The Beat has this year’s Eisner Award nominations, which include Japanese names in many of the categories (not always for manga, mind).

But Naoki Urasawa’s Monster was nominated for Best Continuing Series and Fumi Yoshinaga was nominated for Best Writer/Artist for Flower of Life (pictured). I dunno about you, but I’m throwing a goddamn party! It’s about time Yoshinaga got some real recognition here.

Here’s a full list of manga nominations:
- Best Continuing Series: Monster (Naoki Urasawa/VIZ)
- Best Publication for Kids: Yotsuba& (Kiyohiko Azuma/ADV)
- Best Archival Collection/Project: Apollo’s Song (Osamu Tezuka/Vertical)
- Best Writer: Fumi Yoshinaga for Flower of Life (DMP)
- Best Writer–Humor: Brandon Graham for King City (TOKYOPOP)
- Best Penciller/Inker: Takeshi Obata for Death Note (VIZ)
- Best Comics-Related Book: Manga: The Complete Guide (Jason Thompson/Del Rey)
- Best Comics-Related Book: Understanding Manga and Anime (Robin Brenner/Libraries Unlimited & Greenwood Publishing)
- Best U.S. Edition of International Material– Japan: The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories (Jiro Taniguchi/Fanfare)
- Best U.S. Edition of International Material– Japan: MW (Osamu Tezuka/Vertical)
- Best U.S. Edition of International Material– Japan: Monster (Naoki Urasawa/VIZ)
- Best U.S. Edition of International Material– Japan: Tekkonkinkreet (Taiyo Matsumoto/VIZ)
- Best U.S. Edition of International Material– Japan: Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (Fuyumi Kouno/Last Gasp)

Also nominated (but not really ‘manga’ per se, from what I can tell): Yuichi Yokoyama’s New Engineering, published by PictureBox.

Comic Con has established its own magazine– which you can get a print copy via snail mail OR a PDF copy of via download; both are free –and the first issue is out.

Of interest to otaku-types: Jason Thompson talks about his current favorites (print p45, PDF p47), including Fumi Yoshinaga’s Flower of Life (another non-yaoi by Antique Bakery’s extremely talented creator), Honey and Clover, King of Thorn, Parasyte, Berserk, Hellsing, Mushishi, Phoenix, To Terra…, aaaand Golgo 13.

There’s also an article about fan costuming (print p43, PDF p45), which they date back to the first World Science Fiction Convention in ‘39, where author Forrest Ackerman cosplayed as a character from Metropolis (yes, true story: like many other things, Japan did not invent cosplay, they just started doing it better than anyone else). The article offers a bunch of tips for taking part in convention masquerades. My favorite: Surprise the audience, but don’t surprise the technical crew!

There’s also a preview of the upcoming convention (print p28, PDF p30) and a bunch of other info.