Goethe Awards
The Goethe Award, later known as the Comic Fan Art Award, was a series of fan awards for comic book creators in the United States from 1971 to 2010. The award originated in the fanzine Newfangles and was also associated with The Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom.
Its name comes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who encouraged "the father of comic strips," Rodolphe Töpffer, to publish his stories.
The Comic Art Convention twice hosted the presentation of the awards, at the 1972 and 1974 CACs. The format and balloting of the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards, presented by the Comics Buyer's Guide from 1982 to circa 2010, were in many ways derived from the Goethe Award/Comic Fan Art Award.
Overview
The Goethe Awards/Comic Fan Art Awards were tallied yearly for comic books produced during the previous year, and were given out in several categories, separated into people and works, and further divided into professional publications and fanzine/underground publications:- PEOPLE
- * Favorite Pro Artist/Penciller
- * Favorite Inker
- * Favorite Pro Writer
- * Favorite Pro Editor
- * Favorite Fan Writer
- * Favorite Fan Artist
- WORKS
- * Favorite Pro Comic Book
- * Favorite Underground Comic/Non-Newsstand Comic
- * Favorite Comic-Book Story
- * Favorite Comic-Book Character
- * Favorite Fanzine
History
Don & Maggie Thompson created the Goethe Awards in 1971; the Goethe Awards for comics published in 1970 were first published in a 1971 issue of their fanzine Newfangles.Nominations for the 1972 Goethe Awards ballot were initially published in The Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom , The Monster Times, and Graphic Story World. Nominations were sent in from 335 readers. Ultimately, there were 7 categories with 4-7 nominees in each category. 700 fans voted for the final nominees. The 1972 Goethe Awards were presented July 3, 1972, at the Comic Art Convention, New York City, in a ceremony emceed by Tony Isabella and Carl Gafford. The award results were also published in Comic Art News & Reviews no. 1.
Ballots for the 1973 awards — now renamed the Comic Fan Art Awards — were printed in TBG, Comic Crusader, The Comic Reader, the Gazette Advertiser, The Menomonee Falls Gazette, and Rocket's Blast Comicollector. 1,011 fans cast their votes. The results were published in The Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom #38.
In 1974, the Thompsons grew frustrated with perceived ballot-stuffing and passed the awards to Tony Isabella. The awards for comics published in 1973 were presented at the 1974 Comic Art Convention, held at the Commodore Hotel, New York City. They were later published in TBG #63.
The final Comic Fan Art Awards were co-administered by Ken Gale and were not announced until TBG #123.
In 1982, the Comics Buyer's Guide, began presenting their Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards, in many ways modeled on the Goethe Award/Comic Fan Art Award.
Winners
People
Favorite Pro Artist/Penciller1970 'Neal Adams1971 TK1972 Barry Windsor-Smith1973 Bernie Wrightson1974 Jim StarlinFavorite Inker1974 Tom Palmer
Favorite Pro Writer1970 tie
- * Denny O'Neil
- * Roy Thomas1971 TK1972 Roy Thomas
- * Len Wein
- * Jack Kirby
- * Dennis O'Neil
- * Steve Englehart1973 Len Wein1974 Roy Thomas
1973 Roy Thomas1974 Roy ThomasFavorite Fan Writer1970 Jan Strnad1971 Tony Isabella1972 Don & Maggie Thompson
1973 Don & Maggie ThompsonFavorite Fan Artist1970 Robert Kline1971 TK1972 Richard Corben
1973 Don Newton'
Works
Favorite Pro Comic Book1970 Green Lantern/Green Arrow 1971 TK1972 'Conan- *
- *
- * "And Through Him Save a World" in
- * Batman
- * Spider-Man
- * Tarzan
- * Green Arrow)