Part of the fun of the Expo is the Ignantz awards, named of course for everyone's favorite brick-throwing mouse from the comic strips. While I've never attended the awards themselves (I feel like that's more for the artists than a reader-blogger), I'm aways excited to learn who comes away with a brick.
While I have voted the past three years in a row, I almost certainly won't be making the show on Saturday, and therefore won't get to participate. However, anyone planning to go to the show--and really, if you live anywhere relatively close to the Washington, DC area and are willing to experiment beyond capes comics, you should go--definitely needs to not only look out for the nominees but also have your vote count!
I admit that this time around, I am less familiar with the nominees. (I'll be sure to fix that before the day is through when I go on Sunday!) Carol Tyler's work is excellent, though fellow Paneler Erica is far more familiar with her work than I am. Box Brown is very highly regarded, and of course, the Kate Beaton popularity machine (seriously, her popularity at SPX is not only well deserved, it's unbelievably high) should net her another win. I'm fond of Gabrielle Bell's work, too, but Beaton is a special talent. I don't think I need to sing the praises of another Erica favorite, Jaime Hernandez.
It's also nice to see that the judges were not shy about online comics in the regular awards, with the inclusion of the quite good Box 13, published by Comixology. I did not read that particular issue, but the ones I have read are of a high quality.
Lastly, I am always impressed by the variety of sources for the nominees. While there are some familiar, repeating names like Fantagraphics, overall the choices are scattered among over two dozen publishers, if you count each indie published book as its own thing (and why not?).
When I go to SPX, I'll be looking for these creators and comics, and you should be, too. The list of nominees is below, courtesy of the SPX website.
2011 Ignatz Award Nominees
Outstanding Artist
- Michael DeForge, Lose #3 (Koyama Press)
- Edie Fake, Gaylord Phoenix (Secret Acres)
- Renee French, H-Day (Picturebox)
- Joseph Lambert, I Will Bite You (Secret Acres)
- Carol Tyler, You’ll Never Know, Vol 2: Collateral Damage (Fantagraphics)
Outstanding Anthology or Collection
- Black Eye, edited by Ryan Standfest (Rotland Press)
- Gay Genius, edited by Annie Murphy (Sparkplug)
- I Will Bite You, Joseph Lambert (Secret Acres)
- Make Me a Woman, Vanessa Davis (Drawn & Quarterly)
- Three #1, edited by Robert Kirby
Outstanding Story
- “Blood of the Virgin” Crickets #3, Sammy Harkham (self-published)
- “Browntown,” Love and Rockets: New Stories No. 3, Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
- “LINT,” Acme Novelty Library #20, Chris Ware (Drawn & Quarterly)
- “The most gripping mind-exploding triumphantly electric of our time,” Papercutter #15, Jonas Madden-Conner (Tugboat Press)
- “Weekends Abroad” Three #1, Eric Orner (self-published)
Outstanding Series
- Crickets, Sammy Harkham (self-published)
- Dungeon Quest, Joe Daly (Fantagraphics Books)
- Everything Dies, Box Brown
- Lose, Michael DeForge (Koyama Books)
- Reich, Elijah Brubaker (Sparkplug Comic Books)
Outstanding Comic
- Crickets #3, Sammy Harkham (self-published)
- Danger Country #1, Levon Jihanian
- Habitat #2, Dunja Jankovic
- Lose #3, Michael DeForge (Koyama Press)
- The Magic Hedge, Marian Runk
Outstanding Online Comic
- Alphabet Horror, Nate Marsh: www.alphabethorror.com
- A Cartoonist’s Diary, Pascal Girard: http://www.tcj.com/author/pascal-girard/
- Hark! A Vagrant, Kate Beaton: http://www.harkavagrant.com/
- Finn and Charlie are Hitched,Tony Breed: http://hitchedcomic.com/
- Lucky, Gabrielle Bell: http://gabriellebell.com/
Outstanding Graphic Novel
- Gaylord Phoenix, Edie Fake (Secret Acres)
- The Heavy Hand, Chris Cilla (Sparkplug)
- Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch (Amulet Books)
- Special Exits, Joyce Farmer (Fantagraphics)
- You’ll Never Know, Vol 2: Collateral Damage, Carol Tyler (Fantagraphics)
Promising New Talent
- Tony Breed, Finn and Charlie are Hitched (self-published/online)
- Darryl Ayo Brathwaite, House of Twelve Monthly #3 (Comixology)
- Jesse Jacobs, Even the Giants (AdHouse)
- Jon McNaught, Birchfield Close (Nobrow)
- Jesse Moynihan, Forming (Nobrow/online)
Outstanding Mini-Comic