The 2017 Eisner Award nominees are here and once again they include a number of female creators. Though there are too many to list, below are some noteworthy nominees that you may want to add to your reading list or library collection.
Beasts of Burden returns this year in a standalone story named What The Cat Dragged In, which earned a Best Single Issue/One-Shot nomination for Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, and Jill Thompson. In addition to being a good new story in this universe, it is a great starting place for those who haven’t read Beasts of Burden in the past. This is also a great recommendation for any horror fans you may know.
Not surprisingly, Fiona Staples has two personal nominations (for Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team and Best Cover Artist) and a nomination with Brian K. Vaughan for Best Continuing Series all for her great work on Saga. If you don’t already have this series in your library, you should definitely consider it for your older comic fans.
The Best Limited Series has two great nominees by women. Marjorie Liu and Mark Brooks’ Han Solo limited series is perfect for your library’s Star Wars and science fiction fans. Follow Han’s adventures as a spy for the rebellion and find out more about this iconic character along the way. Kim & Kim, Volume 1: This Glamorous, High-Flying Rock Star Life by Magdalene Visaggio and Eva Cabrera is a very different take on interplanetary adventure, which follows two queer women named Kim as they become space bounty hunters. Filled with fun, friendship, diversity and great art, this book will thrill your comic book fans.
This year is also a good one for female-led superhero comics. Both Faith by Jody Houser, Pere Pérez, and Marguerite Sauvage and Mockingbird by Chelsea Cain and Kate Niemczyk are nominated in the Best New Series category and both of them offer fresh takes on the superhero genre that is sure to appeal to fans of high-quality female representation and excellent superhero comics.
In the Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17) category, four of the five nominees come from female creators. The nominees in this category also include two more great female superhero series, with both Batgirl by Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North and Erica Henderson garnering nominations. Both are great for teen readers and combine humor with fun adventures.
Erica Henderson earned a second nomination in the same category for her work with Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, and Derek Charm on Jughead (which itself was also nominated for Best Humor Publication). The series focuses on Jughead’s quest to make sure that the school cafeteria doesn’t replace its normal tasty options with healthy food and is perhaps best known for the fact that it features Jughead coming out to his friends as asexual. It’s a good option for fans of both Archie comics and the new Riverdale series on the CW, though it does offer a different take on the character.
Also nominated in this category are Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars by Jessica Abel, which combines roller derby (or in this case hover derby) with life in space for an engaging romp, and Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, which is a dark and violent tale of fantasy set in a steampunk version of Asia where humans and Arcanics are at war.
All of these comics are sure to delight comic fans at your library and entice a whole new audience to give comics a try. Be sure to consider these and other Eisner nominees when you are looking to build your comic and graphic novel collection.