Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 13:26:12 -0500
To: [c--m--x] at [indra.com]
From: bart beaty <[b--ea--y] at [po-box.mcgill.ca]>
Subject: Good Taste Awards 1999: Final Comments

Well, it's over. This year's 66 voters set a new record with a number that
was up by one from last year, but a record nonetheless.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of the
list members who took the time to vote, with a special thanks to those who
voted in all three rounds. It may be a self-serving enterprise holding our
own awards but I'd hope that people here get something out of the
experience.

The final round award for speed goes to: Wim Lockefeer
The final round award for tardiness goes to: Scott Faulkner
The final round award for strangest voting behavior goes to: Mark Nevins,
who phoned in his vote from a limo to the airport, couldn't finish in time
so then phoned in the second half from a hotel room in Paris at 3:00 in the
morning

1. Best Writer:

This was Dylan Horrocks' category the entire time and nobody else was even
close. Dylan's 13 point victory isn't a record in this category, but it was
easily the largest margin of victory in the talent section this year.

2. Best Artist:

Max becomes the fifth winner of this category in five years, narrowly
beating out Dave McKean. The two traded the lead back and forth all week
long. In the end Max only got six more votes than he did last year when he
lost to Chris Ware, which I thought was sort of strange given the size of
the margin that his book won by. On the other hand many voters seemed to
feel that this was the most balanced category.

3. Best cartoonist:

Championed on this list for years, Lewis Trondheim finally wins something.
Trondheim becomes the fourth winner of this category in its four year
history, narrowly beating out Best Writer Dylan Horrocks. Interestingly,
all three of our "talent" winners also won other categories, which doesn't
always work out in the Goodies.

4. Talent Deserving Wider Recognition:

In the battle between the Americans and the Europeans to see who was most
unknown the Americans came out on top with a one-two finish of Ralph and
Gloeckner, who were tied as late as Sunday. Publishers take note.

5. Best Publisher:

For the first few days it looked like L'Asso would take this category
easily, but then more American votes started to pour in and it went to the
Canucks. This is DQ's second win, but first in four years. Fantagraphics
started real slow but picked up speed in the late going to finish third.
Many of Black Eye's voters indicated a fear that their votes were a
sentimental send-off, we'll see.

6. Best Continuing Series:

Berlin narrowly interrupts the Acme winning streak, cutting it off at three
by just a single vote. This was a hotly contested category with all of the
top four finishers having taken the lead at one point or another. The
biggest gain in this category from last year was Nowhere (up eight) while
the biggest loss was Acme (down eighteen), followed by Palookaville (down
five).

7. Best New Series:

What does this say about the current state of affairs? Our Best New Series
choice has already been discontinued! Trondheim knocked off Sock Monkey by
the narrowest of margins in a category that left a lot of voters grumbling
about a lack of quality choices.

8. Best Finite Series:

One of the few blow-outs this year saw Max get nine of the first ten votes
in this category. At one point on the first day I thought the voting might
end up being unanimous, but finally others started to kick in. As only one
issue has come out look for a potential follow-up next year.

9. Best Mini-Comic:
Brian Ralph (winner of Talent Deserving...) comes out on top with Fireball
in what has always been a crap-shoot of a category. Many voters complained
that Ware's comic is not a true mini and should have been discounted as an
ad. Others pointed out (too late) that David Lasky's comic came out in
1997. Where were they in round two?

10. Best Web-Published Comic:

In its first year this category failed to generate significant heat. Scott
McCloud takes three of the top five positions, but more than half of all
the voters blanked the category and many (truth be told) wrote some snarky
comments. We'll see if things get better for next year...

11. Best Foreign Language Comic:

Cheval sans tete, last year's runner-up by one vote, takes home the trophy
this year in what was at very tight contest. Certainly Amok was aided by
their presence at SPX since a few voters who bought issues there popped up
to vote for them. Promotion is the key to success!

12. Best Anthology:

After four years of Drawn and Quarterly domination Lapin barely sneaked out
of the pack to take over the anthology category. Last year's runner-up to
DQ got exactly the same amount of votes as it did last year, and everything
else caught up to it. At one point this was a four way tie for first with
Blab! one vote back.

13. Best Short Piece:

Megan Kelso is the surprise winner of this category, surprising in that she
wasn't as present on the nominations as many of the other contenders. Kelso
basically walked away with this one though, and the outcome was never in
any doubt.

14. Best Single Issue of an Ongoing Series:

A very close race that was decided on the last day as Lutes edges Ware by
one vote again. This marks the second year in a row that Ware has lost this
category by one vote.

15. Best Ongoing Serialized Story:

Jason Lutes' third award is a repeat of last year's victory, making him the
second repeat winner in this category. Interestingly, with Ware out of the
running both Seth and Burns did better in this category than they did last
year but Jason actually lost four votes. Hmm.

16. Best One Shot:

Joe Sacco laid the hurt down on all comers, pulling out a Max-esque victory
by 22 votes in one of the most lop-sided of contests.

17. Best Graphic Novel:

While Dylan ended up winning by eight votes in the end Cages made this a
much closer race for much of the voting, and it led for a long time. In the
end the voters went with the Best Writer winner rather than the Best
Artists runner-up

18. Best Reprint Collection:

This was DQ all the way as Vellekoop and Brown made it interesting while
totally dominating the rest of the field.

19. Best Strip:

Mutts is dethroned after a single year and Ben Katchor finally arrives at
the top of the podium after so many losses. Katchor led wire to wire this
year

20. Best Guilty Pleasure:

Last year Bone beat Stray Bullets by three votes, this year by one. Many
voters expressed disinterest in this category again this year, indicating
that it may be time to give it a rest.

21. Best Production Design:

Acme finally wins something, pulling away from the crowd early and then
holding off all comers for a ten vote victory.

22. Best Publication About Comics:

While not its largest margin of victory this 25 point spread shows just how
dominant the Journal is in this category. Good thing that we've now kicked
it out. With a fifth straight win we're renaming the category: The Comics
Journal Prize for Best Publication About Comics (whew!) and making it
ineligible. Next year's winner? TCJ Online

23. Best Poster:

All Arthur had to do to win was quit the list, which basically sums things
up around here. After four years of consistent second and third place
finishes Arthur makes the leap to number one after publicly disavowing the
list. With only one Send Info this year my own vote fell back to second
place levels. A big drop also for Mr. Nevins, who is proud of the fact that
he has now placed (in order) first, second, third, and fourth. Moving up
the chart was Paul Gravett who added two votes to last year's total and
stepped up one notch. And replacing the increasingly absent Desmond as our
fifth place finalist this year is Matt Madden, whose reports on Mexican
comics excursions have made him a popular pick.

The big change in Best Poster this year was certainly a deflation of the
numbers attained by the top vote getters and a sense that the field is much
more spread out now. 39 individuals got at least one vote, 21 of those got
at least two and 15 got five or more, which indicates that there are a lot
of posters just on the verge of making the top five.

Interestingly, once again all five of the top vote getters live in a
different country, which just shows how truly international this forum is.

That's it. Again, thanks to all who participated. I *may* be retiring from
this job since I don't know where I'll be living this time next year
(except for the fact that it *won't* be in Montreal) and thus may be forced
out by circumstances. If that is the case I'll hand over these awards at a
later date, but at this point I'm inclined to hang on if I can. I still
find the process interesting and only slightly annoying at times, and I
hope that others get something out of it as well.

bart