I designed a set of t-shirts for the Stan Lee Excelsior Award, the only nationwide book award for graphic novels and manga (endorsed by Stan Lee himself!). 11-16 year-olds read a shortlist of eight graphic novels and choose the winner by rating each book as they read it!
The programme is run through schools and libraries, and this year there are over 120 schools participating! As a book fan (and English graduate) I’m all for supporting reading. Personally I love reading manga, and am a big fan of the Scott Pilgrim series. I also enjoy checking out the small press comics at conventions. In my time I’ve worked in a book shop and a library, where graphic novels were somewhat misunderstood – lots of people couldn’t understand why teenagers or adults would want to read cartoons – so it’s great to promote graphic novels and encourage young people to get into them.
There are 8 books on the shortlist for the award:
- Wonder Woman: Blood
- Strontium Dog: The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha
- Soul Easter Not! Volume 1
- Peter Panzerfaust: The Great Escape
- X-O Manowar: By the Sword
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
- Supergirl: Last Daughter of Krypton
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Change is Constant
To get your school or library involved, get in touch via the website www.excelsioraward.co.uk
The t-shirt’s available in 4 colours: Spiderman Red, Rhino Grey, Hulk Green and Iceman Blue.
To cater for everyone, they’re available in kids sizes, ladies skinny fit and standard/mens sizes up to 2XL. (Because it’s rubbish when you can’t get a t-shirt your size!). This means there are more size/colour combinations than I can feasibly keep in stock, so to offer the best choice, they’re being printed in batches to order.
