Hey guys, it’s Scott.
It is Friday, May 15th. I think it’s the 15th. Sorry, it’s been a very long week. Good week, but a long week. And I just wanted to do a very quick post saying thank you a bunch of times to you guys for many things. First, thank you so much to everybody who showed up to our Comics Writing 101 class the other night on cliffhangers.
I really love teaching this course and the fact that you guys seem to really enjoy it and show up for it, it just makes my whole month every month. So thank you. I really appreciate you.
Secondly, Nick Dragotta and I were on the phone talking about a character design for a big reveal coming up soon in Absolute Batman and we saw the Eisner nominations and we were really blown away and thrilled and humbled to be included in a few different categories there. So huge thanks to the committee and everyone who considered us and you guys especially for all the support. It really means the world. And honestly, if I could talk on that for a second, I just wanted to take a minute to just shout out the art team on this book.
I’ll talk about Nick in particular, but also our colorist Frank Martin. The amount of work that these guys put into this book, the amount of passion and dedication and creative energy, it’s something that I’m in awe of every day, let alone every month and every issue.
If you love this book, really the vast majority of it is these guys. It’s an honor to get to work with them. It makes it the most fun job in the world. I wake up every day excited to talk to Nick and to make this incredible world with him. He’s more than a co-creator as well. He’s become one of my closest friends and somebody that I respect tremendously, both as an artist and as a human being. As a friend, as a husband, as a father, also as a member of the comics community. So again, if you like this book, the vast majority of the stuff comes from these guys. And it would mean a lot to me personally to get to see them celebrated at the Eisners. I was really hoping Nick would win Best Penciller/Inker last year. As much as I love Javier and everybody else nominated, and rightly so, I would love to see Nick getting to stand up there this year.
So we’re nominated in a few different categories. The first one is Best Continuing Series:
I hope you’ll consider us for that. Again, it would be a real testament to all the incredible work that Nick, Frank, Clayton Cowles, our great letterer, and now Tom Napolitano, but also Katie Kubert, our editor, and Andrew Marino, who filled in while she was out, have done. And the way these guys, everybody on the team, thinks about this book from the minute they wake up to the minute they go to sleep. How fun they make that, how positive they make that, how much they think about you guys, it really is just an incredible experience to be a part of. So I hope you’ll consider us for that category. Retailers, I know it can be a real pain in the ass to go out there and vote. But if you can take the time, if the book has brought any joy or energy or excitement to the shops, it’s all credit to Nick and Frank and them. The incredible covers they’ve done, the incredible storytelling. So if you’re a variant artist or an artist who’s got to do a variant, I really hope, again, you’ll think about Nick and consider voting for the book for that because it would be a real thrill for me personally to get to see them up there and sharing that with them and celebrate. So that’s Best Continuing Series.
They’re also nominated for Best Cover Artist:
Nick’s pulling Frank into that category with him, I think. So again, the covers have been a force of nature this year in the industry:
All the ways in which he’s done the designs for the new characters have shown up there, I really hope you’ll consider Nick for that. There are incredible people in all these categories, so this is in no way disparaging the fellow nominees whom I love, and a lot of whom are good friends. But I really do hope you’ll consider voting for Nick there as well because I think he deserves it.
We’re also nominated for Best Single Issue:
That’s for the annual, which was an incredible experience.
Nick had a very big hand in putting that one together, inviting the artists to be a part of it. I worked on it a bit too, but really all credit to Nick in terms of the organization there. That was Daniel Warren Johnson, James Herron, and Meredith McClaren doing stories that just really blew all of us away. So I hope you’ll consider that issue.
Clayton, our incredible letterer, is nominated again. We were lucky enough to work with him for the first year. and a half on the book and now we have Tom Napolitano, who’s awesome also, but I hope you’ll think about him for Best Lettering.
And I was very moved, honestly, to get nominated for Best Writer:
I was nominated once before in 2014, I think, and I lost, very rightly so, to Brian Vaughan. It would have been a cosmic injustice not to have lost to him for Saga at that time.
So now I have more kids, more gray hairs, but I’m honored to be included with more great creators in the category. I look around and I just see people I love and respect tremendously in that whole bunch. So I’m just really moved. You’re gonna make an old man choke up about it. So thank you to everybody who thought of me for that.
On that note I just wanted to say how awesome it is to look around and see so many other DC and Absolute books nominated. I just wanted to say to everybody involved in that, all the creators in this family, how much I love you guys and how much I appreciate you. It’s been an awesome year and a half. And of course, to everybody supporting these books. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. We owe it all to you.
And also, I really hope that you’ll think of the Eisners as an opportunity to find more comics you love. I mean, one of the best things about these nominations for me is that there are a lot of books on there I know and love, a lot of creators that I’m familiar with, but there’s also like usually more books and creators that I don’t know. There’s a bunch of things I haven’t read. And so I really hope you’ll take it as an opportunity to explore to find new favorites, go out and find and celebrate books especially from smaller publishers, indie books, creator-owned books, because it’s a moment when we can really celebrate the whole industry and comics together. It’s a great moment and I really encourage you to do that.
If you can, Tyler, the best assistant in the world is going to put the voting ballot link here. If there was an Eisner for best assistant, I would give it to Tyler. One quick note, I think today might be the very last day to register to vote if you are not registered. So please go over there now and sign up. if you haven’t already if you are signed up the voting is open until I think it’s June 5th the sooner the better but again thank you guys so so much.
And thank you also for all the kind words and all the passionate discussions about Absolute Batman #20 out this week.
It means a ton to us that you have theories and feelings and that you’re this invested in the story. Again, best fans in the world. Really, it means a lot. I’ll also be in Detroit this weekend if you’re anywhere near that city, I’ll be at Motor City Comic Con with the amazing Stephanie Phillips (with a panel happening on Saturday at 5:30)
So yeah, I just wanted to say thank you guys so much for everything!
S
