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CXC 2025: Burns, Feazell, Murakami & Plant Receive Top Honors

Originally posted on Total Apex Entertainment
By Alicia Fournier | Last updated Sep 25, 2025 7:55 PM ET

In a thrilling night for comics lovers, the Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC 2025) awards ceremony lit up Columbus, Ohio, with heartfelt tributes and well-deserved accolades. Four trailblazing figures—Charles Burns, Matt Feazell, Gigi Murakami, and Bud Plant—stood in the spotlight, each honored for their unique contributions to the art of cartooning and comics culture. From experimental surrealism to stick-figure minimalism, their work spans the gamut of what comics can be.

CXC 2025 Master Cartoonist: Charles Burns

Charles Burns, whose name is virtually synonymous with boundary-pushing graphic novels, was awarded the Master Cartoonist prize. His breakthrough series Black Hole remains a touchstone of body horror and coming-of-age storytelling, and more recently, he released Final Cut (serially as Dédales) and Kommix, an inventive showcase of entirely invented comic titles. In a statement with Comics Beat from CXC, “Charles has created masterful comics and illustrations for over forty years, developing with the evolving media and producing art that has spoken to generations of artists.”

Emerging Talent: Gigi Murakami

The Emerging Talent award went to American mangaka Gigi Murakami, whose voice fuses horror, alternative sensibilities, and Japanese nerd and genre culture. Already nominated for Harvey and Ignatz Awards, Murakami’s work includes the Viz Originals one-shot Resenter and contributions to The Sinister Sisters and Other Terrifying Tales. Drawing on cross-cultural influences, Murakami is widely viewed as part of the future of global manga and hybrid cartooning. In a statement with Comics Beat from CXC, “Murakami’s work expanding the medium and working within the evolving global manga scene represents the evolution of modern understandings of cartooning and the face of the future”.

Transformative Work: Matt Feazell

“The Amazing Cynicalman #1” by Matt Feazell, Courtesy of Matt Feazell

Matt Feazell received the Transformative Work award for his enduring stick-figure superhero series The Amazing Cynicalman. Though deceptively simple in form, the comic’s longevity—running since 1980—and consistent voice have earned it respect across the indie and alt-comics community. CXC praised it on Comics Beat as “not only a masterful understanding of the craft but also the consistency and dedication that typifies indie cartooning demonstrating a marked impact on Cartoon art.”

Tom Spurgeon Award (Non-Cartoonist): Bud Plant

Honoring contributions beyond the pen and ink, the Tom Spurgeon Award went this year to comics distributor and retailer Bud Plant. A fixture of underground comix and the direct market era, Plant’s newsletters, catalogs, and shops have helped sustain comics culture for decades. CXC lauded him on Comics Beat, saying, “From the earliest days of the undergrounds, Plant has been a purveyor of the cool and interesting defining comics culture for decades with his pioneering comic shop, newsletters, and catalogs that allowed him to constantly engage the best of comics.”

Final Thoughts on CXC

Since its founding in 2015, CXC 2025 has awarded creators across three key categories: Master Cartoonist, Emerging Talent, and Transformative Work. In 2021, the Tom Spurgeon Award was added to recognize non-cartoonists whose work supports the comics ecosystem. With CXC 2025, that tradition continues to celebrate luminaries who both create and sustain the art form, underscoring how comics are not merely a product, but a living, interwoven culture of artists, distributors, readers, and industry.

This article first appeared on Total Apex Entertainment and was syndicated with permission.

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