George Orwell and socialist decorator Frank Owen take on the best of the world’s comics creators and heroes. SELFMADEHERO are delighted that two of their titles have been nominated for the prestigious Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Oscars for the comics and graphic novel industry.
Originally published in 1914, Robert Tressell’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists traces the political awakening of Frank Owen, and the team of painter-decorators with whom he works, and whose stories are intertwined with his. As profoundly relevant as it is today, however, this is no dry political tract. Instead, the 350 full-colour pages of Scarlett and Sophie Rickard’s sumptuous adaptation celebrate the joys of fellowship and creative endeavour as beautifully as they convey the ugliness of its exploitation. The book is nominated for the Best Adaptation from Another Medium category.
British-born sisters, Scarlett and Sophie Rickard have already earned critical acclaim for their book and they are now working on the history of the Suffragette movement, which is due to be published by SelfMadeHero in the Autumn.
Orwell’s life was every bit as troubled, fascinating, and prescient as his books. Pierre Christin, the prolific French writer of screenplays, comics, and science fiction novels, offers in Orwell an intimate yet definitive portrait of one of the greatest political writers of the English-speaking world, in close collaboration with the acclaimed artist Sébastien Verdier, whose detailed graphic style matches the stark brilliance of Orwell’s own uniquely dark vision. The book is nominated for the Best Reality-Based Work category.
The full lists of nominations in these categories are:
Best Adaptation from Another Medium
After the Rain, by Nnedi Okorafor, adapted by John Jennings and David Brame (Megascope/Abrams ComicArts) Bubble by Jordan Morris, Sarah Morgan, and Tony Cliff (First Second/Macmillan) Disney Cruella, adapted by Hachi Ishie (VIZ Media) George Orwell’s 1984: The Graphic Novel, adapted by Fido Nesti (Mariner Books) The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, by Robert Tressell, adapted by Sophie and Scarlett Rickard (SelfMadeHero)
Best Reality-Based Work
The Black Panther Party: A Graphic History, by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson (TenSpeed Press) Hakim’s Odyssey, Book 1: From Syria to Turkey, by Fabien Toulmé, translation by Hannah Chute (Graphic Mundi/Penn State University Press) Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula, by Koren Shadmi (Humanoids) Orwell, by Pierre Christin and Sébastien Verdier, translation by Edward Gauvin (SelfMadeHero) Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness, by Kristen Radtke (Pantheon/Penguin Random House) The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, by Dave Sim and Carson Grubaugh (Living the Line)
The winners of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards will be announced at the San Diego Comic-Con on 22 July.
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