drewscape nominated for Eisner Award

When the 2013 Eisner Award nominees were revealed earlier this morning, an unexpected name showed up amidst the predominantly US-based companies and creators. In the category of Best Short Story, one of the five nominees was drewscape’s “Moving Forward”, which can be found in his anthology Monsters, Miracles and Mayonnaise, published by Epigram Books last year as part of their foray into graphic novels.

The prestigious Eisner Awards are considered the Oscars of the comics industry, which means it is a huge honour to simply be nominated. With this nomination, drewscape aka Andrew Tan becomes the first Singaporean, and Epigram Books the first Singaporean publisher to be nominated for an Eisner! If you’ve read our review, you know such an honour is well deserved.

The short story in question, “Moving Forward”, is a commissioned work by the Singapore Memory Project and describes the creator’s own personal struggles, encapsulated in the most ordinary of situations – the driving test. Unlike most of the other stories in the anthology, there is nothing fantastical or experimental about “Moving Forward” – it reads like a traditional comic. Nonetheless, drewscape’s quirky sensibilities still shine through, which is probably what the Eisner panel of judges picked up on.

In fact, thanks to the Singapore Memory Project, you can read the Eisner-nominated work in its high-res entirety on their SingaporeMemory.sg website!

The Eisner Awards 2013 will be held at Comic-Con International in San Diego on Friday, July 19th. Will it be the first time a Singaporean artist published by a Singaporean company wins the Award? We’ll find out soon enough!

MONSTERS, MIRACLES & MAYONNAISE can be purchased at all good bookstores and online outlets.