Canada Reads winner Kate Beaton wins 2023 Eisner Awards for best writer/artist and best graphic memoir
Canadian cartoonist Kate Beaton, whose book Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands was the first comic to win Canada Reads in 2023, is among the winners of the 2023 Eisner Awards.
This year's Eisner Awards were presented in a gala awards ceremony on July 21 during the San Diego Comic Convention.
The U.S. prizes recognize the best in comic books and graphic novels creators and publications. The books must be published in the U.S., but nominated creators are from around the world. The winners are chosen through voting by professionals in the comic book industry.
Named after the acclaimed American cartoonist Will Eisner, the awards are celebrating their 35th anniversary this year.
Beaton was named the best writer/artist and her book Ducks won best graphic memoir.
In Ducks, Beaton tells the autobiographical story of leaving her tight-knit seaside Nova Scotia community to pay off her student loans working in the Albertan oil sands where she encounters harsh realities, including the everyday trauma that no one discusses.
Beaton intended for Ducks to reflect the story of her wider Cape Breton community and the tradition of people on the East Coast who move away from their beloved homeland to seek more opportunities elsewhere.
Originally from Nova Scotia, Beaton is also the author of the historical webcomic strip Hark! A Vagran which launched her career, Step Aside, Pops!, and two children's books, King Baby and The Princess and the Pony.
Beaton was among six Canadian winners at this year's Eisner Awards.
J. Bone and American voice actor Kevin Conroy won best short story for Finding Batman in DC Pride 2022.
Darwyn Cooke, with American writers Richard Stark and Ed Brubaker, and British artist Sean Phillips, won best graphic album—reprint for Parker: The Martini Edition—Last Call.
American cartoonist Lynda Barry and editor Peggy Burns, won best archival collection/project—strips (at least 20 years old) for Come Over Come Over, It's So Magic and My Perfect Life.
The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader: Critical Openings, Future Directions, edited by Alison Halsall and Jonathan Warren, won best academic/scholarly work.
Chip Zdarsky won best new series for Public Domain. This is the fifth time Zdarksy has won an Eisner Award.
He won best new series for Sex Criminals with American author Matt Fraction in 2014, best humour publication for Jughead with Ryan North, American comics artists Erica Henderson and Derek Charm in 2017, best single issue/one-shot for Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #310 in 2019 and best digital comic for Afterlift with Jason Loo in 2020.
The complete list of winners is below:
- Best short story: Finding Batman in DC Pride 2022 by J. Bone and Kevin Conroy
- Best single issue/one-shot: Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler by Tom King and Mitch Gerads
- Best continuing series: Nightwing by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo
- Best limited series: The Human Target by Tom King and Greg Smallwood
- Best new series: Public Domain by Chip Zdarsky
- Best publication for early readers (up to age 8): The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! by Mo Willems
- Best publication for kids (ages 9-12): Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega and Rose Bousamra
- Best publication for teens (ages 13-17): Do a Powerbomb! by Daniel Warren Johnson
- Best humour publication: Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld
- Best anthology: The Nib Magazine edited by Matt Bors
- Best reality-based work: Flung Out of Space by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer
- Best graphic memoir: Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
- Best graphic album—new: The Night Eaters, Book 1: She Eats the Night by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
- Best graphic album—reprint: Parker: The Martini Edition—Last Call by Richard Stark, Darwyn Cooke, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
- Best adaptation from another medium: Chivalry by Neil Gaiman
- Best U.S. edition of international material: Blacksad: They All Fall Down Part 1 by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido, translated by Diana Schutz and Brandon Kander
- Best U.S. edition of international material—Asia: Shuna's Journey by Hayao Miyazaki, translated by Alex Dudok de Wit
- Best archival collection/project—strips (at least 20 years old): Come Over Come Over, It's So Magic, and My Perfect Life by Lynda Barry, edited by Peggy Burns
- Best archival collection/project—comic books (at least 20 Years old): The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta edited by Dian Hansen
- Best writer: James Tynion IV for House of Slaughter, Something Is Killing the Children, Wynd, The Nice House on the Lake, The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country, The Closet, The Department of Truth
- Best writer/artist: Kate Beaton for Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
- Best penciller/inker or penciller/inker team: Greg Smallwood for The Human Target
- Best painter/multimedia artist (interior art): Sana Takeda for The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night, Monstress
- Best cover artist: Bruno Redondo for multiple covers
- Best colouring: Jordie Bellaire for The Nice House on the Lake, Suicide Squad: Blaze, Antman, Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age
- Best lettering: Stan Sakai for Usagi Yojimbo
- Best comics-related periodical/journalism: PanelXPanel magazine edited by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and Tiffany Babb
- Best comics-related book: Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects by Benjamin L. Clark and Nat Gertler
- Best academic/scholarly work: The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader: Critical Openings, Future Directions edited by Alison Halsall and Jonathan Warren
- Best publication design: Parker: The Martini Edition—Last Call designed by Sean Phillips
- Best webcomic: Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe
- Best digital comic: Barnstormers by Scott Snyder and Tula Lotay
- Hall of Fame:
- Judges' Choices: Jerry Bails, Tony DeZuniga, Justin Green, Bill Griffith. Jay Jackson, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Jack Katz, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Win Mortimer, Diane Noomin, Gaspar Saladino, Kim Thompson, Garry Trudeau, Mort Walker, Tatjana Wood
- Voters' Choices: Brian Bolland, Anne Nocenti, Tim Sale, Diana Schutz
- Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award: Beth Accomando, Scott Dunbier
- Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award: Zoe Thorogood
- Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing: Barbara Friedlander, Sam Glanzman
