To my
fellow comic artists, novelists and graphic artists, I am honored today to take
the Eisner Award for best comic book artist. You all have no idea how what this
award means to me. More importantly, you
have no idea of the accomplishment I feel for this award. On the surface, one
might feel that this award should be taken as only an accomplishment to your
writing skills in a graphic novel. Although I do feel that the public has
recognized the quality in my writing whole, even more so, I do feel that comic
readers everywhere have recognized a certain science in my comic writing; A
certain science that reaches out to not just the avid comic book reader but to
any comic book reader. I know that you’re probably wondering what exactly I am
talking about in terms of science. Well it cannot be defined in any literal
sense, it can only be defined in the reaction that my reader gets, and whether
it is the first or fiftieth time my reader reads my novel. The reaction my
reader gets should be one of feeling a certain connection to the characters as
their flipping through the pages. I most certainly aim to create a relation
with my fans in a way that seems unintentional. I feel like that is the down
fall of most comic book writers today.
The downfall
of a majority of main stream comic books is simply, the fact that they can’t
connect to their readers. Sure there are superheroes who have human characteristics
or humans that have superhero characteristics. How are readers ever going to
find a certain relation with knowing that these characters achieve unrealistic
goals that most humans cannot achieve? Even the more grounded comics have
unrealistic expectations. Last time I checked, not everyone is a loner, not
everyone is popular, and not everyone is a nerd. I’d like to think that
everyone has all those qualities built in to one dimensional and stereotypical
characters, they just haven’t realized them. I do my best to try to make sure
that the humble nerd has some arrogant characteristics, or the blunt and
straight forward Goth has tendencies to bend her opinions for the ones she
loves.
When
thinking of people who have defied the cookie cutter outline of all forms of
media adaptations, I’d like to think of Stan Lee. As much as I’d like to
acknowledge Stan Lee, I’d also like to thank him for changing the traditional
mold for comics. Stan lee was known to completely disregard the formula that
basic superhero comics had. He made it possible for superheroes to have moral
weakness like humiliation as oppose to unrealistic weaknesses like Kryptonite.
He made it possible to break out of the youth demographic by axing the idea of
sidekicks. For decades, major comic labels have tried to “relate” to the youth
demographic by introducing sidekicks or kid superhero accomplices. Stan Lee
felt that there can be other ways to instill a sense of optimism in a child. He
felt that a young hero doesn’t have to be second in command to a major hero;
they can instead be their own hero. Since then characters have symbolized
independence to youth like Spiderman, a 16 year old teen who faces the
challenge of fighting crime while being a highschooler. It was concepts like these that made me think
that I could shape my characters in ways that gave them all the sense of
maturity and roundedness. Making that present in my comics was the real task in
my writing. I feel like that is truly the personal accomplishment I am
achieving for this award and I’d like to thank everyone who read and had faith
in my stories.,
Thank you
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