Media Release -- Saturday, August 24 at the Art Gallery of Ontario's Jackman Hall, the 9th annual Joe Shuster Awards were presented at a gala ceremony hosted by the Toronto Star's ROB SALEM and Cartoonist TY TEMPLETON. The results are:
Artist / Dessinateur
Isabelle Arsenault - Jane, le renard & moi (La Pastèque) / Jane, The Fox and Me (Groundwood Books)
Isabelle Arsenault is a very talented Quebec illustrator who has won an impressive number of awards and has achieved international recognition. She has illustrated Migrant by Maxine Trottier, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a finalist for the Governor General's Award; Virginia Wolf by Ko Maclear, winner of the Governor General's Award; Le coeur de monsieur Gauguin by Marie-Danielle Croteau, winner of the Governor General's Award; and My Letter to the World and Other Poems by Emily Dickinson, a finalist for the Governor General's Award. She has also illustrated Once Upon a Northern Night by Jean Pendziwol and Jane, le renard & moi by Fanny Britt, published by La Pastèque and forthcoming from Groundwood Books in September 2013. Isabelle has won the Grand Prix for illustration (Magazines du Québec) for six years running. She lives with her family in Montreal.
Cartoonist / Auteur
Jeff Lemire – Sweet Tooth #29-40 (DC Comics), The Underwater Welder (Top Shelf)
Jeff Lemire is the multiple award-winning cartoonist of the ESSEX COUNTY TRILOGY, LOST DOGS, THE NOBODY and SWEET TOOTH graphic novels. With the conclusion of Sweet Tooth he is now working on a new series TRILLIUM for DC/Vertigo. He also writes GREEN ARROW, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and ANIMAL MAN for DC COMICS.
Cover Artist / Dessinateur Couvertures
Mike Del Mundo – A+X #2B, Amazing Spider-Man #678-679, 683B, Incredible Hulk #4B, Ka by Cirque de Soleil #1, Marvel Zombies Destroy! #1-5, Max Payne 3 #3, New Avengers #24B, Scarlet Spider #1B, 4B, Uncanny X-Men #17, Untold Tales of Punisher Max #5, Venom #16-17, 20, 22B, Wolverine #314-317, X-Men Legacy #1-2 (Marvel Comics)
Mike Del Mundo, mainly does pretty covers for Marvel Comics and dabbles in interiors once in a while. He also does illustration and design work for advertising and editorial and was nominated for a Joe Shuster Award in 2011. Currently, he is gracing the covers of the X-Men Legacy revamp and Deadpool Kills Deadpool for Marvel NOW!
Writer / Scénariste
Fanny Britt - Jane, le renard & moi (La Pastèque) / Jane, The Fox and Me (Groundwood Books)
Fanny Britt is a Quebec playwright, author and translator. She has written a dozen plays (among them Honey Pie, Hôtel Pacifique and Bienveillance) and translated more than fifteen. She has also written and translated several other works of literature. Jane, le renard & moi is her first graphic novel.
Webcomics Creator / Créateur de Bandes Dessinées Web
Michael DeForge (Cartoonist /Auteur) - Ant Comic
Michael DeForge was born in 1987 and grew up in Ottawa and lives in Toronto, Ontario. In the few short years since he began his pamphlet-size comic book series Lose for Koyama Press, Michael DeForge has announced himself as an important new voice in alternative comics. His semi-weekly webcomic Ant Comics, which began in the fall of 2011, will be adapted into graphic novel format as Ant Colony, to be published by Montreal publisher Drawn and Quarterly in early 2014.
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.
Cat's Cradle Volume 1: The Golden Twine (Kids Can Press) – Jo Rioux (Cartoonist /Auteur)
To most, Suri is just an orphan in a traveling caravan. But Suri is determined to prove she has the mettle of a monster tamer. When she unknowingly takes something valuable from a caitsith — a cat monster — she will have to quickly harness her powers … if she even has them! Jo Rioux has also illistrated the popular Sam & Friends Mysteries graphic novels for Kids Can Press, and her love for the graphic novel medium led her to start writing her own series, Cat's Cradle, which started in 2012. When she is not at her drawing desk, Jo can be found nestled in a pile of books. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario.
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 16th, 2013. The award winner will also receive a bursary of $500.
Cory McCallum, Matthew Daley - The Pig Sleep: A Mr. Monitor Casepig sleep
Harry Kremer Award (Retailers) / Prix Harry Kremer (Détaillants)
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 reviews the data and selects a short list of stores that have shown merit in a variety of categories such as:
Support of a wide variety of innovative material
Overall appeal of the store and usage of space,
Knowledge,
Community activity,
Adherence to standard ethical business practices
Have been open for at least 3 years.
Heroes – London, ONheroes
Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame / Temple de la renommée Créateur Canadien de Bandes Dessinées
Three creators were added in 2013:
Vernon Miller (1912-1974)
Co-founder of British Columbia's Maple Leaf Publishing in 1941, one of the four principal publishers of comic books in Canada during World War 2 and the years shortly after under the protection of the War Exchange Conservation Act. Maple Leaf's first foray into publishing, Better Comics #1 (March 1941) is generally agreed to be the first original Canadian comic book because it featured new material almost exclusively created by Miller. Better Comics #1 was also the debut of Miller's original superhero, the first Canadian superhero — The Iron Man (in full colour! Predating Marvel's similarly named character by 22 years). Better Comics also included Earth Torpedo, Tiger Tex the Cowboy Detective, Roaring Rails, and The Hidden Passage with illustrator F.P. Thursby. Miller, who addressed his young readers as "Uncle Verne", also produced Mystery Mountain for Rocket Comics. Miller went on to a career as a cartoonist for Vancouver newspapers, and also did illustrations for Canadian Boy Magazine in the 1960s.
Murray Karn (1924-)
Karn worked primarily for Bell Features (ON) in the 1940s, working on titles such as Active Comics and Wow Comics illustrating strips such as Thunderfist (aka Randy Steele) and Jeff Waring as well as some narrative short features for many of the different Bell titles. Karn also produced covers for Bell, most notably on early Active Comics. Karn's precise line work and illustrative quality gave his strips a realism that stood out from the more expressive brushwork of his fellow Bell artists. After the war, Karn relocated to the United States and worked in advertising, and became a member of the Southampton Artists Association.
Arn Saba (Katherine Collins) (1947-)
Canadian (BC) cartoonist, writer, historian, stage performer, composer and media personality. Creator of Neil the Horse in 1975, published initially in Canadian newspapers for Great Lakes Publishing, and later jumped to comic books (Aardvark-Vanaheim/Renegade Press). Neil was the first all-singing, all-dancing musical comic book, with sheet music included. In 1979, wrote and produced a 5-part documentary series for CBC radio entitled the Continuous Art exploring the cultural impact of comics, featuring interviews with many renowned cartoonists (many of which were published in the Comics Journal). Retired from comics in 1991 after Neil the Horse's last appearance in Fantagraphics' Critters #6, although an unpublished Neil the Horse graphic novel is said to exist.
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 contact info@joeshusterawards.com
http://www.joeshusterawards.com
