In the comic book industry, many consider the Eisner Awards as the most prestigious prize out there. They even consider it as the industry’s equivalent of an Oscar Award. Now, the official Eisners website has announced the nominees for 2018. Along with the usual American nominations, several Japanese manga also received their own nominations.

Unlike last year when Singapore’s own The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, by Sonny Liew received a nomination and actually won, this year’s list of nominees for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia award features an all-Japanese line-up. The list of nominees for this award include:

  • Furari Jiro by Taniguchi (Fanfare / Ponent Mon)
  • Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda (Viz Media)
  • My Brother’s Husband volume 1 by Gengoroh Tagame (Pantheon)
  • Otherworld Barbara volume 2 by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics)
  • Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories by Junji Ito (Viz Media)

The other categories also have Japanese nominees. This includes Gou Tanabe’s H.P. Lovecraft’s The Hound and Other Stories from Dark Horse Comics. Meanwhile, Kodansha Comics’ 35th anniversary edition of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira received nominations for Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books and Best Publication Design categories. Finally, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi’s The Dam Keeper is nominated for Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17).

An expert panel of judges chose all the nominees, and that also includes a few Comic Book heavyweights. Comic book industry professionals will then vote online to decide who will win their respective awards.

Named for acclaimed comics creator Will Eisner, the awards are celebrating their 29th year of highlighting the best publications and creators in comics, as well as manga and graphic novels. Fittingly, they hold the event during the San Diego Comic Con, the largest gathering of comic book enthusiasts in the world.

You can check out the complete list of nominees via the Comic-Con official website.