IDW Publishing has received a staggering number of nominations for the 2020 Eisner Awards. These include a range of titles such as Ghost Tree, Penny Nichols, Diabolical Summer, Grammercy Park, Life on the Moon, and They Called Us Enemy.
They Called Us Enemy hails from George Takei and has captured the nomination for Best Reality-Based Work. His graphic novel is a recounting of real-life events that saw the well-known actor rounded up and placed behind wire in relocation centers along with many other Japanese children.
In addition to the nomination that Takei pulled in for They Called Us Enemy, IDW has also received fourteen other nominations, one of them being a group nomination. The publishing company is being recognized under categories like Best Limited Series, Best Publication for Teens, Best New Graphic Album, Best Writer, Best Comics-Related Work, Best Lettering, and more.
Check out the full list below.
IDW’s 2020 Eisner Nominees include:
- Best Limited Series: Ghost Tree, by Bobby Curnow and Simon Gane (IDW)
- Best Publication for Teens: Penny Nichols, by MK Reed, Greg Means, and Matt Wiegle (Top Shelf)
- Best U.S. Edition of International Material: Diabolical Summer, by Thierry Smolderen and Alexandre Clerisse, translation by Edward Gauvin (IDW)
- Best U.S. Edition of International Material: Gramercy Park, by Timothée de Fombelle and Christian Cailleaux, translation by Edward Gauvin (EuroComics/IDW)
- Best Graphic Album — New: Life on the Moon, by Robert Grossman (Yoe Books/IDW)
- Best Archival Collection/Project — Comic Books: Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo: The Complete Grasscutter Artist Select, by Stan Sakai, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
- Best Archival Collection/Project — Strips: Ed Leffingwell’s Little Joe, by Harold Gray, edited by Peter Maresca and Sammy Harkham (Sunday Press Books)
- Best Writer: Bobby Curnow, Ghost Tree (IDW)
- Best Writer: MK Reed and Greg Means, Penny Nichols (Top Shelf)
- Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team: Simon Gane, Ghost Tree (IDW)
- Best Painter/Digital Artist: Alexandre Clarisse, Diabolical Summer (IDW)
- Best Lettering: Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo (IDW)
- Best Lettering: Deron Bennett, Canto (IDW); Batgirl, Green Arrow, Justice League, Martian Manhunter (DC); Assassin Nation, Excellence (Skybound/Image); To Drink and To Eat, Vol. 1 (Lion Forge); Resonant (Vault)
- Best Comics-Related Book: Screwball! The Cartoonists Who Made the Funnies Funny, by Paul Tumey (Library of American Comics/IDW)
- Best Reality-Based Work: They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker (Top Shelf)
Which of these Eisner Award-nominated titles do you find most interesting? Check out a preview of George Takei's They Called Us Enemy along with the synopsis below, and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section!
They Called Us Enemy is a stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon -- and America itself -- in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.
George Takei has captured hearts and minds worldwide with his captivating stage presence and outspoken commitment to equal rights. But long before he braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a four-year-old boy to find his own birth country at war with his father's -- and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future.
In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten "relocation centers," hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard.
They Called Us Enemy is Takei's firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother's hard choices, his father's faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.
What is American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do? To answer these questions, George Takei joins co-writers Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker for the journey of a lifetime.
They Called Us Enemy is available now for $19.99 and can be purchased here.