September 8, 2020 — It has been a challenging year, and while this announcement comes a little later in the year than usual,  the Canadian Comic Book Awards Association is proud to present the nominees for the 16th Annual Joe Shuster Awards and related honours for work published in 2019.

Canada has a rich tradition of supporting our national arts communities with awards that recognize the achievements of our citizens in books, music, stage, television and film – the JOE SHUSTER AWARDS (including the associated Gene Day, Harry Kremer, TM Maple, Dragon and Hall of Fame Awards) are Canada’s national awards program that honour and raise the awareness of Canadians that create, self-publish and sell comic books, digital comics and graphic novels.

Canadian creators have mostly functioned within the American and Franco-Belgian comic-book industry and traditions, which is why we do not restrict nominations to just domestic publications.

Qualifying publications for the awards had to be published and distributed professionally during the previous calendar year (January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019) and are selected by our nominating committee.

Qualifying publications for the Gene Day Awards had to be published in 2019 and submitted for review or acquired by the committee prior to June 30, 2020.

The award winners will be chosen by a jury vote to ensure every nominee is given adequate consideration and the winners will be announced online to maintain social distancing procedures in late October 2020, date TBD.

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, webcomics and digital comics.

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.

….and the nominees are:

ARTIST

• Yana Bogatch – Grimoire Noir (First Second)
• Jamal Campbell – Far Sector #1-2, Naomi #1-6 (DC Comics)
• Mike Del Mundo – Thor #9-10, 12-13, 15-16 (Marvel Comics)
• Dale Eaglesham – Shazam #3-8 (DC Comics)
• Faith Erin Hicks – Pumpkinheads (First Second)
• Karl Kerschl – Isola #6-9 (Image Comics)
• Ken Lashley – Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #18.HU, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #7-10, 13-14 (Marvel Comics), Bloodshot: Rising Spirit #3 (Valiant Comics)
• Simon Leclerc – Jours D’attente (La Pastèque)
• François Miville-Deschênes – Zaroff (Lombard)

WRITER

• Ed Brisson – Contagion #1-5, Dead Man Logan #3-12, Ghost Rider Vol. 9 #1-3, Ghost Rider 2099 Vol. 2 #1, New Mutants Vol. 4 #1-4, Absolute Carnage: Symbiote of Vengeance #1, X-Force Vol. 5 #2-10, Age of X-Men: Nextgen #1-5,  Uncanny X-Men Vol. 5 Annual #1, plus contributions to Alpha Flight: True North #1, Marvel Comics #1000, Incoming #1, Uncanny X-Men Vol. 5 #8-10  (Marvel Comics)
• Cecil Castellucci – Batgirl #37-42, Female Furies #1-6, Mysteries of Love in Space #1 (DC Comics)
• Thomas Desaulnier-Brousseau – Jours D’attente (La Pastèque)
• Brendan Fletcher – Isola #6-9 (Image Comics), Robotech: Remix #1-3 (Titan)
• Jeff Lemire – Berserker Unbound #1-4, Black Hammer/Justice League #1-5, Black Hammer ’45 (with Ray Fawkes) #1-4 , Black Hammer: Age of Doom #9-12, Skulldigger + Skeleton Boy #1, The Quantum Age: From the World of Black Hammer #6 (Dark Horse Comics), The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage #1 (DC Comics), Ascender #1-8, Gideon Falls #10-19 (Image Comics), plus contributions to Marvel Comics #1000 (Marvel Comics)
• Jed Mackay – Black Cat #1-7, Annual #1, Absolute Carnage: Weapons Plus #1, Man Without Fear #1-5, plus contributions to Bizarre Adventures #1, Spider-Verse Vol. 3 #1, 3 (Marvel Comics)
• Mariko Tamaki – Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (First Second), Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass (DC Comics), Spider-Man and Venom: Double Trouble (Marvel Comics), Archie #706-709 (Archie Comics)
• Darcy Van Poelgeest – Little Bird #1-5 (Image Comics)
• Chip Zdarsky – The White Trees #1-2 (Image Comics), Daredevil Vol. 6 #1-15, Spider-Man: Life Story 1-6, Invaders Vol. 3 #1-12,  Doom 2099 Vol. 2 #1, as well as contributions to Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle #1,, Incoming #1, Marvel Comics #1000, War of the Realms: War Scrolls #1 (Marvel Comics)

CARTOONIST

• Brigitte Archambault – Le projet shiatsung (Mecanique Generale)
• Sophie Bedard – Les petits garcons (Pow Pow)
• Nina Bunjevac – Bezimena (Fantagraphics)
  
• Emily Carroll – When I Arrived at the Castle (Koyama Press)
• Michael Deforge – Stunt (Koyama Press)
• Sarah Leavitt – Agnes, Murderess (Freehand Books)
• Jeff Lemire – Frogcatchers (Simon and Schuster)
• Renee Nault – The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel (McClelland & Stewart) adapted from the novel by Margaret Atwood
• Jay Stephens – Dejects (Black Eye Books)

COVER ARTIST

For the sake of brevity, we have not listed every cover attributed to every nominated creator. All are nominated for their cumulative covers (including variants) published on periodical comic books in 2019. During the judging process 3 covers will be selected for each nominated creator and posted on the Joe Shuster Awards website later this month (September).

• Kaare Andrews
  
• Sweeney Boo
• Nick Bradshaw
  
• Michael Cho
  
• Mike Del Mundo
• Dale Eaglesham
• David Finch
  
• Dale Keown
• Francis Manapul

WEBCOMICS/DIGITAL COMICS

• S.M. Beiko – Krampus is My Boyfriend
• Boum – Boumeries
  
• Tony Esteves – Cigarro & Cerveja
• Karl Kerschl – The Abominable Charles Christopher
  
• Isabelle Melançon (with Megan Lavey-Heaton – USA) – Namesake
• Ronn Sutton (with Martin Powell – USA) – Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Man-Eater
• Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo – Afterlift

THE GENE DAY AWARDS

Named after the late Howard Eugene Day (1951-1982), a Canadian comics artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics’ Star Wars comics and Master of Kung Fu who began his career publishing his own independent comics such as Out of the Depths, Oktoberfest Comics and the graphic novel Future Day. He also contributed short stories to horror comics magazines Psycho and Nightmare and to the Star*Reach, Imagine and Quack Anthologies as well as Orb Magazine.  Many of his short stories were published posthumously in the anthologies Black Zeppelin and in Day Brothers Presents. The name is used with the approval of the Day family.

Two Gene Day Awards honour the creative spirit of independent comics in Canada. The nominees were selected from individual publications submitted for review or acquired by the committee before the deadline of June 1, 2019.

GENE DAY AWARD FOR SELF-PUBLISHED COMICS / GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Daniel Brodie, Robert Jennex – Morgan’s Organs #3
• Naomi Cui, Janice Liu – Chicken Soup & Goji Berries
• A. Shay Hahn – Beaver Damn #3, Our Hearts Are Full, Vladiasaurs
• Becka Kinzie – Gehenna: Death Valley
• Jonathan Kociuba – Lover Man Vol. 1
• Minikim – Maman, Papa… et moi! et moi! et moi!
• Chris Sanagan, Jason Lapidus – Group of 7 #4-6

GENE DAY AWARD FOR ANTHOLOGY COLLECTIONS 

• Cauldron Magazine #2 (Ricky Lima, Sam Noir, Shane Heron Publishers)
• Life Finds a Way (Cloudscape Comics Collective)
• RAID Two (RAID Studio)
• Shout Out (TO Comix)
• This Place: 150 Years Retold (Highwater Press)
• The Witching Hours (Cloudscape Comics Collective)

THE DRAGON AWARD (COMICS FOR YOUNGER READERS)

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 by a team of educators led by Jennifer Haines, MA, B.Ed., who is the proprietor of The Dragon comic book shop locations in Guelph and Milton, Ontario.

• Marvel Action: Captain Marvel – Sam Maggs, Sweeney Boo (IDW Publishing/Marvel Comics)
• Mort et Déterré T.1: Un cadavre en caval – Jocelyn Boivert, Pascal Colpron (Dupuis)
• Operatic – Kyo Maclear, Byron Eggenschwiler (Groundwood Books)  
• Peter and Ernesto: The Lost Sloths – Graham Annable (First Second Books)  
• Surviving the City Vol. 1 – Tasha Spillett-Sumner, Natasha Donovan (Highwater Press)
• Si on Était T.1 – Axelle Lenoir (Front Froid)

HARRY KREMER RETAILER RECOGNITION AWARD

Named after Harry Kremer, the original owner of Now & Then Books (in Kitchener, Ontario). The CCBCAA maintains a list of active comic book stores across the country and a database of recommendations, referrals and secret shopper reports.

Once a store wins the award they join an existing network of stores from across the nation that have been recognized for their outstanding service to the comics community.

• Alpha Comics (Calgary, AB)
• Comic Book Addiction (Whitby, ON)
• Comic Hunter (Moncton, NB)
• Cyber City Comix (Toronto, ON)
• Golden Age Collectables (Vancouver, BC)
• Heroes World (Markham, ON)
• Librarie Z (Montreal, QC)

CANADIAN COMIC CREATOR HALL OF FAME

Two creators will be inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame in 2020:

• Gregory Gallant, pen name Seth (1962-)
• Bernard Edward “Bernie” Mireault (1961-)

TM MAPLE AWARD

The T.M. Maple Award goes 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.

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.

In 2020 there will not be a single TM Maple Award recipient:

• The CCBCAA would like to honour the ongoing efforts of members of the Canadian comics community – the many creators, retailers, publishers, fans and other members of the community who have stepped up to help others during the still ongoing COVID-19 Crisis with fundraising efforts. 

ABOUT THE AWARDS ASSOCIATION

The Joe Shuster, Gene Day, Dragon, Harry Kremer, TM Maple and Hall of Fame Awards are organized and presented by the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association (established in 2004).

2020 Sponsors include Gotham Central, The Dragon, All New Comics, and the Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund (CLLDF). Other sponsors TBA.

For more information please contact Awards Director Kevin Boyd at kevin@joeshusterawards.com