Over at The Comics Journal, Shaenon K. Garrity notes that Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ôoku: The Inner Chambers (Viz) is the first comic to win the Tiptree Award. Here’s a bit about the award itself:

“In February of 1991 at WisCon (the world’s only feminist-oriented science fiction convention), award-winning SF author Pat Murphy announced the creation of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, an annual literary prize for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender.”

And here’s a bit of the inimitable Garrity’s reaction:

“Frankly, it blows my mind that the comics industry is producing work even worth consideration for this award. My expectations for the comics industry in the field of expanding or exploring our understanding of gender are not high. But, on reflection, there are a lot of interesting comics that explore gender and sexuality–maybe fewer specifically in the genre of science fiction, but the stuff is out there. It just doesn’t always get much attention.”

Anime News Network notes that Mari Yamazaki’s Thermae Romae (Enterbrain) has won the Manga Taisho Award:

“The gag manga deals with the two cultures in the world ‘that have loved baths the most: the Japanese and the Romans!’ The manga has been running Enterbrain’s Monthly Comic Beam magazine since 2008, and the first compiled book volume shipped in November.”

I repeat that I’m totally obsessed with Comic Beam. The more comics licensed from that magazine, the better.

2009 is only over on our calendars, not in our hearts. At least that’s true until awards season is over, and that won’t wrap up until the Eisners this summer. Here are two nomination announcements:

First up are the nominations for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, which includes a first-ever graphic novel category:

That’s a good launch list. The Times is understandably pleased with itself:

“With the Graphic Novel Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes becomes the first major book prize in the United States to honor publications in this category, which is an expanding part of the book landscape, both aesthetically and commercially.”

On the other side of the planet, Japan Expo announces its 2010 nominees for manga (via The Comics Reporter).

Of all my reactions to that list, I’m most distracted by the bitter reminder that France has Vinland Saga and we don’t.

Maybe I’ll indulge in just one more look back on 2009. The bloggers at The Hooded Utilitarian assembled a list of their choices for the Best Online Comics Criticism for the year. I won’t claim I psychically predicted that Johanna Draper Carlson would notice that there are no articles by women on the final list, but I was sitting next to her during the critics’ panel at SPX, so it’s not like there’s no precedent for this observation. And it inspired Melinda Beasi’s warm tribute to some of the many women who write regularly and brilliantly about comics, manga and manhwa in particular.

To my way of thinking, that’s always the most desirable outcome of lists like these… people tossing in their two cents. And while I haven’t approached this with anything resembling rigor, here are some of my favorite comics-related think pieces of the last year:

“I Am Cynical (Orange)” by Chris Butcher: If you’ve just discovered Butcher through his excellent pieces on “10 Manga That Changed Comics” (here’s #8), let me reassure you that he’s been brilliant for ages. Case in point is this piece on the vicissitudes of distribution to the Direct Market.

“The Manga Hall of Shame” by Kate Dacey: Sometimes, manga hurts. And when that happens, it’s good to have a writer of Dacey’s caliber to speak up on behalf of the wounded. Here are this year’s inductees.

Matthew Brady’s pieces on Shojo Beat: Among the many reasons to miss Viz’s anthology of comics for girls is the fact that it also meant the end for this series of informative, enthusiastic, persuasive examinations.

“The Nana Project” by Melinda Beasi, Danielle Leigh and Michelle Smith: Three of my favorite manga critics geek out over one of the best shôjo titles ever published in English.

“The Patrick Swayze Manga Recommendation Guide” by Shaenon K. Garrity: Picking only one great piece by Garrity is like trying to choose the prettiest tulip in Holland. It’s just impossible. This one strikes me as emblematic of what I love about her writing: a great hook in service of some wonderful comics with her enviably flawless prose throughout.

The “Rethinking the Box” articles by Matt Blind: If Butcher is the go-to analyst on comic shops, Blind covers the general bookstore front in an equally astute manner. The link above points you to many of the articles in the occasional series.

“Reviewers Can’t Win” by Johanna Draper Carlson: I always enjoy Johanna’s writing, but I have an unflattering confession to make. I tend to enjoy her writing most when she’s indignant about something. Now, I know I shouldn’t wish for life to fling irritations in anyone’s path, but I do love the results.

“You And I Until The Day We Die” by Tucker Stone. Stone was one of the judges for The Hooded Utilitarian’s poll, so he wasn’t eligible, which is too bad. I think he’s an amazing writer.

So what are some of your favorite essays from 2009? Remind me of my egregious oversights, please.

“I’d like to offer congratulations to the nominees and a guided tour of the back of Previews to the nominating committee.”

— Sean T. Collins on this year’s comics nominees for the annual GLAAD Media Awards.

Over at About.Com, Deb Aoki surveys a lot of the year-end lists of best graphic novels to assemble a list of the most acclaimed manga of 2009. Every title on there is on my list of Eisner-worthy books, which means I’m either a cutting-edge taste-maker or that I’m unpardonably middlebrow. It could mean both, who can say? One other conclusion one can draw is that Viz had a really great year in terms of publishing quality manga.

December need not be all rainbows and sunshine and fond looks back, though. Kate (The Manga Critic) Dacey inducts some works into her Manga Hall of Shame. This leads Kurt (Yen Press) Hassler to mount a forceful but cordial defense of one of Yen’s inductees.