Presented at San Diego Comic Con on July 10, the Eisner Awards – named after graphic novelist Will Eisner – honor the best and brightest in this year’s comics. This year, Lumberjanes scored big, taking home the award for Best New Series and Best Publication for Teens.
Lumberjanes is about Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley – five best friends at Lumberjane scout camp, all determined to have an excellent time despite the qusts and supernatural creatures thrown in their path. The creative team for Lumberjanes includes Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooke A. Allen and Noelle Stevenson, who recently won accolades for her new YA graphic novel Nimona.
Best publication for teens: Lumberjanes!
— Steve Lieber ()
Competition in the Best New Series for Lumberjanes included Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona, about teenage Kamala Khan discovering her superpowers and using them for good, while figuring out what that means and how to balance her actual life.
Other nominees for the Best Publication for Teens included Doomboy by Tony Sandoval, The Dumbest Idea Ever by Jimmy Gownley, Meteor Men by Jeff Parker and Sandy Jarrell, The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew, and The Wrenchies by Farel Dalrymple.
Gene Luen Yang may not have won for Best Publication for Teens, but he did take home the Best Writer award. Yang was honored both for his work on the ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ comic adaptation and for The Shadow Hero, a graphic novel that creates an origin story for The Green Turtle, the first Asian American superhero.
The Best Graphic Novel award went to Jillian and Mariko Tamaki for This One Summer, the YA graphic novel that also won a Printz Honor Medal and was named a Caldecott Honor Book. Through the Woods by Emily Carrol, a collection of short graphic stories about fairy tales gone wrong, won the Best Graphic Novel reprint.
If there’s any takeaway from the this year, it’s that kids’ comics creators and female creators are the future. — Matthew Holm ()
Which winner is your favorite? Sound off in the comments below!
