Mariko and Jillian Tamaki win 3 Eisner Awards for graphic novel Roaming
The U.S. awards celebrate comic book and graphic novel creators worldwide
Cousins and collaborators Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki have won three 2024 Eisner Awards for their graphic novel Roaming.
Roaming won the Best Graphic Album award, Mariko won for Best Writer and Jillian for Best Penciller/Inker.
Roaming follows best friends Zoe and Dani on a trip to New York City during their first year of college. As a queer romance blossoms between Zoe and Dani's classmate Fiona — who tags along — friendships get put to the test and all three girls learn more about who they are.
Jillian is a Toronto-based cartoonist, illustrator and educator. The Canadian cousins also co-created the YA graphic novel Skim, which won the Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — text. Another collaboration, This One Summer, won the Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — illustration.
Mariko is a Toronto-born writer based in Oakland, Calif. Her other books include the YA novels (you) Set Me On Fire and Saving Montgomery Sole. She's also the author of many superhero comics for DC Comics, Darkhorse and Marvel.
Other Canadian winners include Ryan North, who won the award for best publication for teens for his book Danger and Other Unknown Risks, illustrated by Erica Henderson.
North is a writer and comics creator from Toronto. He rose to popularity with the webcomic Dinosaur Comics, featuring a neurotic, wordy T-Rex. North's work on the comics Adventure Time, Jughead and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, have received three Eisner Awards. He has also written two "choose-your-own-path" books, To Be Or Not To Be and Romeo and/or Juliet, parodying Shakespeare's famous tragedies. His recent work includes How to Invent Everything and How to Take Over the World.
The complete list of this year's winners can be found here.
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are presented by the San Diego Comic Convention.
Last year's winners included Canadian cartoonist Kate Beaton, whose book Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands was the first comic to win Canada Reads in 2023. Beaton won for best writer/artist and her book Ducks won best graphic memoir.
