On the weekend of August 28-31, we will be presenting the 10th Annual Joe Shuster Awards for Canadian Comic Book Creators and three new inductees will join the ranks of the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame, and they are:

CY BELL (1904-197?)
Cyril Vaughn Bell was born in Peterborough on October 5, 1904. By the time he was six the family was in Toronto where his father worked as an Electrician for the local Streets and Railways. In 1929, along with his brother Eugene, he organized Commercial Signs of Canada mainly as a sign painting company. During the last half of 1941 and at the instigation of one of his young artists, Edmund Legault, Cy Bell’s company began putting out Canadian comic books to fill in a void caused by a parliamentary ban of the importing of American comics into the country that was put in place at the end of 1940. His first title was Wow Comics, and in the ensuing months he followed with six more titles, including Dime, Active, Joke, and Triumph Comics featuring such iconic characters as Nelvana of the North, Johnny Canuck, Speed Savage, Thunderfist, and The Penguin. In March of 1942, the company was incorporated as Bell Features and Publishing Company Ltd. and with its famous, trademark bell logo, the company’s output came to form one of the most recognizable set of books in Canadian war time production. During its peak years Bell Features produced about a hundred thousand comic books a week and employed over 60 artists. In 1947, Cy Bell wound up his company and turned the printing side of it over to his brothers leaving us one of the finest legacies in Canadian comics. Bell Features would continue without him until 1953. Bell himself operated a small resort hotel in Crystal Beach, ON until the mid-1960’s, at which time he returned to his roots and opened a small-scale sign business which he ran until his passing in the mid-1970’s.

EDMOND GOOD (1910-1991)
Edmond Elbridge Good was born on July 1 (ironically, now Canada Day then Dominion Day in Canada) 1910 in Saco, Maine to parents originally from the Maritimes. The family returned to Canada when Edmond was 10 and settled in Hamilton, Ontario. Edmond received his art training there and was hired as the first Art Director by Cy Bell for his comic publishing business. Good created his best known strip, Rex Baxter, as the lead feature for the new title Dime Comics in Feb. of 1942. He continued producing this feature and all the covers for Dime Comics until issue 13. After Adrian Dingle, Good did the greatest number of covers for Bell Features (Wow Comics 8-13, Commando Comics 1-6, and others. Good continued to work for Bell Features, even after Cy Bell hired Adrian Dingle as Art Director in the spring of 1942. Good also did a number of Canadian pulp covers during this period. He then left for work opportunities in the U.S. in late 1943. From 1944-46 he took over the “Scorchy Smith” newspaper strip from Frank Robbins and also worked on “Phantom Detective” in Thrilling Comics. Good was the original artist on “Tomahawk” when the character began in Star Spangled Comics in 1947 and worked on Dagar Comics from 1948-9. His longest run, and perhaps favourite work, was on Monte Hale Comics for Fawcett from 1949-53. In the mid-fifties he started his own small publishing company called Good Comics Inc. and created Johnny Law, Sky Ranger for its short run. He continued to do commercial art and wrote radio and television scripts in the fifties. At the end of the fifties he had moved his family to Florida hired as the Art Director for Tupperware at their head offices there, a position which he held until his retirement in 1974. In 1977 he moved from Orlando to Altoona, PA. Edmond Good passed away on Friday, Sept. 13, 1991.

TY TEMPLETON (1962-)
Few comic artists, Canadian or otherwise, have had the consistent and varied career of Ty Templeton. Born on May 9, 1962, Ty blazed on the comic scene in 1984 writing and drawing the Vortex Comics series, Stig’s Inferno, a modern take on Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Ty eventually took on the role of editor of Vortex Comics, overseeing various series including the company’s flagship title, Mister X. A talented storyteller, Ty has worked for almost every major publishing company writing or drawing an array of well known characters including Superman, Spider-Man, Star Trek, The Simpsons, She-Hulk, Howard the Duck, Ren & Stimpy, Scooby Doo and a celebrated run on Batman Adventures. Ty was the Editor in Chief of Canadian publisher, Mr. Comics, hiring almost exclusively Canadian talent to produce the critically respected series, Revolution on the Planet of the Apes, Hoverboy, and Dan Slott’s Big Max. In addition to being a popular, gregarious ambassador of comics at Fan Conventions Ty is helping to train the next generation of Canadian comic artists through his popular series of comic book writing and drawing classes, Ty Templeton’s Comic Book Boot Camp. Presently Ty is the artist of DC Comics’ Batman ’66 Meets The Green Hornet and has a weekly webcomic ‘Bun Toons’.

Selection committee: Kevin A. Boyd, Walter Durajlija, Joe Kilmartin, Ivan Kocmarek, Robert Pincombe, Rachel Richey.

Biographies compiled by Ivan Kocmarek (Cy Bell, Edmond Good) and Robert Pincombe (Ty Templeton).

Canadian Comic Book Hall of Fame

A lifetime achievement award honouring Canadian comic book creators (including editors and publishers) and associated individuals (historians, retailers) for their contributions to comic books.

Temple de la renommée Bandes Dessinées Canadien 

Une récompense de carrière honorant des créateurs canadiens (et autres) de Bandes Dessinées pour l’ensemble de leurs oeuvres au neuvième art.

* 2005 Joe Shuster (1914-1992)
* 2005 Leo Bachle (aka Les Barker) (1926-2003)
* 2005 Adrian Dingle (1911-1974)
* 2005 Hal Foster (1892-1982)
* 2005 Ed Furness (1911-2005)
* 2005 Rand Holmes (1942-2002)

* 2006 Jon St. Ables (1912-1999)
* 2006 Owen McCarron (1929-2005)
* 2006 Win Mortimer (1919-1998)
* 2006 Dave Sim (1956-)

* 2007 Albert Chartier (1912-2004)
* 2007 Gerald Lazare (1927-)
* 2007 Jacques Hurtubise aka ZYX (1950-)
* 2007 Gene Day (1951-1982)

* 2008 Ted McCall (1901-1975)
* 2008 Pierre Fournier (1949-)
* 2008 Stanley Berneche (1947-)
* 2008 John Byrne (1950-)

* 2009 George Menendez Rae (1906-1992)
* 2009 Real Godbout (1951-)
* 2009 Ken Steacy (1955-)
* 2009 Diana Schutz (1955-)

* 2010 Richard Comely (1950-)
* 2010 Dave Darrigo (1954-)
* 2010 George Freeman (1951-)
* 2010 Serge Gaboury (1954-)
* 2010 Deni Loubert (1951-)
* 2010 Jean-Claude St. Aubin (1951-)

* 2011 Chester Brown (1960-)
* 2011 Todd McFarlane (1961-)

* 2012 No Inductees Selected

* 2013 Murray Karn (1924-)
* 2013 Vernon Miller (1912-1974)
* 2013 Arn Saba (Katherine Collins) (1947-)

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 please contact Awards Director Kevin A. Boyd at kevin@joeshusterawards.com