IMAGE COMICS CONGRATULATES EISNER NOMINEES

FATALE, SAGA, and PROPHET get multiple nominations

Image Comics is thrilled to congratulate the creators of comic books who received 18 nominations in nine categories for the 2012 Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards, which were announced by Comic-Con International on April 16.

Leading the pack of all series nominated is the stylish horror noir FATALE by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, with six nods, including Best Continuing Series, Best New Series, Best Writer for Brubaker, Best Penciller/Inker and Best Cover Art for Phillips, and Best Coloring for Dave Stewart (shared nomination).

SAGA, the space opera phenomenon by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, racked up three nominations, in the Best Continuing Series, Best New Series, and Best Writer categories. The exuberant alternate history THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra received nods for Best Continuing Series and Best Writer. In all, Image Comics titles captured four of the five nominations for Best Continuing series, with the relaunch of Rob Liefeld's Extreme title PROPHET rounding out that number.

PROPHET writer Brandon Graham is the Eisner's Renaissance Man of nominations, receiving a Best Writer nod for his writing on PROPHET and his own miniseries MULTIPLE WARHEADS, a showing in the Best Graphic Novel - Reprint category for KING CITY, a Best Cover Art nomination for KING CITY, MULTIPLE WARHEADS and ELEPHANTMEN #43 covers, and a Best Coloring nomination for MULTIPLE WARHEADS.

The winners of the Eisner Awards are chosen by comic book industry professionals and will be announced at a ceremony at the Comic-Con International convention in San Diego on July 19. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the awards.

A complete list of Image Comics' Eisner Award nominations:

Best Continuing SeriesFATALE, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS, by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra
PROPHET, by Brandon Graham and Simon Roy
SAGA, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples 

Best New Series
FATALE, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
SAGA, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Best Graphic Novel - Reprint
KING CITY, by Brandon Graham

Best Writer
Ed Brubaker, FATALE
Brandon Graham, MULTIPLE WARHEADS, PROPHETJonathan Hickman, THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS
Brian K. Vaughan, SAGA

Best Penciller/Inker
Sean Phillips, FATALE

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist
Teddy Kristiansen, THE RED DIARY/The RE[A]D Diary (MAN OF ACTION/Image)

Best Cover Art
Brandon Graham, KING CITY, MULTIPLE WARHEADS, ELEPHANTMEN #43
Sean Phillips, FATALE

Best Colorist
Brandon Graham, MULTIPLE WARHEADS
Dave Stewart, Batwoman (DC); FATALE (Image); BPRD, Conan the Barbarian, Hellboy in Hell, Lobster Johnson, The Massive (Dark Horse)

Best Lettering
Paul Grist, MUDMAN