[1][2][3] Child of a government contractor father,[4] Thompson spent much of his youth in Europe,[5] living in West Germany and the Netherlands.

[6] His mother was Danish, and Thompson grew up speaking the language,[6] a skill which aided his later career as a translator of European comic books.

)[6] Thompson developed an interest in comics early in life, some of his favorites being the works of André Franquin, Maurice Tillieux,[5]Jacques Tardi,[6] and Jean "Mœbius" Giraud.

[7] As a young man, Thompson was a frequent contributor to American superhero comic book letter columns, with letters published in (among others) Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Conan the Barbarian, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Marvel Spotlight, and Marvel-Two-in-One.

[3] Since Fantagraphics began publishing comics in 1982, Thompson edited many of the company's most popular titles, including Peter Bagge's Hate, Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library, Joe Sacco's Palestine, Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, Linda Medley's Castle Waiting, and anthologies like Critters and Zero Zero.

... A more or less complete list of cartoonists whose comics I've worked on in the last couple years would be Nikoline Werdelin (Danish); Joost Swarte (Dutch); David B., Emile Bravo, Killoffer, Jacques Tardi,[12] and Lewis Trondheim (French); Nicolas Mahler (German); Gabriella Giandelli, Igort, Leila Marzocchi, and Sergio Ponchione (Italian); Jason (Norwegian or French); Max (Spanish); and Martin Kellerman (Swedish).

[6]On March 6, 2013, Thompson announced he had lung cancer and was taking a leave of absence from Fantagraphics to pursue treatment.

[13] He died on June 19, 2013, at his home, at the age of 56, survived by his wife, Lynn Emmert, as well as his mother, father, and brother.

Fellow awardees (both also posthumous) included syndicate manager Mollie Slott and All-Negro Comics founder and publisher Orrin C. Evans.

The Tom Spurgeon Award is aimed at recognizing the role of non-cartoonists — living and deceased — in supporting the broader medium.

... Where even the best translations of comics French, up to and including the renowned work of Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge on Asterix, will come out somewhat stilted, Kim's come off as idiomatic and natural English.