In advance of the 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, we here on Suvudu will be running down all the nominees in all the categories. Except this year, we’re going to let you tell us who you think will win. So check out a few synopsis, some artwork, and debate the merits of each if you see fit, then cast your vote at the bottom of the post.
And the nominees are…
Fables, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy et al. (Vertigo/(DC)
From Bill Willingham’s official website:
Once upon a time, all of your storybooks turned out to be true.
Fables is a unique series imagining that all of your favorite nursery rhyme, storybook, and fable characters are real and living in New York City.
The characters have all escaped from their own homelands and gathered in a small area of New York. Of course, this is only the human looking characters. All of the animals, Puss in Boots, the Three Little Pigs, Mother Goose, and more, live in an area of upstate New York Known as The Farm.
Or, as Vertigo’s Graphic Content blog puts it:
Fairytale characters, relationships, good and evil, magic, adventure, and terrific art. Who wouldn’t want to keep reading this every month?
Irredeemable, by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (BOOM!)
From BOOM! Studio’s Irredeemable #01 introduction:
Irredeemable dares to ask the question: what if the world’s greatest hero decided to become the world’s greatest villain? A “twilight of the superheroes”-style story that examines super-villains from the writer of Kingdom Come and Empire!
In an essay for Diamond Distributers Distributors’ “Previews” catalogue (reprinted on Comic Book Resources), BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief and writer Mark Waid described the series:
“Irredeemable” is, in a way, the third and most complex chapter on the cost of superheroics-a pulp adventure tale of horror about how the lessons we learn about right and wrong as children can become warped and twisted when challenged by the realities of the adult world. “Irredeemable” is the story of a man who was the greatest and most beloved superhero of all time…
…and how he became the world’s greatest supervillain.
Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)
From VIZ Media’s official 20th Century Boys site:
Kenji wrote “The Book of Prophecy” in his boyhood. Now this childish fantasy has become the scenario for the Friend’s fiendish plot to destroy mankind. Kenji goes underground and waits for a chance to fight back.
Meanwhile, the evil organization is closing in on a man called Shogun in the ganglands of Bangkok. The mystery grows deeper, the fear more intense, as we near the final battle at the turn of the century… Is there really any way to save the world from annihilation?
The Unwritten, by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo/(DC)
Says Vertigo’s Graphic Content blog:
Literature, conspiracy, fantasy and more. Mike and Peter are a fantastic team that keep you hanging on for each new issue.
In explaining The Unwritten, Comic Book Resources wrote:
“The Unwritten” centers around a popular series of books written by Wilson Taylor and featuring a young boy wizard named Tommy Taylor. But Tommy Taylor isn’t all fiction. He’s actually based on the author’s son, Tom – a 30-something Z-list celebrity who makes do living off appearances fees he earns for signing autographs at comics conventions. But now somebody, or more precisely, a cabal of cultish somebodies, are out to get him and it’s up to our reluctant hero to find out why.
The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard (Image)
From Robert Kirkman’s official site:
An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living.
In a matter of months, society has crumbled: There is no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. Rick Grimes finds himself one of the few survivors in this terrifying future. A couple months ago he was a small town cop who had never fired a shot and only ever saw one dead body. Separated from his family, he must now sort through all the death and confusion to try and find his wife and son. In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally begin living.
To find out more about this series, be sure to visit the official Walking Dead site.
I’m a little behind on my Fables reading, but it gets my vote. I haven’t read any of the others so maybe that’s a little unfair. The Unwritten looked pretty interesting when I picked up a free issue at MoCCA a little while back – anyone read that yet? Or have any opinions on the others, for that matter?
Well, I sorta fell off the Fables bandwagon–*gasp!*–but not because it isn’t interesting, just that I started getting swallowed up by other stuff. I’m wondering if there’s going to be some sort of Fables fatigue going on. Probably not, but I’m wondering.
I’ve been reading Irredeemable and The Unwritten and have enjoyed them both. I’m giving the nod to Irredeemable because I love in-depth looks at supervillians. But I haven’t read everyone on this list, unfortunately.
But, if I’m trying to peg a winner in this category, I’m thinking it comes down to Fables v. The Unwritten. That’s my guess.
Anyone else have thoughts? 20th Century Boys sounds intriguing to my inner Sci-Fi fan.
20th Century Boys is probably the best comics I’ve ever read. Every time I pick it up I’m compelled to finish reading as fast as I can despite being completely terrified of what’s going to happen next. Every time the protagonists get a little hopeful and seems to see a solution, it’s quickly snatched away and ends up getting kicked into a (metaphorical) pit which they then have to crawl out from. 20th Century Boys is a story about hope and determination in the face of odds where it really doesn’t seem like there should be any.