Here’s the actual ballot:.
Best Graphic Story (339 ballots)
- Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)
- Fables Vol 15: Rose Red by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)
- Locke & Key Volume 4, Keys to the Kingdom written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
- Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (The Tayler Corporation)
- The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross. Written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)
When this category was introduced a couple of years back I wasn’t that interested. I didn’t read comics, hadn’t for a good twenty years. And when the Foglio’s won it for a second year and I heard that the category would unlikely survive after 2012, I had zero care factor.
Then around August last year DC Comics launched its New 52 line and decided to release digital comics on the same day as the hard-copy version. And suddenly I was reading comics, lots and lots of comics. Seriously, fuck loads of them.
So as of today I do give a shit about this category. I want it to survive just so I get the opportunity next year – with 12 good months of comics reading behind me – to actually nominate a series of graphic stories that I think deserve to be on the ballot.
And If WSFS has any common sense they’ll realise that I’m not alone, that DC’s decision, the decision of Marvel and the independents to follow the suit, and the fact that reading on the iPad has made it so much easier for non-comics readers like me, should keep this category alive for another year or so.
As for the ballot itself. Fables is always good, though I feel it’s begun to lose momentum (though I’m 20 issues behind).Â
The Unwritten is also good, it’s very literate and smart and the storyline is compelling. That said, sometimes it’s hard to get passed the dick that is Tommy Taylor. I feel the story would be so much more interesting if Tommy just died (then again, I’m also about 10 or 12 issues behind, so maybe he grows a character).
And I’ve only just started reading Locke and Key and based on what I’ve read of the first volume it looks like it’s going to be fun.
I can’t speak to the two web-comics because I haven’t read them, though I might try them out.
But when I consider some of the comics I’m reading right now, comics like Who Is Jake Ellis? and American Vampire and iZombie (I mean how does that not get nominated) and Witch Doctor and the list goes on, then I know that there’s plenty of room to move with Best Graphic Story and I want to be part of that show.
But we shall see.
Digger (http://www.diggercomic.com/) was an excellent read. I even paid for Graphic Smash for several years so I could continue to read it. I believe it’s also now available in dead tree edition…
Thanks for the rec
How far are you into American Zombie? I have the first two issues and am actually liking the Scott Snyder stories more than the King.
The King story lasts for the first five or six issues (basically the first arc). It gets better, but it’s nowhere near as strong as the Snyder. After those six issues, it’s wall to wall Snyder (and awesome).
You’re now the 5th person to recommend it. I’ve looked at it and, yes, it looks like something I’d enjoy.
I’ve gotta be honest, not once have I felt that the best five graphic stories of the year have made it onto the ballot. It was criminal last year that Urasawa’s Pluto didn’t win – as it turns out it wasn’t even nominated.
The first Locke and Key collections were great, so I have good hopes for this one as well.
This is the one category in which the Hugo limitations come forward. The nomination process is inherently biased to well-known products and name recognition, giving an advantage to long running series and people working in several categories.
And of course in practice the nomination process is self-limiting to products that appeared in English language editions. Which specifically in this category probably results in missing some quite important works. It might be a selection bias on my side, and a result of looking back at decades worth of work, but it seems that in continental Europe the most important work in SF has appeared in the comic book/graphic novel/bande dessinée format. And I would not be surprised if something similar was the case in Japan.
On the positive side the Hugo awards nominators have already shown that they are paying attention to modern distribution methods, and it is likely that these will result in a greater exposure (as soon as European companies start to pay attention as well). So I really hope that the category will be continued.
One just has to look at the reactions at the death of Jean Giraud to see how much the graphic storytelling is a part of the influences on the field.
ps. I am probably a couple of years behind at any given time, so I really would not know what european comics would have been good candidates for a Hugo nomination. But looking at past performance I would be surprised if there were none to be found.
Orbital is one European SF work that should have been nominated. It’s exceptional and imaginative space opera, and published in English by Cinebooks.