2007 Shuster Award nominees

Canada’s first national award recognizing outstanding achievements by Canadian creators in the creation and publication of comic books and graphic novels returns in 2007 for it’s third year: the JOE SHUSTER CANADIAN COMIC BOOK CREATOR AWARDS, named after pioneering Toronto-born artist Joe Shuster who, along with writer Jerry Siegel, created the iconic super-powered hero, Superman.

From coast to coast, Canada is home to many of the comic book industry’s top talents. The JOE SHUSTER AWARDS are a way of recognizing and celebrating the achievements of Canadian creators – past, present and future.

Winners will be announced at a public ceremony on June 9th in Toronto on the weekend of the 5th Annual Paradise Toronto Comicon.

The 2007 Joe Shuster Awards Ballot:

Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer
A Writer is someone who wrote a story that was illustrated by an artist(s). Writers who also drew their own stories are classified as Cartoonists, not writers.

___Ian Boothby for DCU Infinite Holiday Special (DC Comics), Futurama Comics 23-26, 28, Simpsons Comics 118, 119, 121, 123, Simpsons Super Spectacular 3 (Bongo Comics)
___Darwyn Cooke for Superman Confidential 1-2 (DC Comics)
___John Rogers for Blue Beetle 1-10 (DC Comics), Contributing writer for Cthulhu Tales 1, Ninja Tales 1, Pirate Tales 1 & Zombie Tales: The Dead 1 (Boom! Studios)
___Ty Templeton for Civil War: Choosing Sides (Marvel Comics), Revolution on the Planet of the Apes 2-6 (Mister Comics)
___J. Torres for Cartoon Network Block Party 22, Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi 3, Teen Titans Go! 27-38, The Batman Strikes 23 (DC Comics/Johnny DC), Ninja Scroll 1-3 (DC Comics/Wildstorm), Degrassi: The Next Generation – Extra Credit Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Pocket Books), Love As A Foreign Language 5 (Oni Press)

Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist
An Artist is someone who illustrated a story written by a writer and has worked in any medium —- such as pencil, ink, paint, collage, etc. Artists who also drew their own stories are classified as Cartoonists, not artists.
___Adrian Alphona for Runaways 12-18, 22 (Marvel Comics)
___Darwyn Cooke & J. Bone for Batman/The Spirit (DC Comics)
___Pia Guerra for Y the Last Man 43-46, 49-52 (DC/Vertigo)
___Niko Henrichon for Pride of Baghdad (DC/Vertigo)
___Stuart Immonen for Nextwave: Agents of HATE 1-11, Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual 2 (Marvel Comics)
___Cary Nord for Conan 24-25, 29-31, 33-34 (Dark Horse)
___Steve Skroce for Doc Frankenstein 3-5 (Burleyman)
___Doug Wheatley for Star Wars: Dark Times 1 (Dark Horse)

Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)
A Cartoonist is someone who wrote and illustrated their own story. If someone else wrote the work they are only eligible as Artist, if someone else drew the work they are only eligible as Writer.

___Scott Chantler for Northwest Passage 3 (Oni Press)
___Darwyn Cooke for The Spirit 1 (DC Comics)
___Michel Gagne for “Underworld”- Flight Vol. 3 (Ballantine Books)
___Johane Matte for “Hunter” – Flight Vol. 3 (Ballantine Books)
___Bryan Lee O’Malley for Scott Pilgrim Vol. 3 (Oni Press)
___Ty Templeton for Simpsons Comics 117 (Bongo)
___Jean-Louis Tripp & Regis Loisel for Magasin General Vol. 1: Marie & Vol. 2: Serge (Casterman)
___Rob Walton for Ragmop (Planet Lucy)

Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Publisher
The company should have published the work under their own company name, not under the umbrella of an American company and had the book distributed nationally and/or internationally.

___Drawn & Quarterly
___Mecanique Generale/les 400 Coups
___Mister Comics
___Planet Lucy
___Udon

Outstanding Canadian Web Comic Creator / Creative Team
Web comics, also known as online comics, are comics that are available on the Internet. They do not have to be exclusively published online, they may be published in print but must maintain a web archive for either commercial or artistic reasons and they need to have been published on the web first, before any other medium. Web comics encompass the stratum of traditional print comic book formats, tiered comic strip pages and longer form graphic novels. Also included are formats such as horizontal web comic pages, vertical layout formats, irregularly formatted pages with horizontal and/or vertical scrolling and infinite canvas’ but does not include multi-media presentations, motion graphics or flash animations. Mediums used can be traditionally drawn art, photographs, 3D Art, digital images, pixel art, clip art, found art and other conceptual web comics.

___Paul Bordeleau for Troglodytes www.troglodytes.bedeka.org
___Rob Coughler & Ramon Perez for Butternut Squash www.butternutsquash.net
___Matt Forsythe for Ojingogo www.comingupforair.net/comics/ojingogo-start.html
___Faith Erin Hicks for Ice www.realityfelon.com/Faith/ice/index.html
___Stuart & Katherine Immonen for Never As Bad As You Think www.webcomicsnation.com/killdozer/never/series.php
___Dan Kim for April May & June www.manga.clone-army.org/anm.php, Kanami www.manga.clone-army.org/kanami.php, and Penny Tribute www.manga.clone-army.org/penny.php
___Steven Charles Manale for Superslackers www.superslackers.com
___Kean Soo for Jellaby Shorts www.secretfriendsociety.com

Favourite Canadian Comic Book Creator – English Language
All fans, no matter where they are located, can nominate their favorite Canadian Comic Book Creator who had new work published in English during the previous calendar year. Please refer to the awards website for the full list of eligible creators. Please note: this will be a write-in category on the ballot. All names will be tallied and the creator with the highest votes will be selected.

Favourite Canadian Comic Book Creator – French Language
All fans, no matter where they are located, can nominate their favorite International (non-Canadian) Comic Book Creator who had new work published in French during the previous calendar year. Please refer to the awards website for the full list of eligible creators. Please note: this will be a write-in category on the ballot. All names will be tallied and the creator with the highest votes will be selected.

Outstanding International Comic Book Creator
Canadian fans can nominate their favorite International (non-Canadian) Comic Book Creator who had work published during the previous calendar year. Please note: this will be a write-in category on the ballot. All names will be tallied and the creator with the highest votes will be selected.

Harry Kremer Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Retailer
The Canadian voters will be asked to provide the name of their favourite comics retailer. A separate Retailer Award Committee will review these nominees and select a store that has shown merit in a variety of categories. Named after the late Harry Kremer, original owner of Now & Then Books (in Kitchener, Ontario)

The Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame Inductees are selected by a jury of Canadian comics historians. Inductees will be announced in April 2007.
ONLINE VOTING BEGINS MARCH 12, 2007 & FINISHES MIDNIGHT MAY 11, 2007

WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON JUNE 9, 2007 @ 8:00 PM at a ceremony held at the HOLIDAY INN, 370 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Nominating Committees are selected by the Awards Administrative committee and are newly reconstituted for each year of the awards and consist of a cross-section of comic book journalists and experts from across Canada. They can nominate any creator who had work published in a comic book, graphic novel or comics-related publication that was shipped to retailers between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year.
Nominees are selected by a two round voting process over a 7 week period. Once the list of nominees is finalized for the ballot, the ballot is made be available for public vote for two months on www.joeshusterawards.com and the creator in each respective category that receives the highest vote count from the general public will receive the Joe Shuster Award.

Canadian Fans are eligible to vote for all categories, and for the first time in 2007, non-Canadians can vote for the new categories: FAVOURITE CANADIAN COMIC BOOK CREATOR – ENGLISH LANGUAGE & FAVOURITE CANADIAN COMIC BOOK CREATOR – FRENCH LANGUAGE.

About Joe Shuster (1914 – 1992)
The Joe Shuster Awards are named in honor of the great artist, JOE SHUSTER (1914-1992), whose clear, dynamic style and inventive visual flourishes set the standard for graphic storytelling during the infancy of the North American comic book industry. It was Superman, a co-creation of Shuster and Siegel, that electrified the industry in 1938 and, almost overnight, transformed comic books into an enormous pop-cultural phenomenon.

About The Joe Shuster Awards
Founded in late 2004, the Joe Shuster Awards seek to honor Canadians who create comic books, graphic novels and web comics. All nominees in each category are for work published in the previous calendar year. The 2007 awards will be for work published in 2006. For the purposes of the JOE SHUSTER AWARDS, a Canadian is defined as a native or long-term inhabitant of Canada, or an individual who was born in Canada and now resides elsewhere (possessing either Canadian or dual citizenship).