You'd Know Who Won Eisner Awards if You'd Followed ThompsonMaggie on Twitter

23rd Annual Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards winners

A long day of fun at Comic-Con International: San Diego wrapped up with the Eisner Awards ceremony - and, hey! I won an Eisner Award! Well, not exactly, but sort of. We'll get to that in a minute. In the meantime, here's the list of winners (in more detail than I Tweeted): Best Publication for Kids: Tiny Titans by Art Baltazar and Franco (DC). Best Publication for Teens: Smile by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic Graphix). Best Humor Publication: I Thought You Would Be Funnier by Shannon Wheeler (Boom!). Best Lettering: Todd Klein Fables, The Unwritten, Joe the Barbarian, iZombie (Vertigo/DC); Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom (WildStorm/DC); SHIELD (Marvel); Driver for the Dead (Radical). Best Coloring: Dave Stewart Hellboy, BPRD, Baltimore, Let Me In (Dark Horse); Detective Comics (DC); Neil Young's Greendale, Daytripper, Joe the Barbarian (Vertigo/DC). Best Digital Comic: Abominable Charles Christopher by Karl Kerschl. Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team: Skottie Young, The Marvelous Land of Oz (Marvel). Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art): Juanjo Guarnido Blacksad (Dark Horse). Best Cover Artist: Mike Mignola Hellboy, Baltimore: The Plague Ships (Dark Horse). Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism: ComicBookResources produced by Jonah Weiland. Best Comics-Related Book: 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking by Paul Levitz (Taschen). Best Publication Design: Dave Stevens' The Rocketeer Artist's Edition designed by Randall Dahlk (IDW). Best Anthology: Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard edited by Paul Morrissey and David Petersen (Archaia). Best Archival Collection/Project - Strips: Archie: The Complete Daily Newspaper Strips, 1946-1948 by Bob Montana edited by Greg Goldstein (IDW). Best Archival Collection/Project - Comic Books: Dave Stevens' The Rocketeer Artist's Edition edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW). Best U.S. Edition of International Material: It Was the War of the Trenches by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics). Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Asia: Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa (Viz Media). Hall of Fame Judges' Choices: Ernie Bushmiller, Jack Jackson, Martin Nodell, Lynd Ward. Hall of Fame Vote Winners: Mort Drucker, Harvey Pekar, Roy Thomas, Marv Wolfman. Spirit of Retailing Award: Comics & Vegetables, Tel Aviv, Israel. Best Writer: Joe Hill Lock & Key (IDW). Best Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke Richard Stark's Parker: The Outfit (IDW). Best Short Story: "Post Mortem" by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark in I Am an Avenger #2 (Marvel). Best Single Issue (or One-Shot): Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse). Best Reality-Based Work: It Was the War of the Trenches by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics). Best New Series: American Vampire by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo/DC). Best Limited Series or Story Arc: Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba (Vertigo/DC). Best Continuing Series: Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image). Best Adaptation from Another Work: The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum, adapted by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel). Best Graphic Album - Reprint: Wednesday Comics edited by Mark Chiarello (DC). Best Graphic Album - New: TIE of Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann and Janet Lee (Archaia) and Wilson by Daniel Clowes (Drawn & Quarterly).

And Maggie Thompson winning an Eisner? Well, if you check information for the Archie book, you'll discover she wrote the introduction. Woo (as we say) hoo!

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More SDCC Thursday

Steve Borock

OK, time to hit the road, with so many memories still not set down online. Which, of course, means they'll merge into a mass of amorphous thoughts, some of which will remain buried until they emerge days later - but forever unposted. And, of course, there are plans for Things To Do later in the show. For example, tomorrow breakfast will be with Heritage's Steve Borock, whose vast files of facts regarding tips on buying and selling collectibles Valerie and I plan to explore. Steve is one of the experts on the field whose knowledge I depend on - and whose honesty has contined to make him a trusted source. And he loves, loves, loves the field above and beyond any monetary aspects. Oh, and did I mention he's just fun to have breakfast with? (One of the traumas of the show this year: The Marriott no longer serves its banana blueberry oatmeal creme brulee during the days of the convention. Another tradition gone - though it will live on in fond memory.)

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Looking Back at Comic-Con's Thursday

Valerie at the blood drive

Prying open my eyes following the first full day of Comic-Con, I realize that Valerie and I basically lolled about, taking things as they came, checking out Angry Birds items for Valerie's son, desperately pursuing a giveaway Tintin bag (unsuccessfully; on the agenda for this afternoon again), and hugging old friends as we came across them. If my goals had been to get as many photos as possible and troll for the latest news, well ... Didn't happen. But Comic-Con is what you make it - and we made it fun. We started the day with a Blood Drive appointment, and Valerie overcame her concerns about whether her iron level would let her be accepted. Woo hoo! We actually ended up facing each other in a donation race. (She won.) True Blood T-shirts in hand, we returned to the con.

Sergio Aragones and Stan Sakai
(with Gordon Kent hidden but laughing)

And it was really a "whatever happens, happens" day, complete with attending our own "Spotlight" panel (with a surprising attendance, considering just how many events were counter-programmed). As Valerie and I chatted about being raised as second- and third-generation fans, the room slowly began to fill even more - and we asked what the next panel was scheduled to be. Why would the room be so packed? Oh, of course! It was to be Mark Evanier with a Groo team. So, of course, we stayed for the fun. In the course of much hilarity were hidden a number of to-be-noted factual treats, such as that Tom Yeates will draw Conan and Tarzan for upcoming Dark Horse crossovers for Groo. Yes, Conan will have to deal with Groo - as will Tarzan - with, of course, the basic Groo material provided by Evanier and Aragones. Also noted: Sergio Aragones Funnies (available at the show). And a Bongo Maggie (no relation) comic book done by Sergio. Stan Sakai said that Dark Horse's Usagi Yojimbo #141 will actually be his series #200, and there will be treats.

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