Our friendly neighbors to the north (or southeast, as it might be for Alaskans like myself) are home to one of the richest collections of writers, artists and cartoonists in the world, with huge comic talents dotting Canada from coast to coast. To celebrate that talent, the Joe Shuster Awards exist, and every year, they highlight an incredible list of creators.
This year is no different, as the 2014 nominees are no out, and as per usual, it features many creators we’re thrilled to see get the spotlight, like Faith Erin Hicks, Ed Brisson, Caanan Grall, Ryan North, and many more. The picks were made based off of works created in 2013, and all winners must be Canadian citizens (they don’t necessarily have to live in Canada currently). I think what you’ll find below is an incredible assemblage of talent, and congrats to all the nominees. It’s well deserved, and for those we aren’t familiar with, these nominations give us a hell of a reading list to tackle.
The nominations, straight from the Shuster Awards site, are below.
Writer / Scénariste
- Ed Brisson – Sheltered, Comeback, Dia De La Muertos (Image), Secret Avengers (Marvel)
- Maryse Dubuc avec Marc Delafontaine – Les Nombrils T.06 : Un été trop mortel (Dupuis)
- Ray Fawkes – Batgirl, Constantine, Justice League Dark, Legends of the Dark Knight, Trinity of Sin: Pandora, Young Romance (DC Comics), American Vampire Anthology, Time Warp (DC/Vertigo) Creepy (Dark Horse), Pathfinder: Goblins (Dynamite)
- Jeff Lemire – Adventures of Superman, Animal Man, Constantine, Green Arrow, Justice League of America, Justice League Dark (DC Comics), Time Warp (DC/Vertigo)
- Ryan North – Adventure Time, Midas Flesh (Boom!)
- Ami Vaillencourt – Kissinger & nous T.01, Charlebois & l’Osstidgang (Glénat Québec)
- Kurtis Wiebe – Rat Queens, Peter Panzerfaust, Dia De La Muertos (Image)
Cartoonist / Auteur
- Darwyn Cooke – Richard Stark’s Parker: Slayground (IDW)
- Ray Fawkes – The Spectral Engine (McClelland & Stewart)
- Real Godbout – Amérique ou le disparu (La Pastèque)
- Jeff Lemire – Trillium (DC/Vertigo)
- Francis Manapul – The Flash (with Brian Buccelato, USA) (DC Comics)
- Joe Ollmann – Science Fiction (Conundrum Press)
- Zviane – les Deuxièmes (Pow Pow)
Artist / Dessinateur
- Nick Bradshaw – Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics)
- Delaf – Les Nombrils 06 : Un été trop mortel (Dupuis)
- Djief – Le crépuscule des Dieux T.07: Grand hiver (Soleil)
- Jason Fabok – Detective Comics (DC Comics)
- Stuart Immonen – All-New X-Men, X-Men: Battle for the Atom (Marvel Comics)
- Julie Rocheleau – Colère de Fantômas T.01: Les bois de justice (Dargaud)
- Fiona Staples – Saga (Image)
- Chip Zdarsky – Sex Criminals (Image)
Cover Artist / Dessinateur Couvertures
- Kalman Andrasofszky
- Nick Bradshaw
- Mike Del Mundo
- Djief
- Ken Lashley
- Julie Rocheleau
- Michael Walsh
Webcomics Creator / Créateur de Bandes Dessinées Web
- Attila Adorjany – Metaphysical Neuroma
- Jayd Aït-Kaci (with Christina Strain) – The Fox Sister
- Olivier Carpentier and Gautier Langevin – Far Out
- Emily Carroll – The Three Snake Leaves, Grave of the Lizard Queen, Out of Skin
- Kadi Fedoruk – Blindsprings
- Canaan Grall – Max Overacts
- Dakota McFadzean – The Dailies and Chilbleans</li>
- Ty Templeton – Bun Toons
The Dragon Award (Comics for Kids) / Le Prix Dragon (Bandes Dessinées pour Enfants)
This award recognizes the works which capture the attention and fascination of young readers, and help to create a passion for life-long reading. Works considered for this award are comic books and graphic novels by Canadian creators that are targeted at readers 14 and under. Nominees for this award are selected from the eligible creators lists by a team of educators led by Jennifer Haines, MA, B.Ed., who is also the proprietor of Guelph, Ontario’s The Dragon comic book shop.
- The Advenures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks (Dark Horse)
- L’Agent Jean tomes 4 et 5 by Alex A. (Presses Aventure)
- Bigfoot Boy Vol.2 by J. Torres and Faith Erin Hicks (Kids Can Press)
- Couette tomes 2 et 3 by (Severin Gauthier) and Minikim (Dargaud)
- Guiby tome 1 by Sampar (Michel Quintin)
- Hocus Pocus Takes the Train by Sylvie Desrosiers and Remy Simard (Kids Can Press)
- Odd Duck by Cecil Castelucci and (Sara Varon) (First Second) Continued below
- Spera Vol.2 by Josh Tierney and Kyla Vanderklugt (with various non-Canadian artists) (Archaia)
Gene Day Award (Self-Publishers) / Prix Gene Day (Auto-éditeurs)
Named after the late Howard Eugene Day (1951-1982), this award honours Canadian comic book creators or creative teams who self-published their work but did not have the books distributed by a third party such as Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. The nominees were selected from over 40 individual publications submitted for review before the deadline of May 12th, 2014.The winner receives an additional bursary.
- Jordyn Bochon – The Terrible Death of Finnegan Strappe: The Claw of the Earth #2
- Antonin Buisson – garder le rythme
- Stephen Burger – Talk!
- James Edward Clark – Evil Issue 2
- Cloudscape Comics Collective – Waterlogged: Tales from the Seventh Sea
- Steven Gilbert – The Journal of the Main Street Secret Lodge
- Mike Myhre – Barbaric Sword of Savagery
- Diana Tamblyn – Gerald Bull and the Supergun Vol. 1
Harry Kremer Award (Retailers) / Prix Harry Kremer (Détaillants)
HARRY-KREMER-portrait-Paul-Named after the late Harry Kremer, original owner of Now & Then Books (in Kitchener, Ontario). The CCBCAA maintains a list of active comic book stores and a database of recommendations, referrals and secret shopper reports. A separate Retailer Award Committee overseen by Scott VanderPloeg and Anthony Falcone reviews the data and selects a short list of stores that have shown merit in a variety of categories.
- Amazing Stories (Saskatoon, SK)
- Another Dimension (Calgary, AB)
- The Comic Hunter (Moncton, NB)
- Imaginaire (Quebec City, QC)
- Comic Readers (Regina, SK)
- The Comic Shop (Vancouver, BC)
- Paradise Comics (Toronto, ON)
- Conspiracy Comics (Burlington, ON)
- Timemasters (St. John’s, NL)
- Stuff 2 Do Toys & Games (Iqaluit, NU)
This list will reduced from ten (10) to five (5) in July 2014.
Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame / Temple de la renommée Créateur Canadien de Bandes Dessinées
Inductees will be announced in July 2014.
About The Joe Shuster Awards
Established in 2004, The Joe Shuster Awards are Canada’s first national and bilingual award recognizing outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics. The awards are named after pioneering Toronto-born artist Joe Shuster who, along with writer Jerry Siegel, created the iconic super-powered hero, Superman. The name is used with the approval of the Estate of Joe Shuster – Michael Catron, Estate Agent.
For more information please contact Awards Director Kevin A. Boyd at kevin@joeshusterawards.com
