Comic-Con International: San Diego has announced the Judges Inductees who are automatically entered into their Will Eisner Hall of Fame; and 16 nominees, four of which will be voted into the Hall by comics people across a variety of professions (cartoonists, editors, comic store owners, historians, etc.).
As is usual a number of inductees and nominees have a history with newspaper comics and cartoons.
Among the judges inductees:
Stan Goldberg
© Archie Publ.
Thomas Nast
Rodolphe Töpffer
Among the nominees with newspaper connections:
Max Gaines
Don Heck
© King Features Syndicate
Hank Ketcham
© King Features Syndicate; © Saturday Evening Post
Gaspar Saladino
© DC Comics
Other Inductees are Alberto Breccia, Francoise Mouly, and Lily Renée Wilhelm Peters Phillips.
Also named as Nominees are Ruth Atkinson, Dave Cockrum, Kevin Eastman, Neil Gaiman, Justin Green, Moto Hagio, Klaus Janson, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Scott McCloud, Grant Morrison, Alex Niño, and P. Craig Russell.
The Eisner Awards page has all the people with short biographies.
I’m always very pleased to see Don Heck get his due recognition. He’s the reason I fell in love with comics.