This year’s Ignatz Nominees were announced on Tuesday, and a large
majority of the books selected this year are books I’ve reviewed. The Ignatz
awards are juried by cartoonists and critics, this year by Lamar Abrams, Cara
Bean, Robyn Chapman, Sophie Goldstein, and Corrine Mucha. But attendees are the
people who vote for the winning slate, so as a voter, it behooves you to be as
educated about the books up for a vote as you can be.
A few notes on the overall selections – I think it says something about
the state of independent comics that more than 50% of the nominees in total are
women. I think that’s a sign of things to come, and I’m excited about that.
One category that I think is a little difficult/challenging is the
Outstanding Anthology or Collection, a category that includes Drawn &
Quarterly’s massive 25 year anniversary book, an almost assured winner. I think
it’s difficult to put anthologies and personal collections in the same category
– the way we read these two things are different, the way they are edited is different,
and the place that they take in the publishing world is different. The fact that there are a few books in that category that are really stellar personal anthologies with a very low chance to win feels like a shame.
Jillian Tamaki continues her year of power – both of Tamaki’s major comics published this year are nominated for awards. I find it hard to believe that SuperMutant Magic Academy won’t walk away with at least a few awards.
Some of the micro and small press publishers have a strong showing at this year’s Ignatz nominations, with Youth In Decline receiving two nominations (including one for its flagship Frontier monograph series) and PEOW! receiving three. AdHouse, Koyama, and Uncivilized all have books in the running. And plenty of self-published books have made the list – there’s a nice diversity here.
There are quite a few awards where I don’t have an easy pick. I think that’s the best indicator of quality that I can point to in this year’s nominees.
All that said, here are your 2015 Ignatz Nominees – if I’ve reviewed a
book, the link will proceed its listing. If a work gets reviewed prior to SPX, this post will be updated accordingly.
Outstanding Artist
Emily Carroll – Through The Woods
Ed Luce – Wuvable Oaf
Roman Muradov – (In a Sense) Lost and Found
Jillian Tamaki – SuperMutant Magic Academy
Noah Van Sciver – Saint Cole — REVIEW
Outstanding Anthology or
Collection
Drawn and Quarterly, 25 Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics, and
Graphic Novels – edited by Tom Devlin,
Chris Oliveros, Peggy Burns, Tracy Hurren, and Julia Pohl-Miranda
An Entity Observes All Things – Box Brown — REVIEW
How To Be Happy – Eleanor Davis
— REVIEW
Pope Hats #4 – Ethan Rilly
SuperMutant Magic Academy – Jillian Tamaki
Outstanding Graphic Novel
Beauty – Kerascoët and Hubert
— REVIEW
The Oven – Sophie Goldstein — REVIEW
Rav – Mickey Zacchilli — REVIEW
Saint Cole – Noah Van Sciver —
REVIEW
Wendy – Walter Scott
Outstanding Story
Doctors – Dash Shaw — REVIEW
Me As a Baby (from Lose #6) – Michael DeForge
Nature Lessons (from The Late Child and Other Animals) – Marguerite Van Cook and James Romberger
Sex Coven (Frontier #7) – Jillian Tamaki — REVIEW
Weeping Flower, Grows in Darkness – Kris Mukai — REVIEW
Promising New Talent
M. Dean – K.M. & R.P. & MCMLXXI
(1971)
Sophia Foster-Dimino – Sphincter,
Sex Fantasy
Dakota McFadzean – Don’t Get
Eaten by Anything
Jane Mai – Soft
Gina Wynbrandt – Big Pussy
Outstanding Series
Dumb – Georgia Webber
Frontier – edited by Ryan Sands
March – John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
and Nate Powell
Pope Hats – Ethan Rilly
Sex Fantasy – Sophia
Foster-Dimino
Outstanding Comic
Borb – Jason Little — REVIEW
The Nature of Nature – Disa
Wallander — REVIEW
The Oven – Sophie Goldstein — REVIEW
Pope Hats 4 – Ethan Rilly
Weeping Flower, Grows in Darkness – Kris Mukai — REVIEW
Outstanding Minicomic
Devil’s Slice of Life – Patrick
Crotty
Epoxy 5 – John Pham
King Cat #75 – John Porcellino
Sex Fantasy #4 – Sophia
Foster-Dimino
Whalen: A Reckoning – Audry
Outstanding Online Comic
The
Bloody Footprint (at the New York Times) by Lilli Carre
Carriers
(at Nautilus) by Lauren Weinstein
Mom Body (at The
Nib), by Rebecca Roher
O Human Star, by Blue Delliquanti
Witchy, by Ariel Ries