December
6 2007 Eisner judges named

The judges for the Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards have been announced. Here's their bios from the press release, courtesy of awards administrator Jackie Estrada: 

*Robin Brenner, the Brookline, Massachusetts Public Library's Teen Librarian. She is also the creator and editor-in-chief of “No Flying No Tights,” a website reviewing graphic novels for teens and those who work with them. As a member of the American Library Association/Young Adult Library Services Association (ALA/YALSA), she advocated for and helped establish the Great Graphic Novels for Teens Selection List, an annual list of the best graphic novels for teens. She reviews graphic novels for The Horn Book, manga for Booklist, and Japanese anime for Video Librarian.

*Whitney Matheson, writer of “Pop Candy,” USA Today's pop-culture blog (popcandy.usatoday.com). Comic-related events she has covered include Comic-Con International: San Diego, the Small Press Expo, BookExpo, and New York Comic-Con. Other publications she has written for include Slate.com and Self magazine.

*Christopher P. Reilly, Harvey- and Ignatz-nominated comics writer of such titles as The Comical Tragedy of Punch and Judy (2002), Punch and Judy: A Grand Guignol (2003), Puphedz (2004), Punch and Judy: Twice Told Tales (2005), and The Trouble with Igor (2006). He was the co-creator, editor, and contributor to the anthology Strange Eggs (2005–2006) and has contributed stories to Disney's  Haunted Mansion.

*James Sime, proprietor of the award-winning Isotope—the Comic Book Lounge in San Francisco. He is perhaps best known for his innovative approach to comics retailing, for his enthusiastic pursuit of comics evangelism through nontraditional methods, and for crafting unique and often extravagant comic launch events for the books he loves. He wrote about these subjects and more in his column “The Comic Pimp” published on ComicBookResources.com. James also established the Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics in 2003 in order to celebrate new talents working in an underpromoted area of the comics industry.

*Jeff VanderMeer, World Fantasy Award–winning author. He currently writes a monthly comics column for Bookslut.com and the yearly summation on comics/graphic novels for The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror from St. Martin's Press, in addition to commenting on comics on his VanderWorld blog. He is the author of City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek: An Afterword, and Veniss Underground, among other works. VanderMeer frequently collaborates with artists on his projects, including The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases.

Congrats to all the judges. The awards also put out a call for submissions for comics work published in the 2006 calendar year. Deadline is March 16. More details can be found in the full release

Download call_for_entries_release.rtf