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Initial Thoughts on the Eisners
posted April 14, 2005
 

1. Troy Hickman has twice as many nominations as the entirety of manga.

2. Indy Magazine, an on-line magazine, gets a nom in the publication about comics section. The Comics Journal does not get a nomination, even in a short category.

3. I hope Johnny Craig makes it into the Hall of Fame. I'd hope for other people, but Johnny Craig actually stands a chance, although I think he's the last chance for EC backlash, so maybe he'll be screwed.

4. Are any of the various Hall of Fames set up to honor people in a way that Frederic Wertham would qualify? It'd be fun just to read his name at a ceremony.

5. I really like Kyle Baker, but it looks like the field needs a few more humor cartoonists.

6. The speech I'd most like to hear is Johnny Ryan's. Especially if it's right after the memorial for Mr. Eisner.

7. No love for the Brube this year...

8. I wonder if Craig Thompson will be the new Dave Sim in the lettering category. Although ideally, Sim will continue to be nominated.

9. That book category is always hilarious. On what basis does one decide if Stan Sakai's art makes for a better book than Dan Raeburn's writing on Chris Ware? It's a good thing I vote drunk.

10. Terry Moore, Tony Moore... no Alan Moore.

11. They should institute a throw-in category that has crazy stuff in it, like "Sergio Aragones singing at last year's Eisners" up against "Marvel's paper stock" up against "flame war between two Wolverine fans on Mark Millar's forum, March 13th." Who wouldn't want to see the winner of such a category?

12. In their press release accompanying the list, the Eisner folks describe their ceremony though use of the world's most generous definition of "gala".

13. Not a lot of imaginative choices, particularly once you get into the "bigger" categories. It reads like the committee got tired or something.

14. Wait [shaking my head vigorously] I get their plan! These nominations are not just unimaginative, they're not very good, but they lull you to sleep so you don't feel particularly disapointed. Apparently, the leading light of the medium in its full flowering is a comic book about a superhero mayor. This is a perfectly fine comic book, clever and with stylish art, and one that I can read without having to keep picking it up where I threw it, but --- zzzzzzz. What? Shit!

15. I wonder if Frank Robbins stands a chance in the HOF voting. I just read a bunch of his later-period comic book work, which is amazing for portrait after portrait of sexy but completely demented-seeming women. Has anyone else ever noticed this?

16. Part of me feels like I'm in the hall already...