Manga fans, this is one of those award lists worth paying attention to — not because trophies automatically make something good, but because the Eisners usually shine a big spotlight on titles that deserve more shelf space.
Comic-Con International has revealed the nominees for this year’s Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, and several manga and Asia-related releases made the cut across multiple categories.
In the Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia category, the manga nominees include Keigo Shinzō’s Hirayasumi, translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash; Kazumi Yamashita’s Land, translated by Kevin Gifford; and Keigo Shinzō’s Tokyo Alien Bros., translated by Casey Loe.
The same category also includes Chang Sheng’s Yan and Sanho’s Purgatory Funeral Cakes, giving the shortlist a pretty interesting spread beyond the usual mainstream manga names.
For Malaysian and SEA readers, this matters because Eisner nominations often influence what gets pushed harder by publishers, bookstores, and collectors. If you buy English manga through Kinokuniya, local comic shops, Shopee imports, or Amazon, don’t be surprised if these titles start getting more attention after the nominations. Awards like this can also help less-hyped series survive longer in English print — and that is a win for readers who want more than just the biggest shonen titles.
Land also scored another major nod, with Kazumi Yamashita nominated for Best Writer/Artist for the manga’s first volume. That is a strong signal that the Eisners are recognising not just the translation release, but Yamashita’s craft as a creator.
There are more manga-related nominations outside the Asia category too. Shintaro Kago’s short manga stories “Blood Harvest” and “The Curse Room” are both nominated for Best Short Story. Both stories are included in Brain Damage, a collection of Kago’s short manga. If you know Kago’s work, you already know this is not chill bedtime reading — his stuff tends to lean surreal, grotesque, and very not-for-everyone.
Legendary anime director Rintarō is also in the mix, with My Life in 24 Frames per Second nominated for Best Graphic Memoir. For anime fans who care about the people behind the medium, this is the kind of book that connects animation history with personal storytelling.
Meanwhile, Kodansha USA’s hardcover release of volumes 1–5 of Katsuhiro Ōtomo’s Akira is nominated for Best Archival/Collection Project. That one will definitely make collectors look twice, especially in Malaysia where premium manga box sets and hardcovers can get expensive fast after shipping and import markups. Akira remains one of the all-time pillars of manga and anime culture, so a high-end archival nomination is not surprising at all.
Other nominations include Andrea Horbinski’s Manga’s First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics for Best Academic/Scholarly Work, plus The Art of Manga designed by Tessa Lee and Fruits Basket: The Complete Box Set (Collector’s Edition #13) designed by Wendy Chan for Best Publication Design.
On the digital side, Viz’s release of hakei’s DeadAss is nominated for Best Digital Comic.
For context, last year’s Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia winner was Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tokyo These Days, translated by Michael Arias. This year’s shortlist has a different flavour, but still feels like a reminder that manga is much bigger than whatever is trending on anime TikTok this week.
One more big honour: manga creator Gō Nagai will be inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame this year. Considering Nagai’s impact on manga, anime, mecha, and darker genre storytelling, that recognition feels long overdue.
Source: Anime News Network