Over at Icarus comics, Simon notes that manga didn’t get too many Eisner nominations. He argues, though, that manga fans shouldn’t be bitter; they should just create their own awards. Precocious Curmudgeon agrees. (Thanks to Brigid for the links.)
Simon’s point is that awards are more about industry promotion and celebrating creativity than they are about objective quality…and that manga is big enough and independent enough to promote itself.
This is certainly correct…for manga. Manga doesn’t need the Eisners. I do wonder, though, whether it’s true that the Eisners don’t need manga. Or, to put it another way — manga has opened comics up to some vastly underserved demographics. It’s inaugurated entirely new genres. It’s helped to change distribution models. It’s vastly changed what comics in America are, and who reads them.
So you would think, maybe, that the industry might want to celebrate that. Maybe comics might want to use their awards show as a chance to point out to the world how things have changed, to embrace new readers, to paint itself as dynamic and exciting and forward looking and inclusive.
But of course the Eisners aren’t all that interested in doing that. And the reason is that the old institutions of American comics still haven’t come to terms with the changes in manga. They’ve watched the demographics expand without being able to figure out how to take advantage of it; they’ve adapted to some of the distribution changes but haven’t been able to embrace even those whole-heartedly.
So while the lack of manga at the Eisners isn’t a big deal for manga, I think it is maybe a big deal for the Eisners, and for the industry they represent. In short, it’s a sign of a a big, fat failure on the part of American comics. As is so often the case, a snub says more about the quality of the perpetrator than it does about the object of scorn.
Update: Brigid offers a polite dissent, pointing out that many of the Eisner judges are quite aware of manga, and suggesting again that manga needs its own awards. She also suggests that the Eisner’s should maybe expand to include more manga categories in the meantime…which they should, and which, if they did it whole hog enough, would preclude the need for a separate set of manga. If you’re the Eisners, why not create a whole parallel set of manga categories? You’ve got a leg up to begin with, so why not become the prestigious award for manga as well as for comics? Again, that seems like a great way to seem, and for that matter, to actually be, relevant to a whole new group of comics consumers.
Brigid also offers a mini-apology of sorts for the fact that manga fans (and she herself) aren’t necessarily all that into Western comics. I don’t think any apology is ever necessary for matters of taste like that; there isn’t any moral duty to read one comic or the other. With an institution like the Eisners, it would make sense for marketing and industry reasons for the awards as a whole to be more open to manga, but that’s really a different issue than saying, “this judge should like manga more” (especially since, as Brigid notes, many of the judges like manga fine.)
Update 2: And as long as this seems to be generating some interest, I thought I’d point out a couple of other recent manga posts which might be of interest: Kinukitty kicks off her column “Gluey Tart: Adventures in Manporn” with a review of prettyboy assassin manga Blank Slate; I talk about the Japanese Superman; and, from a bit longer ago, Bill Randall talks about perfect girlfriend’s and Sungiku Uchida’s bizarre manga Minami’s Sweetheart.
Throw another update on the fire: Lots of interesting responses from Precocious Curmudgeon, Heidi and Simon.
By the by, everybody who has posted on this knows more about the Eisners and more about manga than I do. Just in case that wasn’t already clear….
This is the exact same deal as when The Dark Knight was “snubbed” for EVERY SINGLE OSCAR OMG.
I wasn’t that into Dark Knight, so I wasn’t broken up about it getting so few Oscars…but I think your point is sound. The Oscars only acknowledge a very narrow range of films…and as a result they’ve become increasingly irrelevant.
Heath Ledger did get an Oscar, though, though the snubbery was not complete.
I think the Oscar for Ledger was in spite of the Dark Knight. It was just their last chance to give him one, since he died.
Noah – You seem to be attributing some motivations, even maybe some sort of agenda, to the Eisner process that I can assure you firsthand do not exist.
I think, though, (and this is me personally, not “me the Eisner judge”) that eventually you will see more Manga in the awards as the categories (which are malleable) begin to shift to accommodate both Manga and the changing formats of American comics. Many of the current categories seem to be structured around the “assembly line” 24-page periodical format, which doesn’t dovetail very well with the way the Japanese comics are produced.
Things do change–albeit slowly. Note, for example that this year, the Single Issue/One Shot category is combined with the Best Short Story category, reflecting, I think, the tendency for Marvel/DC, etc. to no longer produce many stand-alone issues, as well as “indie” comics’ movement away from the “floppy” format. I think you’ll see similar changes in the future that will more appropriately mesh with the way Manga is produced and published.
It’s worth noting as well that the existence of a specific category for Manga creates a bit of a dilemma as far as where else, if anywhere, Manga should be considered. Once a category like this is there there almost seems to be a tacit implication that that’s where all Manga should be considered. It’s like why you don’t see animated films up for Best Picture: there’s a category specifically for that.
To ramble further, modern Manga (I’m thinking mostly stuff from Viz and Tokyopop) has an understandably hard time getting nominations since it’s going up against basically the entire history of the art form in Japan. It’s as if there was a Best American Comics category in which a current issue of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” would have to be considered alongside a deluxe reissue of some of Jack Kirby’s best work.
-Ben
Hey Ben. I don’t think there is an agenda. I think maybe there should be. That is, there should be a conscious effort (through creation of new categories, ideally) to address the fact that there’s this whole new segment of the industry.
I understand institutional inertia, certainly. Pointing out the problem is, in part, my small and ineffectual way of trying to move things along. (Though, of course, my primary motivation is the standard bloggy one of just enjoying hearing myself talk.)
Just visiting from Mangablog, and as someone who’s been through the Eisner judging process as well.
I think you’ve made some really interesting points — and I agree that the Eisners are an award that needs to recognize how much manga has changed the industry, recognized previously unconsidered readers, and generally knocked comics for a loop.
I think Ben has a solid point — change does happen, and will happen, but it happens slowly. The Eisners have their biases, in the same way that any award does, and as previous folks have said, no matter the diversity on the ballot the voters are what ultimately show the mettle of the award. It has been a comics industry award for so long, and for now, I fear a lot of comics industry folks still think of manga as something other, not a welcome part of their industry.
In terms of creating a whole set of manga categories — I think that is one, unlikely to ever happen, and two, unnecessary. I agree that the best tack to take, if publishers and fans want manga to be more integrated into the Eisners, is to actively lobby for manga creators to be nominated for categories outside the manga category, such as best writer/artist, etc. I don’t really see why it would be necessary to create separate manga categories — just nominate them for the categories that already exist! This burden falls to the publishers, and fans who care about manga and the Eisners need to tell the publishers to nominate their titles and creators. Last year, of course, Fumi Yoshinaga was nominated for Best Writer/Artist, and I think that’s what we’d need to advocate for more of in the process.
If you really wanted separate categories, then what you’re really saying is that you want US manga awards, something I agree we need, but tacking them on to the Eisners with entirely separate categories is not, IMHO, a way to fix the Eisners.
Noah, that was kind of my point. I also was trying to convey (and failed it seems) that fans of TDK whined their asses off aboutit not getting every Oscar On Earth, but then when the MTV Kid’s Choice Awards come ’round, TDK wins and all is good in the land.
How about more European comic nominations? or African comics? or Middle Eastern comics? etc etc etc.
Certain “manga fans” are a paradox. They want to think of manga as something outside of comics, but also feel the need to be included in comics. It is almost like they want some special Affirmative Action Award for a comic just because of it’s country of origin.
The whole idea of liking comics just because they come from one country seems silly. However, so long as they want to be something separate but equal, they should not be surprised when they are treated as such.
Anon, Middle Eastern comics and even European comics are not currently the largest group of comics purchased in this country.
If you missed it, none of the people who actually consider themselves manga fans (including me) are arguing that the Eisner’s should nominate more manga. They’re all saying they don’t care what the Eisner’s do. I’m saying that the Eisner’s would do themselves a favor by appearing to have a clue about the most popular form of comics in the country.
Nobody likes comics because they come from a given country. Manga is a coherent tradition (or set of traditions really). It looks and is aimed at very different audiences than American comics. There are tons of aesthetic, demographic, and genre reasons to be interested in manga as opposed to other comics traditions.
In short, I hope you don’t have hayfever, because if you do you’re going to make yourself sick setting up all those strawmen.
There’s an old Chinese fable, “A frog at the bottom of a well”, which refers to a frog that had lived its whole life inside the bottom of a well. When a passing bird tells the frog how big the world actually is, it simply could not comprehend. As far as the frog is concerned, the bottom of the well, along with the disk shaped sky above, is the entire universe, and no story of an infinitely larger and complex world outside is going to shake its prideful belief. What American comics are published, or which titles brought home the Eisner or any comic book award on any given year, have about as much impact to the world of manga as the said frog declaring itself the king of the universe… that is, if they have even heard of the Eisner Award to begin with.
Perhaps 2009 is an anomaly in this regard.
Check out this link, which seems to indicate a number of manga nominations in 2008, as well as referring to 2007 as the start of the trend.
http://manga.about.com/od/imagegalleries/ig/2008-Eisner-Awards/
Hey Peter. The Eisners have on separate manga category…and I think there were at least a few other manga books that popped up in other categories as well this year. They don’t totally ignore it…my point is just that it might behoove them to make it more of a focus.