I've been sick all weekend, but I managed to make it down to the Shuster Awards on Saturday to see the presentations. The show was pretty good, and ran fairly smoothly for a first time event. What really impressed me however wasn't the hosts (Rick Green and Rob Salem were top notch, and kept the pace fairly light), it was the massive amount of history in the room.
Jerry Robinson, the creator of Robin and The Joker, as well as a champion of creator's rights, was there to present the Hall of Fame award to Joe Shuster's sister. His stories were terrific, and I again realized how much history there is in the Comics Industry. This is a medium that's been around almost 100 years. Superhero comics are coming up to their 70th anniversary.
What made me particularly proud though was the impact Canadians have had on the industry. From Shuster, who co-created Superman, to indy pioneer Dave Sim, Canadians have had a large hand in shaping comics.
You only have to look at the number of Canadian creators who have work on the stands today. Kaare Andrews, Darwyn Cooke, Ty Templeton (all award winners), Steve McNiven, Tom Grummett, Dave Ross, J. Torres, the Dreamwave and Udon crews, not to mention guys like Dale Keown, and Stuart Immomen. It's pretty cool to see what a thriving community we have.
I really like the Paradise show, it's nicer than the August show, more spaceous, and without all the Anime/Sci-Fi nerds running around you see that Comic fans aren't neccessarily the geeks that you see at the August show. By and large we're the highest order of nerd cache.
My cold had my head full of liquid, with my ears pretty much plugged up. I was listening to Bill Willingham for a while, but couldn't hear much of what he said. I asked Phil Jiminez a question, but I have no idea what he replied with because I could barely hear. That sucked.
On the good side, I got some pretty cool stuff. I bought a couple of trades for half price (Green Arrow Sound of Violence HC and Joe Madeuria X Men Legends) and three Hellboy Trades for $10.00 each (wicked good deal).
This was a pretty good show. I wish I had been healthier so I could actually enjoy it, but what I did take part in was pretty fun.
Hey, I saw the ad for Headsdown in the program, and reminded me that I should take a look at what you’ve been up to DS. I like the new look of the site. The panel with Jerry Robinson was fantastic… actually most of the panels were. The only problem I had with the convention was that a) the Eisner panel was cancelled (well no one showed up who was supposed to be on the panel) and b) Sunday seemed like a very dead day.