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Moto Hagio Inducted into Eisner Hall of Fame
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The 2022 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards inducted manga creator Moto Hagio into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame during the Comic-Con International event on Friday. Gary Groth read a statement from Hagio, who stated she thought about the inspiration of Osamu Tezuka and how inspiration is passed from generation to generation.
This year was the third consecutive year Hagio was nominated for the Hall of Fame.
Other nominees for this year included: Howard Chaykin, Gerry Conway, Kevin Eastman, Steve Englehart, Larry Hama, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, David Mazzucchelli, Jean-Claude Mézières, Grant Morrison, Gaspar Saladino, Jim Shooter, Garry Trudeau, Ron Turner, George Tuska, Mark Waid, and Cat Yronwode. The inductees were: Howard Chaykin, Kevin Eastman, Larry Hama, David Mazzucchelli, and Grant Morrison alongside Hagio.
Six more individuals were already automatically inducted this year: Max Gaines, Mark Gruenwald, Marie Duval, Rose O'Neill, Alex Nino, and P. Craig Russell.
Hagio is a pioneer of shōjo and shōnen-ai manga, and her works helped establish conventions of these and other fields. Hagio's They Were Eleven, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, A,A', The Heart of Thomas, Otherworld Barbara, and The Poe Clan manga have English releases. Her Lil' Leo manga shipped in English in 2021, and The Poe Clan manga started a new series in May.
Hagio received the Person of Cultural Merit honor from the Japanese government in October 2019. She also received the Asahi Prize for fiscal year 2016, and the Japanese government previously awarded Hagio with the Spring 2012 Medal With Purple Ribbon, which honors academic and artistic achievement. Hagio was the first shōjo manga creator to receive the award.
The previous Japanese inductees of the Eisner Hall of Fame were Osamu Tezuka (2002), Kazuo Koike (2004), Goseki Kojima (2004), Katsuhiro Ōtomo (2012), and Rumiko Takahashi (2018). Moto Hagio was previously nominated in 2021 and 2020 (along with Keiji Nakazawa). Akira Toriyama and Naoki Urasawa were nominated in 2019, but were not among the four selected.
