AdamWarlock
03/01/2003, 12:20
Does anybody else get annoyed at how Wizard's "Fan awards" only rewards the sensationalism-inundated top-sellers? I mean, Batman is pretty good, but Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee have only had 5 issues so far; not enough to strongly compete, I feel, with titles that have had time to fill out the full year and do a good job of it! It's just like the Academy awards where the box-office blockbuster crowd-pleaser gets nominated every which way and the darling-to-the-critics film that brings new and inovative things to the field gets ignored. Therefore, I'm hoping that whoever votes on this will follow my lead and feel free to nominate ANYTHING so long as it fits the criteria. I'd be delighted to see things bordering on independant, even if no more so than Dc Vertigo getting nominated as they should be. The 5-issues of Loeb/Lee's "Batman" nominated for best ongoing series and not the breath-taking "100 Bullets" or "Transmetropolitan"?!? Oh, PLEASE!
Make it our duty to be to comics what the Golden Globe awards are to film: the awards ceremony that rewards things that DESERVE to be rewarded (like the globes did for Jim Carrey while the Oscars still refuse to nominate him for his serious works), whether or not the general populace seems to think they matter.
Vote for 5-15 things in each category, 15 being your least favorite of them & #1 being your top choice in each category. Please vote in denominations of 5; as in on at least 5 things per category, and if more than that, only 10 or 15; no other numbers.. I will tally and average how many times each thing appears in the upper tiers to determine what things are eventually "winners".
Please, put some serious thought into your choices. I don't mean to become as obsessively critical as myself, but REALLY think before dubbing the blockbuster writer (Jeph Loeb, Kevin Smith, etc) or the hot selling title (Batman, Transformers, etc) as "the best". Does this title TRULY move you so? Does it contribute new and interesting things to the field/medium/genre? Is it a rehash of the same story that's come ten billion times before? Just think a little, PLEASE.
Now, unless you're all disgusted with me for sounding so intellectual-snobbish, here are the categories to vote upon.
Categories to Vote on: (Ones with $$$ have a few erratas at bottom)
**Mandatory
Best Ongoing Series$$$
Best Limited Series/1-shot/Graphic-Novel$$$
Best Moment
Best Writer$$$
Best Interior Artist$$$
Best Publisher
Best Main Character
Best Supporting Character
**Optional
Best Storyline$$$
Best New Ongoing Series$$$
Best Individual Issue
Best Humor Series$$$
Best Writer/Artist in One
Best Creative Team
Best Cover Artist
Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
Best Superhero
Best Villain
Rulings/Clarifications on the categories
GENERAL:
These awards are for the comics of 2002. However, as comics come out each month and are not like movies where their release is the whole thing right there, bits and pieces of certain stories may have begun or ended in 2001 or 2003. ANY STORY THAT WAS PUBLISHED IN ANY PART WITHIN 2002 IS APPLICABLE.
$$$Best Ongoing Series:
*The series must be intended as an ongoing series, the only exception being "Rising Stars", which has been going for years already.
*It should have released at least 48-pages worth of content between late-2001 and early-2003. This does not disqualify the likes of "Acme Novelty Library" who only released one issue.
*All series nominated here should have a consistent creative team or at least have the writer or artist almost always being the same, hence disqualifying "Spider Man's Tangled Web", "X-men Unlimited" and other anthologies.
$$$Best Limited Series/1-Shot/Graphic-Novel:
*The series must be intended to be of a finite length from start to finish (like a 6 or a 12 issue one; not 300 like Cerebus or 60 like Transmetropolitan; those are ongoing).
*The series must be COMPLETE at the time of voting, disqualifying "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol.2", "Spider Man / Black Cat", "The Filth", and "Global Frequency".
**(note on above). Look, a conclusion can make or break a story. Plenty of Garth Ennis books (Preacher, Hitman, Punisher) wouldn't be half as good if not for Ennis' flair for writing a dazzling finale'. Without the ending to the story, no story can truly be complete and it is not FAIR to judge them. Please don't nominate incomplete series.
$$$Best Writer:
While certain things are disqualified in other categories, they can still be very good, of course. Alan Moore (League), Kevin Smith (Spidey/Cat), Grant Morrison (The Filth) are NOT disqualified from this category.
$$$Best Interior Artist
*This is not "best penciler", "best inker", "best painter", or anything. With this, ALL artists who did the CORE part of the story on any comic are valid nominations.
*By CORE part of the story, for an example, I mean that Michael Gaydos (Alias) is applicable as the main artist and not BILL SIENKIEWICZ who did 3 splash-page pinups ONLY within a few issues in one storyline.
$$$Best Storyline
*This means named storylines. Example: "100 Bullets: The Counterfifth Detective" is a valid nomination while "The Ultimates", as a building series with no definitive, immediate "beginning/middle/end" story, is not. *Single-issues can count as full stories.
*A limites series is its own storyline name with one exception:
*If a limited series is really a collection of multiple entirely unrelated stories (Ex: Howard The Duck, Muties), it is NOT one core storyline, and the individual part you think deserves the recognition is the one to submit).
$$$Best New Ongoing Series
*This is to say series that just started in late 2001 at the earliest and December 2002 at the latest. THE ULTIMATES is valid while series that are still generally new but are nearing on 2 years such as ALIAS are not.
*CAPTAIN MARVEL, X-STATIX, AGENT X & SOLDIER X are not valid as they are just relaunches of existing titles.
$$$Best Humor Series
*The series can be limited or ongoing or even just a one-shot such as "Blue Monday".
*It must be INTENDED as a humor series, such as "Dork Tower", and not just be a series with a lot of jokes such as "Agent X".
Now... please vote :-) I want to see recognition go truly where it's due. I don't mean to mock peoples' tastes if they DO feel this to be the case, but I just don't see how 5 issues of a still-building Batman series from, coincidentally, 2 of the biggest names in comics, can compete with titles that released a full 12 issues of greatness for the #1 slot.
And please read the erratas before voting; I feel them to be reasonable.
Make it our duty to be to comics what the Golden Globe awards are to film: the awards ceremony that rewards things that DESERVE to be rewarded (like the globes did for Jim Carrey while the Oscars still refuse to nominate him for his serious works), whether or not the general populace seems to think they matter.
Vote for 5-15 things in each category, 15 being your least favorite of them & #1 being your top choice in each category. Please vote in denominations of 5; as in on at least 5 things per category, and if more than that, only 10 or 15; no other numbers.. I will tally and average how many times each thing appears in the upper tiers to determine what things are eventually "winners".
Please, put some serious thought into your choices. I don't mean to become as obsessively critical as myself, but REALLY think before dubbing the blockbuster writer (Jeph Loeb, Kevin Smith, etc) or the hot selling title (Batman, Transformers, etc) as "the best". Does this title TRULY move you so? Does it contribute new and interesting things to the field/medium/genre? Is it a rehash of the same story that's come ten billion times before? Just think a little, PLEASE.
Now, unless you're all disgusted with me for sounding so intellectual-snobbish, here are the categories to vote upon.
Categories to Vote on: (Ones with $$$ have a few erratas at bottom)
**Mandatory
Best Ongoing Series$$$
Best Limited Series/1-shot/Graphic-Novel$$$
Best Moment
Best Writer$$$
Best Interior Artist$$$
Best Publisher
Best Main Character
Best Supporting Character
**Optional
Best Storyline$$$
Best New Ongoing Series$$$
Best Individual Issue
Best Humor Series$$$
Best Writer/Artist in One
Best Creative Team
Best Cover Artist
Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
Best Superhero
Best Villain
Rulings/Clarifications on the categories
GENERAL:
These awards are for the comics of 2002. However, as comics come out each month and are not like movies where their release is the whole thing right there, bits and pieces of certain stories may have begun or ended in 2001 or 2003. ANY STORY THAT WAS PUBLISHED IN ANY PART WITHIN 2002 IS APPLICABLE.
$$$Best Ongoing Series:
*The series must be intended as an ongoing series, the only exception being "Rising Stars", which has been going for years already.
*It should have released at least 48-pages worth of content between late-2001 and early-2003. This does not disqualify the likes of "Acme Novelty Library" who only released one issue.
*All series nominated here should have a consistent creative team or at least have the writer or artist almost always being the same, hence disqualifying "Spider Man's Tangled Web", "X-men Unlimited" and other anthologies.
$$$Best Limited Series/1-Shot/Graphic-Novel:
*The series must be intended to be of a finite length from start to finish (like a 6 or a 12 issue one; not 300 like Cerebus or 60 like Transmetropolitan; those are ongoing).
*The series must be COMPLETE at the time of voting, disqualifying "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol.2", "Spider Man / Black Cat", "The Filth", and "Global Frequency".
**(note on above). Look, a conclusion can make or break a story. Plenty of Garth Ennis books (Preacher, Hitman, Punisher) wouldn't be half as good if not for Ennis' flair for writing a dazzling finale'. Without the ending to the story, no story can truly be complete and it is not FAIR to judge them. Please don't nominate incomplete series.
$$$Best Writer:
While certain things are disqualified in other categories, they can still be very good, of course. Alan Moore (League), Kevin Smith (Spidey/Cat), Grant Morrison (The Filth) are NOT disqualified from this category.
$$$Best Interior Artist
*This is not "best penciler", "best inker", "best painter", or anything. With this, ALL artists who did the CORE part of the story on any comic are valid nominations.
*By CORE part of the story, for an example, I mean that Michael Gaydos (Alias) is applicable as the main artist and not BILL SIENKIEWICZ who did 3 splash-page pinups ONLY within a few issues in one storyline.
$$$Best Storyline
*This means named storylines. Example: "100 Bullets: The Counterfifth Detective" is a valid nomination while "The Ultimates", as a building series with no definitive, immediate "beginning/middle/end" story, is not. *Single-issues can count as full stories.
*A limites series is its own storyline name with one exception:
*If a limited series is really a collection of multiple entirely unrelated stories (Ex: Howard The Duck, Muties), it is NOT one core storyline, and the individual part you think deserves the recognition is the one to submit).
$$$Best New Ongoing Series
*This is to say series that just started in late 2001 at the earliest and December 2002 at the latest. THE ULTIMATES is valid while series that are still generally new but are nearing on 2 years such as ALIAS are not.
*CAPTAIN MARVEL, X-STATIX, AGENT X & SOLDIER X are not valid as they are just relaunches of existing titles.
$$$Best Humor Series
*The series can be limited or ongoing or even just a one-shot such as "Blue Monday".
*It must be INTENDED as a humor series, such as "Dork Tower", and not just be a series with a lot of jokes such as "Agent X".
Now... please vote :-) I want to see recognition go truly where it's due. I don't mean to mock peoples' tastes if they DO feel this to be the case, but I just don't see how 5 issues of a still-building Batman series from, coincidentally, 2 of the biggest names in comics, can compete with titles that released a full 12 issues of greatness for the #1 slot.
And please read the erratas before voting; I feel them to be reasonable.