Suitable for Fraiming: The Best Comic Artists of 2020 are Twins -- Brian and Brendon Fraim

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Submitted by Critical Blast Staff on Thu, 02/04/2021 - 14:00

Given what has been an unprecedent year for comics, culminating in an overwhelming number of nominations from independents and crowdfunded titles vying for the honor of Best Comics of 2020, it isn't surprising that the competition for the Best Comic Artist would be just as heavy. A sign of this is that "Other" -- a housekeeping category that usually represents about 1% of total votes every year from write-ins, gathered up a sizeable 9% this year, representative of just how many new up-and-coming artists are on the horizon. In fact, "Other" is the faceless hominid standing in the bronze position of our Comic Artist Olympics, having placed third among all other nominees and write-in candidates! So congratulations, Other, and better luck next year!

Among the others who were not Other, fans voted for names like Guillem March whose work has been gracing the pages of DC Comics' Batman, and Luigi Teruel who pencils the advetures of Rags for Antarctic Press. Both of them pulled in 4% of the vote each, passed by the mysterious Illustrator Monk for his work on Lilly and Wepwawet and Preston Asevedo for his Doc Salem -- both crowdfunded books that each took 6% of the vote. Canaan White's Grimm Fairy Tales qualified him as a nominee this year, although he'll have a lot more work appearing in 2021 on crowdfunded titles. He still ran off with 7% of the votes, passed only slightly by Punchline (the Antarctic Press one, not the Hero Tomorrow one or the DC Comics one -- don't get us started!) artist Matthew Weldon, who courted 8% of all votes.

Which catches us back up to the top two slots. In second place, "The Joker War" was enough of a draw this year to see artist Jorge Jimenez enter double-digts, taking in 10% of all votes cast.

But it's the twin-tornado team of Brian and Brendon Fraim, whose work has been entertaining readers everywhere with American Mythology's Starring Sonya Devereaux, who walk away with this year's first place trophy. With an astonishing 43% of all votes cast, the Fraim Brothers will be a pair to watch into the next year as they continue to churn out great panels for the 306th best actress in America!