The 2016 Eisner Award nominations have been announced — the Eisners are basically the Oscars of comic books — and Seattle is well-represented this year. Fantagraphics Books is the most-nominated company of the year, with a whopping 17 nods. (One of Fantagraphics' most-nominated titles is The Eternaut, which I reviewed here at the Seattle Review of Books back in December.)

Other Seattle-area nominees include The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman, who was nominated for his strip "It's Going to Be Okay," and G. Willow Wilson, who was nominated for Best Writer for her work on Ms. Marvel. Other Eisner nominees that have been reviewed by the staff of Seattle Review of Books includes:

• Kaijumax, a series about giant monsters imprisoned on an island.
• The wonderful new series Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang.
• Giant Days, a comedy series from Boom! about young women in college.
• Nimona, a fantasy comic by Noelle Stevenson.
• And The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, by Sydney Padua.

Congratulations to all the nominees, and here's to Seattle making a strong showing as the great comics town we all know it to be. It's great to hear, too, that this is a record-breaking year for women at the Eisners.