The Comic Geek Speak "Best of 2020" Awards Nominations Thread (SUBMISSIONS DUE 2/28/21)

Adam_Murdough

Another year in comics has come and gone, and while 2020 itself was hardly a prize-winner in any respect, that won't stop your dauntless docents at CGS from trying to make the "Best Of" it! You guessed it, it's time for the Comic Geek Speak Best of 2020 Awards, and time for YOU, our listeners, to take part in the nominations process! Here are the categories:

BEST NEW HERO or HERO TEAM (debut in 2020)
BEST NEW VILLAIN or VILLAIN TEAM (debut in 2020)
BEST NEW COMIC (first issue shipped in 2020)
BEST LIMITED SERIES (last issue shipped in 2020)
BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR ONE-SHOT
BEST CLIFFHANGER/MOMENT
BEST STORYLINE (within a series or across multiple series)
BEST SLEEPER/SURPRISE HIT
BEST ONGOING COMIC (need not have begun publication in 2020)
BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM (OGN or COLLECTION)
BEST WRITER
BEST ARTIST
BEST WRITER/ARTIST
BEST COLOR ARTIST
BEST LETTERER
BREAKTHROUGH TALENT OF 2020

To participate, submit your ballot via e-mail to bestof@comicgeekspeak.com by 11:59 pm (EST), Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021. Please make a nomination in AT LEAST EIGHT of the above-listed categories, and select only ONE nominee per category! Whatever receives the greatest number of listener nominations in each category will be included on the final ballot along with the Geeks' own nominees, and there will then be one last round of voting after that to choose our overall Best of 2020.

If you'd like to share your list of nominees publicly, please feel free to do it here in this thread, but be aware that posting such lists here DOES NOT COUNT as voting; you must submit your ballot via e-mail for it to be counted as part of the official listeners' nomination process!

Thanks in advance for your input, everyone! We appreciate your help in our annual attempt to accentuate the comics-positive in the wake of a year that was all too negative. If you have any questions, send me a PM or just ask 'em here.

ChrisMurrin

BEST NEW HERO or HERO TEAM (debut in 2020) Owen Johnson, Fire Power - Image
BEST NEW VILLAIN or VILLAIN TEAM (debut in 2020) Liar Liar, Wonder Woman - DC
BEST NEW COMIC (first issue shipped in 2020) Department of Truth - Image
BEST LIMITED SERIES (last issue shipped in 2020) The Kill Lock - IDW
BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR ONE-SHOT The Kill Lock #6 - IDW
BEST CLIFFHANGER/MOMENT The appearance of the "real" Xandia, The Orville #4 - Dark Horse
BEST STORYLINE (within a series or across multiple series) Teen Titans turn on Damian, Teen Titans - DC
BEST SLEEPER/SURPRISE HIT Far Sector - DC
BEST ONGOING COMIC (need not have begun publication in 2020) Iron Man - Marvel
BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM (OGN or COLLECTION) Dingbat Love - TwoMorrows
BEST WRITER James Tynion IV
BEST ARTIST CAFU, Iron Man - Marvel
BEST WRITER/ARTIST Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo - IDW
BEST COLOR ARTIST Trish Mulvihill, Gotham City Monsters, Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, Detective, Batgirl, various covers - DC
BEST LETTERER Clayton Cowles, Jimmy Olsen - DC
BREAKTHROUGH TALENT OF 2020 James Tynion IV

Bryan

@Adam_Murdough I have a question that I should know the answer to by now, but I don’t. For limited series - does it have to be a series that was originally intended to be shorter (6,12 issues, etc) or is any series that ended in 2020 fair game here?

nweathington

Just my opinion, but it's sometimes hard to determine intent re: the limited series question. Quite a few series end after only one or two arcs even though there was no indication they were officially miniseries (i.e., they were numbered #1 of 5 from the outset). I don't think that necessarily excludes them from being miniseries though. Personally, I won't vote for a series in that category unless 1) it's 12 or fewer issues long, and 2) the story comes to what feels like a natural ending as opposed to a forced ending. And that second criterion can be rather subjective, and does not preclude the story from being open-ended enough to continue at a later time; it just can't be so open-ended that I feel like I'm missing some essential part of the story.

Adam_Murdough

Bryan said:

@Adam_Murdough I have a question that I should know the answer to by now, but I don’t. For limited series - does it have to be a series that was originally intended to be shorter (6,12 issues, etc) or is any series that ended in 2020 fair game here?

Well, @Bryan, the "Best Limited Series" category is technically intended for titles that were originally conceived, marketed, and solicited as limited series, but @nweathington makes a very good point above: it's often hard nowadays to tell which series were "originally conceived" as miniseries, since so many projects seem to be planned as tentative miniseries with an option to go ongoing if the early sales figures are strong enough, or to terminate after a single arc if they aren't. I can think of several recent Image series, for instance, that weren't explicitly solicited as either "limited" or "ongoing" at the outset, but that suddenly (and perhaps retroactively) became "#4 (of 5)" a few months later.

So, in light of this, my advice to you is to follow Eric/nweathington's rule of thumb: if a series ended in 2020 after twelve or fewer issues, if it feels as if it "died a natural death" (i.e., ended when its story had been fully told, as opposed to just being canceled), and if it be worthy in your sight, feel free to nominate it for Best Limited Series.

Bryan

Thanks! With that, my nominations have been submitted.

i_am_scifi

A reminder we're a few days away from deadline, so get those Best of lists in!

i_am_scifi

We have extended submissions by a week, so do get your submissions in!

nweathington

So much of what I read last year was published the previous year, it's been tough for me to get my nominees straight.

ChrisMurrin

nweathington said:

So much of what I read last year was published the previous year, it's been tough for me to get my nominees straight.

You can copy off of me.