The late Jack Kirby and Bill Messner-Loebs have been named as the 2017 receipents of the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. Comic-Con International: San Diego announced the honors, with the awards chosen by a committe made up of Kurt Busiek, Marv Wolfman, Scott Shaw!, Jim Amash, Charles Kochman, and chairman Mark Evanier.
"As always, I asked on my blog for suggestions of worthy recipients," said Evanier. "Many were nominated and the committee chose Bill as the worthiest of those still alive and working, and Jack because although his artwork has always been justly hailed, his contribution as a writer has been too often minimized or overlooked. In fact, in the years we've been doing this award, Jack Kirby has received many more nominations than anyone else, but we held off honoring him until this year because it seemed appropriate to finally do it in the centennial of his birth, and because members of his family will be at Comic-Con to accept on his behalf."
The Bill Finger Award was established in 2005 in light of the overlooked Batman co-creator, Bill Finger.
"The premise of this award is to recognize writers for a body of work that has not received its rightful reward and/or recognition," said Evanier. "Even though the late Bill Finger now finally receives credit for his role in the creation of Batman, he's still the industry poster boy for writers not receiving proper reward or recognition."
The 2017 Bill Finger Awards are sponsored by DC Comics, Heritage Auctions, and Maggie Thompson. The awards themselves will be given out during the Eisner Awards ceremony Friday, July 21 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel during Comic-Con International: San Diego.
