The nominees were announced via livestream today for the 2020 Hugo Awards, which includes a “Best Graphic Story or Comic” category. Four of the six nominees were published by Image, while Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint and Oni Press each received one.
Presented annually since 1955, The Hugo Awards recognize the best science fiction in books, comics, movies, TV and more. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention every year. The Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story has been awarded since 2009, with previous winners including volumes of Saga, Ms. Marvel, Girl Genius and Sandman: Overture. Monstress has won the award for the last three years and is up for the award again this year.
The nominees are:
- Die, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Stephanie Hans (Image Comics)
- The Wicked + The Divine, Volume 9: Okay, Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Jamie McKelvie & Matt Wilson (Image Comics)
- Monstress, Volume 4: The Chosen, Marjorie Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
- LaGuardia, Nnedi Okorafor, illustrated by Tana Ford, colours by James Devlin (Berger Books/Dark Horse)
- Paper Girls, Volume 6, Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Cliff Chiang & Matt Wilson (Image Comics)
- Mooncakes, Wendy Xu & Suzanne Walker (Oni Press; Lion Forge)
They also announced the 1945 “retro ballot” for works that were released in 1944. The nominees for the comics category on the retro ballet include:
- Donald Duck: “The Mad Chemist”, Carl Barks (Dell Comics)
- Buck Rogers: “Hollow Planetoid”, Dick Calkins (National Newspaper Service)
- Flash Gordon: “Battle for Tropica”, Alex Raymond (King Features Syndicate)
- Flash Gordon: “Triumph in Tropica”, Alex Raymond (Kings Features Syndicate)
- Superman: “The Mysterious Mr. Mxyztplk”, Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster (DC)
- The Spirit: “For the Love of Clara Defoe”, Manly Wade Wellman, Lou Fine, and Don Komisarow
The winners will be announced this summer at WorldCon, which was originally going to take place in New Zealand but will now be virtual, because of the coronavirus. You can find the complete list of nominees on the Hugo Awards site.