Harvey Awards

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The Harvey Awards began with a torn magazine. At the 2001 ceremony, Frank Miller stepped to the podium and delivered a keynote speech that ended with him ripping apart a copy of Wizard magazine, the publication he had singled out as emblematic of the comic book speculating industry at its worst. That moment captures something essential about the Harveys: they were always an insiders' award, voted on by the people who actually made the comics, and they have never been shy about taking a stand.

  Named for Harvey Kurtzman, the writer and artist whose satirical vision shaped American cartooning, the Harvey Awards were founded in 1988 by Gary Groth, president of the publisher Fantagraphics. They were built to replace the Kirby Awards, which had closed the year before. The questions this award raises are not small ones. Who gets to decide what matters in comics? Fans, or professionals? Critics, or creators? And what happens when the institution built to answer those questions faces cancellations, financial shortages, and the death of the person it was named for?

• 2. Born From a Predecessor

  ›

  Gary Groth launched the Harvey Awards in 1988 with a specific mandate: these would be industry awards, voted on entirely by comics professionals. That was a deliberate departure from awards like the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards and the Eagle Awards, which opened voting to fans as well as creators.

  Fantagraphics took on the practical work of getting the enterprise off the ground. The publisher established the relationship with Harvey Kurtzman, designed the ballots, and compiled a mailing list of more than 1,000 comics professionals. The Texas-based retailer Lone Star Comics and the Eastern Region Comic Book Retailers Association joined as co-sponsors. Employees at Lone Star Comics were responsible for tabulating the ballots.

  The new awards also introduced categories that the Kirby Awards had never covered, including recognition for inking, lettering, coloring, and production design. Those additions signaled a broader view of who contributes to a finished comic. The nominations for the first Harvey Awards were announced in May 1988, and the ceremony was held at the Chicago Comicon that July.

• 3. A Ceremony in Mourning

  ›

  The Dallas Fantasy Fair hosted the Harvey Awards from 1989 until the Fair's own demise in 1996, a seven-year run that included one of the most charged moments in the awards' history. The 1993 ceremony took place shortly after Harvey Kurtzman died. Weekend events at the convention that year were oriented around raising money to keep the awards going in his name.

  Three years later, in July 1996, the Dallas Fantasy Fair was cancelled at the last minute. The awards banquet went with it. Organizers mailed the trophies to the recipients instead.

  WonderCon then hosted from 1997 to 1999, after which the Pittsburgh Comicon took over for three years. Jeff Smith gave the keynote speech at the 2000 ceremony. Tony Millionaire spoke at the 2002 ceremony. Between those two appearances, Frank Miller delivered his now-famous speech attacking the speculator market, closing by tearing up a copy of Wizard in front of the audience. Then, in 2003, a scheduled keynote by Neil Gaiman fell through, and funding shortages forced the cancellation of the ceremony and banquet altogether. The winners that year were simply announced at the convention.

• 4. Venues and Reinvention

  ›

  After the 2003 cancellation, the Harvey Awards relocated to New York City. The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art's MoCCA Festival hosted the ceremony in 2004 and 2005. In 2006 the awards moved again, this time to the Baltimore Comic-Con, where they remained annually through 2016. Paul McSpadden served as the Harvey Awards administrator during that decade-long Baltimore era.

  Beginning on the 7th of October 2017, the ceremony shifted to the New York Comic Con. The first year at that venue was transitional: no nominations or voting took place. Instead, a small reception honored the legacy of Harvey Kurtzman. Darwyn Cooke was posthumously inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame. The induction was presented by Adam Kubert and accepted by Cooke's widow Marsha.

  The 30th anniversary in 2018 brought a full ceremony and a structural overhaul. The awards were reorganized into six main categories, with nominations going to works rather than individuals. A selection committee replaced the earlier open-nomination process, though final voting remained with industry professionals. The following year, on the 4th of October 2019, an invite-only gala in New York City inducted seven living creators into the Hall of Fame, including Mike Mignola and Alison Bechdel.

• 5. Correcting the Record

  ›

  The 2019 gala did something the Harvey Awards had not previously done in such an explicit way: it acknowledged gaps in its own history. Alongside living inductees like Mike Mignola and Alison Bechdel, five creators were inducted posthumously specifically to address past omissions. They were Will Elder, Jack Davis, Marie Severin, John Severin, and Ben Oda.

  Harvey Awards co-chair John Lind explained the decision to the New York Times directly: "We decided to balance the induction class with some of the past creators who may have been overlooked." The statement was unusually candid for an awards body.

  In October 2020, the ceremony moved online entirely, broadcast as part of New York Comic Con and MCM Comic Con's Metaverse. Vivek Tiwary hosted, with appearances from Gene Luen Yang, Neil Gaiman, Jill Thompson, and Damon Lindelof. The Harvey Awards had begun with paper ballots mailed to a list of over 1,000 professionals in 1988; by 2020 they were streaming to an international audience, carrying the names of those five posthumous inductees into a far wider conversation.