The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

The initial voting for the Eagle Awards, the UK’s top comics and graphic novel awards, has opened – yes, it does say ’2007′, but it is this year’s; I’d imagine the ’2007′ refers to the fact we will mostly be nominating titles published during that year. The site is in a beta version at the moment and seems slow to add recently added names and titles to the categories; previously on the Eagles you have been able to choose from a menu of already-existing names and titles in each category, or if you had something else in mind – for example, say picking Shooting War or Alice in Sunderland as Best Graphic Novel – but didn’t see them in the list then you simply type the name or title into the dialogue box above.

In the past any new name you have added usually then comes up on the list from then on, making it more visible to the next voters and therefore more likely to get noticed and hopefully supported – annoyingly that doesn’t seem to be happening this year, at least not so far – I voted late yesterday but some of the additions I put in aren’t showing up today and I’m hearing the same from other folks in the Brit comics community. So if, just picking a category totally at random, you wanted to vote for us in the Favourite Comics Related Website category, right now you would have to type it in, which apart from being annoying and meaning it is less likely folks will do it (because a lot of folks will think they have to choose only from the menu list) it also means that for those who do take the time to type in a name they want to vote for there is a risk of votes being split if different people put in slightly different titles or mis-spell a name.

So, again choosing a subject totally at random (ahem), if you wanted to vote for us in the aforementioned Favourite Comics Related Website category and we still aren’t showing up on the drop down menu for that category, you could simply cut and paste “Forbidden Planet International blog” into the dialogue box for that entry. You know, if you really thought we deserved your support. Did we mention how lovely you are all looking today? Yeah, alright, I know, my cheeks are glowing, but seriously, if you do enjoy us we’d love your support, so here is our shameless plea for votes.

And while we are on the subject of voting, remember these are British awards, so please do bear in mind our homegrown talent when you think about who to vote for. We all read and enjoy the great comics sites based in the US and elsewhere, but let’s not forget our own guys – not just us (hello, did we mention you could vote for us? Oh, we did?) but some of the others out there who spend a lot of time supporting and publicising comics, especially British comics, both professional and small press. Like Down The Tubes, Bugpowder and IndieReview to name but three others all worthy of consideration. And think about some of the brilliant British small press creators too when you vote – Oli Smith has already been busy canvassing support on a level that would make Barack Obama weep with envy and the Tales From the Flat crew are hoping to get themselves another nomination this year. There are several categories where you can show support for the Brit small press creators, the most obvious being Favourite Colour Comicbook – British and Favourite Black and White Comicbook – British.

So remember, if you don’t see your favourite in the menu list for a category you can type it in (or you can simply paste Forbidden Planet International blog into the Comics Relate Website category, or did I mention that before?). And if you are trying to think back over 2007 and who you might want to support, have a flick back through our archives and for more ideas of Brit small press creators you can support you only have to direct your eyes to the right hand column where you will see a slew of those creators’ websites listed. Obviously you should vote for the titles and creators you most enjoyed, but please, where you can let’s remember and support some good Brit talent too – we’re not trying to be parochial or jingoistic here, regular readers know we love and support good comics work from anywhere in the world. But this is the top Brit comics awards after all and we shouldn’t be ashamed to use that to celebrate and highlight some of our terrific homegrown creators and writers. (Joe can currently be seen wrapped in a Union Jack, wearing a V For Vendetta mask and waving copies of the Rainbow Orchid and FutureQuake at passers-by and urging them to vote.)