Image: Yoshikazu Tsuno, Agence France-Presse, Getty Images
The late artist is the eighth manga creator to be inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame.
The prestigious Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards is set to induct the late manga creator Shigeru Mizuki into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame this year, making him the eighth Japanese artist to receive this honour.
The previous Japanese inductees of the Eisner Hall of Fame were Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy, Blackjack) in 2002, writer and artist duo Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima (Lone Wolf and Cub) in 2004, Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Sayonara Nippon) in 2012, Rumiko Takahashi (Urusei Yatsura, Inuyasha) in 2018, Moto Hagio (Nanohana, The Heart of Thomas) in 2022, and Keiji Nakazawa (Barefoot Gen, Ore wa Mita) in 2024.
Shigeru Mizuki’s posthumous induction highlights his contributions to the world of manga
Shigeru Mizuki was a celebrated manga artist and historian, well-known for his works such as GeGeGe no Kitaro and Akuma-kun. Mizuki focused on showcasing the rich history of yokai (demon) folklore in his work, leaving behind an enduring legacy that many fans still look up to to this day.
Born as Shigeru Mura on 8 March, 1922, in the city of Osaka, Mizuki exhibited a penchant for art at an early age, and was considered by his peers to be an artistic prodigy. During his youth, Mizuki formed an interest in the supernatural, which in turn would influence his future work.
Mizuki was drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army in 1942, but was unfortunately caught in a fatal air raid that left him as the sole survivor of his unit, and led to the eventual loss of his left arm. The traumatic experiences he endured during World War 2 greatly influenced Mizuki’s creations and his pacifistic outlook in life. His yokai characters could only be seen in times of peace.
After the war, Mizuki worked a variety of jobs before settling into manga creation. He released his debut work, Rocketman, in 1957, and published a number of works afterwards, mainly featuring militaristic and yokai elements. In 1960, Mizuki would release the first version of his most-celebrated work: Hakaba Kitaro, which would be later retitled as GeGeGe no Kitaro in 1967, when it was serialised in Weekly Shonen Magazine.
Mizuki earned a number of accolades during his career as a manga artist, and was the first Japanese person to ever win a major award at France’s Angoulême International Comics Festival, where he received the Fauve d’Or: Prix du Meilleur Album, or Best Comic Book Award for his work NonNonBa in 2007. In 2012, Mizuki received the Eisner Award for his work ‘Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths’ in the category 'Best U.S Edition of International Material – Asia’, an award he shared with translator Zack Davisson.
Mizuki passed away on 30 November, 2015 at the age of 93.
