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Garlands of Moonlight artist Rizky Wasisto Edi nominated for the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award
Representatives of the West Coast Comics Club and Comic-Con International: San Diego nominate Edi for his debut work on Shoto Press's Garlands of Moonlight

NEW YORK, June 21, 2003 -- Shoto Press, a small press imprint specializing in speculative fiction and graphic novels, announced today that Rizky Wasisto Edi, artist for the acclaimed Garlands of Moonlight which debuted The Malay Mysteries series last year, was honored with a nomination for the 2003 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award.

"This is the little graphic novel that could," noted author Jai Sen. "Our aspirations for Garlands of Moonlight were so modest that the nominations for both the Manning and Eisner awards this year exceeded all our expectations. We're very proud of Rizky, and are honored by the recognition he's receiving for his hard work and dedication to his art."

The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award has been given to artists for the last two decades. It is bestowed annually in San Diego alongside the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards at the world's largest convention celebrating the historic and continuing contributions of comics and popular art forms to culture: Comic-Con International.

The committee which selects the nominees is comprised of members from the West Coast Comics Club and Comic-Con International, with the award recipient chosen by past winners and Russ Manning assistants. Previous winners of the Manning Award have included Dave Stevens (The Rocketeer), Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics), and Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze).

Rizky Wasisto Edi's artwork and Jai Sen's writing on Garlands of Moonlight won the book a 2002 Xeric Award and proved to be so popular that it inaugurated Shoto Press's first series, The Malay Mysteries. Planned as a ten-book limited series, each folklore-inspired graphic novel is innovatively printed in a high-definition duotone of black and specially formulated silver metallic ink, simulating an album of late 19th century photographs to enhance the stories' time period and setting in colonial Indonesia. The Jakarta-based Edi will be the illustrator for the entire series, and more of his work can be seen in the sequel to Garlands of Moonlight, The Ghost of Silver Cliff,. The third book in The Malay Mysteries, Island of Glass and Ashes, will continue the story begun in the first two books.

Shoto Press books are available through Baker & Taylor and include Publisher's Cataloging-in-Publication (P-CIP) data provided by Quality Books, Inc. to facilitate integration of Shoto titles into library collections and bookstores.

The Malay Mysteries and all Shoto Press books can be ordered through the Shoto Press web site (URL: www.shotopress.com), Diamond Previews, Cold Cut Comics Distribution, local bookstores, and at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble Online.

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