Don’t Forget The Eisners HOF, And Please Consider Bill Blackbeard

You have several days left to vote for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Hall Of Fame for 2012; I hope that you'll exercise the option. If you're unclear whether or not you're eligible, I'd say be up front about your qualifications and let the awards administrators decide. It doesn't take so long to vote that this would be much of a wasted time if you're disqualified from having that vote count.

I'd like to repeat my plea that voters consider Bill Blackbeard for inclusion. I do so knowing that every single one of the nominees would make a fine entry this year. Two reasons why I'm hoping Blackbeard makes it in this year. One, I think he's clearly qualified. The late archivist and historian seems to me the most important figure in his neck of the cartooning world by a wide margin, and a crucial figure generally. He's responsible for more books in the standard bookstore array of comics with a spine than any figure not Jack Kirby. At the same time, I wonder after his chances. I'm afraid his is not a name that will resonate with a wide swathe of voters, particularly with so many cartoonists and artists up for inclusion. An additional thing I find worrisome is I think we're on the cusp of a deluge of late-1970s and early 1980s emergent cartoonists and comics-makers, including several titans of indy comics and the first generation of alt-comics makers. When those folks are added to the nominations list in the next few years, it's going to be hard to get anyone else in for a while. So while every vote is a worthy one, I hope that you'll think about Mr. Blackbeard. Comics wouldn't be what we think of as comics without him.
 
posted 2:20 am PST | Permalink
 

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