This upcoming Friday is the Eisner Awards, the annual event at San Diego Comic Con that reveals who won an assortment of categories designed to celebrate the best and the brightest efforts from the comic medium in the past year. Nicknamed the “Comic Oscars” by nearly anyone who has talked about it with folks outside this space, it’s undoubtedly the biggest awards show of the year for comics, even if some might prefer other flavors.

It isn’t the biggest just because of the esteem it holds from the comics community, though. It’s also the biggest because it easily has the most categories of any comics awards show, a fact that ensures the Eisner Awards end up being a rather lengthy affair. I went in 2024 when I was nominated, and as well-produced an evening as it actually is, it’s also longer than a typical pre-pitch clock baseball game — which is to say, it’s a beast.

Shortening it up isn’t an easy task, either. That’s because each of the categories are essential and well-deserved. More than that, every time they try to cut one, 31 everyone immediately clamors to bring it back. If anything, one could make a case that there should be more categories, as there haven’t been many shifts over the years towards matching what is an evolving comic landscape. The folks who run the Eisner Awards just can’t do that, at least not without losing other categories due to length considerations. And we already know how that would be received.

So, they can’t handle more categories.

But I can!

In fact, I acquired exclusive information 32 about a variety of potential new categories that were considered in recent years. 33 Sources 34 told me that while many of these didn’t make it much further than an initial proposal, others intrigued enough to create a hearty debate. 35 Unfortunately, with a lineup of categories as well thought out, vetted, and ironclad as the one the Eisner Awards rolls out each year, it just wasn’t meant to be — at least this time.

But the good news is, I have no such considerations of length. So, I’ve taken on the task myself, as I wanted to give everyone an amuse-bouche ahead of the actual awards show by selecting winners for each of these not quite ready for prime-time categories. That’s what I’ll be doing today, as I hand out awards for the categories that didn’t quite make the cut this year. 36 Maybe in the future they’ll be part of the official show. But for now, I’ll be a judge of one, as I highlight the categories that were unfortunately not meant to be this year. 37

So, let’s get to it.

Best Letterer

And the winner is…: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

The letterer of comics like Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, Barda, Zatanna: Bring Down the House, and many more probably isn’t too sad about not being nominated in the Best Lettering category in the Eisner Awards this year, seeing as he won the category related to this profession in 2024. And it was deserved then, as Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou is incredibly good at what he does. While some letterers are more high volume than Hass, there are few who bring more spice and personality and style to their work. He’s a storyteller, through and through, and the choices he makes with his lettering complements the story and art in a way that’s rare. The guy’s absurdly great at lettering comics.

But I don’t need to tell you that. Saying Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou is good at lettering in 2025 is like saying Stilt-Man is tall. It’s just a fact. I’m instead using this well-deserved win, in which Otsmane-Elhaou earns the first ever Best Letterer Award for these Fake Eisners, to highlight a category that I believe should exist. This year, two full-time letterers in Becca Carey and Clayton Cowles 38 are squaring off against cartoonists in Leela Corman, Emil Ferris, and Nate Powell. All deserved nominees who did fantastic work, of course. But because the category is “Best Lettering” instead of “Best Letterer,” it’s filled with creators who must approach the job in wildly different ways. One has days to do the job, because deadlines wait for no one, while the other has weeks, months, or even years.

I truly believe Best Letterer should be a category. The full-time letterers are operating in a completely different way than cartoonists, and it feels like there should be separation there. This is undoubtedly my longest-running and hottest Eisner take, and I stand by it. Make Best Letterer a category and turn Best Writer/Artist into Best Cartoonist and fold the lettering work from those fine folks into that one. Boom! Problem solved!

The Javier Rodriguez Award for Best Javier Rodriguezing of the Year

And the winner is…: Javier Rodriguez for Zatanna: Bring Down the House

This was a tough one, but in the end, I had to break my own rule to put this award in the right hands.

“What rule was that?” you may be asking.

Well, Javier Rodriguez was nominated for an actual Eisner Award for his work on Zatanna, and I said the focus in these Fake Eisners is on people who did not earn a real nomination. But Rodriguez’s was for Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team, not the far more eloquent “The Javier Rodriguez Award for Best Javier Rodriguezing of the Year” we have laid out here. And in what was a crowded field of contenders here, I had to just give it to Javier Rodriguez, someone who is beyond compare and is perhaps finally helping the wider world realize that with his work on Absolute Martian Manhunter right now.

Is it quite possible that Rodriguez wins the award he’s nominated for anyways? Sure. He might even be one of the favorites. But I cannot handle a world where he doesn’t earn at least one award connected to this event, even if this one is only through fake categories I created. So, congrats, Javier. I hope you enjoy this award.

Best Comics Month

And the winner is…: October

This was a fierce battle, at least in theory, with as many as 10 other contenders 39 vying for this one. But in the end, it wasn’t all that difficult. It had to be October.

Why is that?

Well, there’s the blockbuster reason and the real reason. Let’s start with the former. October was the most transformative month of the year in the direct market because DC’s Absolute line and its All-In initiative launched then. While the latter is cool, it’s really all about the former, as Absolute DC sent comics into the stratosphere and turned a lot of retailer frowns upside down. That’s a huge win, especially considering they’re mostly great comics as well.

Then there’s the real reason, and it’s the reason October should win Best Comics Month every year. It’s when ShortBox Comics Fair happens each year. For those that don’t know, ShortBox Comics Fair is where Zainab Akhtar carefully curates an amazing assortment of digital-only comics that are only for sale from October 1 to October 31 on SBF’s website. The lineup each year is astounding, and 2024’s edition was no different, with wonderful cartoonists like Xulia Vicente, Matt Rockefeller, winchestermeg, and many more being highlighted within.

While the starry names are the hook, my favorite part of the Fair are the creators and comics you’d never expect. Case in point: The one Fair entry that made my Comics of 2024 list came from Alice Scarpa, a cartoonist who was new to me who crafted a wonderful comic in Dead Days. I bought it on a whim, and it blew me away. But that’s the magic of the ShortBox Comics Fair, and October as a month. More than any other month in comics, you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes that’s a giant, beefy Batman, and other times it’s a personal story about family vacations in Italy. It truly is the best.

Best Not a Comics Publisher

And the winner is…: Instagram

If there’s a defining personal comics trend from the past year that isn’t the massive uptick in my manga reading, it has to be the meteoric rise in just how many comics I’m reading primarily on Instagram. Some you know about. I’ve not hidden the fact that I love Beetle Moses — the cartoonist or the webcomic — and the truth is, Joshua Barkman’s False Knees isn’t far behind. But there are plenty of others as well, with those including works like Haus of Decline, Sarah Andersen’s Sarah’s Scribbles, and whatever you’d call Alex Krokus’ strips. It’s a more recent delight, but for as much as I loved cartoonist Boum’s Eisner-nominated graphic novel The Jellyfish, I might exactly enjoy the strips she does about her family life even more.

I’ve been in a heavily comic strip-oriented world this year, and the primary place I’ve been reading them is Meta’s image and video-centric platform. Now, Instagram is 100% not a comic publisher. It just isn’t. More than that, if I’m not reading these strips there, I’m reading them on Bluesky. But I always seem to read them on Instagram! And with so much of my comics reading happening there, despite the fact that it is in no way, shape, or form a comics publisher, it easily earns this award. And deservedly so.

Most Appealing Trend

And the winner is…: Comics getting smaller and more affordable

As you likely know, one of my pet subjects from comics in 2024 was the format boom that took place across direct market publishers, as an array of houses embraced the wonders of collections of different sizes. Small collections! Big collections! Even bigger ones! Whatever you’d call the David Mazzucchelli Artist’s Edition for Batman: Year One! 40 It was a year of omnibi, compendiums, and digest sized releases, and it was magnificent because of that.

Far and away my favorite example of that, though, was the last one. The rise of digest-sized releases like Invincible’s digest editions, Marvel’s Premiere Editions, and most importantly DC’s Compact Comics was a true game-changer. Creating collections that were smaller — say, manga-sized, maybe! — and more affordable was always one of those, “I wonder when publishers are going to push that button” ideas. And when they finally did, it delivered, and then some. The Compact Comics in particular were remarkable sellers, and it’s easy to understand why. You could get entire 12-issue stories like Watchmen or All-Star Superman for $9.99! You cannot beat that deal!

Comics getting smaller and more affordable was easily the most appealing trend of the year, as it makes the medium more accessible to different readers while being served in the form the staggering number of manga readers out there already know and desire. My only question is when we’ll be getting more. DC’s slate continues to grow. We know Oni Press is embracing the Compact Comics size and even name for collections of Adventure Time, Rick & Morty, and Skullkickers. Paper Girls is getting its Backpack Editions soon enough. But I want more! While the market shouldn’t be flooded, it feels like it can sustain more comics from more publishers in this format. I hope those are coming, as I’d love to see this trend build even further.