Let’s get to know your Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Artist Nominees for 2010 (for work published in 2009).

Some historical info on the nominees in relation to this award:

– this is the first year that Chris Bachalo, Cameron Stewart, Djief and Francis Manapul have been nominated in this category.

– Darwyn Cooke won the award in 2007 (which he shared with J. Bone for Batman/Spirit 1)

– Dale Eaglesham won the award in 2008 for his work on Justice Society of America.

– Marc Delafontaine has been nominated for this award twice.

– Stuart Immonen has been nominated for this award four times.

* Chris Bachalo – Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man 1-4, Dark Avengers Annual 1, New Avengers 51-52, Amazing Spider-Man Extra! 2 – “Black & White” , (Marvel Comics)

CHRIS BACHALO is internationally recognized as one of the most popular artists in the comic industry. His body of work covers a wide spectrum of genres ranging from the critically acclaimed “Sandman,” “Shade,” “Death, The High Cost of Living” and “Batman” series for DC to “Incredible Hulk,” “Uncanny X-Men,” “New X-Men,” “Captain America” and the quirky pop favorite “Generation X,” which he co-created with Scott Lobdell for Marvel Comics. Generation X, became the first title from Marvel that was adapted into a live action film for Fox. Both “Death” and “Sandman” are currently being developed for the big screen. The short story “The Wheel” written by Stardust and Beowulf writer Neil Gaimen and illustrated by Chris featured the Death character and was inducted into the library of Congress in 2003. It was created as part of a tribute to 911. His cover work for the title Hunter, The Age of Magic for DC was included as part of a New York gallery show for the Society of Illustrators. He is currently working on Marvels’ flagship title, The Amazing Spiderman.Chris also co-created two creator owned properties. He collaborated with Heroes, the hit television show, writer, producer Jeph Loeb on the Vertigo/DC, titled “The Witching Hour” that has been published worldwide and is currently being developed into a screenplay. He also co-created with Ben Ten’s Joe Kelly the retro-futuristic, Sci Fi epic, Steampunk, published by Cliffhanger /DC.

In addition to Chris’ popularity at local conventions, Chris has made guest appearances on televisions “Pictionary” and the “Sci-Fi” channel. His most recent guest appearance included both Australia and New Zealand. Other appearances have included locations such as England, Italy, France and numerous cities in the US and Canada.

In addition to his work in comics, Chris’ artwork has graced the covers of “ The Hollywood Reporter” and “PSM” (play station magazine). Other clients have included Activision, Oakley, Taco Bell, Stuff magazine, Mad Magazine, Upper Deck, Disney, Neiman Marcus and he was commissioned to do artwork that was transformed into a 50’ X 80’ mural at the Marvel/Universal theme park in Orlando, Florida.

Chris is a Canadian citizen and was born in Portage La Prairie, Canada. He currently resides in Southern California with his wife, Helen, and his son, Dylan. We regret to mention that his Siamese fighting fish, Spike, recently passed away.

* Darwyn Cooke – Jonah Hex 50 (DC), Madman Atomic Comics 14 – “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Madman Movie” (Image Comics)

Darwyn Cooke is a graphic designer and animator who turned his attention toward cartooning in the late nineties. Known primarily for his work on the DC line of superheroes, Cooke has always had an affinity for crime fiction and has often cited the Parker books as a great source of creative inspiration. Cooke has won multiple Eisner, Harvey and Joe Shuster Awards as well as the National Cartoonist Society’s Best Series Award. In 2008 Cooke was Emmy nominated for the animated adaptation of his magnum opus The New Frontier.

* Marc Delafontaine – Les nombrils, tome 04: Duels de belles (Dupuis)

Marc Delafontaine est né le 9 octobre 1973 à Sherbrooke (Québec, Canada).

Marc Delafontaine a étudié en Arts plastiques avant de se lancer à son compte. Il a longtemps travaillé dans le dessin animé, que ce soit pour du clean-up, du layout-posing ou du storyboard. Il a également illustré quelques livres jeunesse et publié de courtes histoires de bande dessinée dans quelques magazines et collectifs québécois.

Il illustre maintenant la série Les Nombrils éditée en albums aux éditions Dupuis, tout en collaborant de près avec Maryse au niveau du scénario.

Delaf et Dubuc forment un couple dans la vie comme dans la création.

* Djief  Bergeron – Saint-Germain, Tome 1: Le Comte des Lumières (Glénat)

Jean-François Bergeron alias Djief – Né le 7 juillet 1971 au Canada, Jean-François Bergeron est dessinateur et auteur de bandes dessinées. Ses compétences touchent les domaines du multimédia et des jeux vidéo en passant par le storyboard et l’illustration. Après des études en graphisme, il est recruté par une firme de production vidéo de la région de Québec. En quelques semaines, il apprend le métier d’infographiste 3D et flairant le potentiel de l’imagerie virtuelle et des nouveaux médias, il fonde avec ses frères et quelques amis Studio Virtuel Concept. Il y travaille à titre de concepteur-infographiste ou de directeur artistique sur les principaux mandats de l’entreprise jusqu’en 99.

Son expérience lui permet alors de devenir concepteur de jeux vidéo pour A2M pendant près d’un an et par la suite de se joindre à l’équipe de Sarbakan comme concepteur. Enfin, après 4 ans passés dans le domaine du jeu vidéo, il se tourne vers la bande dessinée en devenant dessinateur pour le studio Grafiksismik. Par la suite, il devient auteur de bandes dessinées indépendant.

Il a remporté des prix à titre de créateur de BD dont un international et a participé à plusieurs publications dans le domaine du 9e Art. Ayant débuté sérieusement dans les années 90 en illustrant des scénarii d’André-Philippe Côté, ce n’est qu’au début 2000 qu’il perce le marché européen sous le pseudo “Djief” avec de courts récits publiés dans le magazine SPIROU. Il illustre aussi à peu près dans la même période et pour le marché Nord-Américain cette fois-ci, une série de comic books intitulée: The Grimoire, scénarisé par Sébastien Caisse. Ensuite entre ses productions de dessins pour la Courte échelle, il illustre deux séries de bande dessinée pour les éditions Soleil: le diptyque Tokyo Ghost et la série Le Crépuscule des Dieux, toutes deux scénarisées par Nicolas Jarry. Il travaille aussi en parallèle sur la série Saint-Germain aux éditions Glénat. Scénarisé par Thierry Gloris, ce récit baroque de capes et d’épées est leur première collaboration signée chez un éditeur.

Djief Bergeron worked for many years in the fields of 2D-3D animation and video game design. In those years he designed environments and characters for platforms and online games. In 2005, he joined Grafiksismik studio as a house artist working full-time on illustrations and comic books. In 2006, he continues as a freelancer in the comic books field. He also produced stories for french europeen comics magazines. He presently works for the french publishers Soleil and Glénat

* Dale Eaglesham – Justice Society of America 26 (DC Comics), Amazing Spider-Man 591, Fantastic Four 570-572, Captain America 600 – “The Persistence of Memorabilia”, Amazing Spider-Man Extra! 3 – “Nice Things”, Origins of Siege 1 – “Doctor Doom” (Marvel)

It all began in the late 1960s, at the family coffee table, where a shy little boy could not rest until he put to paper the wild and wondrous stories cooked up by his imagination…

Dale Eaglesham is a veteran comic book illustrator who has been working in the industry since 1986. He has worked with DC Comics, Marvel, Dark Horse, and CrossGen, among others. In January 2009, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, where he will be illustrating the Fantastic Four. Working on this legendary series is a childhood dream come true for Dale.

He most recently illustrated the critically-acclaimed relaunch of Justice Society of America for DC Comics, where he worked alongside superstar writer Geoff Johns and cover artist Alex Ross. The book was DC Comics’ second best-selling book almost every month and was in the overall Top 15 since its relaunch.

Before working on the JSoA, he also illustrated the very popular Villains United series, which was written by Gail Simone. He is also known for his work inaugurating Batman: Gotham Knights, as well as his two-year run on Green Lantern.

Dale has been included several times on the coveted Wizard Magazine’s Hot 10 Artists list, and in June 2008, he received the Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist of the Year for his work on Justice Society of America.

* Stuart Immonen – Ultimate Spider-Man 130-133, New Avengers 55-60, Fantastic Four 569 (Marvel), The CBLDF Presents Liberty Comics 2 – “Trampoline Hall” (Image Comics)

Stuart Immonen studied at Toronto’s York University, pursuing a career in arts. In 1988 he produced his first comics work, a self-published series called Playground. He worked at several smaller comic book companies before joining 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 runs on the titles Ultimate Fantastic Four and Nextwave with writer Warren Ellis, Ultimate X-Men with writer Brian K. Vaughan, and Ultimate Spider-Man and most recently, New Avengers, with writer Brian Michael Bendis. 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 creates webcomics and strips with his wife, Shuster-nominated writer Kathryn Immonen (Never as Bad as You Think, Moving Pictures).

* Francis Manapul – Adventure Comics 0-3, 5, Superman/Batman 60-61 (DC Comics)

Francis Manapul is a comic book artist living in Toronto, Canada currently working for DC comics. His list of credits include Adventure Comics, Superman/Batman, Legion of Super-Heroes, Iron and the Maiden, Necromancer, Sept Guerrieres, Tomb Raider, Darkness, G.I Joe and of course Witchblade. Francis is currently illustrating the adventures of The Flash, with writer Geoff Johns, for DC Comics.

* Cameron Stewart – Seaguy: The Slaves of Mickey Eye 1-3 (DC/Vertigo), Uncanny X-Men First Class Giant-Size Special 1 – Origin of Wolverine segment (Marvel), The CBLDF Presents Liberty Comics 2 – “The Apocalipstix in Taboo Boogaloo” (Image Comics)

Cameron Stewart is the Eisner Award-nominated and Shuster Award-winning illustrator of Batman & Robin, Seaguy, Catwoman, The Other Side, Seven Soldiers: The Manhattan Guardian, The Apocalipstix and Sin Titulo.