Classic EBI #44: The 2003 Everything But Imaginary Awards Part One
The 2003 Everything But Imaginary Awards Part One
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 2003 Everything But Imaginary awards, the comic book award show voted on by the readers of Comixtreme.com! And now here’s your host, the man who would work for the money we offered after Billy Crystal turned us down, Blake M. Petit!
Thanks, Blake, and welcome everyone to the first-ever Everything But Imaginary Awards! Here’s how this is going to work - there are 12 categories and 24 awards to hand out. We’ll do the first six categories this week and the last six next week. In each category there will be two “Blakie” winners - the “Writer’s Choice” awards, as selected by yours truly, based entirely on my own preferences and biases, and the “Reader’s Choice” awards, voted on by you, the reader. In some instances, the same title won both awards (you smart readers you), so those books will be awarded the coveted “Double Blakie” award.
You’re all on the edge of your seat, I can tell. Okay, let’s get on with the awards!
Best Superhero Title
Writer’s Choice: There are a lot of quality superhero books out there these days, friends, but throughout 2003 no single title grabbed my attention and held it like Geoff Johns’s work on JSA. Johns took some of my favorite old-school superhero characters, blended them together with new characters that mixed into the various legacies of the DC Universe, threw in some nasty villains and gave us a great comic book. This year we were treated to a massive battle against Mordru and Eclipso, an unexpected but well-done romance between Captain Marvel and Stargirl and the reintroduction of the original Red Tornado. You want classic superhero action? JSA is as classic as it gets.
Reader’s Choice: It’s one of the top-selling titles in comic books, and one of the best - no one should be surprised that the EBI readers selected Ultimate Spider-Man as the superhero title of the year. Since this book was launched a few years ago Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley have given us a great retelling of the origin of Marvel’s flagship character - without a fill-in for either of them, I should add. This is character-based superhero comic books at their best - between Pete’s problems with Mary Jane to the wonderful “Aunt May in Therapy” issue, this is a book that has been top-notch from the start, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Honorable Mention: Fantastic Four, New X-Men
Best Science Fiction Title
Writer’s Choice AND Reader’s Choice: It’s a tale of honor and glory, blood and death, treachery and betrayal and science fiction action at it’s finest. It’s CrossGen’s Negation by Tony Bedard and Paul Pelletier. This is a title that brings together all the disparate threads of the CrossGen universe. It’s a military title, a war story in outer space, and instead of the beaches of a lone country being the battleground, two entire universes are at stake. In a few months this book will give way for Negation War, which will in turn give way to a new volume of this series - we’re promised epic battles and high octane excitement. Whatever state the CrossGen universe is in when the smoke clears and the battle is over, the readers hope that we’ll be getting science fiction excitement from Negation for a long time to come.
Honorable Mention: Legion, TransFormers: Generation One
Best Fantasy Title
Writer’s Choice: This was a tough one, but finally the title that exemplified good fantasy comics better than any other this year was Arrowsmith by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco. This war story is set in an alternate history where magic and sorcery defined the 19th century instead of steel and steam, and when the first world war begins, battles are fought with magic instead of bullets. This book is the story of Fletcher Arrowsmith, a young man who lies about his age to join the Air Force of the United States of Columbia, only to discover that war is hell. This book, more than any other this year, used its fantasy elements not to define itself, but to enhance the world that it exists within.
Reader’s Choice: One of the best comic books on the stands is the reader’s selection for best fantasy comic of the year - Vertigo’s Fables by Bill Willingham. Unlike many fantasy titles, however, this is a book firmly grounded in the real world - the characters from all the great fairy tales and stories of old were driven from their lands long ago and set up a new life in the “mundane” world. The second year of Fables was even better than the first - Goldilocks attempted a coup, Prince Charming made his bid to run for mayor of Fabletown and a mind-controlled tryst between Snow White and Bigby Wolf left the former princess carrying a litter of her own. As great as Fables was this year, the best thing about it is the potential it has for next year.
Honorable Mention: Sojourn, Knights of the Dinner Table
Best Horror Title
Writer’s Choice AND Reader’s Choice: There are more scary comics on the racks than there used to be, but in 2003 there was none as consistently scary and entertaining as Route 666, Tony Bedard’s examination of a young woman who sees monsters everywhere she goes. People think Cassie Starkweather is going crazy, but in fact, she’s the only one who sees the demons in her society clearly. Cassie has to battle ghosts, demons, werewolves and vampires in this series, taking the conventions of old-fashioned “B” horror movies and making them frightening, many for the first time. Bedard has taken lots of familiar elements and turned them into something entirely new.
Honorable Mention: 30 Days of Night, Incredible Hulk
Best “No Tights” Title
Writer’s Choice: The best title on the racks without any superheroes, aliens or sorcerers is Gotham Central by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark. This is a hardboiled crime drama about cops trying to cope in a city under the shadow of the Batman. This book has a unique format - Rucka writes stories about the “day shift” of the Gotham City Police Department, with Brubaker writing stories about the “night shift.” Familiar characters like Renée Montoya and Maggie Sawyer get to show off in this book, and a lot of new characters have been introduced and shown off as well. This is a great title, the best crime comic on the stands, and one that doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves.
Reader’s Choice: I was a bit reluctant about announcing this winner, but I allowed it because, although it has a very science fiction feel to it, there’s still too much mystery about the core concept to declare it firmly in that category. Plus, Y: The Last Man got so many votes in this category that I couldn’t ignore it. Brian Vaughan has crafted an intriguing story about the last man alive in a world full of women. At turns scary and funny, thrilling and exciting, this is a fantastic comic book. It’s more a mystery than anything else - no one knows why all the men died, no one knows why Yorick and his pet monkey, Ampersand, survived. It’s also a study of society - commenting as much upon our own society as one in which all the men have died.
Honorable Mention: Ruse, Usagi Yojimbo
Best Humor Title
Writer’s Choice AND Reader’s Choice: It’s funny, it’s silly, it’s wacky, it’s PVP by Scott Kurtz. This is a funny, funny comic book - Cole Richards is the publisher of a video game magazine. As he tries to run a business, he’s got to deal with his employees: Francis Ray Ottoman would rather play video games than write about them, Skull the troll has more heart than brain, and Brent Sienna and Jade Fontaine spend as much time keeping their romance burning as they do getting their jobs done. It’s part workplace comedy, part geek comedy, part satire and all fun. This comic book makes me laugh each and every time an issue it comes out, and it’s good to know that it makes so many of you guys laugh, too.
Honorable Mention: Liberty Meadows, Formerly Known as the Justice League
Well, that’s all the room we have this week, friends, and the job is only halfway done. Come back in seven days and find out your choices (and mine) for best mature readers title, best all-ages title, best new title, best miniseries or special, the “New Beginning” award and the “Happy Trails” award.
The 2003 Everything But Imaginary Awards will continue after a word from our sponsor…
Favorite of the Week: December 31, 2003
This was one of those weeks where it was tough to pick a favorite - for sheer superhero action, it should have been Superman/Batman. For most potential, it would have been Ultimate Fantastic Four. But when I picked the comic I just plain enjoyed the most, it was PVP #5. This issue, the gang at PVP Magazine meet the passive-aggressive supervillain Max Powers. An old nemesis of Cole and Brent, Max sets up a competing magazine in the same building, leading to a prank war not seen since the glory days of Cheers. Throw in a dream sequence illustrated by Frank Cho and some great Matrix jokes, and you’ve got a comic that makes me sad it only comes out every 60 days.
Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the novel-in-progress Lost in Silver at Evertime Realms. He’s also the co-host, with good buddy Chase Bouzigard and Not-On-the-Internet Mike Bellamy, of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcasts. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms. Read past columns at the Everything But Imaginary Archive Page.