It’s probably not kosher to divulge a whole lot of information on the goings-on of the Eisner Awards nomination process, but given that the call for submissions notes that the nominations will be “announced in April,” and it’s now April, I feel that I can safely reveal that the nomination weekend is now over and that the official announcement will be forthcoming. As with every year, there’ll be a lot of online back and forth about what did and didn’t get on the list, but what was as interesting to me as the actual nominating process was the preparatory experience: reading basically every graphic novel published by every major publisher in the 2008 calendar year. Here are a few observations borne of that experience, in no particular order:
1) The amount of comics published in a single year is truly stunning. Before the nominations I (and the other judges as well) tried to read through pretty much all the graphic novels that generated significant press in 2008. Even narrowing things down by this criteria, there were easily more than 100 books of genuine interest to get through–and that’s not even getting into serialized comics.
2) Production values on graphic novels have never been higher. Lots and lots of the books I read for this year’s awards were really beautiful. Among the most popular flourishes I noted were “french flaps,” “belly bands,” and covers that mixed glossy and matte finishes. The standard “trade paperback” format looked positively anemic by comparison. The archival stuff of course was beyond stunning–the hardcover Hellboy collection, the slip-cased Umbrella Academy book, the Scorchy Smith book,etc.–but what struck me as far more important was that the baseline for a decent-looking regular old graphic novel is now pretty damn high.
3) Closely related to item two, above: pretty much everything that looked incredible production-wise was printed in China or Singapore. Some of the old guard publishers are still having their books printed by Diamond-friendly printers like Brenner and Quebecor, but there’s just no way they can compete with the prices you can get from Asian printing. A fifteen dollar book printed in North America is likely to be 150 pages, black and white vs. a fifteen dollar book printed in Asia that’ll likely be 200 or more pages, full color, great paper stock, with french flaps and other flourishes.
4) There are a hell of a lot of periodical/serialized comics being published these days that you’re probably unaware of if you’re not into superhero stuff. As mentioned, I read a sizable quantity of graphic novels and Manga stuff before I flew out for nominations weekend, and just figured I’d be able to “brush up” on monthly comics once I got there and figured out what was in the running and what wasn’t–but, damn, there’s a heck of a lot of stuff to sort through. Some is really good, some is really bad, but if you’re someone who mainly reads comics in graphic novel form–or once things have been collected in trade paperbacks– you’re probably unaware of the true quantity of monthly books that are out there.
5) Is there some sort of favoritism/politics going on at the big comics publishers? Being an “indie guy” I have no knowledge of the politics of what goes on a big “mainstream” comics publishers, but I was really surprised that a few of them didn’t send copies of everything they’d put out in the previous year. I can’t imagine that this is a financial concern–it seems more like a deliberate snub to those folks they didn’t send books from. There were at least two people who’d done great work (I thought, anyway) for a couple of mainstream publishers in 2008 who I really wanted to champion, but without their company’s having sent their books along for the judges to read, there really wasn’t much I could do. To be fair, though, it’s probably better to formally submit a select few items than to submit everything, regardless of quality. (Edit, based on some comments: note that publishers can only submit five books per category; what I’m wondering about is why not just go ahead and send in all your output?)
6) There’s a lot of breadth to the comics art form and, chances are, whatever you’re into is just a small subset of the whole. I went into the judging with the idea that there were a number of key books that were basically just “shoe-ins” in the big categories like “Graphic Album New,” but was really taken aback when some of the other folks dismissed some of this stuff pretty casually. (And I’m sure the other folks had exactly the same thoughts about some of the work that I didn’t take to as well.) It’s easy I think, if you’re into some particular type of comics, to become entrenched in that area and not see the comics world as a whole, from the perspectives of other individuals who may have interests that are 180 degrees from your own.
7) There’s some really great foreign material being published today. I was certainly aware that folks like Fanfare Ponent Mon and First Second were regularly cranking out great-looking English editions of foreign material, but it wasn’t until I saw all of this stuff piled up in heaps that I realized just how much of it there is and just how great a lot of it is. It’s amazing to think back, say, twenty years or so to the anemic volume of European and Japanese stuff being reprinted here and compare it just to last year’s output with stuff like Travel, Gus and His Gang, Little Nothings, Disappearance Diary, Bourbon Island, tons of great Tezuka, etc.
8) 2008 was a banner year for books about comics and about comics-making. Here’re just a few: coffee table art books on both Kirby and Ditko, a spectacular biography of Bill Mauldin, The Ten Cent Plague, Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, Lynda Barry’s What It Is, and my own personal favorite: Most Outrageous.
9) Big book publishers have decided that “graphic novel memoir” is the current cash cow. – I guess it’s a natural thing for folks to see what’s been successful in the past and then emulate that, so I probably shouldn’t be surprised that a lot of prose publishers with fledgling graphic novel divisions have decided–likely, based on the success of books like Fun Home and Persepolis–that their initial forays into the world of comics should be memoir. In some cases, though, it’s pretty ridiculous: one major book publisher, for example, submitted their entire 2008 output and every single book was memoir–every one.
All that said, now that it’s over, I’m really looking forward to digging into my stack of new books from 2009 that I’ve had to ignore until now…
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#5 – That’s pretty horrifying to hear. It sounds like a snub, yes. But how would the creators know they were being snubbed? It suggests an attempt to shape the possible outcome of the awards by limiting competition. That’s terrible.
Author
Yeah, but on the other hand, I guess it makes sense not to assume the every single thing you’ve put out in a given year is really award-worthy–’cause it probably isn’t. I know I always send in my own work every year, though, just in case the publisher doesn’t.
You’re right that much of the work might not be worthy of an award. But determining what is and is not award worthy is what the judges are for. And as you say there were a couple of things you likely would have championed, but the decision was taken out of your hands by the actions of the publishers.
#5 — As a former Eisner Judge as well as the Ignatz Awards administrator, yeah, it’s a little surprising at times… especially with the Eisner Awards. The year I was a judge, one of the largest companies sent something like five comics out of the 1000 or so they’d actually published that year. And while that company did get some nominations, it was due to judges bringing their own copies of books and saying, “I think everyone else needs to check this out.”
I was fortunate in that I had a friend who let me go to his store and just borrow huge stacks of comics so I could read them in advance, but… yeah, it seems like a no-brainer.
Regarding the dreaded five for #5…
Aren’t judges informed of the nominating process? Publishers aren’t allowed to submit everything. It’s been the same every year I’ve been in comics, and it’s no different here: http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_09call.shtml
“Publishers may submit a maximum of five nominees for any one category, and the same item or person can be submitted for more than one category. Each imprint, line, or subsidiary of a publisher may submit its own set of entries.”
When I was at Oni, we always told creators we knew would help out to send in their books if we were overloaded in a category, since anyone on the creative side is allowed to put up their own work. Prior to that, when I was at Dark Horse, at least back then we would have the editorial department all vote on what they would nominate and we’d use that to decide. Not sure what they do now.
Author
“Aren’t judges informed of the nominating process?”
Of course the judges are. However….
“Publishers aren’t allowed to submit everything.”
I don’t believe there’s anything preventing a publisher from sending in a box of all their stuff, regardless of what books they choose to nominate in what categories.
Author
…and in the particular cases I’m thinking of from this year, the publisher(s) in question certainly weren’t “maxed out” as far as submissions go.
Yeah, I didn’t know there was a limitation on publisher submissions. My concerns have been rendered moot. When you publish thousands of titles, not everything an be considered. So nevermind. I’ll save my complaining for something more worthy.
That wasn’t being snotty, that was me asking a legitimate question. Because I was surprised to see both you and Greg say the same thing when the guidelines for nominating have always been this way.
I don’t really see how it would make sense that there would be guidelines requesting that participating publishers pick five selections for the various categories and then send a box of everything on top of that. What would be the point of the whittling process then? Not having that rule would make life much easier for smaller publishers, to be sure, and I totally agree a publisher not loading up the full docket is doing themselves a disservice.
Author
Jamie – I added an edit to the original that hopefully will clarify. I’d just have expected a publisher (at least the big ones anyway) to go ahead and send in the bulk of their stuff regardless of what they chose to formally nominate.
“What would be the point of the whittling process then?”
I guess that depends on whether you want 100% of the “whittling” to be placed firmly on the shoulders of the publishers themselves. There are certainly cases in the past of things that haven’t been formally submitted by their publishers being nominated. I guess if you (the publisher) don’t want the judges second guessing you, then I suppose it makes sense to only send in stuff you’ve formally submitted yourself in particular categories.
But I take your point…
I have been too cautious in interpreting the rules, because I’ve done things just as Jamie has described, telling people who ask that it is a good idea to submit their own books in case they don’t make it into our nominations. I thought it worked the way the Academy Award nominations go, though — the publishers/studios make the nomination suggestions, but the academy/judges can choose whatever they like, in whatever category, regardless of what the publishers/studios submitted or suggested.
Honestly, though perhaps not wisely, I also admit to a certain hesitancy in sending something to the judges that I don’t feel best represents the quality of what we’ve published in a given year, thinking it will reflect on all of our output.
Author
Jennifer: Those are interesting considerations that I’d not thought of right off the bat. This is a more complicated issue than I’d first thought of in my off-the-cuff ramblings. I guess the bottom line is that, as a judge, if you’ve got something you’re really hot on, bring a copy yourself, just to be safe.
Ben, did the judges consider works like “Hall of Best Knowledge” by Ray Fenwick (Fantagraphics), “All We Ever Do Is Talk About Wood” by Tom Horacek (Drawn & Quarterly), or “Tales Designed to Thrizzle” by Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics) in the Humor category? I was expecting to see at least one of them among the nominees there … In any case, I found your selections interesting and look forward to checking them out.
Author
All works published in 2008 were up for consideration. I believe that THRIZZLE has received at least one nomination in the past–2007, maybe?
[…] Awards | Eisner Awards judge (and cartoonist) Ben Towle comments posts his thoughts about the submissions: “Is there some sort of favoritism/politics going on at the big comics publishers? Being an ‘indie guy’ I have no knowledge of the politics of what goes on a big ‘mainstream’ comics publishers, but I was really surprised that a few of them didn’t send copies of everything they’d put out in the previous year. I can’t imagine that this is a financial concern — it seems more like a deliberate snub to those folks they didn’t send books from. There were at least two people who’d done great work (I thought, anyway) for a couple of mainstream publishers in 2008 who I really wanted to champion, but without their company’s having sent their books along for the judges to read, there really wasn’t much I could do. To be fair, though, it’s probably better to submit a select few items than to submit everything, regardless of quality.” [Ben Towle] […]