Crouching Lion in a Bookstore (獅子藏匿的書屋) by artist Xiao Dao (小島) won the grand prize at Taiwan’s 12th Golden Comic Awards at a ceremony in Taipei on Thursday.
The comic, based on the strategy board game go, was selected from among six Comic of the Year award winners.
Xiao Dao’s work showed diverse and multiple styles, said the Ministry of Culture, which organizes the awards.
Photo: CNA
Crouching Lion in a Bookstore is about a former go champion and manager of a book rental shop who meets a mysterious 16-year-old with a “wish coupon.”
The teenager is a talented go player. The pair get to know each other in the shop and later encounter a catastrophe that they face together.
In her acceptance speech, Xiao Dao said that authors have a responsibility to move people with emotions and at the same time encourage other content makers.
“I hope everyone will support Taiwanese comics,” she said, urging people to buy such books created by Taiwanese, even if they do not have time to read them right away.
One of the other five Comic of the Year winners was Qi Tan Hua Wuyu (綺譚花物語) by Yang Shuang-tzu (楊?子), a story about a relationship between two girls.
The others were: Scrunchy (他的髮圈) by TaaRO, Hell Tour (地獄遊行) by Booker (布克), Lan Ren Yiwen Lu II (蘭人異聞錄II：溪之南，山之北) by Kinono and A Trip to Asylum (瘋人院之旅) by Pam Pam Liu, which covered themes including fantasy, history and psychology, and reflected “the free and diverse aspects of Taiwanese culture,” the ministry said.
The Best New Talent award went to Son of Formosa (來自清水的孩子) authors Yu Pei-yun (游珮芸) and Chou Chien-hsin (周見信) for their style and selection of materials, the ministry said.
The Best Editor award went to Lin Yi-chun (林怡君) of Locus Publishing Co, it said.
Comic artist Jen Cheng-hua (任正華) won the Special Contribution Award. She came into prominence in the 1980s and her representative works include Sea of Devil (修羅海), Ren Rou Bao Zi (人肉包子), Drawn to Life (漫漫畫人間) and Drawn to Life 2.
Her works are not only entertaining, they are also full of insight into humanity, serving as a model for young generations to learn from, the ministry said.
The ministry said that it received 226 entries for this year’s awards, with 25 making the shortlist.
The finalists broke stereotypes by creating imaginative, creative and eye-catching works, it quoted the jury as saying.
Comic books were once a popular form of entertainment in Taiwan, but local artists were restricted in what they could publish during the Japanese colonial era and the early years of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule, the ministry said.
Later, with the prevalence of television and movies, as well as the popularity of Japanese comics, the number of Taiwanese cartoonists dwindled and the local industry faded, it said.
It was saved by the perseverance of older Taiwanese artists, who insisted on maintaining local styles and content, it said.
In the past few years, a new generation of Taiwanese artists have developed their own flair, it said.
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