Comic-Con@Home held the 33rd annual Eisner Awards in a virtual ceremony on July 23, 2021, announcing the winners for every category. Just like last year, the award ceremony was hosted by voice actor Phil LaMarr, who is well-known for his comic book relevant roles such as Aquaman and Green Lantern in the Injustice games as well as a variety of voices in DC Superhero Girls and Young Justice. The complete online ceremony can be watched here and is also shared below.
The awards are named after the comic book and graphic novel legend Will Eisner, whose seminal works include The Spirit and A Contract with God. There are 32 categories of awards ranging from Best Writer to Best Lettering as well as a Spirit of Comics Retailer Award. The inductees to the Eisner Hall of Fame and the winners of the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award are also announced during the Eisner Awards. The Humanitarian Award is named after Bob Clampett, who is well-known for his animation work on Looney Toons.
A list of the winners was released on the Comic-Con website, which spotlighted multi-Eisner winners as well, including Gene Luen Yang, who won three awards. His Superman Smashes the Klan won for both "Best Publication for Kids" and "Best Adaptation from Another Medium" while his Dragon Hoops graphic novel won for "Best Publication." Other multiple Eisner winners were Ed Brubaker's Pulp for "Best Graphic Album" and Friday for "Best Digital Comics"; Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber won two awards for Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, "Best Limited Series" and "Best Humor Publication"; and Simon Hanselmann earned two awards, one for Seeds & Stems as "Best Graphic Album–Reprint" and another for Crisis Zone as "Best Webcomics." The rest of the creators who won multiple awards include Junji Ito's Remina, which helped score him the awards for "Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia" and "Best Writer/Artist"; Stan Sakai, who earned "Best Continuing Series" and "Best Lettering" for Usagi Yojimbo; and Adrian Tomine for The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist, which earned the awards for "Best Graphic Memoir" and "Best Publication Design."
The rest of the awards listed among the 32 categories were "Best Anthology," which went to Menopause: A Comic Treatment (the collection also contains the winner for "Best Short Story" by Mimi Pond called "When the Menopausal Carnival Comes to Town"); the "Best Reality-Based Work" won by Derf Backderf for Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio; Jillian Tamaki's Our Little Kitchen won for "Best Publication for Early Reader"; Black Widow received "Best New Series," which is helmed by Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande; Ben Passmore’s Sports Is Hell earned the "Best Single Issue" category; and last but certainly not least, the "Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism" award went to Women Write About Comics.
Sergio Aragonés, the creator of Groo, presented the Hall of Fame Awards in three groups. Pioneers were cartoonists Thomas Nast and Rodolphe Töpffer. Judge's Choices included cartoonist Alberto Breccia; Archie artist Stan Goldberg; editor, publisher, designer, and artist Francoise Mouly (Iron Man); and artist Lily Renée Phillips. Lastly, there are the voters' choices, who were artist Ruth Atkinson (Millie the Model, Patsy Walker), artist Dave Cockrum (X-Men), writer Neil Gaiman (The Sandman), and cartoonist/theorist Scott McCloud (Superman Adventures, Understanding Comics). The recipients of the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award were Mike (Hellboy, B.P.R.D.) and Christine Mignola (Dark Horse Presents, Mike Mignola: The Quarantine Sketchbook).
While there were plenty of awards given out during the Eisner Awards, there are certainly plenty of comics that fans thought were snubbed by the awards. Still, congratulations to all the titles that were nominated as well as those who won in their categories for getting this prestigious honor among comic book's "Oscar" elite at Comic-Con@Home.
Source: Comic-Con