{"id":19970,"date":"2015-06-05T03:59:35","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T10:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=19970"},"modified":"2015-09-03T03:14:06","modified_gmt":"2015-09-03T10:14:06","slug":"hugo-2014-graphic-story-nominees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=19970","title":{"rendered":"Hugo 2014 Graphic Story Nominees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hugo-nominees-graphic-story\"<\/a>The Graphic Story Nominees are a nearly puppy-free category; four of the five nominees didn’t come from puppies. The five nominated works are (in order of my ranking):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick<\/em>, written by Matt Fraction, art by Chip Zdarsky (Image Comics)<\/li>\n
  2. Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal<\/em>, written by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Adrian Alphona and Jake Wyatt, (Marvel Comics)<\/li>\n
  3. Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery<\/em>, written by Kurtis J. Weibe, art by Roc Upchurch (Image Comics)<\/li>\n
  4. Saga Volume 3<\/em>, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)<\/li>\n
  5. The remaining nominee, The Zombie Nation<\/em> by Carter Reid, I’m going to regretfully rank below “no award.”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Although – as you’ll see – I have criticisms of all these works, I also think this is one of the best Hugo lists I’ve seen in this category. All four non-puppy nominees are standout mainstream comics, entertaining and well crafted.<\/p>\n

    Of the sf\/f comics I’ve read that came out in 2014, my favorite – combining wonderful craftsmanship, idiosyncratic and enjoyable drawings, and a strange writing style that takes a ton of science fiction and superhero tropes and smashes them in a blender to come up with something new – was The Wrenchies<\/em> by Farel Dalrymple<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \"wrenchies010-11\"<\/a>Look at those faces! Simultaneously grotesque and looking just like ordinary boys we’ve all seen. All of this is very distinctively Dalrymple: The painterly but (mostly) desaturated colors, the crows, the characters who look as if they might be ill, the gorgeously rendered world. He’s pretty and ugly at the same time, and that’s a neat trick to pull off.<\/p>\n

    “Idiosyncratic” is the word for this whole graphic novel – there’s just no one out there like Dalrymple. If I could, I’d vote for it for a Hugo. (I did vote for it for a couple of comics industry awards.) ((There were a few 2014 comics I liked better than The Wrenchies<\/em>, especially This One Summer<\/em>, but they were not sf\/f .))<\/p>\n

    (The rest of this post is below the fold, because ridiculously long.)<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Seconds <\/em>by Bryan Lee O’Malley<\/a>, a fantasy in the “do-over” genre, wasn’t perfect, but it deserved to be on the Hugo ballot more than most of the nominated works. (Its flaws – thin characterization and a basic idea that I’ve seen many times before – are flaws that most of the nominees share, but within those confines Seconds<\/em> is better crafted and does a better job developing its story than most of the nominees, and is just basically more original). I don’t think Elanor Davis’ How To Be Happy<\/em> <\/a>qualifies for this category – since it’s a collection of short stories, rather than a single story – but again, a more outstanding sf\/f comic than most of the Hugo nominees.<\/p>\n

    There are, of course, many sf\/f graphic novels that came out in 2014 that I haven’t<\/em> yet read. There are four, in particular, on my “to be read” pile, which I might like better than most of the Hugo nominees once I’ve read them: The Motherless Oven<\/em> by Rob Davis, The Cigar That Fell in Love With a Pipe<\/em> by David Camus and Nick Abadzi, The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil<\/em> by Stephen Collins, and The Leaning Girl<\/em> <\/a>by Benoit Peeters and Fran\u00e7ois Schuiten.<\/p>\n

    But books like these are unlikely to be nominated, because they’re all too damned idiosyncratic for the Hugos, if this year’s crop is any indication. ((To be fair, recent Hugo winners include Digger<\/em> and XKCD’s Time<\/em>, both of which were extremely idiosyncratic – and excellent – works.)) The most mainstream of these non-nominated works, O’Malley’s Seconds<\/em>, looks like this:<\/p>\n

    \"Seconds-scan\"<\/a>No one in mainstream comics would draw a “serious” graphic novel with such a cartoony and individualistic style.<\/p>\n

    Although all of the Hugo nominees are well-drawn – even Zombie Nation<\/em> is well-drawn for an amateur work, although in this company it’s painfully outclassed – and although none of the artists are cookie-cutter artists, they all come from the fairly narrow range of styles you’d expect in a Marvel\/DC\/Image comic. The stories are also developed and structured in a very predictable and straightforward adventure style (although this is less true of Sex Criminals<\/em>).<\/p>\n

    My two biggest problems with the Hugo nominees: None of these works, other than Sex Criminals<\/em>, were idiosyncratic. I mean, they are idiosyncratic when compared to what’s normal in the mainstream – but when you compare them to a broader range of comics, they all have an essential similarity. They are all unusually well-done examples of mainstream storytelling. There’s nothing wrong with that, but does that have to be the only<\/em> kind of comic nominated?<\/p>\n

    Secondly, none of these comics seem very ambitious to me. Sex Criminals<\/em> is a terrific yarn, and so is Saga<\/em>, and so is Rat Queens<\/em>. Ms Marvel<\/em> is a completely straightforward, traditional teen superhero story. (All of these works – unlike the puppy nominee Zombie Nation<\/em> – easily pass Kate Paulk’s standards<\/a> for “Hugo-worthy” works – Paulk, for those who don’t know, is one of the head Puppies. Which is ironic, since as I understand it, the Puppy complaint is that works like that can’t be nominated – and here we have a whole category\u00a0 of works like that, nominated without any puppy assistance).<\/p>\n

    There’s nothing wrong with telling an exciting story. I love comics like that. But what I love even more is a comic that tells an exciting story and<\/em> tries to push the barriers of the medium and<\/em> has ambitions to really say something more than “wow, this is cool and fun!” If any of these nominees are like that, it’s not evident in the volumes that have been published so far. ((Another difference between all the un-nominated works I listed, and the Hugo nominees: All the Hugo nominees are volumes in a longer storyline, rather than being stand-alone works.))<\/p>\n

    So, the nominees, in order of my preference:<\/p>\n

    Sex Criminals volume 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"sex-criminals\"<\/a>A sci-fi sex comedy, with the premise “what if some people could freeze time in the rest of the world, but still move around, when they have orgasms?” I thought this was the funniest and certainly the quirkiest of any of the nominees. The two main characters are well-written and have distinct and clear personalities. (None of the supporting characters are well-developed, but that’s not unusual in a graphic novel this short).\u00a0 The smutty jokes made me laugh.<\/p>\n

    Chip Zdarsky’s art didn’t send me over the moon – the figure drawing is a little stiff, and the rendering isn’t super-distinctive. But it’s crisp and clear and tells the story well (which is the most important thing), and his expressions are lovely and specific, absolutely top-notch. His backgrounds are sometimes a bit motel-room like – a bit too devoid of personality – but in some scenes, especially the sex shop scenes, he puts in an incredible amount of detail and a zillion hidden gags. I also loved the “frozen time” special effect, an example of which is above.<\/p>\n

    Ms Marvel volume 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"msmarvelpg5\"<\/a>It was a very close call for me between Sex Criminals<\/em> and Ms Marvel<\/em> for the number 1 slot.<\/p>\n

    Ms Marvel<\/em> is a straightforward teen superhero tale – a good kid gains superpowers, tries to do some good, blunders around, gets into trouble with her parents because she’s sneaking around and keeping this enormous secret from her loved ones, and eventually is victorious against the bad guy. This is not a revolutionary comic, to say the least.<\/p>\n

    But it stands out for its good humor (no grimdark here, thankfully), its sympathy for its characters, its setting (more on that below), the way it doesn’t<\/em> worship violence<\/a>, and its well-above-the-norm craftsmanship, in both art and story.<\/p>\n

    About that setting: Ms Marvel is Kamala Khan<\/span>, a Muslim, Pakistani-American girl being raised in New Jersey. Kamala is the first Muslim superhero to have her own book from Marvel or DC, and in an age of terrible anti-Muslim bigotry<\/a>, that’s genuinely important. But what’s even better is how specific and detailed Kamala’s setting – both Muslim and New Jersey – is, and how much that background shapes her character, and the character of the community much of Ms Marvel<\/em> is set in.<\/p>\n

    For my tastes, Adrian Alphona’s cartooning is the best of any of the nominees. All his settings are drawn well and reflect the personality of the characters inhabiting. His figure drawing is loose and relaxed, but anatomically solid, and just plain pleasing to look at. And his gentle sense of humor shines whenever Ms Marvel uses her stretchy shape-changing powers (the ludicrously enormous hands are always fun to see).<\/p>\n

    By the way, in case anyone reading this is a parent interested in sharing books with their kids, Ms Marvel<\/em> is the only all-ages comic of these nominees (other than Zombie Nation<\/em>, I suppose). The other three, if they were films, would be at least R-rated, and Sex Criminals would be NC-17.<\/p>\n

    Rat Queens volume 1
    \n<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"ratqueens\"<\/a>It was a toss-up whether I’d rank Rat Queens<\/em> or Saga<\/em> higher. In the end I went with Rat Queens<\/em>, because the first volume of a story tends to make a more satisfying stand-alone read than a third volume.<\/p>\n

    Rat Queens<\/em> is a light-hearted, extremely violent sword-and-sorcery adventure. It stands out for being funny and enthusiastic, and for having a mostly-female cast (all four main characters are women, and so are many important supporting characters). The art by Roc Upchurch (later kicked off the book after being arrested for domestic violence) is fun and readable and makes all the characters personable, although for my tastes the colors are a little muddy.<\/p>\n

    Rat Queens<\/em> feels, honestly, like someone’s D&D game. But a D&D game at which the players laughed a lot and had a good time and weren’t hung up on playing Perfect People.<\/p>\n

    Within the very narrow confines of mainstream comics, the four female characters have a lot of body diversity (they’re all conventionally gorgeous, but not all of them are cut from the same cookie mold), and one likable supporting character is well outside the mold.\u00a0 One of the four protagonists is either bi or lesbian. None of this is treated as a big deal, or as the focus of the story, and that’s refreshing. Nicely done.<\/p>\n

    Saga volume 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"saga-03\"<\/a>Saga<\/em> is fun and cynical and hip and a super-smooth ride. It has the best cast of any of these nominees; the supporting characters (who are numerous) nearly all have distinct and enjoyable personalities. But the two main characters, especially Marko, can be a little bland, which seems to be a common flaw of pretty central characters of space operas.<\/p>\n

    The art, by Fiona Staples, has extremely competent storytelling and clean, attractive drawings, but never takes any chances or tries anything new.<\/p>\n

    Any fan of space adventure would read these books and have a lot of fun.\u00a0 But the cynicism, and the occasional explosions of bloody violence, feels like old hat in today’s “edgy” mainstream comics. And although I like Saga<\/em> and will keep on reading the new volumes as they come out, it’s empty calories. I read each volume, have fun, and forget about Saga<\/em> completely until the next volume comes out.<\/p>\n

    Zombie Nation<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Zombie Nation<\/em> is the only nominee I’ll place below no award.<\/p>\n

    It’s unfair for Zombie Nation<\/em>, a moderately well-done amateur webcomic, to be in this company. Unfair both because a comic that was probably much more accomplished than Zombie Nation<\/em> was excluded, but also unfair to Zombie Nation<\/em>, which shouldn’t have to be compared to works like Sex Criminals<\/em> and Ms Marvel<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    Zombie Nation is a perfectly ordinary gag strip. It’s sometimes funny, but not nearly as funny or as original as similarly geeky but much better webcomics like Spacetrawler<\/em> and Skin Horse<\/em> and Oglaf<\/em>. The art places a lot of emphasis on the main characters’ boobs. The artist relies much, MUCH too much on cutting-and-pasting figures to save time.<\/p>\n

    I think it’s great that people create webcomics like this – by which I mean, webcomics that are unambitious, amateur fun. I really don’t want to trash it. The cartoonist obviously has talent, and I could imagine him producing something good if he put more time and effort into it.<\/p>\n

    Bottom line: Not even close to award-worthy. This is supposed to be an award for the most outstanding sf\/f comic of the year, not an award for best at being pals with Brad Torgensen.<\/p>\n

    * * *<\/p>\n

    Oh, and hey, speaking of comics, the ridiculously beautiful book Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream<\/em> deserves a Hugo nomination for “Best Related Work” far more than any of the 2014 nominees in that category.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Graphic Story Nominees are a nearly puppy-free category; four of the five nominees didn’t come from puppies. The five nominated works are (in order of my ranking): Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick, written by Matt Fraction, art … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartooning-comics","category-hugo-awards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19970"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19984,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19970\/revisions\/19984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}