Eisner Shakedown: Best U.S. Edition of International Material--Japan

Monster by Naoki Urasawa

I love Junot Diaz's exhortation to readers to discover Naoki Urasawa: "Urasawa is a national treasure in Japan, and if you ain't afraid of picture books, you'll see why." This Diaz quote is so right on, because, seriously, an incurable allergy to comics is your only excuse for not discovering Urasawa, one of the best storytellers working in any art form today. Blaze your way through the intensely suspenseful Monster--you won't be able to release your white knuckle grip from the page--and then go on to explore the even richer and wilder 20th Century Boys and Pluto.

Dororo by Osamu Tezuka

Goethe. Proust. Tolstoy. Twain. Dickens. As every other major literary power has its national bard, Japan has Osamu Tezuka. I include him in this rarefied company not only to illustrate Tezuka's exalted significance and status in Japan, but to also imply something of the philosophical richness, emotional range, metaphysical depth, and artistic boldness Tezuka shares with these other great artists. Read the work of the "god of manga" and enter a new world. If you're about to read Tezuka for the first time, I envy you the voyage of discovery you have ahead of you. Dororo is another in a series of handsomely designed Tezuka reissues from Vertical.

Cat-Eyed Boy by Kazuo Umezu

First, let's start with the gorgeous cover and French-flapped (fancy shmancy!) packaging design. Go ahead and judge this book by its cover, because this special treatment is wholly worthy of the exuberant and delightfully weird piece of pop art inside. Consisting of a series of freaky deaky horror tales about a half-demon, half-human boy--the Cat-Eyed Boy!--who brings bad luck wherever he goes, to the good and the wicked alike, Cat-Eyed Boy is pure B-movie joy, gory, gorgeous schlock raised to the level of an art form. Get hooked, and then get your next fix with horror master Umezu's The Drifting Classroom.

The Quest for the Missing Girl by Jiro Taniguchi

Less well-known in the U.S. than some of the other nominees in this category, any attention this nomination brings to the work of Jiro Taniguchi is quite welcome. Taniguchi's work is extremely atypical of the manga usually published in the U.S., which is largely consists of genre and teen fare: Taniguchi's books are quiet, realistic, and devoted to ordinary characters in everyday situations. His art style, too, is refreshingly different, with a level of photorealism, and a lack of exaggeration, which some may not expect from a manga-ka. Taniguchi's low profile in the U.S. may make him an outsider in this category, and "The Quest for the MIssing Girl" may not be quite as stunning as his masterful "The Walking Man," but this is well worth seeking out for those who are interested in manga's varied possibilities.

Solanin by Inio Asano

Solanin is the rare josei title--manga for adult women--that makes it to the U.S., where this type of book is still finding its audience. Inio Asano's work is the only artist's in this category with which I'm not familiar, but judging from Solanin's ecstatic critical reception--and the grateful joy of the hardcore fans who celebrated its publication in the U.S.--Solanin's moved to the top of the reading queue. A realistic, slice-of-life story about the aimless lives of post-collegiate twentysomethings, Solanin sounds like it just about nails the quarterlife crisis experience, and boats some quirky, quietly pretty art.