The winners of the 2023 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, given annually to outstanding works of graphic literature, were announced Friday at San Diego Comic-Con.
Kate Beaton was honored twice at the awards. She took home the best writer/artist prize, and her book Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands won in the best graphic memoir category. The book was previously named the winner of the Canada Reads competition.
Mo Willems won the award for best publication for early readers (up to age 8) with The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster!, his latest book featuring the needy, excitable bird. Frizzy, written by Claribel A. Ortega and illustrated by Rose Bousamra, took home the prize for best publication for kids (ages 9-12).
The winner in the best publication for teens (ages 13-17) category was Do a Powerbomb!, written and illustrated by Daniel Warren Johnson, featuring color by Mike Spicer.
Tom Gauld’s cartoon collection Revenge of the Librarians won the best humor publication prize, while Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith, written by Grace Ellis and illustrated by Hannah Templer, was named the winner in the best reality-based work category.
The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader: Critical Openings, Future Directions, edited by Alison Halsall and Jonathan Warren, won the award for best academic/scholarly work, while the best comics-related book prize went to Benjamin L. Clark and Nat Gertler for Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects.
The Eisner Awards, named after the pioneering writer and cartoonist, were established in 1988. A full list of this year’s winners is available at the San Diego Comic-Con website.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
