Wayne Boring: Eisner Awards

[TELLE]

The Eisner award nominations are out and there are a few nominations that may interest members of this forum.

Primarily, the most interesting news for superfolks here is that Wayne Boring has been nominated for the Hall of Fame.  Interesting article about that here (warning: although written by a fan, critical of fan obsessions with older superhero comics):
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/sunday_morning_thinking_about_wayne_boring/

Other Superman-related comics and their categories are listed below.
(full list here:http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=5095)

Best Limited Series
DC: The New Frontier, by Darwyn Cooke (DC)
Best Publication for a Younger Audience
Plastic Man, by Kyle Baker and Scott Morse (DC)
Best Humor Publication
Plastic Man, by Kyle Baker and Scott Morse (DC)
Best Anthology
Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, edited by Diana Schutz and David Land (Dark Horse)
Best Graphic Album -- New
It's a Bird . . ., by Steven T. Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen (Vertigo/DC)
Best Archival Collection/Project
DC Comics Rarities Archives, vol. 1, edited by Dale Crain (DC)
Best Writer/Artist -- Humor
Kyle Baker, Plastic Man (DC); Kyle Baker, Cartoonist (Kyle Baker Publishing)
Best Comics-Related Book
Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book, by Gerard Jones (Basic Books)
Hall of Fame
Wayne Boring
Nick Cardy
Robert Kanigher
William Moulton Marston

[nightwing]

Interesting, and good luck to Mr. Boring!  He deserves some attention and respect. I don't get how Kyle Baker's Plastic Man is connected to Superman, however?

As for the article, I guess I see where the guy's going, but the reason to honor Boring and those like him should be obvious.  In short, there was a whole generation of creators who built the comics industry and often got very little in return, unlike the current wave of "superstars" who pull down huge salaries, make lucrative deals for Hollywood adaptations and so on.  Is Frank Miller a talented guy?  Undoubtedly.  Has he made a bigger contribution to American culture than Seigel and Shuster, or Jack Kirby?  Not by a long shot.  Wayne Boring ended his days making minimum wage as a night watchman.  Let's face it, the only props these guys ever get tends to be posthumous, and if it's limited to a symbolic gesture like a statue and a few moments of applause, well isn't that the least we can do?  
Anyway, who else would be in a Hall of Fame but an old-timer?  


 :roll:

[TELLE]

I just noted the few nominations that seem to have some sort of the spirit of the classic comics that we are concerned with here at the Fortress and Kyle Baker's Plastic Man has been compared favorably to humor comics of times past and to Jack Cole's original version.  Maybe a tenuous connection.

Perhaps the most considered and complex honor given to Wayne Boring in the last few years is the graphic novel "David Boring" by Dan Clowes, about a perplexed young man whose father was a 1950s superhero cartoonist and who left a legacy of a mysterious giant-sized comic book annual.  Worth checking out for Superman fans looking for something different, although not a book for kids necessarily.

[Genis Vell]

Wayne Boring was one of the most important Superman artists.
Sadly, he is not well known among younger readers in the USA, and here in Italy the situation is not better...
I loved his way of drawing Superman and his supporting cast, and, comparing his work during the Silver Age with Swan's work, i prefer Wayne's (But i really like Curt Swan's artwork, too, especially his stories released in the Bronze Age: he was able to adapt and evolve his style for that period, and this is a great thing).

[Bill 9000]

Over the years, I've come to idolize a select few comic book artists for the body of work that they have produced and the contributions they made. These artists ... more than any others ... have styles that I've always found fascinating and dynamic. And I have an extremely difficult time pinning down which of them is my favorite. They are as follows (in no particular order).

Jack Kirby
Gil Kane
John Buscema
Jim Aparo
Curt Swan
Wayne Boring
Dick Sprang
Michael Golden
Steve Ditko
Neal Adams
George Perez
Murphy Anderson
John Romita Sr.
Carmine Infantino
Ross Andru
Berni Wrightson

Having said that, the only one to have made almost as big an impact on the Man of Steel as Wayne Boring has been ... without a doubt in my mind ... Curt Swan.

[Gangbuster]

I read "It's a Bird..." yesterday. It's a good book.

It's like "Must There be a Superman?" but um...Earth-Prime style.