Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing | |
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Awarded for | Excellence in comic book writing |
Sponsored by | DC Comics, Heritage Auctions, Maggie Thompson |
Country | United States |
Hosted by | San Diego Comic-Con |
First awarded | 2005 |
Website | https://www.comic-con.org/awards/bill-finger-award-node |
The Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing is an American award for excellence in comic book writing. [1] The awards committee, chaired by Mark Evanier, is charged each year with selecting two recipients, one living and one deceased. In 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic there were six deceased honorees and no living ones (and makeup plans for two living recipients in 2021). [2] 2021 saw the same formula as the previous year, with six deceased recipients. [3]
The award, along with the Eisner Awards, is presented in July of each year at the annual San Diego Comic-Con. It was established by Bill Finger's colleague and fellow writer Jerry Robinson.
Evanier in 2003 said the premise of the award was "to recognize writers for a body of work that has not received its rightful reward and/or recognition. That was what Jerry Robinson intended as his way of remembering his friend, Bill Finger. Bill is still kind of the industry poster boy for writers not receiving proper reward or recognition." [4]
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series Garfield and Friends and on the comic book Groo the Wanderer. He is also known for his columns and blog News from ME, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, such as his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of Comics.
Elliot S. Maggin, also spelled Elliot S! Maggin, is an American writer of comic books, film, television, and novels. He was a main writer for DC Comics during the Bronze and early Modern ages of comics in the 1970s and 1980s. He is particularly associated with the character of Superman.
Milton "Bill" Finger was an American comic strip, comic book, film and television writer who was the co-creator of the DC Comics character Batman. Despite making major contributions as an innovative writer, visionary mythos/world builder and illustration architect, Finger was often relegated to ghostwriter status on many comics—including those featuring Batman, and the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott.
Robert Kane was an American comic book writer, animator and artist who co-created Batman and most early related characters for DC Comics. He was inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993 and into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996.
The Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards were a set of awards for achievement in comic books, presented from 1985 to 1987. Voted on by comic-book professionals, the Kirby awards were the first such awards since the Shazam Awards ceased in 1975. Sponsored by Amazing Heroes magazine, and managed by Amazing Heroes managing editor Dave Olbrich, the Kirby Awards were named after the pioneering writer and artist Jack Kirby.
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry, often referred to as the industry's equivalent to the Academy Awards.
San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, since 1970. It is held at the San Diego Convention Center. Originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fantasy media, Comic-Con has grown to include a large range of pop culture and entertainment elements across virtually all genres.
Archie Goodwin was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work. For Warren he was chief writer and editor of landmark horror anthology titles Creepy and Eerie between 1964 and 1967. At Marvel, he served as the company's editor-in-chief from 1976 to the end of 1977. In the 1980s, he edited the publisher's anthology magazine Epic Illustrated and its Epic Comics imprint. He is also known for his work on Star Wars in both comic books and newspaper strips. He is regularly cited as the "best-loved comic book editor, ever."
The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award is an American award presented to a comic book artist whose first professional work appeared within the previous two years. It was named after comic book artist Russ Manning. The winner is chosen from a list of nominees picked by judges from the West Coast Comics Club and San Diego Comic-Con, and is given at the annual Eisner Award ceremony.
Joseph P. Gill was an American magazine writer and highly prolific comic book scripter. Most of his work was for Charlton Comics, where he co-created the superheroes Captain Atom, Peacemaker, and Judomaster, among others. Comics historians consider Gill a top contender as the comic-book field's most prolific writer. Per historian and columnist Mark Evanier, Gill "wrote a staggering number of comics. There are a half-dozen guys in his category. If someone came back and said he was the most prolific ever, no one would be surprised."
Philip Nicholas Seuling was an American comic book fan convention organizer and comics distributor primarily active in the 1970s. Seuling was the organizer of the annual New York Comic Art Convention, originally held in New York City every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s. Later, with his Sea Gate Distributors company, Seuling developed the concept of the direct market distribution system for getting comics directly into comic book specialty shops, bypassing the then established newspaper/magazine distributor method, where no choices of title, quantity, or delivery directions were permitted.
Dorothy Woolfolk née Dorothy Roubicek was one of the first women in the American comic-book industry. As an editor at DC Comics, one of the two largest companies in the field, during the 1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books, she is credited with helping to create the fictional metal Kryptonite in the Superman mythos.
The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con International's annual convention, San Diego Comic-Con. Also eligible are members of Comic-Con's board of directors and convention committee.
Jack Mendelsohn was an American writer-artist who worked in animation, comic strips and comic books. An Emmy-nominated television comedy writer and story editor, he had numerous credits as a TV scripter, including Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Three's Company, The Carol Burnett Show and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Among his work for feature films, he was a co-screenwriter of Yellow Submarine (1968). In 2004, the Animation Writers Caucus of the Writers Guild gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Kirby: King of Comics is a 2008 biography of Jack Kirby written by Mark Evanier. The book won various awards including a 2009 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book. While it was met with mixed reception from critics, various publications recommend it to comic fans. It was published by the art book publisher Abrams Books, it is extensively illustrated with Kirby's artwork, including original art comic pages with production notes in blue ink and was re-released in 2017.
George Gladir was an American comics writer. Primarily known as a scripter for Archie Comics, he co-created that publisher's character Sabrina Spellman, with artist Dan DeCarlo.
Dean Mullaney is an American editor, publisher, and designer whose Eclipse Enterprises, founded in 1977, was one of the earliest independent comic-book companies. Eclipse published some of the first graphic novels and was one of the first comics publishers to champion creators' rights. In the 2000s, he established the imprint The Library of American Comics of IDW Publishing to publish hardcover collections of comic strips. Mullaney and his work have received seven Eisner Awards.
A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention emphasizing comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating with cosplay than for most other types of fan conventions. Comic book conventions are also used as a method by which publishers, distributors, and retailers represent their comic-related releases. Comic book conventions may be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began during the late 1930s.
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