Eisner Awards - 2021

by Sara Smith 
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July means Eisner month! This year, ComicCon@Home happened mostly on YouTube, so you can watch the entire awards ceremony if you're into that sort of thing. The awards were held on July 23rd, 2021.

Titles are nominated by a panel of folks in the comics industry, a librarian, and an academic researcher. Then, comics industry folks, librarians, and comic academics can vote for the winners. While the panel of folks have read all of these titles (and many more!), those voting for winners definitely do not need to have read everything to vote. The entire list of winners AND nominees is full of some amazing titles because they were the BEST of what the small committee read this year. I suggest checking out the full list of winners and nominees posted here by the Comics Beat. Since this website is School Library related, I'll be posting the winners and nominees for categories that will help school librarians with their purchasing decisions.

I definitely haven't read all of these amazing titles (yet!), but where I can, I have linked my review of the titles I have finished. As always, this list means I have even more titles to add to my towering TBR pile!

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Best Continuing Series
Many of these are more on the mature side, and would be best for upper grades or even adult learners.

• WINNER: Usagi Yojimbo, by Stan Sakai (IDW)
• Bitter Root, by David F. Walker, Chuck Brown, and Sanford Greene (Image)
• Daredevil, by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto (Marvel)
• The Department of Truth, by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds (Image)
• Gideon Falls, by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino (Image)
• Stillwater, by Chip Zdarsky and Ramón K Pérez (Image/Skybound)​

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​Best New Series
Some of these are more on the mature side, and would be best for upper grades or even adult learners.

• WINNER: Black Widow, by Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande (Marvel)
• Crossover, by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw (Image)
• The Department of Truth, by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds (Image)
• Killadelphia, by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander (Image)
• We Only Find Them When They’re Dead, by Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo (BOOM! Studios)​

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Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 8)

• WINNER: Our Little Kitchen, by Jillian Tamaki (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
• Bear, by Ben Queen and Joe Todd-Stanton (Archaia/BOOM!)
• Cat Kid Comic Club, by Dav Pilkey (Scholastic Graphix)
• Donut Feed the Squirrels, by Mika Song (RH Graphic/RH Children’s Books)
• Kodi, by Jared Cullum (Top Shelf)
• Lift, by Minh Lê and Dan Santat (Little, Brown Young Readers)

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Best Publication for Kids (ages 9-12)

• WINNER: Superman Smashes the Klan, by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru (DC)
• Doodleville, by Chad Sell (Knopf/BFYR/RH Children’s Books)
• Go with the Flow, by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann (First Second/Macmillan)
• Mister Invincible: Local Hero, by Pascal Jousselin (Magnetic Press)
• Snapdragon, by Kat Leyh (First Second/Macmillan)
• Twins, by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright (Scholastic Graphix)

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Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)

• WINNER: Dragon Hoops, by Gene Luen Yang (First Second/Macmillan)
• Check, Please! Book 2: Sticks & Scones, by Ngozi Ukazu (First Second/Macmillan)
• Displacement, by Kiku Hughes (First Second/Macmillan)
• Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence, by Joel Christian Gill (Oni Press)
• A Map to the Sun, by Sloane Leong (First Second/Macmillan)
• When Stars are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (Dial Books)

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Best Humor Publication

• WINNER: Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber (DC)
• The Complete Fante Bukowski, by Noah Van Sciver (Fantagraphics)
• Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)
• FANGS, by Sarah Andersen (Andrews McMeel)
• Wendy, Master of Art, by Walter Scott (Drawn & Quarterly)
• What If We Were . . ., by Axelle Lenoir (Top Shelf)

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Best Anthology

• WINNER: Menopause: A Comic Treatment, edited by MK Czerwiec (Graphic Medicine/Pennsylvania State University Press)
• Ex Mag, vols. 1–2, edited by Wren McDonald (PEOW)
• Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World’s Most Infamous Prison, edited by Sarah Mirk (Abrams)
• Hey, Amateur! Go From Novice to Nailing It in 9 Panels, edited and curated by Shelly Bond (IDW Black Crown)
• Los Angeles Times, edited by Sammy Harkham (NTWRK)
• Now, edited by Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)

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Best Reality-Based Work

• WINNER: Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio, by Derf Backderf (Abrams)
• Big Black: Stand at Attica, by Frank “Big Black” Smith, Jared Reinmuth, and Améziane (Archaia/BOOM!)
• Dragon Hoops, by Gene Luen Yang (First Second/Macmillan)
• Invisible Differences: A Story of Asperger’s, Adulting, and Living a Life in Full Color, by Mme Caroline and Julie Dachez, translation by Edward Gauvin (Oni Press)
• Paying the Land, by Joe Sacco (Metropolitan/Henry Holt)
• Year of the Rabbit, by Tian Veasna, translation by Helge Dascher (Drawn & Quarterly)

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Best Graphic Memoir

• WINNER: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist, by Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Banned Book Club, by Kim Hyun Sook, Ryan Estrada, and Ko Hyung-Ju (Iron Circus)
• Dancing After TEN: A Graphic Memoir, by Vivian Chong and Georgia Webber (Fantagraphics)
• Ginseng Roots, by Craig Thompson (Uncivilized)
• I Don’t Know How to Give Birth! by Ayami Kazama, translated by Julie Goniwich (Yen Press)
• When Stars Are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (Dial Books)

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Best Adaptation from Another Medium

• WINNER: Superman Smashes the Klan, adapted by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru (DC)
• Constitution Illustrated, by R. Sikoryak (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Parable of the Sower: The Graphic Novel Adaptation, by Octavia E. Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy and John Jennings (Abrams)
• Sapiens: A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind, vol. 1, adapted by Yuval Noah Harari, David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave (Harper Perennial)
• Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, adapted by Ryan North and Albert Monteys (Archaia/BOOM!)

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Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia
This is basically the Eisner category for manga.

• WINNER: Remina, by Junji Ito, translation by Jocelyne Allen (VIZ Media)
• I Had That Same Dream Again, by Yoru Sumino and Idumi Kirihara, translation by Beni Axia Conrad (Seven Seas)
• I Wish I Could Say “Thank You,” by Yukari Takinami, translation by Yukari Takeuchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
• A Journal Of My Father, by Jiro Taniguchi, translation by Kumar Sivasubramanian (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
• Ping Pong, vols. 1–2, by Taiyo Matsumoto, translation by Michael Arias (VIZ Media)
• Spy x Family, vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, by Tatsuya Endo, translation by Casey Loe (VIZ Media)

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