Ho Che Anderson and Denis Rodier have been inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Hall of Fame in the latest group of announcements from the 2021 Joe Shuster Awards. Additionally, the late William Paul was posthumously honored with this year’s community TM Maple Award; and the nominees for the Gene Day Self-Published Comic Award were announced.
The 2021 Joe Shuster Awards Canadian Comic Book Hall of Fame inductees were paid tribute on the Award’s website.
Ho Che Anderson:
Ho Che Anderson was born London, UK, but moved to Canada with his family when he was five years old. He was named after the Vietnamese and Cuban revolutionaries Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara. He has become one of the most prominent artists of black American comix, and is affiliated with Fantagraphics Books. Ho Che Anderson authored the impressive comix biography ‘King” on Martin Luther King, and the erotic ‘I Want to be your Dog‘ in 1996. He co-produced the grungy subculture series ‘Pop Life‘ (1998) in collaboration with fellow artist Wilfred Santiago.
Denis Rodier:
Denis Rodier has worked on such world famous characters as Batman, Captain America and Wonder Woman, to name but a few. It was his stellar work on SUPERMAN, however, that garnered Rodier his greatest acclaim, especially on the award winning ”Death of Superman” story arc, to this day, still considered the best seller in the comic book / trade-paperback category.
Since 2008, Denis has mainly worked with European publishers. His first offering is L’Ordre des Dragons books with writer Jean-Luc Istin for SOLEIL/DELCOURTwith its follow up, L’Apogée des Dragons, this time with Éric Corbeyran as a collaborator.
After finishing a LENIN biography for GLÉNAT, Denis completes Maelstrom (now called Arale and published by DARGAUD) with the help of writer Tristan Roulot. La Bombe (Glénat), a 450 pages documentary graphic novel about the making of the A bomb, was published in 2020 with writers Didier Alcante and Laurent-Frédéric Bollée. Télérama hails it as a reference on the subject and the book after being reprinted many times is due to be translated into other languages.
His work has been exhibited in New York, Rome, Belgium, Trois-Rivières and the Québec Museum of Art.
The TM Maple Award honors non-retailers and comics professionals who play a role in the wider Canadian comics community. This year’s recipient is William “Bill” Paul (1955-2021).
According to the Shuster Awards,
Best remembered as London, Ontario’s Town Crier, or for calling people on their birthdays singing Happy Birthday, but the late Bill Paul was an active member of comics fandom in southern and south western Ontario and was also involved in the Joe Shuster Awards in our earliest years.
A devoted comics fan, Bill had a respected fanzine called Media Five in the early 1970’s. He also published a comic called “Andromeda”, hosted a comics convention at the University of Western Ontario, had a weekly radio show that ran for decades called Straight Talk where he interviewed many SF and comic book authors and creators.
Paul also created and ran a group called the Laffguards that ran security many comic book and science fiction conventions. The Laffguards expanded to provide security at all kinds of London, ON based community events and continue to this day.
The nominees for the Gene Day Award for Canadian self-published comics released in 2020 are:
- The Gathering Place #2 by Nelson Caetano (Junction Comics Group)
- Hall of the Turnip King by Brenda Hickey (PegaMoose Press)
- Commander Rao by Fell Hound (Fell Hound)
- Angora Napkin “The Golden McGuffin” by Troy Little (PegaMoose Press)
- Group of 7: A Most Secret Tale by Chris Sanagan and Jason Lapidus (Group of 7 Comics)
- Dwellings #1 by Jay Stephens (Black Eye Books)
- Sokos #1 by Rhett Stevenson and Harriett Cornes (Living Skies Comics)
- The Last Band on Earth #1 by Elaine M. Will (Cuckoo’s Nest Press)
- The Heir by RB White (RB White)
More nominee announcements still to come.
