Image Comics congratulates Joe Kelly and J.M. Ken Niimura on their receiving the International Manga Award for their comic book I KILL GIANTS. The Japanese Foreign Ministry announced that Kelly and Niimura had won the prestigious prize on Tuesday.

Originally published by Image Comics in 2008, then released in an oversized hardcover collection in 2010, I KILL GIANTS tells the story of Barbara Thorson, an acerbic fifth-grader so consumed with fantasy that she doesn’t just tell people that she kills giants with an ancient Norse warhammer — she starts to believe it herself. The reasons for Barbara’s troubled behavior are revealed through the course of the book, as she learns to reconcile her fantasy life with the real world.

“We do a lot of books I’m extremely proud of, but this is one is way up there,” said Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson. “The outstanding work Joe and Ken did on I KILL GIANTS is proof positive of how great this medium is. That something so moving and heartfelt can be both a critical and commercial success should be an inspiration to creative people everywhere. It’s nothing short of an honor to be associated with such an extraordinary piece of work.”

Kelly and Niimura will receive their award in a ceremony on Friday, followed by a ten-day tour of Japan, during which they will meet with Japanese cartoonists and publishers and visit areas hit hard by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami last year.

ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.