Manga Makes Modest Showing in 2009 Eisner Award Nominations

Thursday April 9, 2009

Comic-Con International, the organization behind WonderCon, Alternative Press Expo and San Diego Comic-Con International has announced the nominees for the 2009 Will Eisner Awards. While manga has always had a somewhat marginal presence in the Eisners, this year it's a bit less than prior years, with only 8 manga nominees in the pack, including the 5 nominees for the manga-specific category, Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan. This is a noticable decline from the 10 nominees in 2007, and the 13 nominees in 2008.

Monster by Naoki Urasawa leads the pack with two nominations, in the highly competitive Best Continuing Series category and manga-centric Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan category. This is the third year in a row that Monster has been nominated, and with this series wrapped up after the release of the 18th volume in late 2008, chances are good that Monster may eke out a win this year after missing out in 2007 and 2008.

The Japanese manga nominees are:

• Monster by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Signature) - Best Continuing Series, Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan
• COWA! by Akira Toriyama (Shonen Jump Manga) - Best Publication for Kids
• Good-Bye by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly) - Best Archival Collection / Project - Comic Books
• Cat Eyed Boy by Kazuo Umezu (VIZ Signature) - Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan
• Dororo by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical) - Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan
• The Quest for the Missing Girl (Fanfare-Ponent Mon) - Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan
• Solanin by Inio Asano (VIZ Signature) - Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan

VIZ leads the pack in the manga-centric nominations with 5 nods, including the multiple nominations for Monster, followed by one each for Fanfare-Ponent Mon, Vertical and Drawn & Quarterly.

If we include manga-inspired works by international creators, then Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai and "Murder He Wrote," Nina Matsumoto's Death Note / Simpsons mash-up with by Ian Boothby and Andrew Pepoy, in The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror #14 from Bongo Comics bring the total to 10. Also worth noting is multiple nominations for Amy Reeder Hadley, the creator of Fool's Gold from TokyoPop for her work on Madame Xanadu from Vertigo / DC Comics, and a nod for Jo Chen, creator of Other Side of the Mirror from TokyoPop for her beautiful cover art for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Serenity from Dark Horse.

The Eisner Awards are named after noted comics creator Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit), and this is the 21st year that the awards will be given out as part of San Diego Comic-Con International. The awards ceremony will be held at the 2009 Comic-Con in late July 2009.

Each year, the Eisner nominations are made by a mix of professionals from the American comics industry, including comics creators, librarians, retailers and journalists. This year's panel consisted of Amanda Emmert (owner of Muse Comics & Games in Missoula, Montana), Mike Pawuk (teen services public librarian for the Cuyahoga, Ohio County Public Library), John Shableski (Diamond Book Distributors sales manager), Ben Towle (graphic novelist and comics arts educator), and Andrew Wheeler (comics and manga reviewer at ComicMix.com).

It's great to see manga represented in the Eisners, especially since it typically gets shut out of the other major American comics awards like The Harvey Awards and given short shrift at the indie-centric Ignatz Awards.

However, as is typical with any awards nomination process, there's always going to be some discussion about deserving books that were passed over for nomination. Judges know that you can't please everyone, but as noted on MangaBlog, Simon Jones from Icarus Publishing and David Welsh wondered if there shouldn't be awards generated from within the American manga publishing community.

Meanwhile, here's my short (and admittedly incomplete) list of great manga that the Eisners missed this year, but hopefully won't miss out on next year!

• Emma by Kaoru Mori (CMX Manga)- A beautifully drawn, elegantly told story of a maid, a young man of the gentry and their class-crossing romance in Victorian England.
• Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azuma (Fanfare-Ponent Mon) - Hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time, Disappearance Diary is the kinda true account of one manga artist's adventures as a homeless person in Japan
• Real by Takehiko Inoue (VIZ Signature) - A subtle, masterfully told story about young men who maintain their passion for basketball, despite being wheelchair-bound.
• Astral Project by marginal and Syuji Takeya (CMX Manga) - Mind-bending, exciting metaphysical mystery from the creator of Old Boy.
• Black Jack by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical) - Eisner voters have already proven their love for the godfather of manga -- so why not this medical manga series, which is one of his best?
• Black Lagoon by Rei Hiroe (VIZ Media) - With its guns, gals and high-octane action, Black Lagoon blows away most mainstream American action comics if only by sheer firepower, adrenaline and its wicked sense of humor.

There are many, many more -- and much more due out in 2009 that surely deserve some props from the 2010 Eisner Awards nominating committee.

But now that I've made a few picks, what are yours? Which manga do you wish got nominated for an Eisner Award in 2009? Add your comments below, and I'll compile them in a later post, or you can send me a tweet via Twitter!

Just for fun, check out my galleries of past manga nominees from the 2007 Eisner Awards and the 2008 Eisner Awards.

Image credit: © Naoki Urasawa, © Yoshihiro Tatsumi