Six inductees and 16 nominees for the 2021 Will Eisner Hall of Fame have been announced, with winners to be made public at a virtual ceremony during Comic-Con@Home in July.
This year’s Eisner Award judges selected the following six creators to be automatically be inducted, the first four deceased and the last two living.
- Argentinean Alberto Breccia best known for drawing Mort Cinder
- Legendary Archie artist Stan Goldberg, also known for his Marvel color work
- Editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast who created the donkey symbol for the Democratic Party and the elephant symbol for the Republican Party
- Swiss illustrator Rodolphe Töpffer whose pioneering “pictures stories” in the early 1800s preceded today’s comic strips)
- Editor/publisher Françoise Mouly, the founder of RAW Books and of TOON! Books, as well as art director for The New Yorker
- Golden Age artist Lily Renée Phillips, best known for her work at Fiction House, who turns 100 on May 12.
The judges have also chosen 16 nominees from whom voters will select 4 to be inducted in the Hall of Fame this summer. These nominees are Ruth Atkinson, Dave Cockrum, Kevin Eastman, Neil Gaiman, Max Gaines, Justin Green, Moto Hagio, Don Heck, Klaus Janson, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Hank Ketcham, Scott McCloud, Grant Morrison, Alex Niño, P. Craig Russell, and Gaspar Saladino.
More information on the nominees can be found on the Eisner Awards website, with bios of the nominees and inductees here.
Voting this year will be online, as usual, but new voting procedures for 2021 will be announced soon. Eligible voters include comic book/graphic novel/webcomic creators (writers, artists, cartoonists, pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists); comic book/graphic novel publishers and editors; comics historians and educators; graphic novel librarians; and owners and managers of comic book specialty retail stores.
The 2021 Eisner Awards judging panel consists of comics retailer Marco Davanzo (Alakazam Comics, Irvine, CA), Comic-Con Board member Shelley Fruchey, librarian Pamela Jackson (San Diego State University), comics creator/publisher Keithan Jones (The Power Knights, KID Comics), educator Alonso Nuñez (Little Fish Comic Book Studio), and comics scholar Jim Thompson (Comic Book Historians).
