Cartoonist Sanho is first South Korean to win US Eisner Award
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Purgatory Funeral Cakes is a fantasy graphic novel set in a bakery that makes cakes for the dead.
PHOTO: DARK HORSE COMICS/FACEBOOK
SEOUL – Cartoonist Sanho has become the first South Korean creator to win an Eisner Award, one of the comics industry’s most prestigious honours.
South Korean publisher Munhakdongne announced on July 31 that Sanho’s Purgatory Funeral Cakes won Best US Edition of International Material – Asia at the Eisner Awards 2026.
The 38th Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were presented at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel during Comic-Con International in California, the United States, on July 24, with winners announced across 32 categories.
The Asia category honours the best work of Asian comics translated and published in English in North America. Originally established in 2007 as a Japan-only category, it expanded to include all of Asia in 2010. Sanho’s book beat out four other finalists for the 2026 award.
South Korean comics have been nominated in the category before – Kim Dong-hwa’s The Story Of Life On The Golden Fields (2010), Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s graphic novel Grass (nominated in three categories in 2020) and Yeon Sang-ho and Choi Gyu-seok’s Hell (2023).
Purgatory Funeral Cakes is a fantasy graphic novel set in a bakery that makes cakes for the dead, told through an omnibus of stories about the customers who come to order them. The series began with its first volume in 2021 and concluded with a third volume in 2025.
The book’s rights have been sold in nine countries and regions beyond the US, including Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and France. The English edition was published in 2025 by Dark Horse Comics and translated by Danny Lim.
Established in 1988 and named after late American comics legend Will Eisner, the Eisner Awards recognise the best work and creators published in North America each year.
Alongside France’s Angouleme Festival and the US Harvey Awards, it is regarded as one of the industry’s three most prestigious international honours. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
