Inkpot Awards 2022 Post Mortem – How’d I Do?

Last week, before the start of Comic-Con International: San Diego, I posted a list of a couple dozen potential awardees for the cutest award trophy in all of comics and, likely, beyond.

With the convention now concluded, let’s look back in the mirror with 20/20 hindsight and see how I did.

One caveat: Not all creators are social media types. There’s still the chance I missed some awards here. In fact, I’m sure I have. But I think all of the names on the list are accounted for now. It’ll just be names I hadn’t considered who will pop up with awards in the days ahead… I think.

The Locks

I had three names I was 100% certain would get Inkpot Awards.

Kevin Maguire and Bill Morrison both did.

Raina Telgemeier did not. However, it’s also true that Raina Telgemeier had to pull out of the show after the first day when she tested positive for COVID. She won an Eisner on Friday night but was not there to accept it. She also pulled out before her Spotlight was to happen.

So there’s the question: Was Telgemeier going to get an Inkpot this year at her Spotlight panel, per tradition, but didn’t because she wasn’t there? Are they saving it for next year? Did they miss a viral video by not having someone in a hazmat suit visit her hotel room to present it to her as an Instagram Reel/TikTok video?!?

This reminds me of the current season of Big Brother, where the big twist in the opening salvo of the game had to be scratched when one contestant had to leave the house early. The producers chose to skip the twist, but still explained what their initial game plan was to everyone.

The Likelies

I had 17 names listed in this group. Currently, 12 of them have received Inkpot Awards.

Dan Slott receives an Inkpot Award during his Spotlight Panel! 📸 Eric O. pic.twitter.com/LSAGXFLAkl

— San Diego Comic-Con (@Comic_Con) July 22, 2022

In retrospect, Dan Slott should have been in the “Lock” category. In the other direction, I probably gave Amy Chu too much credit just for being a Special Guest. I should have left her in the Long Shots category.

(My joke after seeing the video of Slott winning the Inkpot: “Marry the woman who looks at you the way Dan Slott looks at his Inkpot.”)

I’m super surprised that Tula Lotay didn’t get one. She was probably the biggest surprise of the weekend for me.

I was happy to see Shaenon Garrity get an Inkpot, since part of her resume included some comics journalism. For obvious reasons, that’s a topic near and dear to this website. However, it’s not like she got it solely based on journalism. She has a lot of other influential and important lines on her resume.

Besides Don and Maggie Thompson, how many people have won an Inkpot based on their career in comics journalism? Gary Groth has one, as do Kim Thompson and Eric Reynolds. That would cover Fantagraphics as a whole and as a book publisher, not just “The Comics Journal” as a publication, though.

I can think of a dozen people that I’d give an Inkpot to for comics journalism right now. And, yes, I think it’s a valid angle to include for the awards.

The Long Shots

Five names were floated here, and one of them received an award — Lilah Sturges.

A commenter on the original article noted that Lilah Sturges transitioned to being Lilah at some point and that’s why her bibliography may have looked a lot shorter than it really was. Good point. If I had remembered that and taken into account all her earlier work, then she would definitely have been in the “Likelies” category for me.

The Unknowns

A few other names won awards without Spotlight paels..

Ruth Clampett, the daughter of Termite Terrace’s Bob Clampett and a novelist in her own right, picked up her Inkpot at the Eisner Awards.

Steve Saffel, who’s worked at Marvel, Titan Books, and Del Rey Books received one at some point over the weekend, though I couldn’t tell you when, for sure.

John J. Murakami, a cartoonist from Hawaii, picked one up. He’s edited his Twitter bio to indicate it, but didn’t tweet about it. C’mon, people, if you win an Inkpot Award, you neeed to post a selfie with it immediately!

Finally, Miriam Libicki is now a cartoonist with an Inkpot. She’s an American-Israeli cartoonist living in Canada.

The Final Tally

Of the 20 people I listed as Locks or Most Likelies, 14 flew home with the statue. 1 was scratched due to COVID

Of the five people I listed as “possible, not not likely”, 1 received an award. And that was the person I put in that category due to incomplete information at the time.

Finally, four other people earned their Inkpot this weekend that I hadn’t even considered.

You win some, you lose some.

Let’s come back in a year and play this game again!