Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic con, Comics, eisner awards, jackie estrada, jonathan ross, san diego, sdcc, stan sakai

Notes From The Eisner Awards

You can read the Eisner Award winners here. But I just wanted to add a few notes from attending myself.

The procedure was smartened up and sped up a bit, countering criticism from previous years and our host Jackie Estrada declared it officially the shortest Awards ever.

This was a show of fathers and sons. Whether that's the Riveras winning awards together on Daredevil, or Ed Brubaker talking movingly about writing Criminal on his father's death bed in his honour, or Jeff Jensen writing about his own father's life in Green River Killer: A True Detective Story.

It was a show of noisy microphone stalks. Of Jonathan Ross reminding us in gory and vicious details of the loser attribute of those who don't win. It was a year for Marvel, who only a few years ago were shut out of every award, though only for Daredevil and Criminal. It was a year for DC to be marginalised, and Archaia to seize the spotlight with Jim Henson's Tale Of Sand, the true winner of the show. With the Manara book, it was a rare chance for a work of pornography to win an Eisner.

Stan Sakai thanked Todd Klein for his "how to letter" book, which got him through his first comic, Groo The Wanderer, though each page looked different as he was trying out different pens. James Kochalka turned up late to accept his award, and telling us that the last time he had lost, he pretending to his family that he had won. Roger Langridge, winning Best Publication For Kids, made a sly jab suggesting Lewis Carroll was a pedophile. Steve Skeates, who was on hand to accept the Bill Finger Award told us how he was pleased to get the Finger from us all. Tom Spurgeon looking great, feeling great, winning great. Scott Dunbier's most emotional acceptance speech, challenged by Gilbert Shelton and . Kim Thompson who Diana Schutz noted had translated three of the translated volume nominees from three different languages. Harry Lucey for the Will Eisner Hall Of Fame had his award accepted by his daughter. She talked about how he would draw the female characters nude, then instructed his inker to draw clothes upon them. Scott Malley broke Richard Corben's Eisner on stage. Mark Waid, Mark Waid, Mark Waid.

And after Dark Horse Presents edited by Mike Richardson won Best Anthology, Mike congratulated me on my Eisner… bless him.

I haven't been to the Eisners for a while. I forgot how fun, inspiring and downright justifying they can be. See you there next year.

Come on, there's free food and drink…

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