Dr. Maggie Flinn, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, was recently honored as a recipient of the prestigious Will Eisner Award for Best Academic/Scholarly Work. Professor Flinn's edited volume, Drawing (in) the Feminine: Bande Dessinée and Women (Ohio State University Press). Congratulations, Professor Flinn, for this wonderful award, which demonstrates your academic ability and excellence!

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, considered the “Oscars” of the Comic book industry, are handed out each year in a gala ceremony at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Named for renowned cartoonist Will Eisner (creator of “The Spirit” and pioneer of the graphic novel), the Awards are given out in more than two-dozen categories covering the best publications and creators of the previous year. The nominees in each category are selected by a panel of six judges that change every year and represent a different aspect of the comics industry. Usually the panel includes a comics creator, a member of the Comic-Con organizing committee, a comics retailer, a critic/reviewer, a graphic novel librarian, and a scholar. Winners are chosen by a vote of eligible industry professionals.

Drawing (in) the Feminine (2024) celebrates and examines the richness of contemporary women’s production in French and Francophone comics art and considers the history of representations made by both dominant and marginalized creators. Bridging historical and contemporary comics output, these essays illuminate the interfaces among genre, gender, and cultural history. Contributors from both sides of the Atlantic, and across a variety of methodologies and disciplinary orientations, challenge prevailing claims about the absence of women creators, characters, and readers in bande dessinée, arguing that women have always been part of its history. While still far from achieving parity with their male counterparts, female creators are occupying an increasingly significant portion of the French-language comics publishing industry, and creators of all genders are putting forth stories that reflect on the diversity and richness of women’s and gender-nonconforming people’s experiences. In the essays collected here, contributors push back against the ways in which the marginalization of women within bande dessinée history has overshadowed their significant contributions, extending avenues for further exploring the true diversity of a flourishing contemporary production. 

This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to The Ohio State University Libraries’ Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and generous support provided by a grant from The Ohio State Energy Partners (OSEP).