Nominees announced for the 2023 Ignatz Awards

The Small Press Expo, aka SPX, has announced the nominees for the 2023 Ignatz Awards.

The Ignatz Awards, which have been handed out since 1997, celebrate the outstanding achievements of independent comics, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons. Named for the mouse that appears in the Krazy Kat comics by George Herriman, the logo changes each year as a new artist draws the mouse and his weapon of choice, the brick. The logo for this year was drawn by 2022 Ignatz Promising New Talent Winner Juni Ba.

The nominees were chosen by a panel of comics professionals that included Ellen Lindner, Juniper Kim, L. Nichols, Ally Shwed, Jason Little and Kotaline Jones.

OUTSTANDING ARTIST

• Caroline Cash, PeePeePooPoo issue no. 420 (Silver Sprocket)
• Curt Merlo, That Distant Fire. (with J.R. Hughto, writer) (Black Eye Books)
• Benjamin Schipper, Joe Death and the Graven Image (Dark Horse Comics)
• Olivia Stephens, Darlin’ and Her Other Names (self-published)
• Noah Van Sciver, Joseph Smith and the Mormons (Abrams Comic Arts)

OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY

• Cram Comics Issue no. 1, Andrew Alexander, ed. (Cram Books)
• Glaeolia, Emuh Ruh, ed. (Glacier Bay Books)
• Home: a comics anthology on belonging in Ireland today, Katherine Foyle, ed. (Dublin Comic Arts Festival)
• NOW no. 12, Eric Reynolds, ed. (Fantagraphics Books Inc.)
• Shades of Fear, Allison O’Toole & Ashanti Fortson, eds. (Balustrade Press)

OUTSTANDING COLLECTION

• Boodle Fight, Ashley Topacio (self-published)
• Cankor, Matthew Allison (self-published)
• Griz Grobus and the Tale of Azkon’s Heart, Simon Roy, Jess Pollard & Sergey Nazarov (self-published)
• Upside Dawn, Jason, (Fantagraphics Books Inc.)
• Who Will Make the Pancakes? Megan Kelso, (Fantagraphics Books Inc.)

OUTSTANDING COMIC

• Gordita: Built Like This, Daisy Ruiz (Black Josei Press)
• Lemon Yellow, Ciari Quilty-Harper (Kus!)
• Platonic Love, A ee mi (Paradise Systems)
• Forget Me Not. Gabriel Howell (Secret Acres)
• Live Rock Part 1: Aquarium Life (Issue #1), Ross Jackson (Secret Room Press)

OUTSTANDING GRAPHIC NOVEL

• Ducks, Kate Beaton (Drawn & Quarterly)
• Mimosa, Archie Bongiovanni (Abrams ComicArts)
• Last Chance to Find Duke, Shang Zhang (PEOW)
• Nervosa, Hayley Gold (Street Noise Books)
• The Man in the McIntosh Suit, Rina Ayuyang (Drawn & Quarterly)

OUTSTANDING MINICOMIC

• Farewell, Joao Fazenda (self-published)
• Death Bloom, Yasmeen Abedifard (self-published)
• Sacred Grove, Celine Loup (self-published)
• Hares on the Mountain, Lee Dean & Salvador Aguilera (self-published)
• You’re the Center of Attention, Gina Wynbrandt (Kus!)

OUTSTANDING ONLINE COMIC

• Growing Up and Getting Out, Lonnie Comics
• The God of Arepo, Reimena Yee
• whale fall, Mara Ramirez
• Adversary, Blue Delliquanti
• Trans Classic Movies, Jett Allen

OUTSTANDING SERIES

• Fizzle no. 4, Whit Taylor (Radiator Comics)
• Maple Terrace no. 1, Noah Van Sciver (Uncivilized Books)
• Venomyths, Joshua Ray Stephens (self-published)
• Tales of Old Snake Creek, Drew Lerman (self-published)
• Viewotron Comics and Stories, Sam Sharpe & Peach S. Goodrich (Radiator Comics)

OUTSTANDING STORY

• Weeds, Kit Anderson (Parsifal Press)
• The Impatient Ms. S, Koyubi (self-published)
• I Owe It to My Parents to NOT Come Out, Richard Mercadi (self-published)
• Wash Day Diaries (chapter: “Ride or Die”), Jamila Rowser & Robyn Smith (Chronicle Books)
• Inversion, Lily Thu Fierro & Generoso Fierro (self-published)

PROMISING NEW TALENT:

• Grayson Bear, Pokey (Bred Press)
• Leo Fox, My Body Unspooling (self-published)
• Deb J.J. Lee, In Limbo (First Second)
• Richard Mercado, I Owe It to My Parents to NOT Come Out (self-published)
• Shanti Rai, Sennen (Avery Hill Publishing)

The Ignatz Awards ceremony will be held at 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 9 in the White Oak Room of the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center.