As online voting opens for the 2013 Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame, the judges have selected late Golden Age artist Mort Meskin (Vigilante, Wildcat) and late underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez (Trashman) for automatic induction.
In addition, they've named 13 nominees, from which voters will select four to be inducted in July during Comic-Con International. The nominees are:
- Marjorie Henderson Buell (aka Marge), late creator of Little Lulu
- Howard Cruse, creator of the acclaimed Stuck Rubber Baby
- Lee Falk, late creator of The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician
- Bud Fisher, late creator of the pioneering daily strip Mutt and Jeff
- Bill Griffth, creator of Zippy
- Al Jaffee, longtime Mad Magazine contributor famed for the "Mad Fold-in"
- Jesse Marsh,late Golden Age artist known for his work on the Tarzan and Gene Autry comic books
- Tarpé Mills (aka June Mills), late Golden Age artist best known for Miss Fury, the first female action hero created by a woman
- Thomas Nast, 19th-century caricaturist and editorial cartoonist known as "the Father of the American Cartoon"
- Gary Panter, acclaimed illustrator, painter and creator of Jimbo
- Trina Robbins, influential underground comics writer/artist and co-creator of Vampirella
- Joe Sinnott, veteran inker who worked on virtually every Marvel title during his 60 years working for the publisher
- Jacques Tardi, acclaimed writer and artist, and creator of Adèle Blanc-Sec
To vote, you must be a professional working gin the comics or related industries as a creator, a publisher, an editor, a comics store owner or manager, a graphic novels librarian, or a comics historian/educator. Eligible voters can visit EisnerVote.com to select up to four names for the Hall of Fame. The voting deadline is March 4.