News
Moto Hagio Nominated for 2nd Consecutive Year for Eisner Hall of Fame
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Comic-Con International announced on Friday that the Eisner Awards judges have nominated manga creator Moto Hagio to be inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame this year. The judges have nominated 16 people, and voters will choose four to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Other nominees for this year include Ruth Atkinson, Dave Cockrum, Kevin Eastman, Neil Gaiman, Max Gaines, Justin Green, Don Heck, Klaus Janson, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Hank Ketcham, Scott McCloud, Grant Morrison, Alex Niño, P. Craig Russell, and Gaspar Saladino.
The other six inductees already chosen to be inducted include: Alberto Breccia, Stan Goldberg, Thomas Nast, Rodolphe Töpffer, Françoise Mouly, and Lily Renée Phillips.
Hagio is a pioneer of shōjo and shōnen-ai manga, and her works helped establish conventions of these and other fields. Hagio's They Were Eleven, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, A,A', The Heart of Thomas, Otherworld Barbara, and The Poe Clan manga have English releases. Her Lil' Leo manga has an English release planned.
Hagio received the Person of Cultural Merit honor from the Japanese government in October 2019. She also received the Asahi Prize for fiscal year 2016, and the Japanese government previously awarded Hagio with the Spring 2012 Medal With Purple Ribbon, which honors academic and artistic achievement. Hagio was the first shōjo manga creator to receive the award.
Creative professionals working in the comics or related industries, publishers, editors, retailers (comics store owner or manager), graphic novels librarians, and comics historians/educators can vote online four nominees, and Comic-Con International will announce new voting procedures for 2021. The virtual awards ceremony will be held during the Comic-Con@Home virtual event in July.
The previous Japanese inductees of the Eisner Hall of Fame were Osamu Tezuka (2002), Kazuo Koike (2004), Goseki Kojima (2004), Katsuhiro Ōtomo (2012), and Rumiko Takahashi (2018). Moto Hagio was nominated last year as well along with Keiji Nakazawa but they were not among the four selected. Akira Toriyama and Naoki Urasawa were nominated in 2019, but were not among the four selected.
Update: Comic Natalie corrected its article to note that Hagio is the first shōjo manga creator to receive the medal. Thanks, Tenbinzan.
Sources: Comic-Con International, ICv2 (Milton Griepp)
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history