Enter the first class of Jack & Roz Kirby Award winners!

Nate Powell, Zoe Thorogood, and John Byrne were among the seven recipients of the inaugural Jack & Roz Kirby Awards last month. The February 21 ceremony from Orlando, Florida’s Original Art Expo is now available online on OAX’s YouTube channel.

The Jack & Roz Kirby Awards are the result of a partnership between Collectors Network Holdings (owners of ComicArtFans.com), the Jack Kirby Estate, and the Jack Kirby Museum. They were first announced in October 2025 and have taken shape with an Oversight Board of the three partners, plus a sizeable Advisory Board and a Voting Council – the latter entirely composed of comics practitioners and peers (more info here). According to CEO of Collectors Network Holdings and creator of the award, Kasra Ghanbari, next year will see the expansion of the advisory board and voting committee. 

The Kirbys are a curiosity in the ever-growing world of annual comics prizes, with its seven descriptive categories focusing on the artists themselves, and representing traits and roles that the late Jack Kirby (1917-1994) embodied. 

As co-host, journalist and Advisory Board member Rob Salkowitz put it,

“We’ve got seven awards recognising creators at different stages of their artistic journey. Creators who embody those traits that we love about the best of Jack Kirby comics. That sense of innovation, that experience of discovery, that ongoing excellence, and that the awards are here to encourage those creators in their journey, wherever they are – whether they are just starting out, whether they are mature, whether they are getting their flowers after a long career – so that they can continue to bring joy into our lives through the stories that they are telling. Just as Jack and Roz did for every minute that they were here on Earth.”

The trophy was given special attention. Designed by Ghanbari, and sculpted by Carlos Soca, it is supposed to be representative of the artist’s workspace (particularly that of Jack Kirby) and to evoke the engravings of 15th century printmaker and painter Albrecht Dürer – namely, Melencolia I and Saint Jerome In His Study. 

Nate Powell was the recipient of the Independence Award, which recognises those prepared to work outside established systems, with authenticity and without fear of censorship. Powell cut his teeth in the world of underground comics and music for over a decade before turning his attention to long form works, starting with Swallow Me Whole (Top Shelf, 2008). He famously teamed up with the late civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis and, with the help of author Andrew Aydin, recounted the Civil Rights Movement in graphic novel form with the March trilogy.

On receiving the award, Powell said:

“To me comics is inseparable from the sense of creative community. Thank you for this little inclusion into what I value so deeply about this weird thing we all do together.”

He also added:

“I would like to dedicate this to my friend, my hero, my collaborator John Lewis…. As a steadfast, committed, stubborn ass man who was able to use that independent spirit to make our nation and our society genuinely better. Let’s keep it up. This is for him. Thank you.”

The Newcomer Award curiously went to Zoe Thorogood, who actually debuted with six years ago, with 2020’s The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott (Avery Hill) and leapt to global critical attention with 2022’s graphic memoir It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (Image).

Thorogood remarked on this:

“I want to take this opportunity to say that the first newcomer award I won was back in 2019, so I’ve been a newcomer for quite a while now. It’s kind of an interesting thing and I think it really shows how difficult it is to be seen in comics.”

She then pressed the point on the importance of patience, encouragement, and a willingness to be a mentor for the budding artists of today. Saying:

“I just wanted to remind all the artists who are in this room, the heroes that you look up to – you are that person now to the young people today. Young people that are coming to your table wanting to show their art, you are their hero in the same way the previous greats were to you. I just want to remind you guys that passion is so important.

“Even if a kid comes to you with an imperfect portfolio but they’re super excited about it. I was that kid once. I was told I needed to stop doing the silly cartoons, I didn’t have any talent – but I fucking love comic books. I just want to remind everybody that when those kids come to your table and they love art, and maybe they are not the greatest in the world, please give them all the encouragement and the advice you can because it’s super important. I’m just so happy I get to be that person now because I never felt like I got that as a kid.”

Bill Sienkiewicz, who won the first ever Innovator Award, was pretty humble about the title. Predominantly working on titles at the Big Two, his art changed the game for many – particularly with his experimentation with collage, photorealism, and oil paints making his time on titles like Elektra: Assassin and New Mutants in the 1980s fondly remembered classics. He said,

“I’m really particularly honoured to be chosen for the Innovator Award. ‘Innovator’ is not something I really thought of much. I always wanted to draw comics so if I had any idea of what I was doing. If they actually had an award when I started, if I had any idea what I was doing, I might have gotten one sooner but it’s like Indiana Jones, it’s making it up as I go along. Still doing that. Thank you all.”

John Romita Jr. was the recipient of the Storyteller Award. He remarked on the early heroes and mentors of his creative life.

“The three guys that I grew up on were Kirby, Buscema, and Romita Sr.

“Kirby once asked me how many pages I was doing a day, and I laughed ‘A day?!’. I said ‘One a day, sir’. ‘Throw away your effing eraser, you little shit’ is what he said because he was doing seven pages a day. That was the work ethic I loved from those guys.

“But the genius of Kirby, Wally Wood, Frank Frazetta, John Romita Snr, John Buscema, it’s a damning thing and its an energising thing. You realise you’re never going to be that good, but then again it gives you a goal post to try and reach for, and it will either kill you or make you better. I’m still reaching…Thank you very much.”

Three other awardees were deeply reverential of the life and legacy of Jack Kirby, and the award being in his (and Roz’s) name.

Visionary Awardee and beloved artist for many pros Kevin Nowlan said:

“I’m especially honoured because of it being called the Jack and Roz Kirby Award. Jack was a giant, as we all know. I never met him but I heard all the stories about what a sweet, open man he was, also the fact that with a number 2 pencil and a piece of paper he could just dazzle us, and continues to dazzle us with the work he did. I’m both humbled and very honoured, and I’m very grateful. Thank you all.”

John Byrne who received the first of the two Legacy (career achievement) Kirby Awards, the Creator, wasn’t present but his representative said,

“I know what this means to [John]. I know what Jack Kirby means to him and I think we all do. John has spent his entire career honouring Jack, trying to work on every one of the properties and characters that Jack created that he could. He’s been a Jack fan since he started reading comics. The first comic he ever read was Fantastic Four #5, and he said it just imprinted on him and that was it. That was the top for him and so he spent his entire career trying to honor Jack and to do Jack’s legacy proud.”

Walter Simonson, who received the Teacher Legacy Kirby Award was mildly bemused about the title, but equally spoke about the importance of Jack Kirby to his lengthy career:

“Jack Kirby is one of the principal reasons I’m in comics today. I discovered a Marvel comic in a friend’s dorm room my freshman year in college…I loved Jack’s work from the beginning. I thought it was amazing. I loved his energy. I loved the inventiveness. I loved the characterisation. You hear about his energy and that stuff alot. You don’t so often hear about, for example, his acting and the acting of his characters is magnificent…It was the kind of thing that Jack brought. He just brought the entire slew of visual language into comics in a way that was astounding. I don’t pretend to be that guy, but I have tried to emulate Jack’s action and his storytelling to the best of my ability. I’m incredibly grateful for this award. I am humble about it. I still question the ‘teacher’ but I’ll take it. Thank you very much.”