Comments from the Administrator (mathews@cs.Buffalo.edu [Ryan Mathews]):
Whew! Am I glad this is over. I'd like to thank everyone who participated in making this the most successful R.A.C Poll ever, by a long shot. Last year I received somewhere in the area of 45 votes, and was told that that was the most successful ever. This year I received 101!!!! All voters will be listed in a future posting. I might add, that there is almost no chance that this list is error-free, due to the large number of votes, but I think it's darn close.
Best Writer:
How the mighty have fallen. Alan Moore, once the automatic annual winner of this category, dropped to fourth place. Apparently, two issues of Big Numbers wasn't enough to justify a vote.
31: Neil Gaiman
21: Dave Sim
17: Peter David
9: Alan Moore
6: Grant Morrison
4: Tom & Mary Bierbaum; Keith Giffen
3: Scott McCloud
2: Peter Bagge, Donna Barr, Chris Claremont, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Frank Miller, Doug Moench, Masamune Shirow, Walt Simonson
1: Kyle Baker, Carl Barks, John Byrne, J.M. DeMatteis, Larry Hama, Yokinobu Hoshino, Gerard Jones, Jim Starlin, Mark Verheiden, Martin Wagner
Best Creative Team
The Cerebus team wins again (wotta surprise). Curiously, the Big Numbers team took second, though Alan Moore didn't do so well in the Writer category.
27: Dave Sim/Gerhard
10: Alan Moore/Bill Sienkiewicz
8: Chris Claremont/Jim Lee[/Tom Orzechowski]
5: Peter David/Dale Keown[/Bob McLeod]; 5: Keith Giffen/Tom & Mary Bierbaum[/Al Gordon]; Grant Morrison/Richard Case[/Nyberg]
4: Neil Gaiman/Kelley Jones[/Sam Dringenberg]
2: Mike Baron/Steve Rude, Peter David/Angel Medina, Mark Evanier/Sergio Aragonés, Neil Gaiman/Charles Vess, Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis[/Adam Hughes], Frank Miller/Dave Gibbons,
Milligan/Pennington[/Bachalo], Marv Wolfman/George Pérez
1: Terry Austin/Art Adams, John Byrne/John Romita Jr, Cowan/O'Neil, J.M.DeMatteis/McManus, Simon Furman/Andrew Wildman, Neil Gaiman/Buckingham, Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean, Dave Gibbons/Steve Rude/Karl Kesel, Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle, Hedden/McWeeney, Los Bros. Hernandez, Gerald Jones/Eduardo Barreto, Dave Louapre/Dan Sweetman, Pat Mills/Kevin O'Neill, Doug Moench/Paul Gulacy/Terry Austin/Steve Oliff/John Costanza, Doug Moench/Joe Phillips/Bob Dvorak, Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons, Fabian Niceza/Mark Bagely, Ordway/Janke/Stern (Superman writers), Toren Smith/Adam Warren, Jim Starlin/Ron Lim, Roger Stern/Dave Hoover/Scott Hanna, Tim Vigil/Quin, Willingham/Leeke/Chen
Ongoing Series
After the Cerebus loyalists put the usual winner of this category in
front, Neil Gaiman's project came from behind to tie.
26: Cerebus; Sandman
12: Legion of Super-Heroes
7: Incredible Hulk
6: Uncanny X-Men; Zot!
4: Doom Patrol
3: Justice League Europe; Love and Rockets
2: Amazing Spider-Man, Groo the Wanderer, Hawk & Dove, Outlanders, Silver Surfer
1: Akira, Animal Man, Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children, Desert Peach, Dreadstar, Eightball, Fantastic Four, Faust, Flaming Carrot Comics, Flash, Freak Brothers, Hepcats, Iron Man, Legends of the Dark Knight, Miracleman, Mr. Miracle, Roachmill, Stinz, The Tick, 2000 A.D., Xenozoic Tales, Yummy Fur
New Series
15: Shade the Changing Man
9: Knights of Pendragon
8: Green Lantern
6: Spider-Man
5: Hawkworld
4: New Warriors
3: Fringe; Hate; Namor
2: Justice League Quarterly; Mighty Mouse; Rhudiprrt, Prince of Fur
1: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Comics, Cat Claw, Cat and Mouse, Classics Illustrated, Demon, Drawn & Quarterly, Original Dick Tracy, Original Dick Tracy Comic Album, Dirty Plotte, Elfquest: Kings of the Broken Circle, The Eye of Mongombo, Ghost Rider, Huntress, Jazz Age Chronicles, Junior Carrot Patrol, Ms. Tree, Nightbreed, Stalkers, Who's Who
Limited Series
Big Numbers and World's Finest went down to the wire, with World's Finest in the lead yesterday.
13: Big Numbers
12: World's Finest
7: Hard Boiled; Lobo; Robin
5: Atlantis Chronicles; Dirty Pair: A Plague of Angels
4: Books of Magic; Give Me Liberty; Wild Cards
3: Foolkiller; Thanos Quest; The Vampire Lestat
2: Aliens vs. Predator; Bratpack; The Magic Flute; Starstruck
1: A1, Appleseed Book 3, Breathtaker, Cages, Critical Mass, The Crow, Damage Control 2, Deathlok, Dominion, The Elsewhere Prince, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, The Hobbit, Horobi part one,
Invaders from Home, Meta-4, The Nazz, Ring of Niebelung, Nomad, Southern Squadron, Tapping the Vein, 2001 Nights, XXXenophile
Most Improved Series
Was Incredible Hulk really that bad?
18: Uncanny X-Men
12: Incredible Hulk
8: Fantastic Four
2: Captain America, Daredevil, Doom Patrol, Iron Man, Legends of the Dark Knight, Legion of Super-Heroes, Sandman, Silver Surfer, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Zot!
1: Adventures of Superman, Animal Man, Baker Street, Batman, Crisis, The Desert Peach, Excalibur, Fish Police, Green Lantern, Hawk & Dove, Hellblazer, Legends of the Dark Knight, Miracleman, New Titans, Nexus, Puma Blues, She-Hulk, Star Trek, Superman
Graphic Novel
Another come from behind victory, this one for Kyle Baker. (Why I Hate Saturn is supposedly going to be made into a TV movie.)
13: Why I Hate Saturn
12: Elektra Lives Again
4: Epicurus the Sage; Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth; Wolverine: Bloodlust
2: Arkham Asylum; Batman: Digital Justice; Gregory
1: Bride of the Demon, Enemy Ace: A War Idyll, Excalibur: Weird War III, Flash Special, Grimjack: The Demon Wars, Marshal Law: Kingdom of the Blind, Moby Dick (Classics Illustrated), Night is the Enemy, Triumph and Torment, Wilderness
Reprint Collection/TPB
No clear winner here, but some of the votes were interesting.
10: Sandman: A Doll's House
8: Swamp Thing: Love and Death
5: Cerebus: Jaka's Story; V for Vendetta
4: Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes; Concrete: Complete Short Stories
3: Classics of Western Literature (Bloom County); Horsebrush & Other Stories (Stinz)
2: The Compleat Alec; Ed the Happy Clown; Marvel Masterworks #13 (FF 21-30 + Ann. 1); The Spirit Casebook
1: Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Akira, Carl Barks Library vol VI, Carl Barks library vol. X, Blueberry, The Bradleys, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Cartoon History of the World, Daredevil:
Marked for Death, DC Classic Editions: Batman 1, Deadface: Immortality Isn't Forever, The Death of Kraven the Hunter, Dick Tracy Casebook, Fantastic Four vs. the X-Men, Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told, The Flying Buttress (Terry and the Pirates), The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told, Havok & Wolverine : Meltdown, Hellblazer vol. 3, Li'l Nemo in Slumberland vol. 2, Li'l Nemo in Slumberland vol. 3, Outlanders vol. 1, Mai the Psychic Girl, Marvel Masterworks #15 - The Silver Surfer, Marshall Law, Miracleman Book Two, My Crowd (Charles Addams), Prince Valiant, Recycled Doonesbury, Silver Surfer (#1-7), Spider-Man: The Death of Jean DeWolff, Stinz, Superman Archives, Tales of the Beanworld, Tank Girl, The Tick Omnibus, Watchmen (re-release), Weirdos from Another Planet
Strip or Panel
Second blowout in a row for Bill Watterson's duo. Last year it beat Doonesbury by 36-4, so it's stretching its lead.
61: Calvin and Hobbes
41: Doonesbury
10: Foxtrot
5: The Far Side; Robotman
3: For Better or For Worse; Peanuts
1: Arlo and Janis, Batman, Brenda Starr, Dilbert, Ernie, Ernie Pook's Comeek, The Fusco Brothers, Garfield, Life in Hell, Ophelia and Jake, Outland, Rose is Rose, Syvia
Political Cartoonist
I suppose Trudeau was a shoo-in, but as a student at the University at Buffalo, it's nice to see Tom Toles in second. I had no idea he was that widely recognized. I guess winning the Pulitzer will do that to you.
29: G.B. Trudeau (Doonesbury)
19: Tom Toles (Buffalo News)
4: Patrick Oliphant (UPI)
3: Berke Breathed; Jules Feiffer (Village Voice); Jeff MacNelly (Chicago Tribune)
2: Aislin (Montreal Gazette), Jim Borgman (Cincinnati Enquirer), Bill Day (Detroit Free Press), Mike Peters (Dayton Daily News), Mark Alan Stamaty (Washingtoon)
1: Tony Auth (Philadelphia Enquirer), Steve Bell (If..., UK Guardian), Matt Groening, Nicole Hollander, Bruce MacKinnon (Halifax Mail-Star), Pat Ohman, Kari Suomalainen, John Trevor (Albuquerque Journal), Bill Watterson
Team
It's odd that Justice League America outscored Justice League Europe,
since JLA got no votes as a comic, whereas JLE got three.
22: Legion of Super-Heroes
11: Doom Patrol
7: X-Men
6: Fantastic Four; Justice League America
5: The Endless (Sandman); Excalibur
4: Elementals
3: Hawk and Dove; Justice League Europe; cast of Desert Peach; cast of Zot!
2: L.E.G.I.O.N.; New Warriors
1: A.B.C Warriors, Aliens, Avengers, The Beans (Tales of the Beanworld), Boom'r Band (Tales of the Beanworld), The Buldaggers (Savage Henry), Chow Sol'jers (Tales of the Beanworld), The Dirty Pair, The Extremists (JLE), Hero Alliance, Justice League International, The Inferior Five, Lord Julius's Like-a-Looks (Cerebus), The Miracle Family (Miracleman), The New Titans, Silver Surfer/The Impossible Man, Space Barbarians (Outland), Suicide Squad, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Wolfriders, Wolveroach/Elrod, X-Factor
Favorite R.A.C-er: (voters are invited to choose three)
Former shoo-in Moriarty, after tying last year, finally gives up the ghost and drops to third (much to his delight, I suspect :-) ). Oh, and some jerk named Ryan Mathews, who didn't get a single vote last year, is tied for seventh.
25: Peter David
23: Jayembee
20: Moriarty
10: Jim Drew
9: Martin Terman
7: Kenneth Arromdee
6: Chris Jarocha-Ernst; Ryan Mathews; Kitty Pryde
5: The Rev. Mom
4: Dani Zweig
3: Enrique Conty; Bob "Omega" Mosley
2: Milo D. Cooper; Dan'l Danehy-Oakes; Paul Estin; Connie "Fuzzy" Hirsch
1: David Alas, Clay Bond, John Bullough, Kevin Chen, Justin du Coeur, Damian Cugley, Jym Dyer, Tom Galloway, Mike Godwin, Ted Faber, Rod Johnson, "The net.lurkers", James D. Nicoll, Papa
Sm00sh, Paulo A. Pereira, Phil Pfeiffer, Jim Pruyne, Michael Rawdon, Elisabeth Riba, Col. G.L. Sicherman