Sophia Foster-Dimino

The Eisner Awards at San Diego Comic-Con back in July were a great night for women in comics, but this past weekend's Ignatz Awards at Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, recognizing achievements in small press and independent creator-owned comics, went one step further in celebrating women's contributions. Women claimed victory in every category.

Small Press Expo (SPX) has announced the nominees for the 2015 Igntaz Awards. It’s a diverse line-up with three nominations each for Sophia Foster-Dimino, Ethan Rilly, and Caldecott Honor and Eisner Award-winner Jillian Tamaki, as well as two nominations each for Sophie Goldstein, Kris Mukai and Noah Van Sciver.

We make a regular practice at ComicsAlliance of spotlighting particular artists or specific bodies of work, as well as the special qualities of comic book storytelling, but because cartoonists, illustrators and their fans share countless numbers of great pinups, fan art and other illustrations on sites like Flickr, Tumblr, DeviantArt and seemingly infinite art blogs that we’ve created Best Art Ever (This Week), a weekly depository for just some of the pieces of especially compelling artwork that we come across in our regular travels across the Web. Some of it’s new, some of it’s old, some of it’s created by working professionals, some of it’s created by future stars, some of it’s created by talented fans, and some of it’s endearingly silly. All of it is awesome.

I first met Sophia Foster-Dimino at San Francisco Zine Fest this past year, and quickly became fascinated with her carefully composed scenes, where parallel lines give a simultaneous sense of structure and surreality, and cleanly laid out objects invite viewers to speculate on the lives of her subjects. That thoughtful approach to space stands out in her comics as well.

Could 2012 go down as The Year of The Butt Comic? Following the release of Pokébutts by Lindsey Morris, comes Ahoy, Booty! vol. 1, a 50-page zine curated by Lainey Diamond and Emily Partridge focusing all kinds of attention on the human posterior. How m...