Since the founding of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (and their previous incarnation, the Kirby Awards), the following individuals have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The cartoonist is best known for his Pulitzer Prize–winning graphic novel, Maus. As the co-publisher of the groundbreaking periodical RAW,Art Spiegelman published the works of a wide range of alternative cartoonists. His most recent works have included the book MetaMouse and the Little Lit anthologies of comics for kids (edited with wife Francoise Mouly). Inducted 1999
Many comics aficionados consider Dick Sprang to have been the Batman artist. He gave a distinctive square-jawed look to the character from the mid-1940s through the early 1960s. In the 1970s, he joined the list of artists creating re-creations of his original work and was a frequent guest at comic conventions. Inducted 1999
John Stanley is best known for his long stint (1945–1959) as the writer of the Little Lulu comic book series, a cult classic. He also wrote and drew a number of humor comics, including Melvin Monster,O. G. Whiz, Thirteen Going on Eighteen, and memorable issues of Nancy and Sluggo. Inducted 2004
Coming from a colorful career as an escape artist, magician, and musician, Jim Steranko first created Spyman for Harvey Comics before going to Marvel in the mid-1960s, when he electrified comics fans with his work on “Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” In 1976 he produced the hard-boiled graphic novel Chandler: Red Tide and also pursued a successful career as a paperback cover artist (most notably the Shadow series). He has gone on to do conceptual art for films as well as produce occasional comics covers. Inducted 2006
Curt Swan drew Superman for nearly 30 years, from 1955 to the mid-1980s. For many fans, Swan’s version of Superman is the definitive one. He’s also known for his work on Jimmy Olsen,Legion of Super-Heroes, and World’s Finest, featuring team-ups of Superman and Batman. Inducted 1997
Osamu Tezuka was the dean of Japan’s comics (manga) and animation (anime) industries from 1947 until his death in 1989. He created such wide-ranging series as Astro Boy (Mighty Atom), Kimba the White Lion (Jungle Emperor), Adolf, Phoenix, and Black Jack. With many of these works now available in U.S. editions, his following and influence among Americans continues to increase, over 20 years after his death. Inducted 2002
Roy Thomas helped Jerry G. Bails found Alter Ego, the first real comic book fanzine. From 1965 to 1980 he wrote and edited for Stan Lee at Marvel (X-Men, Avengers, Invaders, Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja et al.) and served as editor-in-chief from 1972 to 1974. From 1980 to 1986 Roy wrote for DC, mostly titles he co-created such as All-Star Squadron and Infinity, Inc. In 1999 Roy revived Alter Ego for TwoMorrows Publishing. Inducted 2011
Although he didn’t create any famous characters or have long runs on any well-known comics titles, Alex Toth is revered among comics artists for his sparse yet eloquent drawing style and his storytelling techniques. In animation, his character designs for shows such as Space Ghost and Jonny Quest have influenced many a modern cartoonist. Inducted 1991
Alberto Uderzo was a struggling French cartoonist with several unsuccessful strips under his belt when he hooked up with writer René Goscinny to create Asterix the Gaul in 1959 for the first issue of Pilote, a comics weekly. After Goscinny died in 1977, Uderzo continued to produce Asterix albums on his own. Inducted 2007
As a pioneer in the graphic novel, Lynd Ward produced six wordless novels in wood engravings from 1929 to 1937. His first novel, God's Man, was followed by Madman's Drum, Wild Pilgrimage, Prelude to a Million Years,Song Without Words, and Vertigo. All six books have been collected in a two-volume slip-cased edition by Library of the Americas. Inducted 2011
Len Wein is the co-creator of the legendary comic book series Swamp Thing, Human Target, and Brother Voodoo, as well as Wolverine and the New X-Men. He is noted for long runs writing almost every major character in the business, ranging from Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Green Lantern, and the Flash, at DC to Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Mighty Thor, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men at Marvel. Inducted 2007
The Superman editor at DC Comics during the 1940s–1960s, Mort Weisinger is also credited with co-creating Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Johnny Quick. It was under his tenure that many aspects of the Superman universe came into being, from Supergirl and Krypto to the Legion of Super-Heroes and the various types of kryptonite. Inducted 2010
In the fall of 1934, Major Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications and published New Fun #1, the first comic book containing all-original material. The magazine was retitled More Fun in 1936. Wheeler-Nicholson added a second magazine, New Comics, in 1935, which became New Adventure Comics with issue 12 and finally Adventure Comics with #32. The third and final title published under his aegis was Detective Comics, premiering in 1937. Inducted 2009
Ogden Whitney is best known as the artist of “Herbie, the Fat Fury,” the strange boy addicted to lollipops who appeared in ACG Comics from the late 1950s to mid-1960s. Herbie (scripted by Shane O’Shea aka Richard Hughes) made his first appeared in Forbidden Worlds in 1958 and got his own feature in 1964. In the later 1960s. Inducted 2007
Al Williamson was the “young guy” among the EC artists of the early 1950s, producing classic stories for the various science fiction titles, often in collaboration with Frank Frazetta, Wally Wood, and Roy Krenkel. After the EC heyday, Williamson moved on to draw a wide variety of stories for Atlas, ACG, and other companies. In the 1960s, he found his niche in adventure comic strips, with a regular gig on Secret Agent X-9 and then a memorable stint as the artist on the Star Wars comics strip. Inducted 2000
