Ceremony date:

The winners will be announced online and at a private industry gathering in Toronto on Friday, September 1, 2017.

HALL OF FAME SELECTION COMPLETED

I would like to thank the Hall of Fame committee for their work in selecting the inductees for 2017. The committee consisted of Walter Durajlija, Jennifer Haines, Ivan Kocmarek, Robert Pincombe, and Ken Steacy, with input from James Waley.

This page will be updated with biographical information (currently being prepared by the CCBCAA).

Canadian Comic Book Hall of Fame / Temple de la renommée Bandes Dessinées Canadien 
A lifetime achievement award honouring Canadian comic book creators (artists, writers, cartoonists, editors and in some cases, publishers) for their contributions to comic books.

JACK TREMBLAY (1926-)
GABRIEL MORRISSETTE (1959-)
LOVERN KINDZIERSKI (1954-)
JULIE DOUCET (1965-)
STUART IMMONEN (-)

THE T.M. MAPLE AWARD / PRIX T.M. MAPLE

The T.M. Maple Award will go to someone (living or deceased) selected from the Canadian comics community for achievements made outside of the creative and retail categories who have had a positive impact on the community.

The person selected for 2017 is:

KENNETH KETTER

Ken was the founder and primary organizer of COSMICON (Winters College – York University, 1972-76), one of Canada’s earliest comic book events and predecessor to modern pop culture conventions by being multi-genre, mixing comic books, film and music, complete with notable industry guests, dealers, art shows, film presentations and live music.

Before Cosmicon, Canadian comic conventions were mostly small gatherings of club members and swap meets.

In 1968, Captain George Henderson – owner of Canada’s first comics shop, Memory Lane, had brought Stan Lee to the city for the Triple FanFair (no doubt inspired by the convention of the same name that had been taking place in Detroit around the same time – the three fandoms in the name being science fiction, movies and comics). That event took place in tents on Markham Street (former home of Memory Lane and later, the Beguiling).

For the most part Canadian comic fans of this era in this region had to pile in a car and drive to Detroit, Chicago or primarily New York to attend a comic book convention.

What happened at York University was pretty amazing and was the highlight for many young fans, a lot of whom would go on to work in comics or related activities and it came together at Winters College at Toronto’s York University due to the vision and perseverance of the event’s founder Ken Ketter, with the assistance of people like Ronn Sutton, Ron Kasman, Mark Segal and Gloria Agnew.

About T.M. Maple
T.M. Maple was the pseudonym of Jim Burke (1956-1994), a fan who wrote more than 3,000 letters to comic book letter columns between 1977 and 1994. Burke’s letters were quite popular among readers as well as editors, and he wrote prolifically to a diverse number of comic publishing companies and titles. Burke originally signed his letters as “The Mad Maple,” but Marvel Comics editor Tom DeFalco abbreviated it to “T.M. Maple” to make it sound like a real name (thus circumventing a new policy at the company to stop printing letters submitted under pseudonyms). Burke took a liking to the new name and began using it exclusively (including variations like “Theodore Maddox Maplehurst”) until 1988, when in Scott McCloud’s Zot! #21 he revealed his real name. Burke published a fanzine about comics in the late 1980s. With artist/publisher Allen Freeman, Burke co-created the superhero Captain Optimist. Jim Burke had a fatal heart attack in 1994.

About The Joe Shuster Awards

Established in 2004, The Joe Shuster Awards are Canada’s national 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.

The Joe Shuster Awards are assembled by the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association. For more information please contact Awards Director Kevin A. Boyd at kevin@joeshusterawards.com