Sonny Liew nominated for two Eisners for Eternity Girl

SINGAPORE - Singaporean cartoonist Sonny Liew has scored two nominations for this year's Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for the limited series Eternity Girl (2018), which he illustrated.

The prestigious Eisner Awards, the nominations of which were announced on Friday (Apr 26) by United States organisation Comic-Con International, are considered the Academy Awards of the comics world.

Eternity Girl, which Liew and American writer Magdalene Visaggio created for DC Comics' Young Animal imprint, was shortlisted in three categories, including Best Limited Series.

Liew is up for Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team. Eternity Girl is also part of the Best Lettering nomination for veteran letterer Todd Klein.

The six-part Eternity Girl is about depressed superhero Caroline Sharp, who wishes to end her life but cannot because of her powers. An old foe reappears to suggest a way out for her, but it will mean destroying the world.

In 2017, Liew received six nominations and won three awards for his graphic novel, The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015), making him the first Singaporean to win at the Eisners.

Liew, 44, said of this year's nominations: "It'll hopefully be less nerve-wracking this time - both from having had the good fortune to win before, and also because Eternity Girl didn't quite involve the same travails as The Art of Charlie Chan did."

"I'm very happy the series got nominated though - it was a very personal story for (Magdalene Visaggio), and stories about emotional and mental health challenges are important and perhaps not told often enough in mainstream comics."

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.