Before he passed, comic creator Jerry Robinson inaugurated the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing — an honor presented each year at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. The award recognizes a writer of comics who produced a splendid body of work but who did not receive proper recognition and/or financial reward. At the time Jerry proposed this award, that was all too true of Bill Finger.
It ain't anymore. These days, Finger is acknowledged for his contributions to his most important work…but since others are not, the award lives on. This is the annual announcement that as its Administrator, I am now open to receive nominations and suggestions for the 2018 presentation. We give out two of them. One is a posthumous award. The other is for someone who is happily alive and who can (we hope) be there to receive it in person. Here's what else you need to know…
This is an award for a body of work as a comic book writer. Every year, a couple of folks nominate their favorite artist. Sometimes, they don't get that "writer" part and sometimes, they argue that their nominee qualifies because their favorite artist might have written a story or two so we can give him this trophy. That is not "a body of work," nor are a couple of recent stories that didn't get the attention you thought they deserved. Note that all our past recipients (listed below) produced hundreds if not thousands of stories over at least a couple of decades.
This award is for a writer who has received insufficient reward for his or her fine body of work. It can be insufficient in terms of recognition or insufficient in terms of cash or it can, of course, be both. But this is not just an award for writing good comic books.
Anyone who nominates Stan Lee for the award has to also write an essay on how the credited Executive Producer of the highest-grossing movie of the year (and 40+ other huge successes with a cameo appearance in each) has been unrecognized and/or unrewarded. I wish the man good health and many more years but come on, people. If I was Stan and you tried to give me an award for not being famous, I would sue my publicist for malpractice.
Also, it's for writing comic books — not comic strips, not material for other media based on comic book properties or anything else. We stretch that definition far enough to include MAD but that's about as far as we'll stretch it.
To date, the award has gone to Otto Binder, John Broome, Del Connell, Frank Doyle, Arnold Drake, Gardner Fox, Gary Friedrich, Steve Gerber, George Gladir, Archie Goodwin, Bob Haney, Richard E. Hughes, Frank Jacobs, Robert Kanigher, Jack Kirby, Harvey Kurtzman, Larry Lieber, Bill Loebs, Elliott S! Maggin, Bill Mantlo, Don McGregor, Jack Mendelsohn, Don Rosa, Alvin Schwartz, Jerry Siegel, Steve Skeates and John Stanley. Those folks, having already won, cannot repeat. Unlike when you drive L.A. freeways, you can only get The Finger once.
If you have already nominated someone in years past, you need not nominate them again. They will be automatically considered for this year's awards. And unless they win, the year after that and the year after that…
If you nominate someone for the posthumous award, it would really help if you also suggested an appropriate person to accept on that person's behalf — ideally, a relative, preferably a spouse, child or grandchild. It could also be a person who worked with the nominee or — last resort — a friend or historian who can speak about them and their work. And if it's not a relative, we would also welcome suggestions as to an appropriate place for the plaque to reside — say, a museum or with someone who was close to the honoree.
Would you like to nominate someone? If so, here's the address for nominations, which will be accepted until April Fool's Day. That's when all reasonable suggestions will be placed before our Blue Ribbon Judging Committee. Their selections will be announced before April is out and the presentations will be made at the Eisner Awards ceremony, which is Friday evening at Comic-Con. Thank you.