So, What Really Happened with the Eisner Awards Winner List?
It was the leak heard ‘round the con.
This piece is brought to you by my sponsor for my trip to San Diego Comic Con, Lunar Distribution. Thanks to the team over there for helping me make my way to the event.
If there was a topic that dominated the San Diego Comic Con conversation — at least amongst creators and people in the industry — it was that somehow, someway, the winners of the Eisner Awards were seemingly leaked early.
The awards ceremony itself took place on Friday, July 24th at 8 pm, but by Thursday afternoon, the convention was stirring with discussions about a post on the Comic Books Subreddit and the comic site Comic Book Club that revealed who and what earned each award. That was for good reason. This leak was an unprecedented event, one that for nominees and winners alike was truly shocking — as I know all too well.
More than that, this news immediately inspired questions of, “Is the list real?” and “How did this happen?” Those are natural questions, because it seemed so unreal in the moment. There was immediate uncertainty about the answer to each of those questions, but I knew that it had happened, where it came from, and how the information spread to the wider world of the comics internet fairly quickly. 10 That was for one main reason.
Someone emailed me to congratulate me well before the topic exploded onto the show floor, and they were the person the information seemingly spread from.
Here’s what happened with a very specific timeline.
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In fact, the only thing that made me question it was the doubt of others.↩
Or 1:59 PM Eastern. All times going forward will be PST, though.↩
Although they said they can’t be sure when exactly it was taken down.↩
And they shared it with me, so I was able to see the actual page.↩
Honestly, Jones crushed it. It was a good time.↩
For the Eisner Awards.↩
Especially when presenters and winners alike worked references to what happened into what they had to say.↩
At least according to my ears and multiple people I talked to about the event.↩
A personal favorite moment for the event was at the end when SDCC’s Director of Programming Eddie Ibrahim came out with her to really underline the support she had not just from the crowd but Comic-Con International itself. It was lovely to see.↩
In fact, the only thing that made me question it was the doubt of others.↩