The 2020 Eisner Awards were presented by Phil Lamarr as part of Comic-Con At Home, the digital remote replacement for this year’s pandemic-canceled San Diego Comic-Con.
The big winners on the night were women creators, winning outright or a share of almost two thirds of the awards. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell took home three awards: Best Publication for Teens, Best Writer, and Best Penciller/Inker. Invisible Kingdom from G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward; Lynda Barry’s Making Comics; Usagi Yojimbo’s Stan Sakai; and the juggernaut that is Raina Telgelmeier each took home two awards. Other notable wins included David Walker, Chuck Brown and Sanford Greene’s Bitter Root’s Best Continuing Series; Best Limited Series to Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertrom for Little Bird; Emma Rios for Best Cover Artist for her work on Pretty Deadly; and Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo’s Afterlift for Best Digital Comic.
Unfortunately, the awards were marred by scandal. Eisner voting was abruptly shut down on June 18th after what Comic Con International called an “anomaly” – later revealed by The Hollywood Reporter to be a pretty disturbing breach of private data and vote integrity. Users who logged into the site could refresh the page and be taken to another voter’s page, complete with personally identifiable information, like full names and addresses. The refreshed page would also show the other voter’s completed ballot, and allow the user to change someone else’s vote. CCI shut down voting on June 18th, and sent an email to Eisner Voters a week later, announcing that they were tossing the initial results and asking voters to recast their ballots. However, several voters reported not receiving the second email, and thus, not being able to cast an updated ballot.
CCI insists that the final results were the same as the initial round of balloting. However, insisting that the second results are identical to the potentially tainted and untrustworthy first round is not especially confidence inspiring. Wendy Browne, Publisher of the now Eisner-winning comics site Women Write About Comics, summed up the frustration well:
We want this industry to do and be better. But when even the industry’s most prestigious prize is embarrassingly tainted by mismanagement that results in potentially skewed results and privacy breaches left unaddressed — on top of a hellish year that has compounded the injustices, corruption, and inequality all around us — it’s hard for me to see this year’s Eisner win as anything but bittersweet. It makes accepting an award marred by such uncertainty difficult for me, because this does not reflect our principles and who we are. We deserve better, as do all those nominated in this year’s Eisner Awards.
Here is a full list of the winners.
Best Short Story
“Hot Comb,” by Ebony Flowers, in Hot Comb (Drawn & Quarterly)
Best Single Issue/One-Shot
Our Favorite Thing Is My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)
Best Continuing Series
Bitter Root, by David Walker, Chuck Brown, and Sanford Greene (Image)
Best Limited Series
Little Bird by Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram (Image)
Best New Series
Invisible Kingdom, by G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward (Berger Books/Dark Horse)
Best Publication for Early Readers
Comics: Easy as ABC, by Ivan Brunetti (TOON)
Best Publication for Kids
Guts, by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic Graphix)
Best Publication for Teens
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (First Second/Macmillan)
Best Humor Publication
The Way of the Househusband, vol. 1, by Kousuke Oono, translation by Sheldon Drzka (VIZ Media)
Best Anthology
Drawing Power: Women’s Stories of Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Survival, edited by Diane Noomin (Abrams)
Best Reality-Based Work
They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker (Top Shelf)
Best Graphic Album—New
Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden (First Second/Macmillan)
Best Graphic Album—Reprint
LaGuardia, by Nnedi Okorafor and Tana Ford (Berger Books/Dark Horse)
Best Adaptation from Another Medium
Snow, Glass, Apples, by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran (Dark Horse Books)
Best U.S. Edition of International Material
The House, by Paco Roca, translation by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)
Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia (TIE)
Cats of the Louvre, by Taiyo Matsumoto, translation by Michael Arias (VIZ Media)
Witch Hat Atelier, by Kamome Shirahama, translation by Stephen Kohler (Kodansha)
Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips
Krazy Kat: The Complete Color Sundays, by George Herriman, edited by Alexander Braun (TASCHEN)
Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo: The Complete Grasscutter Artist Select, by Stan Sakai, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
Best Writer
Mariko Tamaki, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass (DC); Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me (First Second/Macmillan); Archie (Archie)
Best Writer/Artist
Raina Telgemeier, Guts (Scholastic Graphix)
Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me (First Second/Macmillan)
Best Painter/Digital Artist
Christian Ward, Invisible Kingdom (Berger Books/Dark Horse)
Best Cover Artist
Emma Rios, Pretty Deadly (Image)
Best Coloring
Dave Stewart, Black Hammer, B.P.R.D.: The Devil You Know, Hellboy and the BPRD (Dark Horse); Gideon Falls (Image); Silver Surfer Black, Spider-Man (Marvel)
Best Lettering
Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo (IDW)
Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism
Women Write About Comics, edited by Nola Pfau and Wendy Browne, www.WomenWriteAboutComics.com
Best Comics-Related Book
Making Comics, by Lynda Barry (Drawn & Quarterly)
Best Academic/Scholarly Work
EC Comics: Race, Shock, and Social Protest, by Qiana Whitted (Rutgers University Press)
Best Publication Design
Making Comics, designed by Lynda Barry (Drawn & Quarterly)
Best Digital Comic
Afterlift, by Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo (comiXology Originals)
Best Webcomic
Fried Rice, by Erica Eng, https://friedricecomic.tumblr.com
Hall of Fame
Judges’ Choices: Nell Brinkley, E. Simms Campbell
Voters’ Choices: Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Stan Sakai, Louise Simonson, Don and Maggie Thompson, Bill Watterson