Eisner Awards, Representation, and #DCSoWhite

Representation matters today, tomorrow, and every other day going forward, simply because people of varied cultural backgrounds exist. That should never be a question, but it seems that it continuously is. It's one of the reasons why WinC and other organizations with similar values exist. We wouldn't exist unless a need wasn't being fulfilled. In a country where 600K+ Black Women have lost their jobs in a single year, Voting Rights are being scaled back, the humanity of Queer folks and other marginalized people are continuously under attack, Brown-skinned immigrants, (both citizens and non), are being surveilled and kidnapped, representation, equity, sustainability and justice mean more now than perhaps they ever have. They relate to everything, including things going on in the comic book industry.

I was an Eisner Award Judge this year and the nominations came out a couple of weeks ago. The opportunity to be a judge came about because I simply asked SDCC’s Assistant Program Director, Laura Jones how to become one. And it just so happened, (I didn't know this at the time), that she was in the process to take over Jackie Estrada’s 30+ year tenure as Eisner Chairperson. She told me that she'd keep me in mind, then a couple of months later, I received the invitation to become a judge. It has to be said that it was a real honor being a judge. A lot of responsibility comes with that and all the 2026 judges felt that and took this job seriously. Yes, it's reading a lot of books and yes it's whittling them down into nominations. But it's so much more than that. It's discovering books that might not be on everyone’s “Best Of” lists, but it's a hidden gem, it's sorting through books and realizing just how much a certain writer, penciler, cover artist, colorist, or inker who folks have barely heard of worked on projects in the previous year, and it's seeing just how talented creatives are in this industry.

Being an Eisner Judge is so many things, beyond what I can write in this post. But I can tell you that the process isn't cut and dry. There were over 2200 books submitted - from companies and creators; a lot of folks don't know that creators can submit their own work and I HIGHLY recommend doing that. We go through many, many, many rounds of judging before the nominations are official. During that process we suggest books to each other that we think are the best of the crop and we vote on them. Then we vote on creator categories, which have several rounds of judging as well. All of the above was how we got to the nominations that many of you are voting/voted on, (the deadline to vote is June 5th!)

This year's nominations are considered to be the most diverse to-date, to the point that several historical milestones have been made. They are racially diverse, ethnically diverse, diverse in gender, culturally diverse, and diverse in queerness- this includes books and the people that created them. The nominations are representative of the amazingly talented people that work in this industry. Every single one of them deserves their nomination- we read too many books for them not to be! I'm proud of the judges’ work on these nominations, (including on how that AI business was handled - book removed from nominations and new Eisner AI policy forthcoming!) I'm also looking forward to the future of the Eisner Awards. With the new leadership, I think we'll see more varied nominations and judges for years to come. This year's judging was a reminder of how important it is to be in the room, as a marginalized person, when decisions are being made; no one can advocate for us like us and it's extremely helpful to have allyship in that same room to assist in that advocation, (even if it's just them saying “Sure, I‘ll read the book.”)

With all that said about my Eisner Judging experience, let's connect that with the #DCSoWhite movement, (created by Journalist and Podcaster, James Portis III.) The movement began late last year when James realized that DC Comics hadn't had an ongoing, main-line comic book series starring a Black Comic Book character in over 4 years. On May 28th, the movement began #DCBlackout, which calls for a boycott on purchasing DC Comic Books until a main-line Black character driven book is published. Now, in terms of the mainstream comic book industry as a whole, #ComicsSoWhite, is more accurate. That includes books, creators, and companies. The mainstream aspect of the industry doesn't completely racially reflect members of the fandom or the creators and comic book professionals that reside in both the mainstream and independent comic book sphere.It's not just a DC issue, it's an industry issue. Comic Book readers deserve books that have characters that represent various cultures - both on main lines and alternative time lines. In my opinion, they deserve culturally and racially diverse artists and writers working in these companies even more so. Racially diverse creatives/comic book production staff deserve to be able to write/draw/edit any and everything because we CAN. Fans deserve culturally diverse books that they can resonate with. It's important that mainstream companies recognize that need and reflect it. It should be a priority. My hope with #DCSoWhite is that it helps mainstream comic book companies do that. (Indie companies, especially small press ones, are doing an amazing job on the diversity front but it's important to hold the mainstream accountable if we're still gonna buy their books.)

At the same time there are specifically Black folks currently working on comics at DC- writers, editors, and artists. Some of them are a part of the WinC Community and I would be remiss in my duties as Coordinator and Founder to not say that they are the marginalized folks in the room that advocate continuously for accurate representation. They do it because they know how much it matters and they know how important their roles are. As marginalized people we often represent more than our position, we are the physical embodiment of purposeful change. A lot of these folks fight in ways the public does not realize, and they do it for marginalized comic book community members and beyond. That deserves recognition of the highest order- and even if that includes folks modifying how they participate in the #DCBlackout boycott by still buying books by these Black Writers/Artists/Editors, so shall it be.

You can learn more about #DCSoWhite and the #DCBlackout movement HERE.

Sincerely,

Regine

Coordinator and Founder