Small Press Expo Announces 2018 Ignatz Award Nominees

The Small Press Expo (SPX), the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, is pleased to announce the 2018 nominees for the annual presentation of the Ignatz Awards, a celebration of outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning. 

The Ignatz, named after George Herriman's brick-wielding mouse from his long running comic strip Krazy Kat, recognizes exceptional work that challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression. The Ignatz Awards are a festival prize, the first of such in the United States comic book industry. .

The nominees for the ballot were determined by a panel of five of the best of today's comic artists, Mita Mahato, Carolyn Nowak, kevin czap, Leila Abdelrazaq, and Taneka Stotts.

Voting for the awards will be cast by the attendees during SPX. The Ignatz Awards will be presented at the gala Ignatz Awards ceremony held on Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 9:30 P.M.

Outstanding Artist

• Yvan Alagbé - Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures
• Ivy Atoms - Pinky & Pepper Forever
• Tommi Parrish - The Lie and How We Told It
• Richie Pope -  The Box We Sit On
• Sophie Standing - Anxiety is Really Strange

Outstanding Collection

• Beirut Won’t Cry – Mazen Kerbaj
• Blackbird Days – Manuele Fior
• Language Barrier – Hannah K. Lee
• Sex Fantasy – Sophia Foster-Dimino
• Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition – Julia Kaye

Outstanding Anthology

• La Raza Anthology: Unidos y Fuertes – ed. by Kat Fajardo & Pablo Castro
• Comics for Choice – ed. by Hazel Newlevant, Whit Taylor and Ø.K. Fox
• Ink Brick #8 – ed. by Alexander Rothmans, Paul K. Tunis, and Alexey Sokolin
• Bottoms Up, Tales of Hitting Rock Bottom – ed. by J.T. Yost
• Lovers Only – ed. by Mickey Zacchilli

Outstanding Graphic Novel

• Why Art? – Eleanor Davis
• Run for It: Stories of Slaves Who Fought for Their Freedom – Marcelo D’Salete
• Uncomfortably Happily – Yeon-sik Hong
• The Lie and How We Told It – Tommi Parrish
• Anti-Gone – Connor Willumsen

Outstanding Series

• Ley Lines – Czap Books
• Nori – Rumi Hara
• Bug Boys – Laura Knetzger
• Gumballs – Erin Nations
• Frontier – Youth in Decline

Outstanding Minicomic

• Dog Nurse – Margot Ferrick
• Greenhouse – Debbie Fong
• Common Blessings & Common Curses – Maritsa Patrinos
• Mothball 88 – Kevin Reilly
• Say It With Noodles: On Learning to Speak the Language of Food – Shing Yin Khor

Outstanding Comic

• Recollection – Alyssa Berg
• Hot to Be Alive – Tara Booth
• Hot Summer Nights – Freddy Carrasco
• Whatsa Paintoonist – Jerry Moriarty
• Baopu – Yao Xiao

Outstanding Online Comic

• Woman World – Aminder Dhaliwal
• The Wolves Outside – Jesse England
• A Fire Story – Brian Files
• Lara Croft Was My Family – Carta Monir
• A Part of Me is Still Unknown – Meg O’Shea

Promising New Talent

• Yasmin Omar Ata – Mis(h)adra
• Tara Booth – How to Be Alive
• Xia Gordon – The Fashion of 2004, Harvest
• Rumi Hara – Nori and The Rabbits of the Moon
• Tommi Parrish – The Lie and How We Told It

Outstanding Story

• Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures – Yvan Alabge
• Why Art? – Eleanor Davis
• Rhode Island Me – Michael DeForge
• How the Best Hunter in the Village Met Her Death – Molly Ostertag
• The Lie and How We Told It – Tommi Parrish