I’m just saying…

I think I’ll talk about my votes and predictions for the WCCA’s this year. But before I discuss my votes and predictions themselves, I want to make a few things perfectly clear:

1) Yes, I am on the committee staff thing for the WCCAs. I vote on policies and I have some sort of say on how things go. That has no real bearing on how the winners will be picked in the end. Aside from that, I refuse to influence the end desicions based on my opinions, beyond whether or not a comic belongs in a certain category, and my basic votes as a participant.

2) There’s a lot of comics I like a lot, and there’s a lot of cartoonists I’m friends with and work with. And more than a handful that I can consider partners. So there’s a bias there. But I don’t factor that in with my nominations. My votes are simply for the comics that I think are outstanding and fit the category they are for. So if you’re a pal and I don’t vote for you, please don’t feel offended. Nothing against you or your work.

Now. with all that out of the way, let’s get to it.

Key: italics = winner prediction, bold = my vote

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Outstanding Newcomer

Gunnerkrigg Court
Feral Calf
Starslip Crisis
Parallel Dementia
The Dreamland Chronicles
pirate and alien

This is always an interesting category because most of the comics are ones I’ve never heard of. Which is warranted for this category, as it’s to highlight new comics within the last year. And I’m not about to read up on every one of these to make my judgement here as to be quite honest, I don’t have the time. Given that, I don’t feel I’m qualified to vote on this one, as my vote would go to Starslip, the only one I’ve read. Voting for it would be unfair to the others. Anyway, my prediction is with Starslip for the win.

That being said, if there’s any categories I don’t feel qualified to vote, or don’t particularly care about, I’m not voting in them. Just wouldn’t feel fair to the others.

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Outstanding Comic

Inverloch
The Perry Bible Fellowship
Fetus-X
Narbonic
Achewood
Girl Genius

Reeeeeallly tough call on this one, as we’ve got some stellar nominees. Each one a different flavor. This award is for whichever comic had the best stuff this past year. Thinking back on the past year, I remember that one comic made more more excited to read it than any other, to the point that I fucking craved more. And that was Achewood with The Great Outdoor fight, and thus earns my vote. And I predict that it will win.

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Outstanding Artist

David Hellman (A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage is Irreversible)
Nicholas Gurewitch (The Perry Bible Fellowship)
Michelle Mayo (Tales of the Traveling Gnome)
Sarah Ellerton (Inverloch)

My vote’s with Gurewitch on this one. Hellman’s a very, very close second for demonstrating amazing skills with his dreamy style, but Gurewitch has got that amazing range of styles, each of wich he pulls off masterfully. Although, I predict that Ellerton’s taking it home in the end.

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Outstanding Black and White Art

Starslip Crisis
Biozoic
Today
Digger
MegaTokyo
Sam and Fuzzy
Wapsi Square

That’s… a lot of nominees. The only one I feel particularly strongly about is Sam & Fuzzy, so there’s my vote. Wapsi Square’s had some interesting stuff this year, though. But I predict the winner will be Megatokyo.

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Outstanding Environment Design

Inverloch
Templar, Arizona
The Dreamland Chronicles
Copper
Fetus-X
MegaTokyo

I’m going with Templar, AZ with this one. Because while the other nominees have really cool environments going on, Templar’s is the only one that out-and-out fascinates me. And I honestly can’t make any sort of prediction for this one, but I hope it’s Templar.

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Outstanding Use of Colour

Parallel Dementia
A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage is Irreversible
Applegeeks
Copper
Gunnerkrigg Court

My vote is with A Lesson is Learned, because that comic is color. Like, incarnate. But my prediction is with Copper (who is just about tied with A Lesson in my mind).

—

The winner for Outstanding Website Design should be…

Dueling Analogs
Shortpacked!
Applegeeks
Inverloch
Starslip Crisis
Alpha Shade

Starslip absolutely deserves this award for the neat tricks he’s been cooking up on that site, as well as all over Blank Label. That dropbox for visiting the other comics is really, really useful. As well as his system that allows you to save your place in his archives and revisit it anytime. Combine those with the simplist functionality of the layout and you’ve got yourself a great website there. It’s got my vote, and my prediction.

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Outstanding Writer

Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics, Whispered Apologies)
Chris Onstad (Achewood)
Sarah Ellerton (Inverloch)
Shaenon Garrity (Narbonic, Li’l Mell, Smithson, Trunktown)
Kristofer Straub (Starslip Crisis, Checkerboard Nightmare, Modern Humor Authority)

If I could give them all the award, I would. But I can’t, so I’ll have to decide on which one gets my vote. Which is going to be difficult. Personally, it comes down to a tie between Shaenon and Onstad. And I’m giving my vote to Onstad, because Shaenon’s more than likely going to get it next year for the end of Narbonic. Onstad gets it this year for The Great Outdoor Fight and Cartileage Head. And my prediction also is for Onstad for the same reasons I have for voting for it. His writing just shined this year.

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Outstanding Character Writing

Something Positive
Scary Go Round
Achewood
Inverloch
Questionable Content
Templar, Arizona
Order of the Stick

To me, a person who writes characters in an outstanding manner is someone who can make us really care. I mean really care about the characters and their lives. And for this one, I’ve got to give it to Randy. The Death of Faye struck a very strong chord, moving many (myself included) to tears. And if a Webcomic can do that, well, it deserves a fucking nod. And that all goes in hand in hand with his already outstanding evolving characters and stories. So it gets my vote, and my prediction for the win.

—
Outstanding Short Form Comic

Wondermark
Dinosaur Comics
Overcompensating
The Perry Bible Fellowship
Partially Clips

Tough call. I’m voting for Overcompensating, but I think Perry Bible Fellowship is going to take it home in the end.

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Outstanding Single Panel Comic

Savage Chickens
Toothpaste for Dinner
Fetus-X
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Today: the Comic
Chopping Block

All very good comics, but none of them made me laugh nearly as hard or as often as Toothpaste for Dinner. It gets my vote, but I think Fetus-X is going to win.

—

Outstanding Gaming Comic

Penny Arcade
Order of the Stick
VG Cats
Dueling Analogs

I love Penny Arcade and VG CATS. That’s been well established. But Order of the Stick has just been fucking phenomenal this year, on a very consistent basis. Gets my vote, and I’m confident it’s taking home the gold.

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Outstanding Slice-of-Life Comic

Penny and Aggie
Devil’s Panties
Something Positive
Reprographics
Overcompensating

It’s really kinda hard to compare some of these to the others, but I’m going to vote for Something Positive for the same reasons as I listed above. But I think Overcompensating is going to win.

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Outstanding Romantic Comic

Sordid City Blues
Junk Riot
Red String
Questionable Content

I haven’t really read Junk Riot or Red String, so I don’t feel fully comfortable with voting on this one. Also, part of me wonders why Penny & Aggie isn’t in this lineup. But I really do feel strongly that Sordid City Blues deserves some recognition for its work this year, not only examining the romantic relationships between the characters, but examining romantic relationships themselves. So it gets my vote, but I’ve got no prediction for the winner.

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Outstanding Comedic Comic

White Ninja
Shortpacked!
Achewood
The Perry Bible Fellowship

You probably would expect me to vote for Achewood on this one. While it has been really damned funny, as has Perry Bible Fellowship, I think Shortpacked! deserves some special recognition for comedy this year for variety and all the priceless Batman jokes. Although I think Achewood is going to get the award.

—

And that’s it. Any categories I missed, as I stated above, were because I didn’t feel qualified to vote on them or I just didn’t care. Good luck to all the nominees!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 22nd, 2006 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Webcomics, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.