Ty Templeton is a Canadian creator that needs no introduction… yet here he is getting one! Ty has been a force in comics for almost three decades. He’s also a comic book guru instructing the next generation of comics creators on how to look at what the medium has to offer. On June 5th, Ty was called upon to present the award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book / Graphic Novel Cartoonist. We’ve done our able best to transcribe his presentation from that evening for your reading pleasure:

Ty Templeton presents the award for Outstanding Cartoonist

Ty Templeton:

I was asked to present this award, I think, early this morning. They told me – don’t worry, they’ll write something for me to say. And I’m going to read for you what they wrote for me – this is wonderful. They wrote: What is a Cartoonist? . And they wrote under that: Ty Answers.

(Ye editor’s note: this is absolutely true!)

So that’s what I’m going to do

Basically, we’re living in a world where deadlines suggest that we have to we have to collaborate with other people. That we have to use the craft and intelligence and the oversight of another collaborator to create great comics. The thing that we know first and foremost about cartoonists is that they don’t get along with anybody – because they’re not willing to work with other cartoonists.  And basically that means they have no social skills at all. They spend all of their time in a basement studio or in the attic, because we do not work on the ground floor! And, eventually, our abilities to interact with other people atrophies so badly where we’re sort of forced into cartooning because it’s either that or Una-bombing. I can’t speak about the rest, but I’m not good with wiring. So, I’m assuming that is why these people became cartoonists, because it was either that or just killing people through the mail.

What makes a cartoonist interesting is that very thing – that they do not collaborate – they write it and draw it together.  There is no one around to say “don’t do that”, “that’s a little too rough-edged”, “that’s too kooky”, or “that’s too weird”.  And so as a result, you get stuff that is unlike any other forms of comics, because these are being created by people don’t have someone looking over their shoulder, and don’t want someone there. These artists don’t want your help; they know what they’re doing. And as a result, you get stuff that is either spectacularly awful or spectacularly interesting.  But in every case, what you get is singular and unique because there is nobody pitching in to soften or to round off the edges. I’m going to read you the name of the winner – because they did give me that!

I was told that this was the most difficult choice they had to make all year – two of the members of the panel were killed in the arguing! But the winner they did come up with was Michel Rabagliati for Paul tome 6: Paul à Québec.

I’ve been asked to read a few of the things that the still-surviving members of the jury wrote about Michel’s work:

Eric Bouchard - Rabagliati has never been so fully in possession of his graphic storytelling abilities — he pushes himself and succeed with plenty of graphic tricks, and knows how to drive a reader and push the right buttons. This is a superb drama which conveys to you a broad gamut of feelings.

Patrick Berube - With this sixth volume, I really do feel like the cartoonist is at the top of his game. I really thought that it would be hard for him to do something better than Paul Goes Fishing but I think he did it. The story does not stray as it did in previous volumes and he cleverly uses the passing of time to strengthen the pacing of the plot. I really believe that stories with universal appeal often take place in settings local or dear to the author (which is the case here). As for the visuals, he uses realistic backgrounds coupled with slightly more cartoony characters to great effect. I think it makes the strong story of family relationships in the face of tragedy even more engaging than it already is.

Dr. Bart Beatty – Rabagliati has been the most consistently impressive cartoonist in Canada over the past decade and this is, by far, his best book. It is completely confident and self-assured. I think that this is the one that moves him into the top rank of cartoonists in the world today

That’s pretty high praise, and I think he deserves it. Congratulations Michel!

The award was accepted on Michel’s behalf by Ethan Rilly, winner of the Gene Day Award earlier in the evening.

Ethan Rilly: I think that Michel Rabagliati is a grand slam. He is a masterful storyteller. He has this beautiful, clear visual style, and he has economic and expressive brush lines. Also, his Paul books are bursting with earnestness and humour and charm and wit. I am looking forward to bringing this back to Montreal to give to Michel. I’m sure that if Michel were here he would give a very sincere thanks to his excellent Quebec-based publisher La Pastèque, and to the Joe Shuster Awards nominating committee and the jury that selected him… Thank you.

Michel Rabagliati and the original cover art - from Le Soleil.

Like many kids in North America, Michel Rabagliati grew up reading comic books, but since he was born in 1961 in Montreal, instead of reading The Hulk or Superman, he was immersed in all the major comic albums being published in Belgium and France: Tintin, Spirou, Gaston, and of course Asterix, among others. Rabagliati faithfully subscribed to all the European comics magazines, and he would copy his favorite artists, writing and drawing his own comic strips and quickly forgetting them in a drawer. By the mid 1970s his interests turned toward graphic design and after studying this and typography, he became a graphic designer and commercial illustrator in 1982. His illustrations have since appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Utne Reader, The Advocate, The National Post, Maclean’s and Canadian Business.

Nearly a decade later in 1990, Rabagliati was asked to design a logo for the new comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly and he encountered a whole new world of comics publishing in English. Interested in comics again, he began seeking out comics in French and English and it wasn’t long before he was writing and drawing his own comics again. In 1999, at 36, Rabagliati had his first comic book published by the Montreal publisher La Pastèque, which was translated the following year as Paul in the Country by D+Q, earning him a Harvey Award for Best New Talent. In 2003, D+Q published the English translation of Michel’s first full-length original graphic novel, Paul Has A Summer Job, followed by Paul Moves Out (2005), and Paul Goes Fishing (2008).

Michel Rabagliati lives in Montreal with his partner and daughter.

Biography – Drawn+Quarterly

Robin Fisher participated in both the Story and Art juries this year, and she returned later in the evening to present the Outstanding Writer Award.

Robin Fisher has been living, eating, sleeping and breathing comics for the past 10 years.  She’s worked in comic book stores, she’s written for The Comics Journal, she’s attended comic conventions all along the West Coast and interviewed many comic creators as the host of The Onamatopoeia Show which runs every Sunday afternoon from 3-4 from Montreal on 1690AM CJLO. This is Robin’s second time serving on the Joe Shuster Awards jury.

Robin Fisher:

There were a lot of nominees this year, and the writing styles were very, very different.

You’ll have to forgive me in advance, as my discussion of the Outstanding Writer for 2010 and the book the writer is winning for is completely focused on my personal experiences with this book and appreciation for this author. This definitely was a jury decision, and we had a lot of interesting books and comics to read this year. As we began to discuss the nominees we quickly narrowed down our choices to two specific writers, both of whom were working in very distinct and different comics traditions.

Robin Fisher presenting the Outstanding Writer Award.

I’m an Anglophone. I moved to Montreal four years ago. While the culture, events and history of the region is all very  interesting to me, the thing that I was most excited about moving there was, because I’m a comics fan and commentator — to experience Quebec’s BD scene. Vancouver has a very small comics scene — and it is a wonderful scene, I’m not criticizing — but it’s that Montreal and the rest of Quebec have a completely different approach to comics in their daily lives – in the way that they treat, love and appreciate them.

One of the first reminders that I had entered a different world was when I noticed a Les Nombrils hardcover for sale at my local grocery store. FYI, Maryse Dubuc has been selected as the Outstanding Writer for 2010 for Les Nombrils, tome 4 – Duel de belles (Dupuis), just so you know!

Les Nombrils = The Bellybuttons

I immediately snapped it up. Initially, it was hard reading, because it was in French, but there was a lot that I did understand, because I can read French much more easily than I can speak it.  I found it an immensely enjoyable read. The things that I liked about it, and the reason that I believe it was nominated – was that not only could I understand it, but the premise was very straight-forward and accessible.

The main characters are – Karine, she’s the tall one – called the Asparagus, or the Wet Noodle by her two ‘friends’ – I use the term loosely – whose names are Jenny and Vickie – I call them “the Nasties”. Even though they’re friends, they keep Karine around to make themselves look better, and they don’t treat her well at all!

I adore these characters, but there were so many times that upon reading what Jenny and Vickie were doing to Karine, and I felt like yelling “those bitches!”. I really fell for Karine – she’s so heartfelt, and so pure and sweet. Even though these nasty girls did all those things to her, she still remain their steadfast friend.

Admittedly, this is a very “girly” comic – it’s full of romance, CEGEP drama (Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel, which is literally translated as “College of General and Vocational Education” but commonly called “General and Vocational College”), boys and fashion. As a girl, this appealed to me.

But there is so much more to it than that. It reminded me of “Mad” magazines with its hidden visual gags. The Noodle’s ex-boyfriend gives her a statue he found in Africa that looks like her. The arms are posed in a certain way. Karine gets upset, of course, because her ex is now with somebody else. She accidentally breaks the statue. The next time you see the statue, it is posed appropriately! All these little gags that Maryse Dubuc put in, makes the story that much more appealing. It is possible to appreciate the books in the format of one-page gag panels. But, if you read all four books, all together, there is an immense payoff at the end of this fourth book, which is the one that Maryse Dubuc is winning the award for!

I cried at the end of Book Four. I read that book five times! The ending  just really did it for me. After all the nasty things that happen to her, Karine has stayed true to her friends and her character. But by the end of book four, Karine has a boyfriend, and she’s changed her whole style and her character has transitioned right before our eyes. As a woman, it was really, really exciting to see that.

So, let’s recap!

It’s clever, it’s funny, the characters evolve, and they are far from two-dimensional. They’re the sort of people that are easy to relate to. Maryse has an excellent knack for teen dialogue, as well in finding the humour in the simplest situations. I always found something new, every time I re-read it. Again, this is a very involving story. Lastly, the fantastic art by Marc Delafontaine didn’t hurt either!

Delaf and Dubuc surrounded by Les Nombrils

So, in my mind, Les Nombrils also deserves more than just Outstanding Comic Book Writing – it will always be the comic that made me fall in love with Montreal.

Congratulations Maryse… and thanks!

Maryse Dubuc (1977-)

Avec une enfance et une adolescence bien occupées, à partager son temps entre lecture et concours d’orthographe, entre natation, patinage artistique et volley-ball, qu’elle pratique au niveau Excellence, Maryse Dubuc est une superactive. Côté études, elle obtient un DEC en Lettres françaises au Cégep de Sherbrooke, puis s’installe quelques temps à Montréal, où elle étudie la communication à l’UQAM. En 2002, elle publie chez Modulo Editeur quatorze livrets de lecture mettant en scène un petit extra-terrestre appelé Lexibul. C’est alors qu’elle se lance dans le livre jeunesse en publiant notamment ‘La Fille parfaite’ en 2003. D’autres ouvrages suivront, parmi lesquels ‘Le Gâteau gobe-chagrin’ et ‘Ma Voisine est une vedette’ en 2004. Elle est également scénariste de Bande dessinée aux côtés de son compagnon Marc Delafontaine, dit Delaf, avec lequel elle réalise la série ‘Les Nombrils’, qui paraît dans le magazine canadien ‘Safarir’ et dont le premier tome est sorti en album sous le titre ‘Pour qui tu te prends ?’ en 2006. Maryse Dubuc est membre de l’Association des écrivains québécois pour la jeunesse et de l’Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois.

As a child and adolescent she divided her time between reading and spelling competitions and swimming, figure skating and volleyball, which she still practices at – Maryse Dubuc is superactive. She obtained a diploma in French literature at the Cégep de Sherbrooke, then settled for a while in Montreal – studying communications at UQAM. In 2002, she had fourteen books published by Modulo that starred a little alien called Lexibul. Then she moved to writing children’s books with the title ‘La Fille parfaite’ (‘The Perfect Girl’) in 2003. Other books followed, including ‘Le Gâteau gobe-chagrin’ and ‘Ma Voisine est une vedette’ in 2004. Along with her companion, cartoonist Marc Delafontaine aka  Delaf, she created the series ‘Les Nombrils’, which originally appeared in the Canadian comics magazine ‘Safarir’ (Safari). The first hardcover Les Nombrils volume was released in 2006. Maryse Dubuc is a member of the Quebec Writers’ Association for Youth and the Union of Writers and Writers of Quebec.

David Okum is an artist and teacher from Waterloo, Ontario. He has been exhibiting and publishing artwork since 1984. David continues to produce, publish and exhibit his work regularly. In addition, he creates commissioned artwork as well as graphic design work for individuals and organizations. This year, David sat on the Joe Shuster Awards jury for the categories of Cover, Artist and Colourist.

On Saturday, June 5th David presented the award for Outstanding Artist.

David Okum presenting the Outstanding Artist award.

David Okum:

The Outstanding Comic Book Artist Award is a difficult award to judge – it’s a very difficult task narrowing a list of 8 great and talented artists down to a single person. We all make judgment calls about which artist is our favourite – usually this is very subjective – it’s based on the project they are currently working on, and the characters they are involved with. From there, it could be the style, the line, the flow of artwork, or simply the way an artist draws feet! These choices are all subjective, they’re not quantitative.

Art from New Avengers 60

In order to get to this point, the jury had to come to the table with personal first choices. We had it narrowed down before the provisional meeting, to about four artists, and we debated the pros and cons of each. Finally, we had shortlisted down to two artists – and as you can imagine, that was not an easy task, considering this line-up. Looking deeper into the work that these two artists produced, it was easy to see how both were worthy of the award this year. Ultimately, it came down to a discussion of which artist was successful for the media, namely in the area of graphic storytelling.

Art from Ultimate Spider-Man 133

Our award winning artist stood out because his art contained strong storytelling, and avoided the pinup approach, while making excellent use of clean lines, layout, powerful emotion, and dynamic figures that suggested motion in action. Ultimately each page, each image, had an emotional honesty that seemed to depict people actually reacting to what was happening around them – everything from getting crashed through a building, to feeling weirded out after an unwanted hug. That’s range!

Art from "Trampoline Hall" - Liberty Comics 2

Ladies and gentlemen, the Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Comic Book Artist for 2010 goes to Stuart Immonen for Ultimate Spider-Man 130-133, New Avengers 55-60, Fantastic Four 569 (Marvel), and the short story “Trampoline Hall” for the CBLDF Presents Liberty Comics 2 (Image)

Stuart Immonen studied at Toronto’s York University, pursuing a career in art. In 1988, he self-published a series called Playground; it was his first published work. He worked at several smaller comic book companies before being hired by DC Comics and Marvel Comics in 1993. Since then, Immonen has drawn such high-profile characters as Superman, Hulk, the Legion of Super Heroes, and the X-Men. His recent work includes stints on the titles Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men with writers Warren Ellis and Brian K. Vaughan, as well as a 12-issue run pencilling Nextwave, which again paired him with Warren Ellis. Stuart Immonen has also done work for Top Cow and Image Comics.  In 2005, Immonen published 50 Reasons to Stop Sketching at Conventions, a series of fifty comics that gently detail why he no longer does sketches for fans. Besides self-publishing, Immonen also produced acclaimed webcomics such as Never as Bad as You Think (collected by Boom! Studios) and Moving Pictures (collected by Top Shelf), both of which are co-authored with his wife, writer Kathryn Immonen.

The Comics for Kids Award is sponsored by Guelph, ON comic shop The Dragon, which is owned by Jennifer Stewart. Jennifer presented the award at the Joe Shuster Awards ceremony in Toronto on June 5, 2010.

Jennifer is also a teacher of Latin and Drama at the Linden School in the heart of Toronto.  Underwhelmed by decades of the market exclaiming that “Comics aren’t just for Kids”, Jennifer decided to push back and reaffirm that ‘Comics are for Kids’ by creating and sponsoring this award.  At her school and at her store, working with the Word On The Street festival, assisting libraries and schools in selecting age appropriate reading through her Comics In The Classroom program, and presenting papers on comics such as: ‘the role of Mythology in the formation of the superhero’ and ‘the role of Women in Comics’, Jennifer works to promote reading and a love of comics to a new generation of readers.

This year Jennifer worked with a group of teachers and librarians who utilize comic books in their classrooms, so they could apply their hands on experience, and expertise, to this award.

The “Comics for Kids” 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 targetted at readers 14 and under.

Jennifer Stewart:

Someday I hope to actually have a nomination that’s in Latin, so I can actually use my Latin teaching for this award! But, I am very happy to be here to present this award again.

I feel that this is a hugely important area of the comic industry, and I look forward to seeing more and more retailers embracing the kids’ comics market.  There are a lot of publishers out there – not necessarily distributing their product through Diamond – that publish amazing books for kids. I hope that more and more of them begin to get recognition for their efforts.

The winner of the 2010 Comics for Kids Award is Nightschool: The Weirn Books, Volumes 1 and 2, by Svetlana Chmakova (published by Yen Press)

These books, the first two of a series, were chosen by the jury not only for their lavish and engaging art but also for their positive storylines — focusing on loyalty, family and the courage of its female protagonist.

The jury also felt that these books successfully combine all the elements necessary to capture the imagination of a reluctant reader. It’s the kind of book that you can give to a student, or a child and they would be instantly engaged and drawn into that story, and thus foster a lifelong love of reading.

Congratulations Svetlana!

Jennifer Stewart presents the "Comics for Kids" Award

NIGHTSCHOOL by Svetlana Chmakova

One of the Original Global Manga offerings in Yen Plus, Night School is an urban fantasy about a night-time school for witches, werewolves, vampires and other creatures of the night. It can be loosely described as Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Harry Potter and it is a story Svetlana has been dying to write since high school. The main characters in the book are ‘weirns’, a special type of witch who are born with demon guardian spirits bound to them.

Nightschool answers the age-old question—Where do demons get their diplomas? Schools may close for the night and the lights may be off, but class is still in session. At the Nightschool, werewolves, vampires, and witches gather to learn everything from spell casting to calculus. Alex, a young weirn has always been home-schooled, but dark forces seem to be drawing her closer to the Nightschool and the mysteries within.

Svetlana Chmakova was born and raised Russian, and came to Canada at the tender age of 16. She finished high school here, then graduated Sheridan College with a three-year Classical Animation Diploma and is currently a freelance artist, as well as a fledgling North-American equivalent of a manga-ka. She has been in a love-hate relationship with comics and manga for several years now because she is too weak to break it off. Svetlana has drawn for how-to-draw-manga books, RPG manuals, toy designs, animation, book covers and a bunch of online comics.  Her previous series, Dramacon, was published by Tokyopop.

NIGHTSCHOOL Volume 1
by Svetlana Chmakova

April 2009 | ISBN: 978-0-7595-2859-8 | $10.99 ($11.99) | 192 pages | 5.75”x 8.25″ | Teen

Schools may lock up for the night, but class is in session for an entirely different set of students. In the Nightschool, vampires, werewolves, and weirns (a particular breed of witches) learn the fundamentals of everything from calculus to spell casting. Alex is a young weirn whose education has always been handled through homeschooling, but circumstances seem to be drawing her closer to the Nightschool. Will Alex manage to weather the dark forces gathering?

NIGHTSCHOOL Volume 2
by Svetlana Chmakova

October 2009 | ISBN: 978-0-7595-2860-4 | $10.99 ($12.99) | 192 pages | 5.75”x 8.25″ | Teen

When Alex’s sister, Sarah, vanishes and all memory and evidence of her existence is erased, Alex is determined to get to the bottom of her sister’s disappearance. What better place to start her investigations than the Nightschool itself? But when she discovers that sneaking into the Nightschool isn’t as simple as it might seem, Alex enrolls as a student. But is she prepared for what she might find?