More great Canadian cartoonists were honored Saturday, with the presentation of this year’s Joe Shuster Awards at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo with hosts Ajay Fry and Teddy Wilson. The awards recognize outstanding achievements of Canadian comic book creators, publishers and retailers. And the winners are:
Outstanding Comic Book Artist / Dessinateur Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées
Francis Manapul — Adventure Comics #6, The Flash #1-6, Superman/Batman #75 (DC Comics)
Outstanding Comic Book Cartoonist / Créateur Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées
Tin Can Forest (aka Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek) — Baba Yaga and the Wolf (Koyama Press)
Outstanding Comic Book Colourist /Coloriste Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées
Julie Rocheleau — La fille invisible (Glénat Québec)
Outstanding Comic Book Cover Artist / Dessinateur Couvertures Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées
Fiona Staples — Mystery Society #1-5 (IDW), DV8: Gods and Monsters #1-8 (DC/Wildstorm), Superman/Batman #79 (DC Comics), Acts of Violence: An Anthology of Crime Comics (New Reliable Press), Magus #1 (12 Gauge Comics)
Outstanding Comic Book Publisher / Éditeur Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées
Koyama Press
Outstanding Web Comics Creator /Créateur Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées Web
Emily Carroll — His Face All Red, Dream Journals, The Death of José Arcadio, Out the Door, The Hare’s Bride
Outstanding Comic Book Writer(s) / Écrivain(s) Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées
Émilie Villeneuve – La fille invisible (Glénat Québec)
Comics for Kids / Bandes Dessinées pour Enfants
Three Thieves Book 1: Tower Of Treasure by Scott Chantler (Kids Can Press)
The Gene Day Award for Self-Publishers / Le Prix Gene Day pour Éditeurs Direct de Bandes Dessinées
John Martz – Heaven All Day
The Harry Kremer Award for Outstanding Comic Book Retailer /Le Prix de Harry Kremer pour Détaillant Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées
Planète Bd (Montreal, QC)
Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame / Temple de la renommée Créateur Canadien de Bandes Dessinées
Chester Brown (1960-)
Todd McFarlane (1961-)
There’s much more about the winners and the criterion for selection at the official website. At the very least, the twin inductions of McFarlane and Brown give Canadian comics their alpha and omega in one handy moment.
I think it’s very cool that, during the recent discussions over gender representation in the comics industry that the juries (unintentionally) achieved gender parity with the 2011 Joe Shuster Award winners: Julie Rocheleau (colorist), Emilie Villeneuve (writer), Emily Carroll (webcomics), Fiona Staples (cover artist) and Annie Koyama’s Koyama Press (publisher) account for exactly one half of the award winners handed out on Saturday evening.
Shuster Awards… did they vote with their underwear INside their pants or OUTside of their pants…
Congratulations to all the winners.
Why is this the first I’m hearing about Koyama press? I know The Beat tends to lag behind when it comes to the small print stuff (though it’s usually better than a lot of the comic sites out there), but this publisher seems to have come out of nowhere to me.
Hey Kevin,
Don’t forget that Pat Shewchuk ( the better half of Tin Can Forest ) also contributed to this gender parity.