Today, the Eisner Awards panel trotted out this year's nominations for their "Oscars for comics," including five noms in the Digital Comics category:
- Bodyworld, by Darren Shaw
- Finder, by Carla Speed McNeil
- The Lady's Murder, by Eliza Frye
- Speak No Evil: Melancholy of a Space Mexican, by Elan Trinidad
- Vs., by Alexis Sottile & Joe Infurnari
Honestly, my reaction to the Digital Comic nominees was a big fat "Buh?" With the exception of The Lady's Murder (reviewed here), none of these comics have so much as pinged my radar. And I'm not alone. This blog has a higher traffic rating than the Eisner-nominated webcomics do (which isn't saying much). I can't even get proper metrics on the hosting sites because, with the exception of Smith Magazine (which hosts Vs.), none of them see enough visitors for Quantcast to measure the traffic.
I'll grant that popular doesn't necessarily equal good, nor does obscurity indicate lack of worth; the Internet has never been a meritocracy. But given how many amazing strips there are out there that folks actually read, it seems odd that this year's Eisner nominations have gone exclusively to those with a seven-figure Alexa ranking. After all, the panel traditionally hasn't been averse to eating at the cool kids' table. In previous years, winners have included Scott Kurtz's PvP, Sam & Max: The Big Sleep (which honestly strikes me as a bit of a cheat), and Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon's Sugarshock! (which debuted in Myspace Dark Horse Presents), and previous nominees have included Girl Genius and The Abominable Charles Christopher. I'm not saying I won't give the nominees a fair chance; I'm just saying they have impressive peers to surpass.
Another issue springs to mind when looking over the nominees. If the Eisners insist on stranding webcomics in their own awards ghetto, it might be time to add a category to distinguish between long form and limited series comics. After all, pitting a continuing series against a one shot comic like The Lady's Murder is like comparing a season of television to a nine minute short; there are simply different criteria for success. In the meantime, I'm off to see if the Eisner panel's picks are really all that special.
[2009 Eisner Nominees]
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8 comments:
Dash Shaw and Carla Speed McNeil have extremely strong critical reputations in the indie comics community. I've seen Joe Infurnari's work around -- he's drawn a book at Oni, worked with the well-regarded Act-I-Vate collective, and is apparently doing work for Marvel and Image now. The others are new to me...
In any case, the makeup of the "cool kids' table" is usually relative to where you happen to be sitting.
An excellent point, though I gather I was using an inapt metaphor; I meant for "cool kids" to refer to the popularity of the comics themselves, not the reputation of the creators.
You're helping me clarify my thinking on this and the point I should have been making. When the noms came out, Rene Engstrom asked why the category is "Digital Comics" as opposed to "Webcomics." Looking back over the nominees, I would suspect it's because these comics are webcomics only in the literal sense. These are self-contained stories, essentially digital copies of DIY books. That in part explains the traffic weirdness I'm seeing; people aren't checking back in every day for an update.
But it still calls the category itself into question. It seems odd to have a category for digital and ignore altogether webcomic serials, which are the most widely read brand of digital comic. If we are fencing off digital comics, why not include categories to distinguish limited works from series?
The digital comics category is a joke. Rather than reward people who are essentially serialized cartoonists that own, produce, and regularly update their own work they often nominate, as you said, standard print comics that are distributed exclusively through the web. I pretty much stopped caring about the digital comics award when Minus, Girl Genius, and Phables lost to Sam and Max. As much as I love Purcell’s work, he admitted it was terrible (in the foreword to Surfin’ the Highway collection). The comic ran from late 2005 to mid 2007 and updated like 12 times. Period.
That right there is bull honky. The people who run the Eisners need to reevaluate their awards and selection process because with DC, Marvel, and Image starting to distribute content online anyone of their books can be considered a “digital comic.”
This is an excellent topic for you to cover. We can now say there isn't one U.S. -based webcomic award that isn't mathematically and morally corrupt. (For the record, we've opted ourselves out of all professional contests and awards for years, for reasons of our own, so we are in a good, neutral place.)
Followups could look at the mechanism for nomination (I understand some pick nominees based on the input of previous winners for five years, hardly guaranteeing a panel that has much familiarity with webcomics). Then the claims of notorious strong armers, like Kurtz, could be compared with his public statements about being connected on the inside. I suspect his award, following the award to his "friends" at Penny Arcade, is hardly something that can be called valid. Now he's prowling for a Harvey, speaking at their convention as King of Webcomics despite being one or the most dishonest and morally blemished characters on the scene. I wonder what Harvey Kurtzman would think of a self described assh-le representing the committee; my guess is he'd pencil a savage picture of the perp.
Also for your consideration: who are the principals, beyond the winners? Well, we know some, but it might be nice to contrast that list against the award winner list, and solicit some interviews asking them to name a few of their favorite webcomic titles. Don't be surprised if "Dilbert" shows up on the list.
The only reason people don't get mad enough to delegitimize this ongoing charade is because deep down, some of them feel it might be nice to be nominated some day. That's why journalists have to do the legwork, and let the historical record speak for itself.
Awards straddle a thin line between the celebrity webcomic, where creator is king, and professional webcomic, where the work is king. Unless someone can reconcile this, these awards are now so worthless as to be an albatross.
It's funny -- I've seen people say the internet is a meritocracy, and that it isn't. I think that's the wrong argument. It's an economy, and items of value rise at the expense of junk. Like all economies, distortions occur, and corruption is one type. I've written about corrupt webcomickers other than Kurtz and his gang in my own pages, but there are many other examples. Consider Fleen, a Dumbrella publication and shill, which would hide the fact forever if I didn't drag it out of pre-history and publish it. As if that's not crumby enough, Dumbrella does more than any other web organization to block the advancement of new talent, and they lack the intellectual depth to understand the damage they are doing to themselves and their deteriorating titles. (I know; I have received the incoherent letters and nausea-inducing M. Gran charm campaigns.)
The enemy of distortions like corruption is transparency, and covering this topic is a vital public service that couldn't be more timely. I hope you continue.
Best regards,
Bengo
It's hard to know what links I should supply, since I cited so many things, but http://FloatingLightbulb.Blogspot.com can be searched for articles on many of the topics I mentioned.
One other thing, if I may: I'm kind of a data junkie, and I'd offer that Quantcast is possibly the last choice for traffic data, especially small sites, thought the demographic data it offers is interesting (if accurate).
Compete.com usually outperforms but is shaky below 50,000. I have a bundle of devices if you want something run, but each comes with admonitions about its limits. Still, this is exactly the reason for having them, and you should not be reticent about asking for some results if it will help your work. My address is prominent on all my sites.
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