Dirks, Lucey Chosen for Eisner Hall of Fame

Online Voting Now Open for Other Nominees

SAN DIEGO -- Comic-Con International (Comic-Con), the largest comic book and popular arts event in the United States, announced today that the Eisner Awards judges have selected two individuals to automatically be inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame this summer. These inductees are pioneering newspaper cartoonist Rudolph Dirks (The Katzenjammer Kids) and comic book artist Harry Lucey (co-creator of Archie).

The judges have also chosen 14 nominees from which voters will select 4 to be inducted in the Hall of Fame for 2012. These nominees are Rudolph Dirks, Harry Lucey, Bill Blackbeard, Howard Chaykin, Richard Corben, Carlos Ezquerra, Lee Falk, Bob Fujitani, Jesse Marsh, Mort Meskin, Tarpé Mills, Dennis O'Neil, Dan ONeill, Katsuhiro Otomo, Trina Robbins, and Gilbert Shelton. See below for complete bios.

To vote, you must be a professional working in the comics or related industries, as a creator (writer, artist, cartoonist, colorist, letterer), a publisher an editor, a retailer (comics store owner or manager), a graphic novels librarian, or a comics historian/educator. Eligible voters can visit www.eisnervote.com to register and then select up to four picks in the Hall of Fame category. The deadline for voting is March 25. Further eligibility information is provided on the Eisner Awards page.

The 2012 Eisner Awards judging panel consists of reviewer Brigid Alverson (Graphic Novel Reporter, CBR, Robot 6), and retailer Calum Johnston (Strange Adventures), librarian Jesse Karp (LREI, New York), cartoonist Larry Marder (Beanworld), comics historian Benjamin Saunders (University of Oregon), and Comic-Con board of director Mary Sturhann.

The judges were assisted by students at Vermont's Center for Cartoon Studies, who made suggestions for Hall of Fame nominees and provided background information on the people they suggested.

The online voting process is being conducted by Mel Thompson and Associates, the official tabulators of the Eisner Awards. Submissions are currently being accepted in the other Eisner categories; the deadline is March 6. The nominees for these categories will be announced in mid-April.

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are underwritten by Comic-Con, the nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture.

The Eisner Awards will take place at a gala awards ceremony to be held on July 13 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel.

2012 EISNERS HALL OF FAME
JUDGES' CHOICES » Rudolph Dirks » Harry Lucey	NOMINEES » Bill Blackbeard » Howard Chaykin » Richard Corben » Carlos Ezquerra » Lee Falk » Bob Fujitani » Jesse Marsh » Mort Meskin » Tarpé Mills » Dennis O'Neil » Dan O'Neill » Katsuhiro Otomo » Trina Robbins » Gilbert Shelton

Rudolph Dirks

In 1897 Rudolph Dirks’ editor at the New York Journal asked him to create a strip that could compete with the popularity of The Yellow Kid by Outcault, which was published in a rival newspaper, The New York World. Dirks came up with The Katzenjammer Kids, which was one of the first strips to use a permanent cast, a frame sequence, and speech balloons. After a legendary court battle with publisher William Randolph Hearst, Dirks acquired the right to take his characters elsewhere, but the use of the title remained the sole right of the newspaper. Dirks resumed the strip in the New York World under the title Hans und Fritz, later renamed The Captain and the Kids. Dirks retired in 1958 and died in 1968 at the age of 91.

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Harry Lucey

Harry Lucey started drawing comics during the Golden Age, working for MLJ doing adventure and superhero series such as “The Hangman” and “Madame Satan” (which he co-created). In the early 1940s he worked in a studio with Bob Montana, and legend has it that he helped Montana create the original Archie gang for MLJ’s Pep comics (even contributing Betty’s name). After stints in World War II and as an advertising illustrator, Lucey returned to MLJ in 1949, where he drew Archie comics for the next two decades. The dynamic and expressive style he developed in his Archie stories was highly influential on subsequent artists, most prominently Jaime Hernandez.

Bill Blackbeard

Writer/editor/archivist Bill Blackbeard contributed to over 200 collections of comic strips. The one that tops the list is The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, published in 1977, co-edited by Blackbeard. Since its release this book has been consistently referred to as the perfect introduction to comic strip art. In the 1960s Blackbeard formed a nonprofit organization called the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, and he began collecting discarded newspapers from California, later extending his rescue operation nationwide. The collection (now housed at Ohio State University’s Cartoon Research Library) consists of clipped comic strips, whole comics pages, and complete Sunday sections. These archives have been used for award-winning collections of Popeye, Krazy Kat, The Katzenjammer Kids, Yellow Kid, and other classic newspaper strip reprints.

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Howard Chaykin

Perhaps best known for his innovative 1980s series American Flagg, Howard Chaykin began working for Marvel in the early 1970s, for titles such as Marvel Spotlight. In 1976 he got the plumb assignment of drawing the very first Star Wars comic. In the late 1970s he wrote and drew stories for Heavy Metal and Star Reach, including the space opera hero “Cody Starbuck.” He also produced some of the earliest graphic novels, adapting Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination as well as works by sf authors Michael Moorcock and Roger Zelazny. In 1982 Chaykin launched the hugely popular American Flagg! for First Comics, then went on to produce The Shadow for DC Comic, the graphic novel Time², and a Blackhawk miniseries. In the 1990s he spent most of his time in television, but also wrote and drew Power & Glory for Malibu and Twilight for Vertigo. Chaykin's recent comics work has included Mighty Love,American Century, Bite Club, and Challengers of the Unknown for Vertigo and DC.

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Richard Corben

Corben’s first work was published 1968 in the Fanzine Voice of Comicdom. Two years later, he published his own underground comic book, Fantagor, which consisted of four science fiction tales that he had conceived and drawn himself. He also contributed to the underground magazines Slow Death and Skull. In 1971 Corben left the underground comix scene to do his first longer fantasy history Rowlf. In the 1970s he drew regularly for Eerie, Creepy, and Vampirella. But it was his color stories in Heavy Metal that brought him a huge fan following, with such series as “Bloodstar” (1976), “Mutantworld” (1978/79), and “Den” (1978). Since then Corben has done work for Marvel, DC, IDW, and most notably Dark Horse, drawing the Eisner Award–winning Hellboy.

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Carlos Ezquerra

Carlos Ezquerra co-created (with John Wagner) Judge Dredd, the single most successful (and longest-running) comic book character of the post-war period in the UK. Prior to Dredd’s first appearance in 2000 AD, Ezquerra was a key artist in many British war comics, and for 2000 AD and its spinoffs he created or co-created many other popular strips, including “Strontium Dog” (written by Wagner) and a WW II/Vampire mash-up, “Fiends of the Eastern Front.” In the last two decades he's worked on a number of titles with Garth Ennis, including Preacher, Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, Bloody Mary, and Just a Pilgrim.

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Lee Falk

Lee Falk is the creator of two iconic comic book characters, Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom. He was just 19 years old when he came up with his idea for a comic strip centered around a stage magician. When King Features’ Mandrake the Magician (with art by Phil Davis) finally premiered in newspaper comics pages on June 11, 1934, Falk had recently turned 23. The adventure strip prooved hugely popular, and it wasn’t long before Falk thought up the idea for another strip: The Phantom. The daily strip, with art by Ray Moore, commenced in American newspapers on February 17, 1936, a little before Falk's 25th birthday. He continued to write both strips until his death in 1999.

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Bob Fujitani

Artist Bob Fujitani (half-Japanese, half-Irish) drew comics for a variety of publishing houses beginning in the early 1940s. His Golden Age credits include work for Ace/Periodical House (“Lash Lightning”), Avon (Eerie, western), Dell (adventure and historical comics), Harvey (“Green Hornet,” “Shock Gibson”), Hillman (“Flying Dutchman”), Holyoke (Cat-Man), Lev Gleason (“Adventures in Wonderland,” Crime Does Not Pay, Two-Gun Kid), and Quality (“Black Condor,” “Dollman”). He is also well remembered by fans for his art on the Gold Key series Turok, Son of Stone and Doctor Solar. In the comic strip world, he worked as a ghost inker on the Flash Gordon daily in the 1960s and the 1970s on the Rip Kirby daily in the 1990s.

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Jesse Marsh

Jesse Marsh is mainly known for his work on the Tarzan the comic book series published by Dell. He began his artistic career at the Walt Disney Studios in 1939. After serving in World War II, he returned to Disney, but also took on freelance jobs from Western Publishing beginning in 1945. His first assignment was Gene Autry, but he was soon assigned to Tarzan. Marsh penciled, inked, and lettered most of the early issues and continued producing the comic for over 150 issues. He left Disney in 1947 to devote all his time to his work for Dell/Western. Throughout the 1950s, he also did work on such series as John Carter of Mars. He died in 1966.

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Mort Meskin

Mort Meskin began his comics career in 1938 as a member of the Eisner/Iger Studios, drawing "Sheena" in Jumbo Comics. He then moved to Harry "A" Chesler's studio, where he illustrated such series as "Bob Phantom," "Mr. Satan," "Shield," and "Wizard." He hit his stride at National (DC), drawing "Vigilante," "Wildcat," "Starman," "Johnny Quick," and stories for Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, and Real Fact. Meskin also did work for other companies. Together with Jerry Robinson, he created "Atoman," and "Golden Lad" for Spark Publications; drew "The Fighting Yank" and "Black Terror" for Better Publications/Standard; and several horror stories for Atlas (Marvel). Through the studio of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, he produced Boys' Ranch for Harvey and Black Magic for Crestwood Publications. Meskin returned to DC in 1956 to work on war, science fiction, and love stories, as well as the "Mark Merlin" series. Later on, he left the comics field to become an illustrator and art director for an advertising agency. He retired in 1982 and died in 1995.

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Tarpé Mills

One of the few female artists working during the Golden Age of comics, June Tarpé Mills was the creator of Miss Fury, an action comic strip and comic book that first appeared in 1941. Before that, she had already created such comic characters as Devil's Dust, The Cat Man, The Purple Zombie, and Daredevil Barry Finn. Mills, who received her education at the New York's Pratt Institute, is known for paying a lot of attention to glamour and fashion in her comics, especially the heroines’ outfits. The Miss Fury comic strip ran until 1951. Mills returned briefly in 1971 with “Our Love Story” in Marvel Comics. She died in 1988.

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Dennis O’Neil

Dennis O’Neil began his writing career as a newspaper reporter. Intrigued by the creative revival of comics in the mid-1960s, he went to New York to become Stan Lee's editorial assistant at Marvel Comics. Next, he did freelance writing at Charlton Comics under editor Dick Giordano. When Giordano moved to DC Comics in 1967, he brought O’Neill with him. In 1968 editor Julius Schwartz asked Dennis to revamp Batman. Dennis and artist Neal Adams took the character back to his roots and, adding sophistication and their own unique vision, created the version of Batman that has been an inspiration for the Warner Bros. films and the current comics. In 1970, Dennis again collaborated with Adams and Schwartz to produce the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series that first brought him into national prominence. This series earned praise, awards, and media attention for its groundbreaking introduction of social concerns, such as racism, drug addiction, environmental dangers, and Native Americans’ problems.

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Dan O’Neill

Noted underground comix artist and writer Dan O’Neill began his career in 1964 with the strip Odd Bodkins, for the San Francisco Chronicle. He was 21 at the time, and to this day he continues to produce the strip and publish Odd Bodkins collections. In 1970 he gathered together the Air Pirates, and underground comix collective. In 1971 they produced two Air Pirates comics that parodied Mickey Mouse and a number of other Walt Disney characters. Dan became a controversial figure when The Disney Corporation sued the Air Pirates for copyright infringement. In a legal battle that went to the Supreme Court, Dan and his associates lost the case and were fined, but he was eventually able to settle the suit with Disney with no fine. During the lawsuit, O'Neill traveled to Ireland and Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and as a result pioneered the genre of comic strip journalism with The Penny-Ante Republican. In the 1980s he contributed to The National Lampoon and produced the weekly O’Neill strip for the Chronicle.

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Katsuhiro Otomo

With the exception of Osamu Tezuka, Katsuhiro Otomo is the creator most responsible for popularizing anime and manga in the western world. Akira, Otomo’s landmark achievement, revitalized the anime and manga industry throughout the world, building an entire new anime empire on the groundwork laid by Tezuka. Otomo’s first professional work was A Gun Report, serialized in the Japanese magazine Action in 1973. He continued publishing manga short stories for Action throughout the 1970s and became a headliner for the magazine. In 1980, Domu began being serialized and ran for two years. Culminating in over 2,000 pages of artwork and serialized over eight years (1982–1990), Akira is Otomo’s masterwork. The anime adaptation was released in 1988. Following the success ofAkira, Otomo continued work in film as a director and screenwriter.

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Trina Robbins

A pioneer of the underground comix movement, Trina Robbins’s earliest work appeared in publications such as East Village Other and Gothic Blimp Works. By 1970 she had found her lifelong focus on women in comics, publishing the first comic book produced entirely by women, It Ain’t Me, Babe. From there she went on to co-found the Wimmin’s Comix collective, which published an ongoing comic book through Last Gasp from 1972 to 1992. Wimmin’s Comix helped launch the careers of many other prominent women cartoonists in the underground and alternative field. Today Trina is probably best known for her work as a comics “herstorian.” In the early 1990s she wrote The Great Women Superheroes and A Century of Women Cartoonists, published by Kitchen Sink. She has also edited a number of collections of early women cartoonists’ reprinted work, including The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley’s Cartoons from 1913-1940 (Fantagraphics) and Tarpé Mills’s Miss Fury (IDW). She is currently writing the comic adventures of Honey West, one of the first female detectives in popular fiction, for Moonstone Books, and ChicagoLand Detective Agency with artist Tyler Page (Graphic Universe).

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Gilbert Shelton

Cartoonist Gilbert Shelton began his first notable comic strip in the early 1960s, writing and drawing Wonder Warthog for the University of Texas’ satirical magazines Bacchanal and Texas Ranger. He moved to San Francisco in 1968 and became part of the burgeoning underground comix scene. After producing the comic Feds 'n' Heads (published by Print Mint), Shelton created his most famous strip, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers in 1968, and a spin-off strip, Fat Freddy's Cat, in 1969, when he also co-founded Rip Off Press. Shelton currently lives in Paris, France. His most recent work, in collaboration with French cartoonist Pic, is Not Quite Dead, which appeared in Rip Off Comix #25 and in five Not Quite Dead comic books.