Marjorie Liu Breaks the Eisner Awards’ Boring Best Writer Streak of the Same Few White Dudes
Friday, at the Eisner Awards, Marjorie Liu took home the Best Writer award, along with Tom King. Liu is the first woman to win this award in the 30 years it’s been given out (it’s an Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman lovefest the first nine years). Liu is also half- Taiwanese, and therefore the first woman of color to win the award, which makes it doubly awesome.
Waaaaait. I’m…the first woman to win the Best Writer award? I didn’t believe it. But, but…
I’m really going to cry. I’m crying right now. https://t.co/RREDGmD1CZ
— Marjorie Liu (@marjoriemliu) July 21, 2018
Monstress, the series that won her the award, is Liu’s original graphic novel that uses metaphors to cover issues like colonization and internalized prejudice. The series takes place in a 1900s Asia-inspired setting and is the story of Maika Halfwolf, a teenage girl who shares a psychic link with a powerful monster. Within that story is a war between the Arcanics, magical creatures who can pass for human, and the Cumaea, an order of sorceresses who consume Arcanics to fuel their power.
Much of the narrative deals with the dehumanization of one marginalized group to fuel another, something Liu has been very open about discussing. When I saw her at New York Comic Con last year, I was blown away by how smart and upfront she was about the political issues in her comics. She’s a badass, and I’m so happy that her work was recognized.
In other awesome women-in-comics news, Roxane Gay, along with Ta-Nehisi Coates and Alitha E. Martinez, won the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series or Story Arc for Black Panther: World of Wakanda.
Omfg. I fell asleep but yay! We won the Eisner. A story, a comic about black lesbian heroes won! Yay yay yay. This one means a lot to me. Ayo and Aneka forever. https://t.co/YagrSDyEfI
— roxane gay (@rgay) July 21, 2018
The Tea Dragon Society, by Katie O’Neill, won for Best Publication for Kids (ages 9-12), and Spinning, by Tillie Walden, won for Best Reality-Based Work. Both are works featuring LGBTQ characters. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, by Emil Ferris, won Best Graphic Album: New, and Boundless, by Jillian Tamaki, won Best Graphic Album: Reprint.
Also, perfectly, Rumiko Takahashi, after three prior nominations, got inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame. We did it, kids!
(via Hello Giggles, image: Image Comics/Sana Takeda)
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