Goethe Awards

The Goethe Awards/Comic Fan Art Awards were tallied yearly for comic books produced during the previous year, and were given out in several categories, separated into people and works, and further divided into professional publications and fanzine/underground publications:

• PEOPLE
  • Favorite Pro Artist/Penciller (1970–1974)
  • Favorite Inker (1974)
  • Favorite Pro Writer (1970–1974)
  • Favorite Pro Editor (1970–1974)
  • Favorite Fan Writer (1970–1973)
  • Favorite Fan Artist (1970–1973)

• WORKS
  • Favorite Pro Comic Book (1970–1974)
  • Favorite Underground Comic/Non-Newsstand Comic (1970–1972)
  • Favorite Comic-Book Story (1970–1973)
  • Favorite Comic-Book Character (1970–1973)
  • Favorite Fanzine (1970–1974)

Don & Maggie Thompson created the Goethe Awards in 1971; the Goethe Awards for comics published in 1970 were first published in a 1971 issue of their fanzine Newfangles.

Nominations for the 1972 Goethe Awards (for comics published in 1971) ballot were initially published in The Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom (TBG),^[2] The Monster Times,^[3] and Graphic Story World.^[4] Nominations were sent in from 335 readers. Ultimately, there were 7 categories with 4-7 nominees in each category. 700 fans voted for the final nominees.^[5] The 1972 Goethe Awards were presented July 3, 1972, at the Comic Art Convention, New York City, in a ceremony emceed by Tony Isabella and Carl Gafford.^[5] The award results were also published in Comic Art News & Reviews no. 1.

Ballots for the 1973 awards (for works published in 1972) — now renamed the Comic Fan Art Awards^[6] — were printed in TBG, Comic Crusader, The Comic Reader, the Gazette Advertiser, The Menomonee Falls Gazette, and Rocket's Blast Comicollector. 1,011 fans cast their votes.^[5] The results were published in The Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom #38 (June 15, 1973).

In 1974, the Thompsons grew frustrated with perceived ballot-stuffing^[7] and passed the awards to Tony Isabella.^[5] The awards for comics published in 1973 were presented at the 1974 Comic Art Convention,^[8] held at the Commodore Hotel, New York City. They were later published in TBG #63 (Aug. 1, 1974).^[5]

The final Comic Fan Art Awards (for comics published in 1974) were co-administered by Ken Gale^[9] and were not announced until TBG #123 (March 26, 1976).^[5]

In 1982, the Comics Buyer's Guide (the successor to The Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom), began presenting their Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards, in many ways modeled on the Goethe Award/Comic Fan Art Award.

Years represent when the work was published, not when the awards were presented