Last week France’s Association des Critiques et Journalistes de Bande Dessinée (tr. Association of Comics Critics and Journalists – the ACBD) awarded their 2022 Critics’ Comics Prize of English-originated work to Barry Windsor-Smith’s Monsters.
In awarding the ACBD 2022 Comics prize – which will likely be formally given October 8 on the Quai des Bulles pageant in Saint-Malo – the ACBD stated [translated by DeepL]:
“For the fourth yr in a row, the Association of Comics Critics and Journalists awards a comic book ebook from an English-speaking nation that has been tailored into French by a French-speaking writer.
“The Prix Comics de la Critique ACBD [Critics’ Comics Prize] goes to Monsters, written and drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith, printed within the United States by Fantagraphics and tailored in French by Delcourt Editions in its Outsiders imprint, with translation by Marc Duveau. It succeeds Coda by Simon Spurrier and Matias Bergara.
“The newest work of an artist who marked pop-culture as much as the comic-book industry, Monsters is brilliantly at the crossroads between the superhero comic-book and the independent comic-book. A true visual performance worthy of the best illustrators and writers, this book is as much a graphic slap as it is an emotional and intellectual powerhouse.”
Barry Windsor-Smith’s Monsters – a graphic novel that was well-known for taking the legendary artist 35-years to full – beat a aggressive ACBD Comics 2022 class. Other finalists for the award included:
- Beta Ray Bill, Daniel Warren Johnson (Marvel, printed in French by Panini Comics)
- Raptor, Dave McKean (Dark Horse, printed in French by Futuropolis)
- Step By Bloody Step (Saison de sang), Si Spurrier & Matias Bergara, (Image, printed in French by Dupuis)
- The Many Deaths of Laila Starr (Toutes les morts de Laila Starr), Ram V & Filipe Andrade (BOOM! Studios, printed in French by Urban Comics)
The Prix Comics de la Critique ACBD is a prize particularly for books initially printed within the English language. The fourth yr of the prize, earlier recipients have included Si Spurrier and Matias Bergara’s Coda (2021); Derf Backderf’s Kent State (2020); and Tom King & Mitch Gerads Mister Miracle.
Formed in 1984, the ACBD is comprised of over 100 French-speaking journalists and critics throughout a large sweep of media – newspapers, magazines, web sites, TV and radio. Most members hail from France however they embody Belgian, Swiss, and Québécois amongst their numbers. According to their web site, the ACBD’s mission is
“…to promote the reporting of comic books in the media and to bring together people who regularly deal with comic books as critics or journalists. The ACBD draws its legitimacy from its united representation and its history.”
The ACBD has 5 awards which can be handed out over the course of the yr. Besides the Critics’ Comics Prize, these embody: Prize for books that originated in Asia, Prix Asie de la Critique ACBD; the Quebec Comics Prize; a children prize for work aimed toward youthful readers, Prix jeunesse ACBD. The highest award of all is the Grand Critics Prize, Grand Prix de la Critique – which is handed out yearly on the Angoulême pageant.
[Side Note for those unfamiliar with French: as ‘Manga’ refers to Japanese comics, so ‘Comics’ in French usually refers to Anglophone (usually American) sequential art. The broad French term is ‘Bande Dessinée’. Hence a ‘Prix Comics’ in French means Prize for English-originated comics.]
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