Diamond Comic Distributors has announced the winners of their 2018 Gem Awards. Nominees for these awards are selected by a group of “Diamond product specialists,” and winners are voted on by retailers. Of the 27 Gem Awards this year, DC Entertainment was voted the winner of six of them, including both Comic Book of the Year categories (Heroes in Crisis #1 for the “$3.99 and under” category, and Action Comics #1000 for the “over 3.99” category) and Publisher of the Year (over 3%).
The winners seem more or less like a list of usual suspects, with the Big 2 publishers taking 40% of the awards and the other represented publishers or companies each winning one or two awards each. A look at the last five years of “Suppliers of the Award” category winners reveals DC in the large Publisher of the Year (for 2018 and 2017 that’s “over 3%”; 2016 and back, it was “over 4%”) spot for the last three years, so basically since the launch of the Rebirth initiative. Boom! Studios has held the small Publisher of the Year (under 3%) title for four of the last five years, and Viz Media has held the Manga Publisher of the Year title for a whopping eight years in a row. On the toys and games front, WizKids/NECA takes Game Manufacturer of the Year for the fourth year in a row, and Funko takes Toy Manufacturer of the Year for the fifth year in a row.
Here’s the full list of award winners:
2018 Diamond Gem Award Suppliers of the Year
2018 Comic Book Publisher of the Year – Over 3%: DC Entertainment
2018 Comic Book Publisher of the Year – Under 3%: BOOM! Studios
2018 Backlist Publisher of the Year: Image Comics
2018 Top Dollar Comic Book Publisher of the Year: Marvel Comics
2018 Manga Publisher of the Year: VIZ Media
2018 Game Manufacturer of the Year: WizKids/ NECA
2018 Toy Manufacturer of the Year: Diamond Select Toys
2018 Diamond Gem Award Products of the Year
2018 Comic Book of the Year – Under $3.99: Heroes in Crisis #1, DC Entertainment
2018 Comic Book of the Year – Over $3.99: Action Comics #1000, DC Entertainment
2018 Top Dollar Comic Book: Action Comics #1000, DC Entertainment
2018 Best New Comic Book Series: Immortal Hulk, Marvel Comics
2018 Best All Ages Series: DC Super Hero Girls, DC Entertainment
2018 Best All Ages Original/Reprint GN: DC Super Hero Girls, Date With Disaster, DC Entertainment
2018 Licensed Comic of the Year: Stranger Things #1, Dark Horse Comics
2018 Licensed TP or HC of the Year: Star Wars Darth Vader Dark Lord Sith Volume 2: Legacy’s End, Marvel Comics
2018 Original Graphic Novel of the Year: My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, Image Comics
2018 Reprint TP or HC of the Year: Batman White Knight, DC Entertainment
2018 Indie Graphic Novel of the Year: Berlin: The Complete Edition, Drawn + Quarterly
2018 Manga TP of the Year: My Hero Academia, Volume 13
2018 Anthology of the Year: Thanos Legacy #1
2018 Magazine of the Year: Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal Magazine
2018 Trade Book of the Year: The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia, Dark Horse Comics
2018 Best Free Comic Book Day Book: FCBD 2018 Avengers Captain America, Marvel Comics
2018 Game Product of the Year: Batman: The Animated Series Gotham Under Siege, IDW Games
2018 Toy Product of the Year: Marvel Select Thor: Ragnarok Gladiator Hulk Action Figure
2018 Toy Line of the Year: Funko POP!, Funko
2018 Collectible Statue of the Year: Batman Black and White: The Batman Who Laughs Statue, DC Collectibles
