The Sequential Magazine Awards, originating in 2017, are fan voted awards organized by Sequential Magazine to allow Canadian comic fans to show their appreciation for their favourite local indie comics and creators as well as discover more great Canadian made comics. While there are already other Canadian comics awards we wanted to create something different and not fully judged. In December we held an open nomination period and through those suggestions and our own favourites we’ve selected a final set of nominees in each category. Then a public vote determined the winner from amongst them with over 1800 votes cast. We thank our long time sponsor Strange Adventures Comics & Curiosities in Halifax for helping us produce plaques for the winners which will be sent to them.
Below are the names of this year’s winners and nominees. Only the winner’s ranks are shown, the remaining nominees are in no particular order.
Best Comic Book
WINNER: Witch Hazel
SECOND: Capsules
THIRD: Auric: A God in Plastic
Bullet Adventures #1
Group of 7 Comics #8
Nyobi Origins
Relatable Young Adult Mystery Comic
These Damn Kids
Witch Hazel – Website
Writing and Layouts by Colton Fox (He/Him)
Art by Beige Blum (She/They)
Lettering by Matt Krotzer
Colour by Beige Blum, Jessica Huynh & Colton Fox
“Hazel is a lucky girl to have so many friends that showed up and voted her to the top! Also, a big ‘Thank you’ to the businesses that let us put up voting flyers and a big ‘Sorry’ to the ones that said no and we did anyway.” – Colton Fox
Best Graphic Novel
WINNER: The Witch of Wickerson
SECOND: Cynosure
THIRD: The Last Tide
And We Love You
Butterfly House
Scratcher
Siegfried: Dragon Slayer
Sleepwalkers
The Witch of Wickerson – Website
Created by Derek Laufman
“I want to thank everyone who voted for The Witch of Wickerson for best graphic novel and to Sequential Magazine for holding these great awards. Thank you for supporting indie comics!” – Derek
Best Graphic Novel Anthology
WINNER: Fantastic Frights
DEAD WORK
The PopTerra Collection
Fantastic Frights – Website
Edited by: Evan Waterman & Hannah Myers
Book design by Jeff Ellis
“Cloudscape would like to extend our enthusiastic congratulations to all of the Fantastic Frights contributors! We’d also like to thank Sequential Magazine for hosting the awards, as well as all those who came out to show their support. Fantastic Frights is a book we’re incredibly proud of and we’re thrilled to see the contributing artists get the recognition that they absolutely deserve!” – Evan
Best Webcomic
WINNER: False Knees
SECOND: GODSLAVE
THIRD: Poppy: The Girl Who Slept-In 100 Years
Conceptual Heist
Lobsterland!
Power 9
Soul to Call
Why Do Angels Scream
False Knees – Website
Comics about sad birds
What are those birds so sad about?
Created by Joshua Barkman (he/him)
“I’m honoured to be included in such talented company! I love webcomics and I’m excited to see where they are headed. Thank you, Knees-heads!” – Joshua
Favourite Writer
WINNER: Leland Bjerg
SECOND: Mark Bertolini
THIRD: Dino Caruso
Mark Shainblum
Michael McAdam
Roddy Williams
“Thanks to my amazing collaborators: Josh Thompson, Casey Poznikoff, Gabriel Roldan, thanks to all my supportive peers at Okanagan Comic Creators, and a big thanks to the backers that ordered Capsules and Berserker Monk as part of my Kickstarter campaigns in 2022!” – Leland
Favourite Artist
WINNER: Meaghan Carter
SECOND: Sharon Gauthier
THIRD: Scott B. Henderson
Robert Doan
Dan Day
Steven Legge
“Thank you for this consideration. Comics can be a very isolating pursuit, and it means a lot for others to recognize you and your effort.” – Meaghan
Favourite Cartoonist
WINNER: Haley Boros
SECOND: Joshua Barkman
THIRD: The Becka
Derek Laufman
Matthew Daley
Robb Mirsky
“Thank you to Sequential Magazine and Strange Adventures for organizing the awards. Many thanks to all my friends, family, and fans that voted me their favourite cartoonist, this is such an honour! I wouldn’t be where I am today without the amazing support of the creators that I have worked with as well. And thank you to my husband Jessy, you’re my biggest supporter in my career and in life!” – Haley
Favourite Colourist
WINNER: Jessica Huynh
SECOND: Dave Praetorius
Dominic Bercier
Chase Kantor
“Thank you so much to my family, friends and everyone that voted and supported me and an especially big thank you to Beige and Colton, the illustrator and writer of Witch Hazel for allowing me to tag onto their team for this comic! It was fun working on this project with them and I can’t wait to see what else Witch Hazel brings!” – Jessica
Favourite Letterer
WINNER: Andrew Thomas
SECOND: Steven Legge
Jeff Martin
Michael McAdam
“Wow, I’m truly humbled and thrilled to be accepting this! Thanks to the amazing team at Sequential for their hard work. And to my family, friends, and fans, thank you for always supporting me.” -Andrew
Thank you to everyone who voted and shared this year’s awards! Please continue to support Canadian comic book creators big and small by following and sharing them on social media, buying their books, supporting crowdfunded books and being patrons.
Sequential Magazine Issue 14 coming in April!