Comic-Con International has announced the nominations for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards 2012.

Dark Horse Comics has 11 nominations, including two each for the anthology Dark Horse Presents, Jeff Jensen’s Green River Killer, and Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo.

The nominees, chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of judges, reflect the wide range of material being published in comics and graphic novel form today, from nursery rhymes and World War II battles to high school angst and pulp fiction.

Named for acclaimed comics creator Will Eisner, the awards are in their twenty-fourth year of highlighting the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels.

Eisner Awards Nominees 2012

Best Short Story

• “The Speaker,” by Brandon Graham, in Dark Horse Presents #7

Best Continuing Series

• Usagi Yojimbo, by Stan Sakai

Best Anthology

• Dark Horse Presents, edited by Mike Richardson

Best Humor Publication

• The Art of Doug Sneyd: A Collection of Playboy Cartoons
• Chimichanga, by Eric Powell
• Milk & Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad, by Evan Dorkin

Best Reality-Based Work 

• Green River Killer: A True Detective Story, by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

• The Manara Library, vol. 1: Indian Summer and Other Stories, by Milo Manara with Hugo Pratt

Best Writer

• Jeff Jensen, Green River Killer: A True Detective Story

Best Lettering

• Tom Orzechowski, Manara Library, with L. Lois Buhalis
• Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo

Ballots with this year’s nominees will be going out in mid-April to comics creators, editors, publishers, and retailers. A downloadable PDF of the ballot is available online, and a special website has been set up for online voting: www.eisnervote.com. The results in all categories will be announced in a gala awards ceremony on the evening of Friday, July 13, at Comic-Con International.

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At WonderCon, it was announced that Dark Horse would be bringing their most well-known characters to Felicia Day’s all-new YouTube channel, Geek & Sundry, beginning on April 2.

This highly anticipated premium YouTube channel and company, founded by Felicia Day and the producers of the hit web series The Guild, announced a lineup of six new original series premiering online starting April 2.

The channel will present the very best of indie geek culture by exploring fun themes in comedy, gaming, comics, music, and literature that are sure to captivate audiences every week. Geek & Sundry will also provide a social destination and community for fans connecting online and offline about nerd culture worldwide (GeekAndSundry.com).

Alongside Felicia Day (The Guild, Dr. Horrible, Eureka), Geek & Sundry will feature compelling original content by Wil Wheaton (Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory), Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt (Sword & Laser), and Paul and Storm (w00tstock), as well as the hit web series The Guild, and the very first Dark Horse motion comics.

Dark Horse will air a new motion-comics episode every Wednesday, featuring characters like Hellboy, Conan the Barbarian, Usagi Yojimbo, and Gerard Way’s The Umbrella Academy. With all-new motion-graphics techniques and compelling storytelling, these are sure to set a new standard for motion comics. Directed by Erik Bruhwiler and produced by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse motion comics offer comics fans an experience unlike anything they have seen before.

“We’re so incredibly excited to produce and develop a channel based on what we think the fans will enjoy the most,” said Felicia Day, cofounder, producer, and star of Geek & Sundry. “From Dark Horse Comics to Wil Wheaton, there’s a killer team of talent on camera and off that will help build on the success of The Guild and Dragon Age: Redemption.”

“This is an exciting new extension of our comics business. Our technology is state of the art and the tales are extremely engaging. Add Erik’s genius to some of the greatest creators in the comics business and the project becomes irresistible.” Said Dark Horse President Mike Richardson.

Dark Horse Motion Comics launches on April 2, 2012, on YouTube, with Mike Richardson’s forty-minute horror epic, The Secret!

Viewers can subscribe to the channel now at www.youtube.com/user/geekandsundry.

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Earlier this year, Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai was named the 2011 Cultural Ambassador by the Japanese American National Museum. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese American National Museum opened their Year of the Rabbit exhibit—the most comprehensive collection of Sakai’s work to date.

Stan Sakai has won several Eisner Awards and has received over twenty Eisner Award nominations. Prior to Dark Horse Comics’ long run on the series, there were thirty-eight Fantagraphics issues, sixteen Mirage issues, a summer special, and four color specials.

Dark Horse’s Usagi Yojimbo #141 marks the landmark two hundredth overall issue of master storyteller Stan Sakai’s beloved series, and the rabbit ronin celebrates with a special story perfect for new readers, “200 Buddhas.” With a ruthless gang terrorizing his small town, a humble stonecutter receives a vision and sets out to carve two hundred stone figures. Just as he has finished the 199th, a long-eared stranger comes to his door seeking shelter from the rain!

 “In a perfect world, everyone would read Usagi Yojimbo.” – Greg McElhatton, Comic Book Resources

The Japanese American National Museum is the largest museum in the United States, located in Los Angeles and dedicated to sharing the experience of Americans of Japanese ancestry. The founding of the museum is a story of high hopes, remarkable achievements, frustration, and, ultimately, success.

While Sakai celebrates his 200th issue, Brandon Graham, creator of King City and Multiple Warheads and writer of Prophet, one of the series in the heavily NYCC-hyped Extreme Studios relaunch, will be making his Dark Horse Presents debut in issue #7.

“A man loses his voice—his voice goes off to see the world. Years later the man dies and the voice that walks like a man hears the news and returns home. The Voice has to deal with all the personifications of the man’s doubts, secrets, and ideas that are left behind.

It’s got doubts using tuning forks like guns and ideas that smash the light bulbs over their heads like they were bottles in a bar fight,” says Graham.

Graham’s work is widely known and followed through his blog.

Dark Horse Presents #7 is on sale December 21, 2011, and also contains brand-new Age of Reptiles, Skeleton Key, and Hellboy stories.

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