Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s Eisner Award. Finally.

What an amazing time we have had. We came to Comic Con somewhat defensively given some of the negativity that we have encountered about The Major, especially on the web and what we found was, for the most part, people who are more than receptive. Of course, many of the thousands of people who attended may not be interested in the history of comics and most of them probably don’t know about the Major. However, the core group of people who are interested and knowledgeable and who do know about the Major met us with such enthusiasm and excitement that it made the experience more than anything we could have hoped for. We can now focus on who the Major was, rather than what he was not and that is deeply satisfying for me.

The Eisner Awards were fantastic. Yes, they are long but who cares when you are viewing some of the most innovative and creative work happening in practically any medium you can think of. The artists–many of them young–were impressive in their visions about their work and the single-minded determination to realize those visions. Our family was won over immediately by the “boys and a girl from Brazil” who self-published “5” and won the award for Best Anthology. Since I work in publishing I know the kind of dedication and determination it took for them to reach that moment at the Eisners. It was also wonderful to see so many of the older artists recognized for their long commitment to their art. And it was especially fun for me to see some of the women artists like Rutu Modan being recognized particularly because I know their work and admire it. It is clear there is a strong community–a “family” and we feel privileged to be included in such a lively, vibrant world.

Buster Blakeney and Christina Blakeney, daughter of Marianne Wheeler-Nicholson.

It was moving for our family after so many years of the sense of loss of the vision of our patriarch, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson to begin to see that his vision has been realized in such a profound manner and finally to be a small part of it once again.

DWN and NWNB accept the Eisner Award for the Major

There’s so much more to tell so stay tuned.