Day three of the SKTCHD AWRDS, my absolutely real, completely not fake awards show where I celebrate the year that was in comics, is here, as I continue to celebrate the writers, artists, colorists, and letterers who helped make this year a standout one. Every day this week, I’ll be handing out five awards to these folks, with each focusing on a specific trait, aspect, or idea that I noticed from a person’s work in the year that was and the award that best matches that. But don’t worry! My favorite comics of the year are coming next week!

As per usual, though, this endeavor was guided by rules. Those rules are the following:

• These are my favorite creators of the year rather than the “best.” As much reading as I did — and I did a lot — I didn’t read everything and I can only represent myself anyways, so “favorite” felt fairer than “best.”
• The SKTCHD AWRDS only consider work released in 2024. However, if the material was previously published in print in English or I read it in another format before this year (i.e. single issues), it wasn’t included. Apologies to most trade paperbacks released in 2024 as well as reprints of graphic novels (like E.M. Carroll’s When I Arrived at the Castle)!
• Cartoonists were omitted from this if their only work of the year makes the cut in the Comics of 2024 list that arrives next week. That is, unless they did other things that ensure they make it for reasons beyond that single work. That means some creators who would have made this list were exempted and that this list isn’t necessarily a predictive guide to my favorite comics of the year. Keep that in mind when you ask things like, “Where is (creator x) or (creator y)?”

Now that you know where I stand, let’s get to my favorite creators of 2024, with my five choices for today organized alphabetically by first name.

The …Sure! Award: Jonathan Hickman

2024 Work: Aliens vs. Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man, Doom, G.O.D.S., 3 Worlds/3 Moons, Wolverine: Revenge

Why They Earned This Award: It’s been an interesting year for Jonathan Hickman. Every year is interesting for him, of course, as he’s always doing big and/or different things with his comic book choices. But this year was unusual if only because his project mix represented the broadest range he’s ever taken on, including some truly unexpected efforts. A Doom one-shot with Sanford Greene? A violent Wolverine story with Greg Capullo in Wolverine: Revenge? A miniseries where The Avengers face off with the Xenomorphs from Aliens? A DAD COMIC??? Who are you, and what have you done with Jonathan Hickman? Every progressive announcement was met by me with a scrunched face and a slightly puzzled “…sure!” in response.

Almost no one else would have earned that faith from me, and that’s because, simply put, few creators — if any — have a higher superhero ceiling than Hickman. Actually, more accurately put, few creators have a higher ceiling with comics period than Hickman. And that’s evidenced particularly well by the Dad Rock vibes of Ultimate Spider-Man and the incendiary, honestly maybe peak of his powers work in Aliens vs. Avengers. The former is just a lovely read, one that blends hang out comic energy with elite early days superhero storytelling. The latter is Hickman and Esad Ribic telling what could simultaneously be the greatest media tie-in comic story ever and the greatest Marvel: The End tale in existence. Not many creators have both in their bag. It might just be Hickman, to be honest.

Not everything hit. I was out on Wolverine: Revenge. 3 Worlds/3 Moons had a peculiar 2024, even if its 2025 looks promising. But you only get hits as big as the ones Hickman delivered if you’re willing to miss, and that’s a mentality I can fully get behind seeing more of in comics.

The Whatever You Got Award: Kelly Thompson

2024 Work: Birds of Prey, Black Cloak, Absolute Wonder Woman, The Cull

Why They Earned This Award: Full disclosure: I have read Absolute Wonder Woman #3, and it is spectacular. It is also, in a lot of ways, a single-issue representation of what makes Thompson such a gifted writer. There’s a revelation in it that is so stunning that it wouldn’t work in less confident and talented hands. With Thompson at the head of the book, though, it is a stunningly impactful beat that simultaneously represents the larger idea of Wonder Woman to perfection while completely differentiating the Absolute version from her namesake. Do you know how hard that is to do? I’m asking in part because I don’t really know. But in my mind, it has to be incredibly hard to do.

But that kind of line is one Thompson has always been spectacular at walking. Staying true to character while building bigger and better is a day in the life of this writer, whether it’s on for-hire projects like Absolute Wonder Woman and Birds of Prey or her creator-owned titles in Black Cloak and The Cull. Whatever you got, Thompson likely has the answers, and if she doesn’t, I’m certain she’ll invent ones that will be better than we could possibly imagine. That’s what she always brings to the comics she takes on, and what makes her one of the best writers working in comics today.