The 24th Annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (“The Eisners”) was held in the Indigo Ballroom of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel, showcasing the best in comics for 2011, and publisher Archaia is happy to announce it was honored with three awards for its original graphic novel hardcover, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand.

The awards won were:

Best Graphic Album – New
Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, adapted by Ramón K. Pérez

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Ramón K. Pérez, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand

Best Publication Design
Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, designed by Eric Skillman

This is the second straight year that Archaia has won the top prize of Best Graphic Album – New. It previously won in 2011 for Best Graphic Album – New for Return of the Dapper Men. Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand was also honored with nominations for Best Lettering (Deron Bennett) and Best Coloring (Ian Herring and Ramón K. Pérez).

The Eisners, named for renowned cartoonist Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit and several award-winning graphic novels), are considered the “Oscars” of the comic book industry. The finalists on the ballot are selected by a blue-ribbon committee that considers thousands of entries submitted by publishers and creators. The nominees are then voted on by all parts of the comic book industry: writers, artists, and other creators; publishers; editors; and retailers and distributors.

Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, written by Henson and his frequent writing partner, Jerry Juhl, is based on a dark, existential feature-length screenplay that built off of ideas Jim Henson had been developing around the time he produced his Academy Award-nominated short film “Timepiece.”

It tells the story of a young man who hears, “Run, boy… run!” as he is kicked out of a dusty town in the middle of the desert. There’s nothing but sand in every direction, but run he does, with only a rucksack of odds-and-ends to his name, as he embarks on an oddball journey. Under the supervision of The Henson Company CEO Lisa Henson, team Archaia and artist Ramón K. Pérez adapted the screenplay into a colorful, marvelous tribute to one of the most creative minds who ever lived.

“This is a wonderful honor and we are simply overjoyed by this recognition,” said Archaia Editor-in-Chief Stephen Christy. “Tale of Sand was an ambitious undertaking when we started the project in 2010, and to see Ramón and Eric honored, along with the team here at Archaia, makes it all worthwhile. I want to thank Lisa Henson for allowing us access to her father’s archived materials, and for believing we could do his legacy proud with this fantastic graphic novel. Thank you and congratulations to everyone who worked on Tale of Sand and everyone on team Archaia, especially our president PJ Bickett. On behalf of everyone at Archaia, thank you to our distributors Diamond Comics and PGW, and to all of the retailers, journalists, reviewers, and fans who supported this book. Most of all, thank you to Jackie Estrada and Comic-Con International for making the Eisner Awards even possible!”

For a complete list of winners, visit Comic-Con International’s Eisner Awards website at Comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.php

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