The comic art scene in Vietnam has long been familiar with the World Comics Awards, organized to honor various themes. This is a place where creators passionate about comic art in Vietnam can share, learn, and even search for opportunities to publish their works.
However, following the recent 9th World Comics Awards, several concerns have arisen within the comic community, especially since the work “The Eternal” by artist Bình Hải was awarded the highest prize. Many opinions have pointed out that with its two competing submissions, “The Eternal” still fails to present many significant ideas, and only manages to convey some basic narratives that reflect the artist’s thoughts.
A lot of contradictory opinions have emerged within the Vietnamese comic community. Some believe that the narrative doesn’t adequately reflect the themes of “The Eternal,” as it remains somewhat vague and fails to showcase much depth, making it less suitable for the theme “The Hungry Hero” of the competition.
Other opinions suggest that the jury should consider the potential of the work even if it hasn’t fully developed yet. The direction of “The Eternal” could evolve into a story with distinct cultural elements that is not entirely unremarkable.
Immediately after these concerns were raised, the organizing committee of the World Comics Awards made adjustments, and “The Eternal” was dropped to 4th place. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places were awarded to the works “The Wind’s Caress,” “The Eternal Flame,” and “The Falling Jetpack,” respectively.
In discussions with the organizing committee about this change, we were made aware that the reasoning behind this was not solely based on the work’s popularity. The work “The Eternal” was noted to have a 25% share rate on Facebook within its total audience due to the author’s efforts to promote the comic on Facebook.
Thus, considered objectively, the comic still stands out as the best work, but due to minor errors, it has lost its position as the leading work.
