The 2015 Eisner Award Nominations: What We Expected vs. What We Got

 

Phillip Morgan ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Yeah, it turns out people actually give awards to comic books, too. Weird.

On April 22, the official nominations were announced for the 2015 Eisner Awards, which (for those of you just joining the comic book community) is basically the Oscars for comics. As usual, some name drops were predictable. Some were exciting, and others were downright baffling. We thought it would be fun to compare our predictions on some of the major sections to the actual nominees, because despite all evidence to the contrary, we firmly believe our opinions matter. You can check out the full nominee list here, but here are our prediction results for the 2015 Eisner Award Nominations, along with our thoughts.

 

Best Continuing Series:

What We Expected

American Vampire by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo)

Daredevil by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee (Marvel)

East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta (Image)

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel)

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples (Image)

Zero by Ales Kot and Every Artist He Knows (Image)

 

What We Got

Astro City by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (Vertigo)

Bandette by Paul Tobin and Colleen Cover (Monkeybrain)

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel)

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples (Image)

Southern Bastards by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour (Image)

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, and Stefano Gaudiano (Image)

 

Our Thoughts:

● The fact that Fraction and Aja turned Hawkeye into an amazing title is almost an accolade in itself. But the nomination is also nice.

● Is anyone actually surprised Saga got nominated again? The answer is no, because it totally deserves it.

● As much as we love Southern Bastards, it feels a bit young for this category.

● Oh hey, Astro City is back. Neat.

● We’re not sure what Bandette is, but we definitely approve of a publisher called Monkeybrain.

● It’s time to face facts. The Walking Dead is not Image’s best title, nor has it aged particularly well. Having a mildly entertaining AMC show doesn’t mean you should get preference over all the incredible titles Image has right now.

● Meanwhile, Daredevil has an awesome series AND an awesome TV show, and they get nothing. Fantastic.

 

Best New Series:

What We Expected

Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Craig (Image)

Lumberjanes by Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson, and Brooke A. Allen (BOOM!)

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona (Marvel)

Roche Limit by Michael Moreci and Vic Malhotra (Image)

Southern Bastards by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour (Image)

 

What We Got

The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)

Lumberjanes by Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson, and Brooke A. Allen (BOOM!)

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona (Marvel)

Rocket Raccoon by Skottie Young (Marvel)

The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (Image)

 

Our Thoughts:

● We’re pretty sure there’d be riots in the streets if Ms. Marvel wasn’t nominated.

● Lumberjanes is nominated! Praise the Holy Kitten!

● Oops, we totally forgot about Rocket Racoon.

● While The Fade Out is by no means a terrible comic, the fact that it was chosen over every other new series from Image is pretty disappointing. (Translation: Roche Limit, Deadly Class, and Southern Bastards have all been snubbed, and we’re not okay with that.)

● Do we really have to point out all the problems surrounding The Wicked + The Divine again?

 

Best Limited Series:

What We Expected

Batman Eternal by Scott Snyder’s Traveling All-Stars (DC)

Daredevil: Road Warrior by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (Marvel)

The Multiversity by Grant Morrison and His Merry Men (DC)

The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III (Vertigo)

Teen Titans: Earth One by Jeff Lemire and Terry Dodson (DC)

 

What We Got

Daredevil: Road Warrior by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (Marvel)

Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland by Eric Shanower and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)

The Multiversity by Grant Morrison and the Masters of the Universe (DC)

Private Eye by Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin (Panel Syndicate)

The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III (Vertigo)

 

Our Thoughts:

● Multiversity got nominated, once again saving the world from the wrath of the Grant Morrison fanbase.

● Someone saw Private Eye and cried out, “OMG, it’s the Saga guy.” That is our only explanation.

● Sure, we’d like to believe Hawkeye vs Deadpool had a chance at the nomination, but deep down, we knew Daredevil was the more likely candidate.

● Remember when Neil Gaiman didn’t appear to win nominations solely because he was Neil Gaiman? Neither do we. (Sandman: Overture is pretty great, though.)

 

Best Single Issue/One-Shots:

What We Expected

Astro City #16: “Wish I May” by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (Vertigo)

The Multiversity: “Pax Americana #1” by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)

We tried to think of recent one-shots that were comparable to these two. We gave up.

 

What We Got

Astro City #16: “Wish I May” by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (Vertigo)

Beasts of Burden: Hunters and Gatherers by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson (Dark Horse)

Madman in Your Face 3D Special by Mike Allred (Image)

Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration #1 (Marvel)

The Multiversity: “Pax Americana #1” by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)

 

Our Thoughts:

● Yes, Multiversity and Astro City got nominated. You can put the pitchforks down now.

● Really Marvel? Your seventy-fifth Birthday Card is your best one-shot?

● We’re honestly not sure if a “3D Special” comic sounds like the worst or best thing ever.

● Honestly, if the winner isn’t “Pax Americana” or “Wish I May,” we will eat our shorts out of sheer bewilderment.

 

Best Writer:

What We Expected

Jason Aaron – Original Sin, Thor (Marvel); Southern Bastards (Image)

Kelly Sue DeConnick – Captain Marvel (Marvel); Pretty Deadly (Image)

Matt Fraction – Hawkeye (Marvel); Sex Criminals (Image)

Jonathan Hickman – Avengers, New Avengers (Marvel); East of West, The Manhattan Projects (Image)

Scott Snyder – Batman, Batman Eternal (DC); American Vampire (Vertigo)

G. Willow Wilson – Ms. Marvel (Marvel)

 

What We Got

Jason Aaron – Original Sin, Thor (Marvel); Southern Bastards (Image)

Kelly Sue DeConnick – Captain Marvel (Marvel); Pretty Deadly (Image)

Grant Morrison – The Multiversity (DC); Annihilator (Legendary Comics)

Brian K. Vaughan – Saga (Image); Private Eye (Panel Syndicate)

G. Willow Wilson – Ms. Marvel (Marvel)

Gene Luen Yang – Avatar: The Last Airbender (Dark Horse); The Shadow Hero (First Second)

 

Our Thoughts

● As phenomenal a writer as Grant Morrison is, we wanted to give the younger blood a chance at greatness. Apparently the Eisners disagree.

● Our sixth nominee was originally Rick Remender for his work on his two Image series, Deadly Class and Black Science. But then we remembered he was also responsible for AXIS.

● We’re pretty sure Brian K. Vaughn has already won this award for Saga at least once. At this point, he’d just be running up the score.

● The exclusion of both Fraction and Snyder is disheartening, but the absence of Hickman among the nominees is downright criminal. If you’re not reading anything by him, you need to fix that immediately.

● Kelly Sue DeConnick almost made it in a lot of the other categories when we were making our predictions. Here’s to hoping her new Image series, Bitch Planet, is the breakout series she needs to move up this time next year.

● We don’t care how dumb it sounds. If Gene Luen Yang makes an Avatar joke in Superman when he takes over the series post-Convergence, that would be the greatest thing ever.

 

Best Artist (Penciller/Inker):

What We Expected

David Aja – Hawkeye (Marvel)

Adrian Alphona – Ms. Marvel (Marvel)

Wes Craig – Deadly Class (Image)

Patrick Gleason – Batman & Robin (DC)

Jason Latour – Southern Bastards (Image)

Fiona Staples – Saga (Image)

 

What We Got

Adrian Alphona – Ms. Marvel (Marvel)

Mike Allred – Silver Surfer (Marvel); Madman in Your Face 3D Special (Image)

Frank Quitely – The Multiversity (DC)

François Schuiten – The Leaning Girl (Alaxis Press)

Fiona Staples – Saga (Image)

Babs Tarr – Batgirl (DC)

 

Our Thoughts:

● Fiona Staples’ art carries Saga. That’s just a fact.

● We had the same idea with Frank Quitely that we did with Grant Morrison in the last category. We basically consider them a package deal at this point.

● Patrick Gleason still deserves props for making Robin Rises look amazing despite how ridiculous the story was.

● Silver Surfer got his own series? Nice.

 

There you have it. It may not be perfect, but these are the major Eisner nominations for 2015. And really, as long as Scott Lobdell isn’t involved, no series should ever be ignored.