This years Eisner Award nominees have been announced, and include a few notable Asian titles. Notably, Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim getting the nod for both ‘best reality based work' and ‘best writer/artist'. The Eisner Awards will be presented at a gala awards ceremony to be held on July 24, 2020 in San Diego.
Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (Drawn and Quarterly)
Nominated for: Best reality based work, Best writer/artist
Grass is a powerful anti-war graphic novel, offering up firsthand the life story of a Korean girl named Lee Ok-sun who was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army during the second World War – a disputed chapter in 20th century Asian history.
Beginning in Lee's childhood, Grass shows the leadup to World War II from a child's vulnerable perspective, detailing how one person experienced the Japanese occupation and the widespread suffering it entailed for ordinary Korean folk. Keum Suk Gendry-Kim emphasizes Lee's strength in overcoming the many forms of adversity she experienced. Grass is painted in a black ink that flows with lavish details of the beautiful fields and farmland of Korea and uses heavy brushwork on the somber interiors of Lee's memories.
Cartoonist Gendry-Kim's interviews with Lee become an integral part of Grass, forming the heart and architecture of this powerful non-fiction graphic novel and offering a holistic view of how Lee's wartime suffering changed her. Grass is a landmark graphic novel that makes personal the desperate cost of war and the importance of peace. (Drawn and Quarterly)
The Way of the Househusband, vol. 1, by Kousuke Oono (VIZ Media)
Nominated for: Best humor publication
The Immortal Dragon, once the fiercest member of the yakuza, is now a married man devoted to supporting his loving wife—as a househusband! But when the gangster-turned-homemaker needs to make some quick cash to buy her a present, he turns to the only skills he knows—and gets his first part-time job! The cozy yakuza comedy continues! (Viz Media)
My Solo Exchange Diary, vol. 2 by Nagata Kabi (Seven Seas)
Nominated for: Best reality based work
Living on her own is harder than Nagata Kabi expected. Building relationships is difficult too, but with a new friendship to cultivate and a new perspective on her family, she's doing her best to open up and become a warm, compassionate person! (Seven Seas)
HP Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, vols. 1–2, adapted by Gou Tanabe (Dark Horse Manga)
Nominated for: Best Adaptation from Another Medium
January 25, 1931: an expedition team arrives at a campsite in Antarctica…to find its crew of men and sled dogs strewn and dead. Some are hideously mangled, as if in rage–some have been dissected in a curious and cold-blooded manner. Some are missing. But a still more horrific sight is the star-shaped mound of snow nearby…for under its five points is a grave–and what lies beneath is not human! (Dark Horse Manga)
Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia:
BEASTARS, by Paru Itagaki (VIZ Media)
Cats of the Louvre, by Taiyo Matsumoto (VIZ Media)
Grass, by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (Drawn & Quarterly)
Magic Knight Rayearth 25th Anniversary Edition, by CLAMP (Kodansha)
The Poe Clan, by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics)
Witch Hat Atelier, by Kamome Shirahama (Kodansha)
