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womzillaI alluded earlier to the fact that I was not very satisfied with the nominations list for the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, and stated directly that I was appalled that there was such an obvious counting error in the nominations. Here's a bit more discussion why.
Six works made the final list as published (in alphabetical order):
So, two web comics--one created as a web comic by a relative newcomer (Schlock Mercenary) and one a hybrid web comic/print comic created by a thirty-year veteran cartoonist (Girl Genius); two Vertigo titles, one fantasy (Fables) and one sf (Y: The Last Man); and two tie-ins to other media (Dresden Files, tied in to the novel series, and Serenity, tied in to the television/movie series).
I would have been much more impressed by the list of nominees if they had been correctly counted:
That drops one Vertigo title and one media tie-in in favor of a superb superhero title. While I like Fables a great deal, I liked Captain Britain and MI-13 more. I also think it's just a good thing to have a superb superhero title on the list--superheroes are such a large part of the English-language comics field, and there's a lot there which is worthy of serious consideration by f&sf readers. It's ironic to the point of active weirdness that there were no superhero titles in the Best Graphic Story nominee list and two in the Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form nominee list--The Dark Knight and Iron Man. (Actually, three, if you count Hellboy as a superhero, which I mostly do.) CB-MI13 is not only a superhero book, it's very unapologetically a superhero book, and its virtues are the virtues of the best company shared-universe superhero titles--showcasing an ensemble cast deeply embedded in the wider story, respecting continuity, and engaging with and improving on company-wide crossovers.
Most importantly, I actively support pushing Serenity off the list of nominees. Having one-third of the nominees in a category as other-media tie-ins really made the category look pathetic. I don't mind having one tie-in--tie-ins and adaptations have been a major part of American comics, even of good American comics, since their inception. Remember, Carl Barks spent most of his life doing media tie-ins. But two titles out of six made it look like comics are the weak hand-me-downs of the "real" media, and that was just wrong.
(I also just plain didn't like Serenity: Better Days very much. If we are going to nominate media tie-in comics, they should be good ones.)
Six works made the final list as published (in alphabetical order):
- The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle
- Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones
- Fables: War and Pieces
- Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic
- Serenity: Better Days
- Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores
So, two web comics--one created as a web comic by a relative newcomer (Schlock Mercenary) and one a hybrid web comic/print comic created by a thirty-year veteran cartoonist (Girl Genius); two Vertigo titles, one fantasy (Fables) and one sf (Y: The Last Man); and two tie-ins to other media (Dresden Files, tied in to the novel series, and Serenity, tied in to the television/movie series).
I would have been much more impressed by the list of nominees if they had been correctly counted:
- Captain Britain and MI-13
- The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle
- Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones
- Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic
- Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores
That drops one Vertigo title and one media tie-in in favor of a superb superhero title. While I like Fables a great deal, I liked Captain Britain and MI-13 more. I also think it's just a good thing to have a superb superhero title on the list--superheroes are such a large part of the English-language comics field, and there's a lot there which is worthy of serious consideration by f&sf readers. It's ironic to the point of active weirdness that there were no superhero titles in the Best Graphic Story nominee list and two in the Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form nominee list--The Dark Knight and Iron Man. (Actually, three, if you count Hellboy as a superhero, which I mostly do.) CB-MI13 is not only a superhero book, it's very unapologetically a superhero book, and its virtues are the virtues of the best company shared-universe superhero titles--showcasing an ensemble cast deeply embedded in the wider story, respecting continuity, and engaging with and improving on company-wide crossovers.
Most importantly, I actively support pushing Serenity off the list of nominees. Having one-third of the nominees in a category as other-media tie-ins really made the category look pathetic. I don't mind having one tie-in--tie-ins and adaptations have been a major part of American comics, even of good American comics, since their inception. Remember, Carl Barks spent most of his life doing media tie-ins. But two titles out of six made it look like comics are the weak hand-me-downs of the "real" media, and that was just wrong.
(I also just plain didn't like Serenity: Better Days very much. If we are going to nominate media tie-in comics, they should be good ones.)
