Hitting you hot off the presses of the cultural Zeitgeist, it’s the Digital Strips Blog here with the nominees for the 2019 Eisner awards!…

…two weeks after they were announced!

But tardiness aside, there’s some interesting titles on the block this year. We can’t help but notice, too, that 60% (or, three out of the five) of the offerings in the Webcomics category are hosted on Line Webtoon — but then, the pervasiveness of that ever-expanding hub of Webcomics content is no surprise to erstwhile listeners of the Digital Strips podcast now, is it?

Here, then, are your Eisner Awards 2019 Webcomics Category finalists.

The Contradictions by Sophie Yanow

The Contradictions is a long-scroll autobiographical comic focusing around a fictionalised version of Yanow, and the friends she meets while living and studying in Paris. It’s an engaging read and seems closer to an e-zine than a ‘traditional’ Webcomic — particularly with the pacing, the building revolutionary themes (fitting, for a stay in the guillotine capital of the world!) and the long-limbed, proportionally-loose art style.

Lavender Jack by Dan Schkade

Lavender Jack is one that’s been on my personal ‘to-get-to’ list for a while (given how often it pops into the Webtoon spotlight carousel). It’s a markedly different style to Yanow’s The Contradictions, being bold and large and full of colour.
Featuring the exploits of lavender Jack, a European costumed vigilante from the year nineteen…something-or-other, this webcomic is a budding tale of intrigue, invention and revenge. Barely past its opening act, the story — and the artwork — are exactly what you’d expect to see from a creator who worked on one of Eisner’s own properties (The Spirit)

Let’s Play by ‘Mongie’ (L. Crecic)

Let’s Play is a slice-of-life webcomic following the struggles of Sam Young as she works to make a name for herself in the game development world — a task made more difficult after the most popular video streamer in the world trashes her first indie game on the global stage. And then moves into the apartment next door. Because of course he does!

With a cast of zany characters, high-drama situations and embarrassments of epic proportions, this WAnime-style webtoon might be your next favourite awkward romance – even more so if you’re a fan of the growing trend of innovating webtoons by incorporating sound into the comic strip.

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe

A multi-hued splash of colour, Lore Olympus is a modernised re-telling of one of Greece’s most enduring myths: The Taking of Persephone. Leaning more closely to the memetic version of the myth that’s been floating around Tumblr for years than it does the classic and casual brutality of the ancient legend, Lore Olympus boasts a unique (and stunning) visual style and a tightness of prose which well-earns it’s place amongst this year’s nominees.

Tiger, Tiger by Petra Erika Nordlund

The only webcomic of the bunch to have been featured in a Digital Strips Podcast (Episode #531: They’re Gonna Swashbuckle!), Tiger, Tiger is, as Steve and Jason have very capably described for us, a webcomic about a gender-bending young adventurer swashbuckling her way across the world in search of love and adventure.
Full of fun, frolic, exquisite sepia-scale linework and a surprising surfeit of sea sponges, this entry must surely be the shoo-in for victory given its appearance in the annals of the most esteemed and longest-running webcomics podcast on the internet. Right?

Which of these shortlisted webcomics is your favourite? Had you been following any of them before their announcement on the shortlist? Let us know in the comments below, or over on Facebook and Twitter and until next time, remember – don’t eat the clickbait!