More on 2006 Eisner Nominations

I'm not sure why I promised commentary today, because I don't really have much to say about any of the major comics awards anymore. They are what they are. One thing I noticed this year is that the Eisners and the Harveys seem to have a ton of awards as compared to the lean and mean Angouleme prizes, but I'm not sure I can get worked up about the difference. Mostly I had the same feelings yesterday I have every time one of these comes up, that I wish prose works related to comics weren't recognized by such events and that the Ignatzes should emphasize its function as a festival award rather than an alt-Eisners. A new feeling is that there seems to be an overwhelming number of books so a lot of stuff gets left out unless it makes some sort of distinct impression. Although I have yet to see it it, I can't imagine perennial nominee Jim Ottaviani's 2005 book was any worse than his usually-nominated works from years past. But you blink these days and books are gone! I'm sad that more people aren't as overwhelmed by Carol Tyler's Late Bloomer as I think they should be. But mostly... eh.

You can read various people chatting about the noms at places like The Engine and The Comics Journal's message board. Here's blog stuff from Forbidden Planet, Kevin Melrose, MangaBlog and Variety. Newsarama's readership usually has an interesting point of view.



On a personal note, I'm happy a book I worked on called The Comics Journal Library Volume 5: Classic Comics Illustrators received a nomination in a tough category. I thought that book turned out really well, and I'm happy if this reminds people it's out there. I feel sort of embarrassed in that my name is after the title in the nomination even though I had little to do with what's good about the book. Gary Groth's work with the major interview subjects Frank Frazetta and Burne Hogarth was outstanding; he's really the book's author. And art director Greg Sadowski did such a beautiful job illustrating the book with works from the various cartooning masters it functions not just as an interview book but as an extremely affordable art book of this type; he's really the book's driving force. Greg's work on the Russ Heath section in particular is as good as anyone's out there (Kidd, Ware, Seth, etc.) when it comes to making you look at an artist in a new way. Check it out if you're in a store where it's being carried.
 
posted 11:52 pm PST | Permalink
 

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