Results: X-Books Awards voting 2022

[Uncanny X-Man]

I just wanted to add my thanks to Master of Sound for putting the X-Awards together - impressive amount of work and a total joy to read, thank you so much!

[Master of Sound]

I just wanted to add my thanks to Master of Sound for putting the X-Awards together - impressive amount of work and a total joy to read, thank you so much!

Thank you so much. Great to hear. :-)

[Master of Sound]

Wohoooo for Sabretooth! Victor LaVelle has so consistently impressed with his x-office work that I started picking up some of his novels.

And thanks Master of Sound for these awards!

And now we have another Sabretooth mini, wonder how that will be voted on at the end of the year.

[Master of Sound]

Least Favorite X-Men Storyline from a Single Title
The X-Men have very powerful members, who can do amazing things. However it does take good stories to show just how powerful and awesome these characters are. Unfortunately there are stories written that do not give us what we need. Remember last years winner Terrors of the Deep - X-Force. Well this year brought us some lesser loved stories as well. The worst one was did surprisingly not come from the X-Force title this year....


NUMBER 1
Extinction Agenda, Marauders vs Kin Crimson
With 23 points, including 4 number one votes.
I was thrilled to see they remembered Delphos if the Imperial Guard and I loved the fact the brought back Eric the Red. I believe I was not the only one. Until.... we actually got to read and see the story. The story was getting more complex by each page and the art,... yeah it would fit greatly with another book. But not with a more serious space drama. We are not yet sure if the series continues after March, but if the do, we hope for some changed to the creative team, as the cast and the idea of space adventures are actually great.


NUMBER 2
Kraven’s Hunt, X-Force #30-33
With 18 points and 3 number one votes
What are Least Favorite results without a mentioning of X-force the last few years, right? Dragging in a Spider-Man villain might have been a nice idea, but it did not help, as the story of Kraven hunting mutants was long and not that exciting. Now we have seen there are some cast changes later in 2023 and the Xeno problem seems to be handled as well. So who knows, the voting for Favorite stories of 2023 might contain an X-Force story and least might not, who knows, who knows.


NUMBER 3
Here comes Yesterday (Threshold/Sublime arc) Marauders
With 17 points, including two #1 votes
Another Marauders story voted into this category. I think the same thing can be said again, it is not a stand alone thing we did not like, it was the combination of the art, the story and too much going on at the same time./ Also some of the readers did not like another change to Arakko/ Krakoa history as is was great as it was, don't mess with it. We have 3 new characters, but how long will they last after Steve Orando is gone from the X-books?

[Master of Sound]

Favorite X-Writer
Good writing makes the reader feel richer when reading, the writer should be giving you the same feeling as you would feel after a great dinner prepared bty a great chef or after having some awesome....eh you know ;-) Seriously though, good writing makes us readers want to read more of it. A good writer part make us anxious and impatient for the next issue to come out. And don't we all love a great cliffhanger any time?! Some of the writers really understood their job and brought us unexpected developments, great character developments and made our heart tick faster or melt. These are the writers we want to keep at the X-office! Last years winner and number 2 both did not write an X-book this year (Zeb Wells and Hickman), but last years number 3 became this years winner.

NUMBER 1
Al Ewing
With an astonishing score of 117 points, including 24 number one votes!
Last year he brought us S.W.O.R.D., granting him the 3rd place s best writer. This year he won with a fantastic score of votes as the winner. Ewing brought us the most favorite X-book; X-Men Red. He wrote an amazing death scene with Magneto and Storm, he gave Sunspot the spotlight we wanted for years and he even made Vulcan into a great villain, which most of us thought was not possible. Now we also know so much more about the Arakki culture, thanks to him and good news, it seems the title will return in 2023 after SoS.


NUMBER 2
Kieron Gillen
With 73 points and 9 number one votes
Not bad score for a number two spot. Gillen brought us the Immortal X-Men, a series focusing on the Quiet Counsil of Krakoa, with each issue a focus on another member, leading u slowly to the Sins of Sinister event, which is about to start. He will be the main writer of the crossover, so we expect it to be fantastic. Without a doubt, he did great thing, specificly to Mister Sinister and he is not done yet. So we got good things to look forward to. Even though we did not get an issue focusing on Colossus yet, we are still in the dark if this series will continue after S0S is done.


NUMBER 3
Victor Lavalle
With 21 points and one number one vote
With two amzzing scores for the winners above, it is not a surprise the number 3 comes with great distance to those above. However, that does not make the position less deserved, on the contrary, Lavalle brought us a great Sabretooth mini and whoop whoop, since November he is writing Sabretooth & the Exiles, which turnes out to be just as great. With focus not only on Creed, but also Nekra and Melter and introducing Thirs-Eye. Who knows, Lavalle might make it to this list again for the 2023 voting.

[Master of Sound]

Least Favorite X-Writer
Sometimes you read a X-Men story and wonder if the writer really loves their job and seriously doubt if they feel any connection to the X-Universe. Because some write stories so badly, that we would be better off if these stories were never written. We also learned that using a title that was successful in the past does not guarantee success today. Fun fact is that we have the same number one as last year and this person still will write another series (though that nostalgic title changed into something new). Tini Howard won this part the previous two years, but lost the number one position. Not to worry though, she is still in the top 3.


NUMBER 1
Benjamin Percy
With 72 points and 13 number 2 votes.
Something tells me that most of you did not particular loved the X Lives and X Deaths of Wolverine mini series. Yeah, it was not received very positive, not a great start for X-books in 2022. All other titles were on hold and we felt forced to read Wolverine solo titles, well, Moira was included big time in X-Deaths, but we do not like the current Moira, so no, not good. The only thing that was okay was the art of Joshua Cassara.


NUMBER 2
Tini Howard
With 39 points and 7 number one votes
Ah, there she is, our regular writer in this category. Tini won with her Excalibur title the least favorite writer last year (and before), for 2022 she brought us Knights of X, which for me was quite an improvement, but even the hot kiss between Betsy and Rachel could not prevent Tini to be disliked. Newsflash; We are not done with this lady, as they just announced we will get another Tini Howard title and guess who she will be focusing on.....? I think Howard might return to this category in 2023 if she does not step up.


NUMBER 3
Steve Orando
With 32 points and 4 number one votes
Marauders was the first X-title Orlando brought us and even though he did write some great stories for other books (Star Wars), this was just not the title for him. He did pick a great cast, but maybe the team was to big as some barely got any focus, so were pretty useless. To me, I felt I was drowning in to much details reading Marauders, making it hard to follow at times. We do not know what happens to the Marauders book and if Steve Orlando stay on the book, or another X-book in 2023. If so, let's hope he brings better books to the table.

[Master of Sound]

Favorite X-Artist
Anyone who creates art has the right to call themselves an artist. Though great artists turn their energy into creating something beautiful. They use that energy to fuel their creativity and make work that resonates with others. Anyone can be an artist, but you can recognize a great artist by how their work makes others feel. Now we have had some awesome art presented to us this year. Think of the wonderful art created when Uranos came to Planet Arakko. The scenes became so much stronger because they had a great artist. What to say about each one separate, all of they were widely loved. There is not much to write about why we loved these 3 winners, as art is not to be analyzed, just to be loved.


NUMBER 1
Pepe Larraz
With 62 points and 11 number one votes.
Pepe was winner last year as well. He brought his art this year the X-Men series.


NUMBER 2
Lucas Werneck
With 48 points and four #1 votes
For his amazing art on Immortal X-Men.


NUMBER 3
Russel Dautemann
With 41 points, including 7 number one votes
Russel is a regular in this top 3. YThis year het brought us fantastic covers for X-Men and Red X-Men


Runner Up: Stefano Caselli (X-Men Red)

[Master of Sound]

Least Favorite X-Artist
Just because you are an artist, doesn't mean you are a good artist. Anyone can make art, but not everyone can make you feel something positive when viewing their art and these artists did not make us happy this year. We want to relate to characters and their stories, but some artist make it very hard for us to do so. Sorry to say, but these were the artists we did not have much love for in 2022. We got rid of last years complete top 3 though, which were Alberto Foche (X-Corp), David Baldeón (X-Factor) and Brett Booth (X-Men, XM Legends), so who knows, perhaps this trend continues ;-)

NUMBER 1
Eleonora Carlini
With 50 points, including 6 number one votes
For het work on Marauders her debut was not that well received. On another title it might have worked.


NUMBER 2
Rob Liefeld
With 26 pints and 5 number one votes
Always coming back here, now for Deadpool Bad Blood.


NUMBER 3
Michael Allred
With 15 points and 2 number one votes
A low score, though he still made this top 3 for his work on X-Cellent

[Uncanny X-Man]

Shocked and appalled to see the wonderful Mike Allred in the least favourite artist category... to each their own I guess :/

[Master of Sound]

Hero with the most outstanding performances this year
We have a lot of favorites polls on this board and we all know what characters some of us love the most. But every year some stand out a bit more than others. Some got some great focus, made an awesome development or were brought back to us in an awesome way. In the past there were those that always voted for their all time favorites, even if they barely appeared, instead of the best heroes of that year. That is why this year this category had changed into 'Hero with the most outstanding performances' Back to this election, who were the heroes who performed extraordinary? Were it the members of the Great Ring of Arakko, or members of X-Force? You can now found out who were the ones that became our favorites this year.


NUMBER 1
MAGNETO
With 69 points, including 11 number one votes
Magneto's heroic performance during the hour of Uranos was simply fantastic. The former number one villain of the X-Men proved to be the biggest hero. Also the way he worked with the members of the Great Ring to beat Uranos proved of good of a battlefield leader Magneto was. He is a magnificent fighter as well, which he proved battling Tarn earlier in 2022. But most outstanding was the was he sacrificed himself during Judgment Day. Sadly he will not be resurrected. On the other hand, it are comics, if your name is not Thunderbird, you will probably be back next year.


NUMBER 2
STORM
With 59 points and also 11 times voted on #1
The winner of the previous year was Storm and what a performance she gave us this year. She has proven that she is the rightful ruler of Planet Arokko and a great tactic leader in beating the enemies. She did lead her Brotherhood and the Great Ring in the fight against Uranos as only Ororo can do. Also she proved to be a great tactic which she proved in the way she outsmarted Vulcan. The Storm will definitely not cool down any day soon, as we have two mini series coming up that focus on the Goddess, so I expect her return in this top 3 for this year as well.


NUMBER 3
NIGHTCRAWLER
With 33 points, including 6 number one votes
Nightcrawler had stepped out of the shadows big time last year. In 2021 he was barely seen, besides his seat at the table of the Quiet Counsil. This year he did lead a team of Legionnaires containing all kinds of mutants in various battles to protect Krakoa. But his most appreciated performance was the way he did take a leading part fighting Judgment Day. He sacrificed himself over and over again, just to get done what needed to be done. Even saved their new big villain Moira from being killed.


Runner up: Sunspot (for playing Isca, being surprise Ring member, growing as a character)

[Master of Sound]

Hero with the worst performances this year
You have heroes who were great performers, but there were also some heroes written in such a way that we lost the love for them and others, we just never cared for at all. Other heroes do not act like heroes at all and should perhaps be considered to be villains. Which hero should go on a long hiatus from the x-books, or be changed dramatically?


NUMBER 1
BEAST
With a high score of 103 points and 23 times voted at #1(!)
For the 3rd year in a row traitor Hank McCoy, aka Beast is the hero with the worst performance. The way he is using mutants for testing makes him the Darkest Beast we have seen. Is Hank getting to become worst than Dark Beast, worst than the Beast we saw in Here Comes Tomorrow? It seems to go that direction, right? Now he is using a zombified Wolverine to do the slaughtering for him, really, how far will he go and what is his motivation we are wondering for years. Can Beast be redeemed or is he forever the least loved X-Man?


NUMBER 2
SAGE
With 16 points and one #1 vote
Do you people see the big big difference on scores between Beast and Sage? Tells us a lot, right? Sage dot this spot for het substance abuse and the way she has been downgraded from a great tactic advisor in a drunk that no one notices. This is not the Sage we all learned to love in X-Treme X-Men all those years ago. Get Tessa back on a XSE squad with Bishop or something, do not let her become yet another female addicted to alcohol, we seen that, done that.


NUMBER 3
Captain 'Betsy' Britain
With 15 points, including 3 number 1 votes
It is sad to see how Tini Howard has developed Betsy. The idea of her being the new Captain Britain is great, but honestly, she has not proven being capable of carrying that title so far, does she? She is more of a team player than leader. Also the big focus on her, while being on a team book, does never work out. As you might remember, Captain Kate Pryde did not get a lot of love when she was the main focus of the previous volume of Marauders. The upcoming year Tini gets to write Betsy once again, who knows, the 3rd title focusing on Betsy might prove to be a good one, we'll see.

[Luckystar.]

Least Favorite X-Mini Series
NUMBER 3
With 37 points and 7 times voted as #1
Knights of X

Least Favorite X-Writer

NUMBER 2
Tini Howard
With 39 points and 7 number one votes
Ah, there she is, our regular writer in this category. Tini won with her Excalibur title the least favorite writer last year (and before), for 2022 she brought us Knights of X, which for me was quite an improvement, but even the hot kiss between Betsy and Rachel could not prevent Tini to be disliked. Newsflash; We are not done with this lady, as they just announced we will get another Tini Howard title and guess who she will be focusing on.....? I think Howard might return to this category in 2023 if she does not step up.

Hero with the worst performances this year
NUMBER 3
Captain 'Betsy' Britain
With 15 points, including 3 number 1 votes
It is sad to see how Tini Howard has developed Betsy. The idea of her being the new Captain Britain is great, but honestly, she has not proven being capable of carrying that title so far, does she? She is more of a team player than leader. Also the big focus on her, while being on a team book, does never work out. As you might remember, Captain Kate Pryde did not get a lot of love when she was the main focus of the previous volume of Marauders. The upcoming year Tini gets to write Betsy once again, who knows, the 3rd title focusing on Betsy might prove to be a good one, we'll see.

A perfect hat-trick if I've ever saw one. Well deserved. Betsy is in desperate need of a new direction.

[Master of Sound]

Villain with the most outstanding performances this year
What is a good story without a great threat? Those threats mostly come from villains and OMG, some villains were written in a great way. We did not really get to see the Orchis like, Doc Gregor, Nimrod the Hunter or Omega Sentinel and but there were plenty others. This year we had a hero who turned out to be no hero, a unbeatable Eternal and a Quiet Council member who proved to be the best evil they could be.

NUMBER 1
AGENT BRAND
With 66 points, including 10 number one votes.
Abigail switched sides, or was she perhaps never really on our side to begin with? Hope we will find out when and why soon. She killed Gyrich, which we actually do not mind at all, but working for Orchis was an unexpected surprise. Now locked away, or is Fisher King not on our side as well?


NUMBER 2
URANOS
With 43 points and 9 number 1 votes
A villain our mutants were probably not even aware excited and what a villain this turned out to be. He slaughtered the population of Planet Arakko in just one hour. Let's hope the mutants will get a chance to give him payback for his crimes against mutants. As he is a typical Eternals character, I do doubt we will see him back in the X-books though. But I can still hope, right?


NUMBER 3
MISTER SINISTER
With 42 points and 3 times voted as #1
Essex is always very near to being selected into this top 3 and this year he finally made it. Creating Moira clones, experimenting on mutants and preparing chimeras on the side. Mister Sinister is never to be trusted and with SoS starting this very week, I d expect Sinister will end higher in this top 3 for 2023

[Master of Sound]

Least Favorite Villain or Villain Team
For every well written, or popular villain, there s one we do not like as such, in fact, some we simply hate to the core (I just wanted to sound a bit dramatic today). Last year we had the top 3 with Merlyn, Nature Girl and Mikhail. Good news is, we did not see much of 2 out of those 3this year. Will it go the same for the ones of 2022. The number one was getting quite some votes, the rest of the votes were pretty close to one another.

NUMBER 1
MOIRA
With a total of 41 points including nine #1 votes.
Robo-Moira is just not working for us. Her turn around from trying to save all mutants to now trying to destroy all, is just not working out. Her motivation is unrealistic, even for comics and taking over the body of MJ, really? Hope they develop her villain being better, or change her back to old Moira, please.


NUMBER 2
KING ARTHUR
Gathering 15 points and two #1 votes
Otherworld villains do not do well, do they? Last year Merlyn, this year King Arthur. Yeaj, what to say about Arthur? I actually did not care much for him, but did not dislike him either. Also no one gave a motivation, so please feel free to say why you had voted for him.


NUMBER 3
CEREBRAX and CURE
Both receiving 12 points
The scores are not massively high for Curse and Cerebrax, but still made it. Cerebrax seemed like a weak copy of the previous Cerebro turned evil, Cerebrites Alpha and Beta, who did a way better job. Curse, was hated but she needs to vent her probabilistic abilities on people, lest the ability to trigger unfortunate events turns back on her due to a congestion of unreleased curses. On the other hand, she really loved to curse people, did she not. We did not like her behaviour as little murder child. She's gone now and it's doubtful they will ever bring her back

[Master of Sound]

Comeback of the Year
Over the years writers have created fantastic characters, one better then others of course. You have those who were really missed by many for long periods of time and then, suddenly one writer likes them as much as you do and brings them back into the spotlight for them to shine once again like a bright star. . We saw many heroes and villains make a comeback this year. They were once amongst the dead, or were in limbo for years and they came back in a big way. We saw many old heroes and villains return, like Cassandra Nova, Rusty and ForgetMeNot But those did not make it as most favorites, these made it;


NUMBER 1
THUNDERBIRD
With 93 points and 20(!) times voted as number one
By faaaaaaar the most popular comeback of the year. The only dead X-Men that never returned to live for decades. John Proudstar was a member of the ANAD team, but was killed by an airplane on their very first mission. Now thanks to the resurrection protocols, Warpath big brother has finally returned. There was a great oneshot to focus on hi and now he is part of Cable's space X-Men squad. Good to have him back!


NUMBER 2
BIRDY
With 29 points and 3 times voted as #1
Ahhh, they did not forget Birdy and brought her back from the dead as well. Currently doing tactics for Nightcrawler and carrying a massive gun, even Cable would envy her. We simply cannot wait to see her interact with Sabretooth of course, but let's be honest, lets hope they will use her more this year and not let her fade away in the background again.


NUMBERS 3
BLINDFOLD and KYLUN
Both receiving a total of 18 points
Though Ruth is not really back to the land of the living, at least some part of her still exists and she sticks side by side with het boyfriend David Haller. She seems to be acting more as a sidekick lately, so let us hope there will be some proper focus on her soon. Same for the guy she shares the 3rd spot with, Kylun. He's a fan favorite ex member of Excalibur and widely loved on this board. He tagged along with Betsy and others to fight for Otherworld. Now that the Knights of X series has ended, where does that leave Kylun now?