The fans have spoken and the favorites have been picked in the 24th Annual Comics Buyer’s Guide Fan Awards. Below are the finalists in each of the 12 categories. The winners will be announced in CBG #1621, shipping in early July.
This was the first year in which we asked you, the fans, to nominate your favorites of 2005, and those nominees (in alphabetical order in each category) were:
Favorite Comic-Book Editor:
Axel Alonso
Tom Brevoort
Dan DiDio
Joe Quesada
Stephen Wacker
Favorite Comic-Book Writer:
Brian Michael Bendis
Ed Brubaker
Peter David
Geoff Johns
Brian K. Vaughan
Favorite Comic-Book Penciller:
John Cassaday
Bryan Hitch
Phil Jimenez
Jim Lee
George Pérez
Favorite Comic-Book Inker:
Terry Austin
Andy Lanning
Danny Miki
Jimmy Palmiotti
Scott Williams
Favorite Comic-Book Colorist:
Bill Crabtree
Laura Martin
Eva Hopkins
Alex Sinclair
Dave Stewart
Favorite Comic-Book Letterer:
Chris Eliopoulos
Todd Klein
Nick J. Napolitano
Richard Starkings and Comicraft
John Workman
Favorite Comic-Book Cover Artist:
John Cassady
Jim Lee
Joseph Michael Linsner
George Pérez
Alex Ross
Favorite Comic-Book Story:
“House of M” — House of M #1-8 (Marvel)
“Infinite Crisis” — Infinite Crisis #1 (DC)
“Return to the Homelands” — Fables #36-41 (DC/Vertigo)
“Villains United” — Villains United #1-6 (DC)
“The Winter Soldier” — Captain America (5th series) #8-12 (Marvel)
Favorite Comic Book:
Fables (DC/Vertigo)
Infinite Crisis (DC)
JSA (DC)
New Avengers (Marvel)
Y: The Last Man (DC/Vertigo)
Favorite Original Graphic Novel or Album:
The Fountain (DC/Vertigo)
The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (W.W. Norton)
The Quitter (DC/Vertigo)
Top 10: The Forty-Niners (DC/ABC)
Tricked (Top Shelf)
Favorite Comic-Book Character:
Batman
Captain America
Spider-Man
Superman
Wolverine
Favorite Comic-Book Publishing Company:
Archie
Dark Horse
DC
Image
Marvel
To see who won in the previous 23 years, click here:
CBG Fan Awards Archives
Feel free to post here and discuss the works and creators you supported.
Winners will be announced in CBG #1621, shipping in July!
The Magazine
Favorite Comic-Book Editor:
Dan DiDio
Favorite Comic-Book Writer:
Geoff Johns
Favorite Comic-Book Penciller:
George Pérez
Favorite Comic-Book Inker:
Terry Austin
Favorite Comic-Book Colorist:
Dave Stewart
Favorite Comic-Book Letterer:
Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Favorite Comic-Book Cover Artist:
Alex Ross
Favorite Comic-Book Story:
”
“Villains United” — Villains United #1-6 (DC)
Favorite Comic Book:
JSA (DC)
Favorite Original Graphic Novel or Album:
Favorite Comic-Book Character:
Batman
Favorite Comic-Book Publishing Company:
DC
Ok, Im confused:
(1) Ed Brubaker gets a nod for Best Writer, (2) his CAPTAIN AMERICA book gets a nod for Favorite Comic Book Story for the “Winter Soldier” storyline, and (3) Captain America gets a nod for the Favorite Comic-Book Character.
That’s three nods for CAPTAIN AMERICA but not a mention of Steve Epting’s wonderful art?
Nothing against those that were nominated but riddle me this:
In a visual medium, what did Brubaker write that the reader liked? Did the comic-book reader pick up a prose-only version of the Winter Soldier storyline I must have missed?
Being nominated as a best storyline, was there a non-visual version of the Winter Soldier published in brail?
With Captain America up for favorite character, what is the catalyst? Why now?
I guess the artist who (a) interprets the writers words, (b) established the visuals that (c) the reader views/reads the storyline through, doesnt get AT LEAST a nod?
This reminds of why I dislike the Hollywood Oscars so much. For exmaple: How can the movie, A Beautiful Mind, win Best Movie, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress, when the main protagonist does win, as well?
I guess what the movie was about, who the Director directed and who the supporting actress supported really wasnt deserving?
Same can be said for the movie Titanic. It wins all the awards but the one for the person who all the other awards played against, the Leonardo character, who didnt even get nominated?
Congrats to all who were nomintaed but this is a bit misleading…
HR
===========================================
Favorite Comic-Book Writer:
Brian Michael Bendis
Ed Brubaker
Peter David
Geoff Johns
Brian K. Vaughan
Favorite Comic-Book Penciller:
John Cassaday
Bryan Hitch
Phil Jimenez
Jim Lee
George Pérez
Favorite Comic-Book Story:
“House of M” — House of M #1-8 (Marvel)
“Infinite Crisis” — Infinite Crisis #1 (DC)
“Return to the Homelands” — Fables #36-41 (DC/Vertigo)
“Villains United” — Villains United #1-6 (DC)
“The Winter Soldier” — Captain America (5th series) #8-12 (Marvel)
Favorite Comic-Book Character:
Batman
Captain America
Spider-Man
Superman
Wolverine
One thing we point out every year is that many, many other creators and projects garnered votes, just not enough to make it into our Top 5, in this case. That does mean, however, that they were somebody’s (or several somebody’s) favorite(s).
Same thing applies at Oscar time. Many, many films are submitted for consideration, but only a few make the final nominations.
I look forward to seeing your votes.
And I must add that I’m thinking this is going to be the most fun CBG Fan Awards in ages — for precisely the reason that this sort of discussion can be applied to some of the best work published last year.
(For example, I’d set aside The Fountain to read “as soon as I have a chance” but hadn’t yet grabbed the time, because it was clearly a novel to focus closely on, rather than one to be read in 15-minute chunks (which is how I sometimes have to peruse even the coolest comics). Its nomination meant I pulled it out of the stack to savor immediately — and I’ll probably return to it a couple more times between now and final voting.)
I’ve added my votes for the categories that I’m at least semi competent to say something about.
I would guess, Howard, that this is simply the sort of thing that can happen when there isn’t “straight-ticket” balloting. This system doesn’t pit all of one book’s creators against all of another’s — it’s everyone for himself.
But even if all the creators for a single project got the exact same number of nominating votes, it’s still mathematically possible. “X” number of nominating votes might have been necessary for a writer to make the top 5, but if there was stronger competition among artists, making the top 5 might have required X+something.
I haven’t seen the data and have no idea if that happened here, but those are possibilities the format would seem to allow. I do recall that the case in diCaprio’s year was that the competition at actor was a lot tougher than for the other categories. I guess even in the highest-grossing movie of all time, you still don’t want to be up against Jack Nicholson…
I would guess, Howard, that this is simply the sort of thing that can happen when there isn’t “straight-ticket” balloting. This system doesn’t pit all of one book’s creators against all of another’s — it’s everyone for himself.
But even if all the creators for a single project got the exact same number of nominating votes, it’s still mathematically possible. “X” number of nominating votes might have been necessary for a writer to make the top 5, but if there was stronger competition among artists, making the top 5 might have required X+something.
I haven’t seen the data and have no idea if that happened here, but those are possibilities the format would seem to allow. I do recall that the case in diCaprio’s year was that the competition at actor was a lot tougher than for the other categories. I guess even in the highest-grossing movie of all time, you still don’t want to be up against Jack Nicholson…
I would guess, Howard, that this is simply the sort of thing that can happen when there isn’t “straight-ticket” balloting. This system doesn’t pit all of one book’s creators against all of another’s — it’s everyone for himself.
But even if all the creators for a single project got the exact same number of nominating votes, it’s still mathematically possible. “X” number of nominating votes might have been necessary for a writer to make the top 5, but if there was stronger competition among artists, making the top 5 might have required X+something.
I haven’t seen the data and have no idea if that happened here, but those are possibilities the format would seem to allow. I do recall that the case in diCaprio’s year was that the competition at actor was a lot tougher than for the other categories. I guess even in the highest-grossing movie of all time, you still don’t want to be up against Jack Nicholson…
Similarly, I love Gail Simone’s work, and although her Villains, United book was nominated she wasn’t… hmmm.
Warren Ellis and Kurt Busiek aren’t on the favorites list and Planetary isn’t either.
Maybe you should allow for write ins? (This may have been done to get to the Top 5; I only joined the site today, and am unsure…)
Gregg
The nominating ballot allowed those write-in votes. If you don’t want to vote in a given category on the final ballot, check “none.”
Captain America could have been nominated for the sum of his appearances this year, not only his own book, but Avengers, Ultimates, and House of M as well.
Likewise, people enjoyed Brubaker’s work on Captain America, but also Gotham Central, X-Men: Deadly Genesis, and Book of Doom.
Also, I myself have read plenty of stories that I loved that I did not care for the art on. It seldom occurs, and Epting’s hardly a bad artist, but it happens.
All around, I think the nominations are great.
And you can get a closer look at the Favorite Comic Book, Favorite Story, and Favorite Original Graphic Novel nominees here.
I like the idea of using nominees in every catagory except “favorite character.” In past results, I loved seeing all the favorites voted on. Most of the other catagories would most likely be votes for output published in the past year, but a favorite character would seem most naturally a vote for “all time.” Consequently, the nominees will probably remain the same from year to year.
chris murphy
burlington iowa
That’s not necessarily so, Chris. If you look at the past winners in the Favorite Character category (click here), you’ll see that, while Batman and Spider-Man have won the category the most, other characters have also been nominated and won.
I remember when Huey, Dewey, and Louie did what the Joker never could…Take out Batman! (at least for the ’95 Awards). They were McGyvering Unca’ Donald before the Joker was a giggle in his mom ‘n pop’s eyes.
In past issues, CBG printed all of the write ins too…the one lonely vote for one obscure character or another. Even the not so obscure…like how many (if any) nominees for the Spirit were there. That was part of the fun
Love the list of past awards…this site is so vast, I find new threads and subjects everytime I sign on. Great way to loose track of time.
Remember to vote everyone!
Chris Murphy
Burlington, IA
Well, my votes are in, and this is probably the earliest I’ve ever cast them, thanks to being able to vote online. Great idea, folks. And what made it easier still was the ability to pull up a list of the past year’s issues by searching for them in ComicBase. Not only is it far less of a hassle than digging out specific comics from the past year, but it helps jog the ol’ memory for a gem that might have come out early in the year.
Any plans on polling readers as to their favorite features in CBG? This was done in years past, but for whatever reason was stopped.
It’s still on the physical ballot card in the magazine. I think the thought was that if that part of the ballot were online, too, it’d muddle the results by getting people who might not have seen the magazine.
Granted, knowing what they want would be interesting and useful, too, but I don’t know quite how we’d phrase the questions for both groups at the same time. “Regarding the Retroviews, do you like them or would you like them if you saw them…?”
I find this new format (Nominating ballot followed by final ballot) very interesting. I have mixed views on it. Some very deserving books will not get any mention if you use this system, and I’m interested in how the final results may differ from the traditional straight ballot, where the “winner”would frequently garner a mere 8% of the vote, or so. In THIS case, the winners will have at least 20.1% of the vote.
(and as you have over the years repeatedly pointed out, ANY vote for ANY book, story, character or creator indicates that it/he/she is SOMEBODY’s favorite – so pointing that out would be a good thing, imho)
Is CBG planning to show the “preliminary” voting tables as well as the “final” results? It would be fascinating to see these results side-by-side to see if any positions shift due to the two rounds of balloting.
I also see that providing such data would be fertile ground for stimulating entire new vistas of arguments/discussions regarding who the “legitimate” winner of a category is, if there are such shifts!!!
Don and I ran an annual comics fan awards when we published our Newfangles newsletter and, yes, having a nominating ballot absolutely changes the final winner.
That said, I’ve become increasingly attracted to the distillation of voting to a preliminary ballot and a final one. Having done both over the years, I find the focusing of attention helpful — especially in a field as far-flung and diverse as comic books.
I’m also increasingly of the “I vote because it gives me the right to complain” persuasion. If I’m wild over the writing and art of a so-called “indie” comic book, I should be out there in open forums like this one, calling it to the attention of as many other potential voters as possible. Even if it doesn’t make the final ballot, that should help to sell more copies of, say, Age of Bronze or True Story Swear to God or Nat Turner or whatever your favorites might be.
>>In a visual medium, what did Brubaker write that the reader liked? Did the comic-book reader pick up a prose-only version of the Winter Soldier storyline I must have missed?< <
That’s always the problem with giving awards for subjective, creative work. Frankly, I like that it happens. I’m dubious when one movie sweeps all the Oscars, as I have a hard time believing that every person on the movie did better work than anyone else in the industry that time out. More likely, some aspects were really outstanding, and a rising tide lifted all the other boats. It’s possible those great parts inspired everyone else to lift their game, too, but more likely, IMO, voters can’t figure out which were the good parts.
It’s the same in sports, which is more quantifiable. The World Series-winning team doesn’t have the 25 best athletes on it, but they all are team champions. Yet often, the MVP isn’t on that team. That’s why there are different awards.
Singling out individual creators shows that readers are making distinctions between what they’re reading and what they’re looking at and are trying to isolate each contribution. Ideally, they’re looking at everything the creator has done across all kinds of work. Artists are at a disadvantage, because they probably have a smaller body of work than writers. Plus, as CBG always points out, it’s “Favorite,” not “Best,” and there is a distinction there.
“Favorite Comic Book Story” and “Favorite Comic Book” indicate how a specific team of creators is received. Sometimes, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
I like it better when creators from a variety of books are nominated rather than everyone from one book that’s really popular. The 1995 awards were not much fun.
Then Maggie said:
>>Even if it doesn’t make the final ballot, that should help to sell more copies of, say, Age of Bronze or True Story Swear to God or Nat Turner or whatever your favorites might be.< <
I’m almost always more interested in the nomination list than the winners. Deciding on a winner is splitting hairs among great stuff that is all worth checking out.
— Craig Shutt
I don’t know it this is the correct topic to post this, if not sorry and feel free to post it elsewhere.
I connected to the initial page of the survey, where you have to write your personal data, and it seems I can’t get the correct format of my phone number: when I usually write it in US web sites, living in Italy, I usually start it with +39 or 0039 but it doesn’t work here!
I always receive the message:
Please enter a valid phone number
Also without the intn’l code, starting directly with my Italian area code 07.. it’s the same, it doesn’t work, and I can’t vote! Last year I didn’t have any problem in voting online.
Can anybody help me with info?
Thank you very much for your help!
Sorry about that, Luigi. Just send me your picks in a private e-mail (click on my profile for the e-mail address), and I’ll see that they get in.
Thank you very much for your help Brent!
I’ll do one last try through the link to the online survey and, if still dosn’t work, I’ll send you an email from the home Pc!
I just “voted” in the CBG awards, and found it pretty depressing. I voted “None” in over half of the categories, having nothing even close to a “favorite” to choose from, and no write-in line to reflect this dissatisfaction. I guess for a younger fan who reads mainly Marvel and DC super-hero comics, this may have been an easy ballot. My problem is twofold: first, most of what I enjoy reading is increasingly NOT from the “Big Two”, who have lost me with their “events” which require me to read many issues of various titles to follow a storyline, and their “grim ‘n’ gritty grimacing” approach to my old favorites such as Batman. And second, I am 61 years old, much older than the demographic you’re obviously aiming for these days…maybe you need two publications, a “Classic” CBG for old farts like me, and a “New, Improved” CBG for younger sprats (and yes, I still spend a lot of my disposable income on comics, graphic novels, etc., so I do put my money where my mouth goes!).
At any rate, thanks for giving me what may be my last chance to vote for Will Eisner (though I’d be pretty surprised if he wins).
Regards,
Richard Schaeffer
I’ve got my ballot ready to mail, but one question popped up. Does the ballot in the current issue of CBG (with the Wonder Woman cover story) qualify for US Postal service postcard postage? Not sure exactly what postcard postage is, but I’m sure it’s less than the standard $.39 postage. I should be able to use postcard postage, right? And if I do put a postcard stamp on it, and mail it on Monday, say, maybe it’ll get to guys by the May 30th deadline????
My issue arrived today, but I don’t see anything resembling a ballot bound inside. Doesn’t really matter, because I voted online, but just curious. Can someone tell me where the ballot is supposed to be?
I found the selection of comic creators to vote for very diverse. In response to an earlier post that said it was dominated by the big two, look at Dave Stewart and Richard Starkings. They work on Conan, and they made it to the ballot. J.M. Linsner also a worker on Conan.
I am primarily a DC fan, but I enjoy Dark Horse and I was glad to see they had representation on the ballot.
I think the ballot was “blown in,” Jim, meaning it well could have “blown out” in the mail…
Notch down another missing ballot. Mine apparently “blew” out as well…
I had already voted on-line though…
And, with just over two weeks left, the countdown has begun.
My copy came here in Italy and there is another missing ballot to report. Mine apparently blew out too…
I had already voted online though…
The U.S. Postal Service says an item must be between 5 and 6 inches long, and between 3.5 and 4.25 inches tall, in order to be eligible for mailing at the 24¢ postcard rate.
The CBG ballot doesn’t qualify.
Even though it’s been a month since your post, you’ve still got plenty of time to mail it in time.
By the way, the ballot is bound into my copy, not blown-in.
And we’re now down to less than 48 hours to cast your votes. Have you voted yet?
Time’s a’wastin’!
And, as noted, the polls are now closed. Results will appear in CBG #1621, shipping in early July.
Thanks to all who participated. Start thinking about your favorites for nomination next year.
Phones down, phones down in the back!
I can’t wait to see the list!
Pingback: No Girls Allowed Awards » Comics Worth Reading