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Pluto, The Caterpillar Nominated at France's Angoulême

The annual Angoulême International Comics Festival, which will take place January 27 to 30, 2011 in France, has announced the nominees for its three awards: Best Comic, Best Heritage Comic, and Best Youth Comic. The Best Comic list includes two manga titles: Naoki Urasawa's Pluto, and Suehiro Maruo and Edogawa Ranpo's La Chenille (Imo-mushi). Maruo adapted Edogawa's short story "Imo-mushi" ("The Caterpillar") into manga last year, but it remains unlicensed in North America.

Shōtarō Ishinomori's Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae, Masahiko Matsumoto's La Fille du Bureau de Tabac (Tobacco-ya no Musume/Cigarette Girl), Asao Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba's Ashita no Joe were nominated for the Heritage award, while Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and Gōshō Aoyama's Detective Conan (Case Closed) are on the list of Youth nominees. The Heritage Award recognizes reissues of previously published material, while the Youth Comic category is for comics aimed at young readers ages 7 through 12.

This is not Urasawa's first series to be acknowledged at Angoulême; in 2004 his 20th Century Boys was made the official selection. Manga by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Shigeru Mizuki, and Tezuka were nominated in 2008; Mizuki's Opération Mort (Soin Gyokusai Se yo) won the Heritage award that year. Ikigami, Mada, Ikiteru…, Legend Dokudamisō Densetsu, Cyborg 009, Ore wa Sarutobi da!, Mighty Atom, Fairy Tail, and Gabai: Saga no Gabai-baa-chan were nominated last year.

Source: The Beat