Broken Frontier Announces Its Award Winners For 2023

Celebrating The Best In Independent Comics

Broken Frontier just announced the winners of their latest annual awards…

Best Writer: Alice Oseman (Heartstopper Vol. 5, Hodder)

Other nominees:

• Dave Cook (Killtopia, Vol. 5, BHP Comics)
• Jeff Lemire (Black Hammer: The End, Dark Horse Comics)
• Marjorie Liu (The Night Eaters: Her Little Reapers, Abrams/Titan)
• Saadia Faruqi (Saving Sunshine, First Second)

Best Artist: Nicole Goux (Pet Peeves, Avery Hill Publishing)

Other nominees:

• CROM (Birdking Vol. 2, Dark Horse Comics)
• Ellice Weaver (Big Ugly, Avery Hill Publishing)
• Martin Simpson (NORD, Soaring Penguin Press)
• Shazleen Khan (Saving Sunshine, First Second)

Best Colorist: Beth Fuller (Witching Hour, Quindrie Press)

Other nominees:

• Ian Simmons (Unicorn, Hunted, ShortBox Comics Fair)
• Joe Sparrow (Cuckoo, ShortBox)
• Miquel Muerto (The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos, Dark Horse Comics)
• Shazleen Khan (Saving Sunshine, First Second)

Best Letterer: Natalie Norris (Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir Book One, Fantagraphics Books)

Other nominees:

• Aditya Bidikar (The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos, Dark Horse Comics)
• Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Dead Boy Detectives, DC Comics/Black Label)
• Nate Piekos (Black Hammer: The End, Dark Horse Comics)
• Roger Langridge (Doctor Who: Liberation of the Daleks, Panini)

Breakout Talent: Pigeon/Kamila Krol (Rusalka: Whispers of the Forest, Strangers Publishing)

Other nominees:

• Deb JJ Lee (In Limbo, First Second)
• Emilia McKenzie (But You Have Friends, Top Shelf Productions)
• Lawrence Lindell (Blackward, Drawn & Quarterly)
• Natalie Norris (Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir Book One, Fantagraphics Books)

Best Periodical Series: PeePee-PooPoo (Caroline Cash, Silver Sprocket)

Other nominees:

• mini kuš! (Anthology series – various creators, kuš! comics)
• Monster Fun (Anthology series – various creators, Rebellion)
• A Pocket Chiller ( (Anthology series – various creators, Strip for Me)
• The Re-Up (Chad Bilyeu & Juliette de Wit, Bistro Books)

Best New Periodical Series: Blab! (Edited by Monte Beauchamp, Dark Horse Comics/Yoe Books)

Other nominees:

• Boxes (Edited by Steven Ingram, ThirdBear Press)
• Con & On (Paul Cornell & Marika Cresta, Ahoy Comics)
• Fractures (A Wolfgang Crowe, Colossive Press)
• The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos (James Tynion IV & Tate Brombal, Isaac Goodhart, Miquel Muerto and Aditya Bidikar, Dark Horse Comics)

Best One-Shot: Don’t Worry, I Die at the End (Beck Kubrick, Self-published)

Other nominees:

• The Gift (Jamila Rowser and Sam Wade, Black Josei Press)
• Of Thunder & Lightning (Kimberly Wang, Silver Sprocket)
• Times Tables (Gareth Brookes, Self-published)
• Zayani Zam (Mereida Fajardo, Self-published)

Best One-Shot Anthology: Drawn to Change the World: 16 Youth Climate Activists, 16 Artists (Edited by Emma Reynolds, HarperAlley)

Other nominees:

• Change (Edited by Joe Stone, WIP Comics)
• The Color of Always: An LGBTQIA+ Love Anthology (Edited by Brent Fisher and Michele Abounader, A Wave Blue World)
• The Power of Welcome: Real-Life Refugee and Migrant Journeys (Anthology – various creators, Scholastic)
• What Awaits Them (Liam Cobb, Breakdown Press)

Best Webcomic: Guide to the Oblivion (Kry Garcia)

Other nominees:

• After School Lessons for Unripe Apples (Soonkki)
• Hell(P) (Oliver Levang & C. Vinter)
• Nap Comix (Rachael Smith)
• To Be an Actor (Kimhaema, from an original novel by Gogwang)

Best Graphic Novel: Why Don’t You Love Me? (Paul B. Rainey, Drawn & Quarterly)

Other nominees:

• Adherent (Chris W. Kim, Conundrum Press)
• A Guest in the House (Emily Carroll, First Second)
• The Gull Yettin (Joe Kessler, New York Review Comics)
• Monica (Daniel Clowes, Fantagraphics/Jonathan Cape)

Best Graphic Non-Fiction: But You Have Friends (Emilia McKenzie, Top Shelf Productions)

Other nominees:

• Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir Book One (Natalie Norris, Fantagraphics Books)
• Glass Half Empty (Rachael Smith, Icon Books)
• The Last Gay Man on Earth (Ype Driessen, Street Noise Books)
• Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter (Oscar Zarate, SelfMadeHero)

Best Collection of Classic Material: A Very British Affair: The Best of Classic Romance Comics (Edited by David Roach, Treasury of British Comics/Rebellion)

Other nominees:

• Bungleton Green and the Mystic Commandos (Jay Jackson, New York Review Comics)
• The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1925-1927 (George Herriman, Fantagraphics Books)
• Misty: 45 Years of Fear, the Essential Collection (Edited by Olivia Hicks, Treasury of British Comics/Rebellion)
• Where I’m Coming From: Selected Strips 1991-2005 (Barbara Brandon-Croft, Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Book on Comics: I Am the Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future (Michael Molcher, Rebellion)

Other nominees:

• Blockheads, Beagles, and Sweet Babboos: New Perspectives on Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts (Michelle Ann Abate, University Press of Mississippi)
• Comic Book Punks: How a Generation of Brits Reinvented Pop Culture (Karl Stock, Rebellion)
• Howard Cruse (Janine Utell, University Press of Mississippi)
• Jewish Women in Comics: Bodies and Borders (Edited by Heike Bauer, Andrea Greenbaum & Sarah Lightman, Syracuse University Press)

Best Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly

Other nominees:

• Avery Hill Publishing
• Conundrum Press
• Rebellion
• Silver Sprocket

Broken Frontier Hall of Fame

• 2017 – Annie Koyama (Koyama Press)
• 2018 – Corinne Pearlman (Myriad Editions)
• 2019 – David Schilter and Sanita Muižniece (kuš! comics)
• 2020 – Gosh! Comics
• 2021 – Steve Walsh (Gosh! Comics, Avery Hill Publishing)
• 2022 – Avery Hill Publishing and C. Spike Trotman (Iron Circus Comics)
• 2023 – Thought Bubble and Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)