A Singaporean graphic novelist won three major comic industry prizes at the Eisner Awards. Sonny Liew won Best Writer/Artist, Best US Edition of International Material, and Best Publication Design for his book, "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye". The book is a rewrite of Singapore's history. Liew said he was surprised his book did well. He didn't expect it to get a global audience. He said he wanted people to, "get a sense of how rich our history was".
Mr Liew's book is a history of Singapore from its independence from British rule. He focused on Singapore's founding fathers and the role played by lesser-known people. He wanted to tell the official history, and "a more inclusive version". Liew was worried that his book would be unsuccessful because Singapore's National Arts Council took away a grant for it. However, this brought a lot of attention and increased sales of the book.