2015 Comic Book Awards Pt 2: Best Writing, Art, Design, etc

Best Writer: Ed Brubaker (Velvet, The Fade Out) 
Put Ed's name right up there with the best Noir and Espionage masters. The pacing, structure, characterization, dialog, setting and tone of his twin masterpieces is flawless. I don't know that I've ever enjoyed Brubaker's work more. Nominees: Mark Russell (Prez), Johnathan Hickman (Secret Wars, East of West), Warren Ellis (Trees, Injection, Karnak, James Bond)

Best Artist: Steve Epting (Velvet)  
Steve is a master of noir expressionistic lighting techniques. His action sequences are cinematic in scale. He stages chases that are intense and breathtaking. For example: when we see Velvet exit the window of a moving train, the angles Epting employed gave a real sense of danger. And when her pursuers dog her every step, the tension and exhaustion in her was palpable. But Steve's also aces with quiet, conversational scenes well. Nominees: Ben Caldwell, Emma Rios, Aaron Kuder, Jason Howard, Cliff Chiang.  

Best Colorist: Matthew Wilson (Wicked + The Divine, Paper Girls, Mighty Thor)
In 2015 Wilson reunited with his Wonder Woman cohort, Cliff Chiang on Paper Girls. And in Gillen's experimental WicDiv #8 he was front and center as a storytelling partner - brilliantly capturing the vibrancy and personality of the music in that issue.

Best Writer/Artist: Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets) 
One reviewer wrote that Hernandez "draws like an Angel", and that's so true. I love his line work - and as a writer he's created a living, breathing world, with characters and are real and situations that are wise and relatable.

Best Cover Artist:  Jenny Frison (Red Sonja, Revival)
Jenny's illustrated some amazing covers over the years, both haunting, beautiful and even terrifying (as seen in Revival) Nominees: Dave Johnson (Coffin Hill) Darwyn Cooke, Amanda Conner, Jason Howard (Trees)

Best Set and Costume Design: Chris Burnham for Nameless
What a nightmarish world Burnham brought to the page. The structures inspire a terrible awe, and I like the space suits, with sigils painted in the face plates. Nominees: Nick Dragotta (East of West) Jamie McKelvie (Wicked + The Divine)

Best Panel/Sequence: Kal vs Cops, Action Comics #42 by Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder, hard to pick one panel or page, as this whole issue was incredible. But Kal standing with the people was a powerful image.

Best Splash Page: Japan's new Gods, Wayward #10 by Jim Zub and Steve Cummings - This was the final page of the end of the first (or second?) arc. And it was a fist pumping, let out a "Hell yeah!" moment.

Biggest Laugh: Red-Arse (Red Hood and Arsenal #3) - Roy's well meaning, but his screw up on an advertising campaign leads to some unintended laughs.

Best Dialog: Harrow County, Cullen Bunn weaves words into rural poetry.

Best Cover: Weirdworld #4 by Mike Del Mundo (runner-up: Dr. Fate #2)

Best Variant: DC Movie Variants (Runner-up: Spider-Gwen #1 by Adam Hughes)

Best Humorous Cover: Batman and Robin #39 by Patrick Gleeson (Runner up: Hank Johnson: Agent of Hydra #1 by Amanda Conner)

Best Look - Hero: Spider-Man, Peter Parker. Designed by Steve Ditko, update by Alex Ross - I actually didn't like Ross' initial sketches, but in the comic itself, Spidey looks great, I like how the eyes and chest logo glow.

Best Look - Villain: Madame Masque (Iron Man) Designed by Gene Colan, update by David Marquez - I like the new mask, with that ornate design up top, going clear on the bottom half.

The "Kiss Me Sexy Batman" Award: Velvet Templeton as drawn by Steve Epting - 2015 was a very steamy and sexy comic book season: from Midnighter's bedroom scenes to Dick Graysons butt, to Constantine hooking up with a demon. For me, the sexiest and coolest and toughest was an older woman, the lead in Ed Brubaker's provocative spy thriller, Velvet. She always made my paper heart go pitter-patter. Runner up: Magik, Illyana Rasputin as drawn by Chris Bachalo.

Best Designed Vehicle: The Spider Mobile - Also updated by Alex Ross and it's hella cool! It can drive on walls (even upside-down), and detach spider like grappling legs when needed. 

Links
Part 1: 2015 Best Comic Book Characters 
Part 2: 2015 Best Writing, Art, Designs 
Part 3: 2015 Best Stories, Arcs, Events, Misc