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.

Added to the Eisner Awards categories in 1992, the Best Comics-Related Books category honors the books that focus on and further the understanding of comics. Here are the 2018 Eisner Award nominees for the Best Comics-Related Book category:

Deconstructing the Incal by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius, by Jean Annestay and Christophe Quillien (Humanoids)

“Deconstructing the Incal lifts the veil on many of the mysteries and secrets surrounding the seminal science fiction graphic novel, which has become the cornerstone of the Jodoverse. This encyclopedic reference book is packed with fascinating insights from The Incal’s creators, Jodorowsky and Moebius, alongside revealing text, and rare and unseen preliminary illustrations.”

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How Comics Work, by Dave Gibbons and Tim Pilcher (Wellfleet Press/Quarto Group)

“A masterclass taught by Britain’s first Comics Laureate, Dave Gibbons, this is the most authoritative guide on how comics are made today. Packed full of rare and unpublished material from Gibbons’ archive, it reveals insider tips on how comics such as 2000 AD and Watchmen were made. Written in collaboration with award-winning writer and editor Tim Pilcher, this unique guide takes you through each stage of the comic’s creation process, from scriptwriting, to moving through character and superhero design, to lettering and colouring and finally on to covers and logo design. Throughout this insightful course are real-life examples of Gibbons’ art, revealing how he solved actual problems with practical solutions, and unique behind-the-scenes insights into the creative process. Learn the stages of layout and page planning through the initial designs of Give Me Liberty, discover Gibbons’ handy tips for lettering using never-before-seen examples from The Originals, and find out the secrets of successful writing with sample scripts from The World’s Finest and The Secret Service.”

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How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels, by Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden (Fantagraphics)

“Everything that you need to know about reading, making, and understanding comics can be found in a single Nancy strip by Ernie Bushmiller from August 8, 1959. Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden’s groundbreaking work, How to Read Nancy, ingeniously isolates the separate building blocks of the language of comics through the deconstruction of a single strip. No other book on comics has taken such a simple, yet methodical, approach to laying bare how the comics medium really works. No other book of any kind has taken a single work by any artist and minutely (and entertainingly) pulled it apart like this. How to Read Nancy is a completely new approach towards deep-reading art. In addition, How to Read Nancy is a thoroughly researched history of how comics are made, from their creation at the drawing board to their ultimate destination at the bookstore. Textbook, art book, monogram, dissection, How to Read Nancy is a game changer in understanding how the ‘simplest’ drawings grab us and never leave.”

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Line of Beauty: The Art of Wendy Pini, by Richard Pini (Flesk)

“The term ‘line of beauty’ describes, in one sense, a certain way of arranging lines and shapes in a drawing or painting to suggest motion, dynamic balance, and grace. But in a deeper sense it can also speak to the visionary spirit that drives the creation of a piece of artwork.” Line of Beauty “provides a comprehensive look at rare material from Wendy’s two Beauty and the Beast graphic novels, her Galaxy and If magazine covers and interior art, and pre-production art from the animated The Lord of the Rings films. It highlights ambitious projects such as Masque of the Red Death and Law and Chaos, includes exquisite art from the Land of Myth series of prints, and much more. The highest quality of reproduction is made possible through direct access to the original art or the best original source material, which has been made available from the Pini archives.”

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Monograph, by Chris Ware (Rizzoli)

“For thirty years, writer and artist (i.e., cartoonist) Chris Ware (b. 1967) has been testing the patience of readers and fine art fans with his complicated and difficult-to-comprehend picture stories in the pages of The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other charitable periodicals—to say nothing of challenging the walls of the MCA Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art with his unevocative delineations and diagrams.
 
Arranged chronologically with all thoughtful critical and contemporary discussion common to the art book genre jettisoned in favor of Mr. Ware’s unchecked anecdotes and unscrupulous personal asides, the author-as-subject has nonetheless tried as clearly and convivially as possible to provide a contrite, companionable guide to an otherwise unnavigable jumble of product spanning his days as a pale magnet for athletic upperclassmen’s’ ire up to his contemporary life as a stay-at-home dad and agoraphobic graphic novelist.”

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To Laugh That We May Not Weep: The Life and Times of Art Young, by Glenn Bray and Frank M. Young (Fantagraphics)

“Art Young was one of the most renowned and incendiary political cartoonists in the first half of the 20th century. And far more – he was an illustrator for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s, a New York State Senatorial candidate on the Socialist ticket, a magazine publisher, and perhaps the only cartoonist to be tried under the Espionage Act for Sedition. He made his reputation appearing in The Masses on a regular basis using lyrical, vibrant graphics and a deep appreciation of mankind’s inherent folly to create powerful political cartoons.

To Laugh That We May No Weep is a sweeping career retrospective, reprinting – often for the firm time in 60 or 70 years – over 800 of Young’s timeless, charming, and devastating cartoons and illustrations, many reproduced from original artwork, to create a fresh new portrait of this towering figure in the worlds of cartooning and politics.”

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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 hastag #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.