Best Writer:
...but a different story here. What a surprise. (I think not...)
37: Neil Gaiman
12: Dave Sim
9: Peter David
3: Fabian Nicieza; Alan Moore
2: Garth Ennis; Alan Davis; Chris Claremont
1: Bill Watterson, Mark Waid, Matt Wagner, Colin Upton, Rumiko Takahashi, Peter Milligan, Frank Miller, David Lee Ingersoll, Jaime Hernandez, Gilberto Hernandez, Roberta Gregory, Alan Grant, Dennis Eichhorn, Evan Dorkin, Dan Clowes, Eddie Campbell, John Byrne, Kyle Baker
Best Creative Team
Even more of a runaway here. Note the if-you-want-something-done-right-do-it-yourself votes for the "teams" of Donna Barr, John Byrne, Alan Davis, Will Eisner, and Phil Foglio. Also, notice that people seemed to like Neil Gaiman and almost anyone he worked with; note the vote for Gaiman and letterer Todd Klein!
28: Sim/Gerhard
5: Davis/Farmer; PAD/Keown
4: Morrison/Case/Woch
3: Gaiman/McKean
2: Claremont/Lee/Portacio; Lee/Choi; PAD/Pérez
1.5: Giffen/Bierbaum/Bierbaum; Giffen/Fleming
1: Aragonés/Evanier/Sakai/Luth, Barr, Brubaker/Shanower,
Byrne, Davis, Edlund/Polio/Suarez, Eisner, Ennis/Simpson, Foglio,
Gaiman/Buckingham, Gaiman/Jones/Kelin/Vozzo, Gaiman/Klein, Gaiman/Williams,
Grant/Breyfogle, Grant/Semeiks/Smith, Jones/Johnson, Layton/BWS, Marz/Lim,
Messner-Loebs/Eaton/Gross, Milligan/Bachalo/Pennington, Milligan/McCarthy,
Nicieza/Bagley, Ostrander/Duursema, Ostrander/Mandrake, Ostrander/Truman,
Raimi/Bolton, Strazewski/Parobeck, Sweetman/Louapre
Ongoing Series
Color me shocked...
31: Sandman
15: Cerebus
4: Excalibur
3: Hulk; New Warriors; X-Factor
2: Hellblazer; Shade the Changing Man
1: Amazing Spider-Man, Aquaman, Archer & Armstrong, Batman: Legend of Dark Knight, Beautiful Stories..., Colin Upton's Big Thing, Desert Peach, Dirty Plotte, Doom Patrol, Eightball, Flash, Ghost Rider, Hate, Hepcats, L.E.G.I.O.N., Legion of Super-Heroes, Love and Rockets, Miracleman, Omaha, The Nam, Those Annoying Post Bros., Tick, X-Force
New Series
The irony of the two leading vote-getters from DC being cancelled before the poll does not escape me. Again, it seems everything is someone's favorite...
6.5: Green Lantern: Mosaic
6: Bone; Justice Society of America
4: Doom 2099; John Byrne's Next Men; Spawn
3.5: Heckler
3: Batman: Shadow of the Bat; Spectre
2.5: Spider-Man 2099
2: Archer & Armstrong; Black Condor; Peep Show; WildC.A.T.S.
1: A Distant Soil, Albedo, Classic Star Wars, Collier's, Cud, Eclipso, Green Lantern Corps Qtly., Hacker Files, Hammer Locke, Hard Looks, Incomplete Death's Head, Man Eating Cow, MaxiMortal, Morbius, Nomad, Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt, Protectors, Ranma 1/2, Silver Sable, Slutburger Stories, Spirit: the Origin Years, Stanley and his Monster, Vampirella, William Shatner's TekWorld
Limited Series
No clear leader, again. I'll have to admit I'm a little surprised at the first place vote-getter, in an industry that has shown little ability to laugh at itself, especially with any real humor...
7: Slapstick
6: Grendel: War Child
4: Cages; Deadface: Earth, Water...; Ray; Stanley and his Monster; Star Wars: Dark Empire
3: Griffin; Martian Manhunter
2: Concrete: Fragile Creature; Deadman: Exorcism; Eyeball Kid; Hacker Files; Sin City; Space Usagi; WildC.A.T.S.
1: Ambush Bug Nothing Special, Arion the Immortal, Batman: Gotham Nights, Batman: Seduction of the Gun, Cat Claw, Congorilla, Death of Superman, Death's Head II, Elongated Man, Guy Gardner: Reborn, Heckler, Hulk: Future Imperfect, James Bond: Serpent's Tooth, Mechanismo (in Judge Dredd), Metropol AD, Miracleman: Apocrypha, Night Thrasher, Ragman, Robin III, Savage Dragon, Secret Wars, Skidmarks, Transmutation of Ike Garuda, Vampirella: Morning in America
Most Improved Series
For every series, there's someone that thinks it got better last year. In a few cases, I can't understand how, but hey, I just count 'em. In at least one case, I don't think it was ever published before 1992...
10: Animal Man; X-Factor
6.5: X-Force
6: Cerebus
5: Excalibur
3: Hellblazer; Avengers
2: Green Lantern; Hawkworld; Spectacular Spider-Man; Thor
1.5: Uncanny X-Men
1: Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Issue, Batman: LOTDK, Detective, Flash, Gay Comics, Hepcats, Hulk, Justice League of America, Legion of Super Heroes, Love and Rockets, Namor, Nexus, Ninja High School, Sandman, Spider-Man, Stanley and his Monster, Tantalizing Stories, Uncle Scrooge
Graphic Novel
If nothing else, the field produced a diverse mix this year. I'm personally
impressed by the very strong second-place showing of a Star Trek work; even
considering the creators, Trek stuff rarely shows much comics fan presence
in these.
I'm sure there are entries here that are not valid, and others that blur the
reprint vs. graphic novel vs. collection boundaries...
12: Signal to Noise
9: Star Trek: Debt of Honor
4: Maus II; Sin City
3: Batman: Birth of the Demon; Gregory II
2: Batman/Dracula: Red Rain; Changes; Hulk: Future Imperfect; Skin; Wolverine: Inner Fury
1: Ambush Bug Nothing Special, Batman/GA: Poison Tomorrow, Batman: Seduction of the Gun, Black Widow/Punisher, Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde v.1, Ironwolf, Light Fantastic, Mojo Mayhem, Sinking, Spider-Man: The Wedding, Spider-Man: Torment, Vampirella's Summer Nights, Wolverine: Rahne of Terra, Life, Adventures of Santa Claus
Reprint Collection/TPB
Again, a strong first choice, leaving all others somewhat in the dust... in fact, if tallied separately, the hardcover and paperback would have come in first and second!
20: Sandman: Season of Mists
4: Legion Archives v.2
3: Sin City
2: Bradleys; Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage; Hellblazer: Original Sins; Tales of the Beanworld v.2
1: All-Star Archives, Bloodlines: Heart of Africa, Bratpack, Cerebus: Jaka's Story, Changes, Classic X-Men, Complete Halo Jones, Crow, Eyeball Kid, Gay Comics Special #1, Gladstone's Walt Disney's C&S, Green Lantern: The Way Back, Groo Carnival, Harbinger TPB, Hey Look!, Incomplete Death's Head #1, Marvel Masterworks: FF, Maus II, Miracleman Book 4: Golden Age, My Perfect Life, Newark and Reality..., Peep Show, Shock Suspenstories, Swamp Thing: Love & Death, Terry and the Pirates (FB), Thor: Alone Against Celestials, Tick Omnibus 2, Torchy Special, Two-Fisted Tales, Vampirella: Transcending..., Vault of Horror, Warlock reprint series, Weapon X, XTinction Agenda
Strip or Panel
Even in its second incarnation, C&H seems to be the Energizer Bunny of newspaper strips, at least here on the net. (Aren't you glad you were patient, strips fans?) Even the Internet address on Dilbert didn't push it into the lead.
29: Calvin and Hobbes
12: Fox Trot
11: Doonesbury
5: Dilbert
4: Far Side
3: Ernie
2: Cathy; For Better or For Worse; Mr. Boffo; Peanuts
1: Brenda Starr, Curtis, Ernie Pook's Comeek, Fusco Bros., Herman, Jim's Journal, Life in Hell, Nina's Adventures, Outland, Ozone Patrol, Prince Valiant, Rose is Rose, Sylvia, Wasteland
Team
If they've ever been together on the pages of one book, as group, family, platoon, or miscellaneous strangers, they got a vote. (In one case, this includes the creators...)
10: Legion of Super Heroes
9: Endless
9: Excalibur
7: Doom Patrol
6: X-Factor
5: X-Men
4: New Warriors
3: Harbinger
2: Bulldaggers; Hate cast; L.E.G.I.O.N.; Roach/Elrod ( & Swoon/Snuff); X-Force
1: (Willingham's) Elementals, Archer & Armstrong, Avengers, Bill and Ted, Brat Pack, Cain & Abel, Cirinists, Desert Peach cast, Hero Alliance, Joe Matt/Chester Brown/Seth, Justice Society of America, New Titans, Oz Squad, Sam and Max, Shade/Kathy/Lenny, Sinister Horde, The Nam cast, Uncle Scrooge, Donald, HD&L, WildC.A.T.S.
Favorite R.A.C-er: (voters are invited to choose three)
Even with the three-vote rule, this wasn't an especially close race, and those of us who have sat on a trivia panel next to Tyg aren't the only ones who can tell why. And, unlike the third-place finisher, there's not even anything in it for us to kiss up to him...!
29: Thomas Young Galloway (tyg)
16: Dani Zweig
13: Peter David
10: Jim Cowling
9: Jim Drew; Lance "Squiddie" Smith
8: Jeff Meyer (Moriarty); Greg Morrow (Elmo)
5: Dave van Domelen
4: Enrique Conty
3: Jerry Boyajian; DDO (Roach); David Henry
2: Jim Dyer; Elizabeth Holden; Ted Kagutt (Scavenger); Robert Kelly (Senator); Roger B.A. Klorese; John LaRocque; WReam
1: Arthur C Adams, Tom Barrett, Michael Chary, Drizzt, Ted Faber, Victoria Fike, Mark Friedman, Vernon Harmon, Chris Jarocha-Ernst, Mike Jittlov, Rick Jones, Kieran, Roland Mann, Mick McCarter, Morgan, Bob Mosley (Omega), Brian Perler, Jim Pruyne, Jim Shooter, GL Sicherman, Tanaqui, Francis Uy, Craig Welsh, Wayne Wong