”
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Sana Takeda, Monstress (Image)
A Japanese comic book artist and illustrator, Sana Takeda has worked on titles including X-Men, Venom, Civil War II, and X-23, as well as her work on the Hugo Award-winning and Eisner Award-nominated Monstress.
According to writer Neil Gaiman, ”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.”
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.
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Julian Totino Tedesco, Hawkeye (Marvel)
Julian Totino Tedesco is an Argentinian comic book artist who – in addition to his work on the Eisner Award-nominated Hawkeye – has also worked on titles including Star Wars: Shattered Empire, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Invincible Iron Man.
According to Illustration Age, “Argentine artist Julian Totino Tedesco is helping to raise the bar of mainstream comics with his impressive digital painting skills.”
This year, he is nominated for his cover artwork for Hawkeye, an ongoing comic book series written by Kelly Thompson and illustrated by Leonardo Romero and Mike Walsh. In its latest iteration published by Marvel Comics, the series’ titular character has become Kate Bishop, former sidekick of Clint Barton (by way of The Young Avengers), who has taken residence in Los Angeles as she forms her own detective agency under the “Hawkeye” moniker. Providing readers with a hilariously engrossing take on the famous archer, the series also offers a positive and dynamic female lead who isn’t afraid to tackle the misogyny of her villains (or the world around her).
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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!
