Famous Manga artists in run for Western comic book award

Rumiko Takahashi and Hayao Miyazaki nominated for Eisner comic book award

Eisner awards

In the world of comic books the Eisner Award is a crowning achievement and is described as the Oscars of comic books by San Diego comic-con officials. It began dishing out awards to comic book creators of distinction in various categories in 1988. Eisner officials have announced their three automatic inductees for the year. Irwin Hasen (The Flash), Sheldon Moldoff (Batman, Green Lantern), and Orrin C. Evans (All Negro Comics) the first all African American produced comic. The Eisner Award judges have also picked 14 nominees for voters from the comic book industry to vote for. Four nominees will be inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame this summer.What caught my eye is that two very famous Mangaka (Japanese comic book artist) grace this years list of nominees.

Ramiko & Hayao

The mangaka I'm speaking of are renowned Rumiko Takahashi and HayaoMiyazaki. Two prestigious people among anime and manga fans. Hayao Miyazaki is a filmmaker and mangaka (Japanese comic book artist) of the highest level of distinction. His manga career is arguably less expansive than his film career, but he wrote famous works like "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" and "Era of the flying boat" which both went on to become world renowned animated films. Both films were written and directed by Miyazaki.

Rumiko Takahashi started out as a student of manga under Kazuo Koike the famous author of Lone Wolf and Cub. She has since become an authority in manga with a career spanning over 30 years. According to the publisher Shogakukan of Hitotsubashi Group Takahashi's 4 most popular works have sold roughly 146 million copies. Based on these numbers it can be said that she is the best selling female comic artist in history. Her most famous works include Uresei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, and Inu Yasha. All four went on to become successful anime series.

As a fan of both Rumiko and Hayao it's exciting to see these two on the Eisner award nominee list. Often people draw a line between manga and western comics because of their different formatting and style, but ultimately a comic book is a comic book. I guess we'll see if the western comic book industry as a whole feels that way when the ballets come in at comic-con this summer.