Thursday, April 08, 2004

The news

AutobioGraphix has been nominated for Best Anthology in the 2004 Eisner Awards.

The Eisners.

When people say that the Eisners are the Oscars of Comics, they forget something that, at least for me, makes all the difference: the Eisners are named after Will Eisner, not only a master of our medium but also someone who's still alive and kicking, AND who's always at the ceremonies to hand you your award. How cool is it to receive something from the man who inspired us all?

Will Eisner was probably one of the first names in the comic book world that I learned, mainly because of the stories he told. He told his stories, and not Spider Man's stories. I'm not the kind of fan who can tell you which artist did that X-Men magazine I read many years ago, because at that time I was only reading it a X-Men magazine. When I read anything by Will Eisner, I did it because he did it, it was his and, thus, I wanted it. I'm too young for his Spirit comics, but I read some, eventually. What I first saw of him were his Graphic Novels, and those were fundamental on what I would like to do in comics: stories about real people, real problems, and the magic that is life while we deal with whatever crosses our way.

I loved Will Eisner's "The Building". It was one of the first comics that I saw people talking about, people who didn't really read comics, and that stayed with me. It told me how a building can be a character in people's life, and it also told me that a comic book can also be a character in people's life.

Today I live in a building called "Hammond" because of that Graphic Novel I read so many years ago.

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