The Eagle Awards have been Britain’s main comic awards for the better part of the last 30 plus years. And although occasionally there’s been the odd (how shall we say it…..) dubious result and various allegations of vote manipulation, they’ve consistently shown a great range of winners, from the UK and the US.
This year, the Eagles will be presented at the London MCM Expo on 27th May. Voting gets underway from March 14th. But before then it’s nominations time. And anyone can nominate anyone in comics – all you need to do is go over to the Eagle Awards site and fill in the form. The top 5 nominees will then go forward to the voting stage.
And whilst you’re nominating can we point out that The Forbidden Planet International Blog would be honoured to receive your nomination in the category: Favourite Comics-Related Website.
But whether we win it or not, whether we even get to the voting stage …… please, please, when you are choosing your favourites of the year, please try to consider all the options – there are too many times when the oldest British comic awards just get handed over to the US – and they’ve got plenty of their own awards! Celebrate OUR comics industry.
On which note……
The 1st Stan Lee awards take place at the Ka-Pow Comic Con in London on April 9th. Nominations for these awards have come from Seth Rogen (Green Hornet), Clark Duke (Kick-Ass), Chris Hewitt at Empire, Mike Rampton at Front, Samuel Roberts at SciFiNow, Jes Bickham at Comic Heroes, Robbie Collin at News of the World, Chris Tilly and Richard George at IGN, Jonah & Kiel from Comic Book Resources website, Forbidden Planet London, Damon Lindelof (Lost) amongst others.
And it’s a very, very limited field to choose from. Very few categories and everything with a very US, Hollywood, Marvel/DC only feel. The “Best Publisher” category even goes so far as to give the 4 votes to just 3 separate companies – Marvel, Image, DC/Vertigo. Except for the purposes of the awards, DC and Vertigo are two different companies. I’m surprised they didn’t split it further and give Marvel and Icon a nomination each.
The only exceptions to this rule are Jonathan Ross (yes – as best newcomer) and Scott Pilgrim as best comic hero (and since the only other mention of Scott Pilgrim is in the film category, I think you can see the reasoning behind that).
Now I’m all for having as many comic shows as we possibly can, and Ka-Pow is obviously positioning itself right at the superhero end of the market. Which is absolutely great. Comics is a rich, diverse field and there’s great works across all of it’s genres. I got sick of having to explain to people when I worked comic retail that I didn’t hate superheroes – I loved them. But only when they were very, very well done and only as a part of a rich and varied diet of comics. So I’m not being anti-superhero here. But I think the Stan Lee Awards are just too US-centric for something that’s meant to be a UK Award.
Just look at the fantastic guest list they have – a who’s who of Brit talent – Brian Bolland, Brett Ewins, Pat Mills, Brendan McCarthy, David Lloyd, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and many more. They made their names working in the UK before going across the pond. Would it not have been better for a UK convention to celebrate even a little bit of it’s UK-ness? Then again, I suppose the name should have given it away.
February 5th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Whooohooo!
My book, Swimming With Shoes On, is nominated for
Favourite British Comicbook: Black and White
Favourite 2010 Reprint Compilation
and
Favourite 2010 Cover
If anyone out there has read or seen my book, feel free to vote for it.
Will be greatly appreciated.
D.
February 7th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
The Stan Lee Awards are a bit feeble aren’t they? What a stitch up! I’m surprised Frankie Boyle doesn’t get an award for “most heavily promoted non-comics celebrity featured in Clint”. Perhaps a category for “Comics magazine with heaviest Mark Millar and Frankie Boyle related features” could be introduced.
I’m all up for categories with just three nominees – Mark Millar, Frankie Boyle and Clint Magazine. Perhaps they could just give each other a medal award and leave it at that next year.
February 8th, 2011 at 1:54 am
There’s part of me railing against the Stan Lee Awards, and part of me just shrugging with a resigned air. Ka-Pow and the “Stan Lee Awards” caters to one part of the comics medium. And it’s a part I loved/love when it’s at it’s best. So although the adult me doesn’t necessarily agree with the limitations it’s putting on itself, I have to ease off a little on it, because I know if the 13 year old me would have been to a Ka-Pow I’d have been loving it.
February 9th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
I’m quite disappointed with it, it has limited itself to a very narrow field of comics which is irritating when a lot of us have spent time trying to persuade the non comics reading world how diverse our medium is, not just capes and tights. Then we get this. Not that I have anything against capes and tights, loved them since childhood, but would it hurt to have a bit more diversity in there? And the fact we have awards held in London that do bugger all to support and celebrate the British comics publishing scene is, I think, a huge mistake and a missed opportunity. I asked Mark on Twitter about this and he replied they aren’t British awards per se, reflected the choices of the judges and should get picked up by US media. None of which makes me think much of them, to be honest, for my own tastes, but I’m sure they will appeal to quite a few.