SDCC ’17: 2017 Eisner Awards live-blog

The Beat is live at the 2017 Eisner Awards, it’s another incredible group of nominees! Let’s get straight to the winners!

• Todd Klein just came away with a well deserved win for Best Lettering (for Dark Night, Black Hammer and others)
• Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover’s Bandette takes Best Digital Comic. Paul Tobin called their win “extremely humbling” and they are working in the best possible time for comics.
• Anne Szabla’s Bird Boy wins Best Webcomic. Szabla gives her thanks to Dark Horse, her parents, her friends in Boston and all of those that have supported her over the years
• Danny Pudi and Greg Grunberg step out onto the stage to present the next award, and have a quick competition between what’s bigger between Duck Tales and Star Wars (of which they have recently starred).
• It’s Best Writer! Who will it be?
• And Brian K. Vaughan regains his Best Writer title, he could not attend in person but provided a written acceptance speech.
• Next up is Best Writer/Artist! 
• Sonny Liew wins a very well deserved prize for a beautiful graphic novel in The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye
• Fiona Staples wins Best Cover Artist, and like her collaborator on Saga, she too provides her written acceptance. Pudi provides a dramatic reading of her remarks.
• Ben Edlund and Griffin Newman are up to present Best US Edition of International Material
• Which is won by Moebius Library: The World of Edena, one of last year’s essential reprint volumes.
• Best US Edition of International Material – Asia is the next award that Edlund and Newman are presenting, keeping the theme
• And Sonny Liew’s The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye wins another! This may be a big night for the Singaporean artist.
• No surprise, Edlund and Newman get to present Best Humor Publication next.
• And the award goes to Jughead by Chip Zdarsky, Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm!
• Zdarsky couldn’t make it, but the rest of the Jughead crew is on hand to accept the award – with North reading Zdarsky’s written acceptance speech, which is full of hilarious Zdarsky style ribbing on North. Henderson also gives a tearful remembrance of her father in her speech.
• The Bill Finger Award is the next honor being given, with Athena Finger on hand to tell the audience a bit about her grandfather.
• William Messner-Loebs, whose resume is towering, is the first recipient.
• Messner-Loebs shares one of his best Jack Kirby stories, where Jack stated to him that “really old people were the next frontier in comics” and he responded “But Jack, we already are writing to an audience that’s getting older and older and older…” to laughter.
• Jack Kirby post-humously receives the second of these honors tonight, where his contributions as a writer are specifically being recognized, at long last.
• Many members of the Kirby family have come out on stage to accept the award in The King’s honor; including his youngest daughter and grandchildren.
• Chris Roberson and Allison Baker, of MonkeyBrain digital are on board now for the Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism
• Which is won by the team at the A.V. Club, congrats to Oliver, Tegan, and the entire team!
• Best Comics-Related Book is won by Krazy: George Herriman, A Life In Black and White by Michael Tisserand.
• Best Academic/Scholarly Work goes to Superwomen: Gender, Power and Representation by Carolyn Cocca, who thanks her mother specifically, who is in attendance.
• Actor Thomas Lennon and Gail Simone are the next presenters, who do a hit comparing the SDCC app to Lyft, which they use to call up Wayne Brady to the stage. Cute little moment.
• Brady tells the audience about his new comic imprint called Level Next, which tell stories that “give love to little black kids across the country”.
• Brady is basically killing it on stage, I wish I could accurately describe it.
• This trio is presenting Best Penciller/Inker, which goes to Fiona Staples for Saga, marking her second award of the night.
• Best Coloring is next, and this is a murderers row of talent in these nominees.
• And the way overdue Matt Wilson, nominated for six titles, takes home the prize! Big ups to my fellow Georgia boy!!
• Best Painter/Multimedia Artist goes to Jill Thompson, whose Wonder Woman: The True Amazon and gorgeous work on Beasts of Burden were some of the visual highlights of 2016.
• Thompson shares her beginnings working with water color, telling a great story about her art instructor telling her to “put the pencil down” and jump into painting.
• The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award goes to Retailer Joe Ferrera who tirelessly works to raise awareness of prostate cancer and shares on-stage how he defeated it and is stressing to the men in the audience to be aware of the disease and their own bodies.
• Marc Andreyko is the recipient of the second award thanks to his efforts with the Love is Love anthology, raising funds for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting.
• Jonathan Maberry and Victoria Jamieson are the next presenters. Maberry speaks to how he learned life lessons through comic books, having been raised by a father in the KKK, he first learned about apartheid through Black Panther comics. He firmly believes that comics are an incredible tool for learning and understanding for young readers.
• With that said, Best Publication for Early Readers goes to Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea by Ben Clanton.
• Raina Telgemeier takes another award for the mantle as Ghosts wins Best Publication for Kids (ages 9-12).
• Best Publication for Teens goes to The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Ryan North and Erica Henderson also get their second Eisners for the night.
• The legendary Serio Aragones is out to present the inductees into the Eisner Hall of Fame
• The first inductee highlighted is Milt Gross, whose granddaughter is on hand to accept on his behalf. Banana Oil!!
• H.G. Peter’s induction is being presented by the incredible Trina Robbins, what a wonderful pairing. It’s great to see Peter get his due, as he’s oft-overlooked for his contributions to Wonder Woman.
• Antonio Prohias is the third Judges’ Choice, best known for Spy vs. Spy, and Aragones shares a lovely reminiscence from their time together at MAD.
• Dori Seda is the fourth inductee, the underground, sometimes X-rated comics pioneer.
• And now Aragones is presenting the inductees for the Hall of Fame that were voted in.
• And the first Hall of Fame award goes to Gilbert Hernandez!!!! One of the greatest of all time. Hernandez thanks his mother, who introduced him to comics, his wife Carol and daughter Natalia. He also thanks Jaime, who he says without which “no one would care about Love and Rockets”. (I disagree, sir.). He makes a special note to recognize the great work done by Latino cartoonists that preceded him.
• And not to be outdone, Jaime Hernandez is the next recipient!!! Jaime gives thanks to his departed father, brother and Fantagraphics, and the medium of comics itself, which he calls “the best job in the world”. Easily my favorite cartoonist.
• George Perez is the next inductee. He is not able to join us as he’s on the mend. But it’s fitting that perhaps the greatest Wonder Woman artist is honored on her biggest year. A titan of the industry.
• Speaking of, Walter Simonson is the fourth inductee! Simonson gives thanks to the late Archie Goodwin, whom he called a mentor and the years have only deepened his appreciation of the editor/writer. He also gives thanks to his wife, Louise, herself one of the comics greats. Lastly he recognizes the very missed Bernie Wrightson.
• And the final inductee is Jim Starlin, whose Warlock comics are truly some of the greatest works Marvel has ever published. And that only scratches the surface.
• The Spirit Of Comics Retailer Award goes to Comicazi in Somerville, MA.
• Paul Dini and Misty Lee are out to present Best Archival Collection/Project-Strips which goes to Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, Colorful Cases of the 1930’s, edited by Peter Maresca.
• Best Archival Collection/Project-Comics goes to The Complete Wimmen’s Comix edited by Trina Robbins, Gary Groth, and J. Michael Catron. Robbins dedicates this win to all the women cartoonists working in the industry. One of the vital recent collections, and it’s terrific that it’s been recognized.
• Best Publication Design marks a third award for Sonny Liew, whose Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye wins again!
• Maggie Thompson now leads the In Memoriam.
• Phil LaMarr presents the award for Best Short Story which goes to “Good Boy” by Tom King and David Finch. This marks Tom King’s first Eisner win, of what’s sure to be a career full of them.
• Beasts of Burden: What The Cat Dragged In wins Best Single Issue/One-Shot. One of the best continuing series being published right now.
• Best Anthology is won by Love is Love, and Jamie Rich and Sarah Gaydos take in-hand their much deserved honor. 
• The Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award is presented to Anne Szalba, whose Bird-Boy won Best Webcomic earlier in the night.
• Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s brilliant Black Hammer wins Best New Series. Lemire shares with the audience how Ormston suffered a stroke after the completion of the first issue, and this award was only made possible because of his incredible recovery.
• Best Limited Series goes to The Vision by Tom King and Gabriel Walta. A truly special comic that will be one of those all-timers we talk about for years and years.
• Best Continuing Series goes to Saga, which I believe is their fourth? That’s a record I think!
• Dave Gibbons and Jonathon Ross have stepped out on stage to present Best Graphic Album-Reprint.
• Demon by Jason Shiga takes the prize!!
• The folks from First Second have called up Jason on the phone on stage, and he’s giving his long distance thanks through the microphone.
• March Book Three takes home Best Reality Based work. Both Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell are here to pick up the prize. Andrew shares that he almost didn’t come due to the recent loss of his mother, an incredible woman who sent him to his first SDCC at 12. But his family insisted he come and I’m so glad he did. I couldn’t be prouder of my very good friend. 
• Best Graphic Album-New goes to Wonder Woman: The True Amazon. Perhaps a bit of a surprise given The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye’s momentum tonight, but given the themes of the night, and the staggering content of the book itself, it’s a fitting final victor. This is the award that Thompson said she really wanted to win.

And thus ends the 2017 Eisners!! Congrats to all the winners and the nominees. And thanks to anyone who happened to follow along with us here on The Beat, either on the live-blog or with Alex on twitter. Here’s to another great 12 months!!!