On Saturday, June 9, Canadian comic pride was shouted from the Holiday Inn in downtown Toronto as the 3rd Annual Shuster Awards took place. Comic pros mixed it up with average fans who listened to stories from Jerry Robinson (who created the Joker), learned a little about French-Canadian comic influence during the Hall of Fame inductees and cracked smiles during the witty interludes hosted by comedians Rick Green and Rob Salem. It was a night to be proud of.
Locally, Happy Harbor represented by winning the award for Outstanding Canadian Retailer and upon our return, we sent out a press release to the local media whom, for sure, would want to know more about a hometown store staking claim to national supremacy.
The Edmonton Metro was the only one of more than a dozen media outlets who decided the event was newsworthy. What beat us out; a 19-year-old kid who makes the world a better place by online gaming at the Playboy Mansion.
Really, my expectations for the media shouldn’t be that high. I mean, sending out a press release was pretty self-serving so I will let it slide. What I won’t let slide is the “media” that covers our hobby.
The local press release went out on Monday as soon as I got off the plane and then I sent a brief and friendly email to some of the major online comic news sites; Newsarama, Comic Book Resources (CBR) and ICv2. The last responded with a note thanking me for bringing it to their attention and they would see if it was possible to get something together for their site (but no promises). Fair enough and as of Friday, they had covered the event. The other two did not respond and as of today have yet to report on the Shusters.
Some sites (mostly blogs) did report on the festivities (usually inaccurately) but I’m a bit concerned about the fact the bigger, “popular” sites don’t deem this worthy. CBR has tons of coverage about the first DAY of Wizard World Philly and Heroscon, as does Newsarama, but not a single mention of the Shusters.
In fact, Newsarama is probably the most inappropriately named site out there. Their concept of “news” is asking geeky, fanboy questions to pros who seldom answer the questions asked. When something truly newsworthy happens (say, the passing of industry legend Marty Nodell), it goes unnoticed. Every week I get a little sicker reading their pap but since so many customers reference it, I have to read so I know what they are talking about.
For fanboys, Newsarama and CBG seem to have forgotten the most overused mantra in comicdom; “With great power comes great responsibility.” These two sites have a tremendous customer base that looks to them for “news”. If they don’t feel it’s a responsibility to inform them who Albert Chartier, Gene Day, Jacques Hurtubise (Zyx) and Gerald Lazarre were and why they were inducted into the Hall of Fame, then at least grow a pair a balls and report it because it is actual news.
The Shepherd