Catalan artists celebrate Eisner award honoring excellence in comics

'Friday' has once again won the Eisner Award for the Best Digital Comic for its volumes 7 and 8.

The Eisners are prestigious international awards in the comic industry that 'Friday' was previously honored with in 2021 for the first three issues of the story.

'Friday' is an investigative comic with a script by Ed Brubaker, drawings and co-creation by Marcos Martín and color by Muntsa Vicente.

Speaking to the Catalan News Agency, Martín said the team are very happy to receive the award. "Whenever you are recognized for something you've been working on for so long, it's nice that people like it and that's shown," he said.

Martín believes that the Eisner Award helps "very small" publishers like his, which are "not part of a large structure."

Vicente points out that the award gives them the opportunity to talk about the book and the work again. "We have just finished it now and it also serves as promotion," she adds.

The colorist says she adores the work because it has many layers. Some layers of 'Friday', she says, are "mystery," touching on personal relationships and growth. "Everyone can connect to it on several levels", he adds.

Catalan language

The work of the pair of Catalan authors has bene published in the US by independent publisher Image Comics, and from this publisher their work has been sold in other countries.

Now in Catalonia, their work is being reproduced in Catalan by publishing house Mai Més. Yet, it's not published in Spanish. 

"'Friday' is only in Catalan because we find that there are people, even among Catalan speakers, who are looking for the comic in Spanish, and comics still have that thing that if it's not in Spanish it seems like it doesn't exist," Martin laments.

The cartoonist says that if 'Friday' doesn't come out in Spanish it's because they didn't want to and because they're "making a bet for the Catalan comics," adding that "there is very little on offer in Catalan and a lot in Spanish."

Ed Brubaker

Martín contacted screenwriter Ed Brubaker to collaborate on a project, and Brubaker replied that he had been wanting to develop an idea for years.

"It was a project that he had for a long time and he answered me very quickly for the 'Friday' project. It was very lucky because I didn't know what he wanted to do, but it was exactly the type of story I was looking for," says Martín.