The Alley Award was an American annual series of
comic book fan awards, first presented in 1962 for comics published in 1961. Officially organized under the aegis of the
Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences,[1] the award shared close ties with the
fanzineAlter Ego magazine. The Alley is the first known comic book fan award.[2]
The Alley Awards were tallied for comic books produced during the previous year. The Alley statuette — a likeness of the
comic strip character
Alley Oop[3] — was initially sculpted by Academy member Ron Foss out of
redwood, from which "plaster duplications" were made to be handed out to the various winners.[4]
History
The Alley Award traces its origin to "a letter to Jerry dated October 25, 1961" by Roy Thomas, in which he suggested that Jerry Bails' fanzine Alter-Ego, which had debuted in March 1961, create an award for fandom's "favorite comic books in a number of categories".[4]
Initially suggested as the "Alter-Ego Award", the name evolved into the Alley Award after
comic stripcavemanAlley Oop, since, as Thomas reasoned, "surely a caveman had to be the earliest superhero chronologically".[4] Comics historian
Bill Schelly notes that no one "bothered to ask the
NEA [newspaper] syndicate for permission to utilize
V. T. Hamlin's comic strip character".[4]
By the awards' third year, the number of ballots received had become so overwhelming that Bails called for a fan get-together at which votes could be tabulated by group effort. This gathering of Midwestern fans, held in March 1964 at the Detroit-area home of Bails, was dubbed the "Alley Tally", and its success provided inspiration for the organizing of comic book
fan conventions that began soon afterward.[5]
Results of the voting were published in the comics
fanzinesOn the Drawing Board / The Comic Reader[3] The Alley Awards themselves were given out from 1962 to 1970 (for comics published 1961–1969, respectively), with
comic strip awards added in 1967 (for calendar year 1966). The awards were presented at all three
Academy Cons from 1965 to 1967. The final three years' awards were presented at
Phil Seuling's
New YorkComic Art Convention.[6]
After the dissolution of the Alleys, from 1971 to 1974 the Comic Art Convention presented the
Goethe Awards[7]/Comic Fan Art Awards.[8]
Best Reprint Title - Marvel Super-Heroes (Marvel Comics)
Professional Work
Best Editor - Stan Lee
Best Writer - Winner: Stan Lee; 2nd place: Roy Thomas
Best Pencil Artist - Winner:
Jim Steranko; 2nd place: Jack Kirby
Best Inking Artist - Winner: Joe Sinnott; 2nd place: Wally Wood
Best Cover - Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #6, by Jim Steranko (Marvel Comics)
Best Full-Length Story - (tie) "Track of the Hook", by
Bob Haney &
Neal Adams, The Brave and the Bold #79 (DC Comics); "Origin of the Silver Surfer", by Stan Lee &
John Buscema, The Silver Surfer #1 (Marvel Comics)
Best Feature Story - "Today Earth Died", by Jim Steranko, Strange Tales #168 (Marvel Comics)
Best Regular Short Feature - "Tales of the
Inhumans", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor (Marvel Comics)
Hall of Fame - Fantastic Four, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Jim Steranko (Marvel Comics)
Popularity Poll
Best Adventure Hero Strip - The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel Comics)
Best Adventure Group Strip - Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics)
Best Supporting Character - J. Jonah Jameson (The Amazing Spider-Man) (Marvel Comics)
Best Villain - Doctor Doom (Fantastic Four) (Marvel Comics)
Hanerfeld, Mark (February–March 1969). "Wonderful World of Comics #10: Fandom Picks the Winners". The Witching Hour. No. 1.
DC Comics.
References
^
ab"The Alley Awards for 1961: A Report from Roy Thomas, Secretary of the Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences". Alter Ego (4). October 1962. Reprinted in Thomas, Roy; Schelly, Bill (2008). Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine.
Raleigh,
North Carolina:
TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 48–49.
ISBN978-1-893905-88-7.
^Kleefeld, Sean. "A Brief History", Comic Book Fanthropology (Lulu.com, 2009), p. 31.
^
abSiegel, Howard P. "Made in America", BEM #17 (Feb. 1978).
^
abcdSchelly, Bill (June 2003). "Jerry Bails' Ten Building Blocks of Fandom". Alter Ego. 3 (25): 5–8.
^Schelly, Bill. The Golden Age of Comic Fandom (Hamster Press, 1995).
^Gabilliet, Jean-Paul (trans. by Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen). Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books (University of Mississippi Press, 2010), pp. 250–251.
^"The 1971 Goethe Awards" (ballot), Graphic Story World vol. 2, #2 (whole #6) (July 1972), p. 29.
The Alley Award was an American annual series of
comic book fan awards, first presented in 1962 for comics published in 1961. Officially organized under the aegis of the
Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences,[1] the award shared close ties with the
fanzineAlter Ego magazine. The Alley is the first known comic book fan award.[2]
The Alley Awards were tallied for comic books produced during the previous year. The Alley statuette — a likeness of the
comic strip character
Alley Oop[3] — was initially sculpted by Academy member Ron Foss out of
redwood, from which "plaster duplications" were made to be handed out to the various winners.[4]
History
The Alley Award traces its origin to "a letter to Jerry dated October 25, 1961" by Roy Thomas, in which he suggested that Jerry Bails' fanzine Alter-Ego, which had debuted in March 1961, create an award for fandom's "favorite comic books in a number of categories".[4]
Initially suggested as the "Alter-Ego Award", the name evolved into the Alley Award after
comic stripcavemanAlley Oop, since, as Thomas reasoned, "surely a caveman had to be the earliest superhero chronologically".[4] Comics historian
Bill Schelly notes that no one "bothered to ask the
NEA [newspaper] syndicate for permission to utilize
V. T. Hamlin's comic strip character".[4]
By the awards' third year, the number of ballots received had become so overwhelming that Bails called for a fan get-together at which votes could be tabulated by group effort. This gathering of Midwestern fans, held in March 1964 at the Detroit-area home of Bails, was dubbed the "Alley Tally", and its success provided inspiration for the organizing of comic book
fan conventions that began soon afterward.[5]
Results of the voting were published in the comics
fanzinesOn the Drawing Board / The Comic Reader[3] The Alley Awards themselves were given out from 1962 to 1970 (for comics published 1961–1969, respectively), with
comic strip awards added in 1967 (for calendar year 1966). The awards were presented at all three
Academy Cons from 1965 to 1967. The final three years' awards were presented at
Phil Seuling's
New YorkComic Art Convention.[6]
After the dissolution of the Alleys, from 1971 to 1974 the Comic Art Convention presented the
Goethe Awards[7]/Comic Fan Art Awards.[8]
Best Reprint Title - Marvel Super-Heroes (Marvel Comics)
Professional Work
Best Editor - Stan Lee
Best Writer - Winner: Stan Lee; 2nd place: Roy Thomas
Best Pencil Artist - Winner:
Jim Steranko; 2nd place: Jack Kirby
Best Inking Artist - Winner: Joe Sinnott; 2nd place: Wally Wood
Best Cover - Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #6, by Jim Steranko (Marvel Comics)
Best Full-Length Story - (tie) "Track of the Hook", by
Bob Haney &
Neal Adams, The Brave and the Bold #79 (DC Comics); "Origin of the Silver Surfer", by Stan Lee &
John Buscema, The Silver Surfer #1 (Marvel Comics)
Best Feature Story - "Today Earth Died", by Jim Steranko, Strange Tales #168 (Marvel Comics)
Best Regular Short Feature - "Tales of the
Inhumans", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor (Marvel Comics)
Hall of Fame - Fantastic Four, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Jim Steranko (Marvel Comics)
Popularity Poll
Best Adventure Hero Strip - The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel Comics)
Best Adventure Group Strip - Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics)
Best Supporting Character - J. Jonah Jameson (The Amazing Spider-Man) (Marvel Comics)
Best Villain - Doctor Doom (Fantastic Four) (Marvel Comics)
Hanerfeld, Mark (February–March 1969). "Wonderful World of Comics #10: Fandom Picks the Winners". The Witching Hour. No. 1.
DC Comics.
References
^
ab"The Alley Awards for 1961: A Report from Roy Thomas, Secretary of the Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences". Alter Ego (4). October 1962. Reprinted in Thomas, Roy; Schelly, Bill (2008). Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine.
Raleigh,
North Carolina:
TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 48–49.
ISBN978-1-893905-88-7.
^Kleefeld, Sean. "A Brief History", Comic Book Fanthropology (Lulu.com, 2009), p. 31.
^
abSiegel, Howard P. "Made in America", BEM #17 (Feb. 1978).
^
abcdSchelly, Bill (June 2003). "Jerry Bails' Ten Building Blocks of Fandom". Alter Ego. 3 (25): 5–8.
^Schelly, Bill. The Golden Age of Comic Fandom (Hamster Press, 1995).
^Gabilliet, Jean-Paul (trans. by Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen). Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books (University of Mississippi Press, 2010), pp. 250–251.
^"The 1971 Goethe Awards" (ballot), Graphic Story World vol. 2, #2 (whole #6) (July 1972), p. 29.