Popverse's top stories

• Magic: The Gathering just realized Edge of Eternities has a broken card, and wants you to change the rules on it yourself
• The hottest character to draw in superhero comics is Absolute Batman - because he’s huge! Just ask Nick Dragotta and Daniel Warren Johnson
• Deadpool was created because Marvel's Spider-Man wasn't funny anymore thanks to Todd McFarlane, says Rob Liefeld

After a 35-year run and a legacy that created the most popular (and envied) award in English-language comic books, Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards administrator Jackie Estrada has given out her last award.

Maybe now it's time for her to start receiving more. 

"Thank you to the Board of Directors of Comic-Con for the bouquet of flowers at last night's Eisner Awards (presented by Board members Ron McFee and Lee Oeth), commemorating my last year as the Eisner Awards administrator," Estrada writes on Facebook on Saturday. "35 years was a good run!"

Estrada became a key part of the San Diego Comic-Con team in the mid-70s, working on several projects while also maintaining her career as a copy editor, primarily of college textbooks. Among her projects at SDCC was co-founding the annual blood drive, editing the annual convention program book for nine years, and launching the Artist's Alley area of the convention. She has been a part of the convention's guest committee for decades, in some cases being the chairperson of the committee, but what she is most known for is being the administrator of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards.

Estrada took over the Eisner Awards in 1990 following ballot issues and the sudden departure of its founder Dave Olbrich, and over the years she and its namesake Will Eisner cultivated the awards into becoming the premier award for English-language comic books. 

"I remember the early days with you breezing through the crowd minutes before the event was to start, asking assorted pros if they would present an award or two," artist/writer Charles Vess writes in response to news of her leaving the Eisner Awards. "The Eisners certainly morphed from there, all to the better, I might add."

Estrada's positive impact on comics cannot be understated. With her keen insight into the medium (and industry) of comics, along with her devoutly personal touch (and personal attention to detail), Jackie Estrada cultivated what quickly became the definitive award in comics. As the size and scope of SDCC grew, she in many ways was (and is) one of the strongest proponents of comics within that structure - not by being one of the loudest, but by being one of the strongest.

As someone who has known of Estrada's work for decades, had the opportunity to meet her in the times I've been nominated, and then benefited greatly from being able to work alongside her when I was an Eisner judge, Estrada's absence will be strongly felt - but her impact and the structure she built will be relied on by those that follow.

The one positive to all of this for me is that maybe now she'll allow herself to be nominated for the Eisners Hall of Fame.

Thank you, Jackie.

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.