Eisner nominations are up

And you can read all of them at The Beat, but this is MangaBlog so let’s see how manga fared this year.

Pretty well, as it turns out.

Last year’s nominations were pretty manga-friendly, but this year’s are even more so, with manga competing against other comics in a number of categories. Here are all the nominated manga (defined pretty broadly, as you will see):

Best Short Story
“Book,” by Yuichi Yokoyama, in New Engineering (PictureBox)
“Town of Evening Calm,” by Fumiyo Kouno, in Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (Last Gasp)

Best Continuing Series
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)

Best Publication for Kids
Yotsuba&!, by Kiyohiko Azuma (ADV)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
Apollo’s Song, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan
The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories, by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
MW, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz)
New Engineering, by Yuichi Yokoyama (PictureBox)
Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White, by Taiyo Matsumoto (Viz)
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, by Fumiyo Kouno (Last Gasp)

Best Writer/Artist
Fumi Yoshinaga, Flower of Life; The Moon and Sandals (Digital Manga)

Best Writer/Artist—Humor
Brandon Graham, King City (Tokyopop); Multiple Warheads (Oni)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Takeshi Obata, Death Note, Hikaru No Go (Viz)

Best Comics-Related Book
Manga: The Complete Guide, by Jason Thompson (Del Rey Manga)
Understanding Manga and Anime, by Robin Brenner (Libraries Unlimited/Greenwood Publishing)

Also, the first issue of Comic Foundry, for which I contributed a brief article on manga, was nominated in the Best Comics-Related Periodicals/Journalism category, which is pretty darned awesome. I feel like a few molecules of magic Eisner dust have sifted down to me.

It strikes me as odd that no manga was nominated in the “Best Publication for Teens” category, as teens are the greatest consumers of manga. On the other hand, I’m delighted to see Yotsuba&! nominated in the kids category, although that title seems to appeal to adults as much as children.

Over at Precocious Curmudgeon, David Welsh is pleased that Fumi Yoshinaga got on the list.