Malaysia-born, Singapore-based comics artist Sonny Liew’s acclaimed graphic novel, The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, has received six nominations in the 2017 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, topping the list for the most nominations this year.
The US edition of his book has been nominated in these categories: Best Graphic Album, Best US Edition of International Material – Asia, Best Writer/Artist, Best Colouring, Best Lettering, and Best Publication Design.
The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye is a biography showcasing the life and work of the fictional Chan Hock Chye, a pioneering but largely forgotten comics artist in Singapore.
With a career spanning more than five decades, from pre-independent Singapore through its three prime ministers, Chan’s work reflects the changing political and economic environment in the island state.
The Singapore edition published by Epigram Books has previously won a number of local awards, including Book of the Year at the 2016 Singapore Book Awards, and Best Fiction Title at the Singapore Literature Prize in the same year.
The US edition made The New York Times bestseller list for graphic novels, as well as numerous year-end must-read lists by overseas publications such as The Economist and The Washington Post.
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards is widely considered the comic book industry’s equivalent of the Oscars, and this year’s nominees involve 120 titles from 50 publishers worldwide.
The following is a selected list of nominees in other categories.
Best Single Issue/One-Shot:
- Babybel Wax Bodysuit by Eric Kostiuk Williams (Retrofit/Big Planet)
- Beasts Of Burden: What The Cat Dragged In by Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer & Jill Thompson (Dark Horse)
- Blammo #9 by Noah Van Sciver (Kilgore Books)
- Criminal 10th Anniversary Special by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips (Image)
- Sir Alfred #3 by Tim Hensley (Pigeon Press)
- Your Black Friend by Ben Passmore (Silver Sprocket)
Best Continuing Series:
- Astro City by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson (Vertigo/DC)
- Kill Or Be Killed by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips (Image)
- The Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron & Russell Dauterman (Marvel)
- Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan & Cliff Chiang (Image)
- Saga by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples (Image)
Best Limited Series:
- Archangel by William Gibson, Michael St John Smith, Butch Guice & Tom Palmer (IDW)
- Briggs Land by Brian Wood & Mack Chater (Dark Horse)
- Han Solo by Marjorie Liu & Mark Brooks (Marvel)
- Kim And Kim by Magdalene Visaggio & Eva Cabrera (Black Mask)
- The Vision by Tom King & Gabriel Walta (Marvel)
Best New Series:
- Black Hammer by Jeff Lemire & Dean Ormston (Dark Horse)
- Clean Room by Gail Simone & Jon Davis-Hunt (Vertigo/DC)
- Deathstroke: Rebirth by Christopher Priest, Carlo Pagulayan, et al (DC)
- Faith by Jody Houser, Pere Perez & Marguerite Sauvage (Valiant)
- Mockingbird by Chelsea Cain & Kate Niemczyk (Marvel)
For more information on the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards 2017, visit the San Diego Comic-Con International website at tinyurl.com/Star2-Eisner.
