Results: X-Books Awards voting 2023

[Master of Sound]

Here we go people:

The results of the X-Books Awards voting 2023!

You were able to vote for these the last weeks and as off today I will publish the results.

This also means you can not longer edit your submitted voted.

For those who did miss it: You can still vote HERE, but only for the yet unpublished categories.

Thank you to all who have taken the time to vote. I could not have done this without you. Muchos Gracias! Vielen Dank! Merci, Thank you, Dankjewel, Obrigado, Spasibo, Grazie!

[Master of Sound]

Favorite Ongoing X-Title of the Year

This year we went through the Fall of X-era, which seems to indicate we will be done with Krakoa at the end of the next event, being Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X. Those will be leading into a new era, we all wonder how that will be like. Which of the current titles will continue the upcoming year, which will end, who knows? This year we had quite some ongoings ending, like Marauders and Legion of X, right before the SoS event. Now even Immortal an Red end right before this next event. So, you might like to know by now, which were the most popular ongoings of 2023? Compared to last years voting, we have the same top 3, only number 1 and 2 switched places.

NUMBER 1
Immoratal X-Men
With 85 points, including 13 number one votes
The series that focused mainly on the members of the Quiet Counsel gave us great character development moments. Each member had their own issue to shine, even for Cypher and Krakoa. With Krakoa most likely to end, I think it is doubtful something similar will be given to us in 2024. I for one hope there still will be some form of Krakoa will remain.


NUMBER 2
X-Men Red
With 83 points, including 15 number one votes
Here you can see that every voter counts. If there was just one more person whoi had put Red on number one (and not giving any to Immortal), X-Men Red would have been the winner. It was a very close call. Even though Red had more number one votes than immortal, the became second, with a great score nevertheless. The series on Storm, the Great Ring and planet Arakko was an amazing series and I think I can speak on behalf of us all, we hope it somehow continues. It would be a same if Arakko ends with Krakoa.


NUMBER 3
X-Men
With 25 points and one number one vote
X-Men is supposed to be the flagship of the X-books, but it did not become such for most voters. It might be due to the writing, it might be the shifting of teams going to quickly. The previous team did not gave us a time to shine for every member and the new team never happened. Now the X-Men are scattered, what will become of this series? Let's see, as this is one of the very few who continues.

[Master of Sound]

Least Favorite Ongoing X-Title of the Year

Besides loving, we also dislike some of the ongoings that have been published in 2023. Like every year, some of the voters did not want to vote for least favorites, as they wanted to stay positive, I do like that positive attitude! Last years top 3 was EXACTLY the same as this year!! Well, good news, two out of these 3 are cancelled. Now, out of all the great ongoing X-books, these were the least liked ongoing series:

NUMBER 1
X-Force
With 54 points and 10 number one votes
I think we all agree that the last issue was not so bad. But the dragging on about Beast being a #@&*$ and almost no one noticing it, became a bore. Then on top of it it became weirder and weirder. Not a good thing. However, now the series seems to be stepping up, so who knows, it might get better results next year.

NUMBER 2
Marauders
With 31 points and 4 number one votes
Marauders stopped right before Sins Of Sinister and it seems not nay are sorry it ended. The art became quite childish and the Threshold Three story just did not feel as important as it should have been. It did bring us Cerabra from 2099, so it might have brought us at least one positive thing.


NUMBER 3
Legion of X
With 29 points and 3 number one votes
:Like said in the intro, exactly the same top 3 in this category as last year. I believe the cast being so big, did not give us much focus on anyone but Nightcrawler, who received devil horns. It did bring back Indra, who has been in the Most Missed category for years, but they only made him a monster and not giving him any depth. Same for the other monsters, Glowworm and Irina. The art was also not that great, was it? At least Uncanny Spider-Man gave us a better version of Nightcrawler.

[Master of Sound]

Favorite One-Shot

Some of the times we do like self contained stories. Nice 1 issue stories. Of course some are better than others of course. So which one-shot pleased you the most? Last year the Giant Size Thunderbird won. Unfortunately we saw little of John in 2023, but I saw the next Unlimited story will include Thunderbird. The Hellfire Gala of that year and the one of 2021 all made the top 3 and guess what,... the one of this year made it as well.

NUMBER 1
Before the Fall: Mutants' First Strike
With 35 points and 6 number one votes
The large cast and the great art must have on you guys over to vote for this. We had so many characters in there we did not see for a long time and each was given their own unique moment to shine. Like Sanjar Javeed (First appearance as Life), Alchemist, Hindsight, Iracus and even Eye-Scream.


NUMBER 2
Hellfire Gala 2023
With 32 points and 6 number one votes
Like the previous two years, the Hellfire Gala always pleases a lot of fans. Weeks before the release, Marvel spoiled is with outfit teasers and heck, Jumbo Carnation and his assistant Stitch have been mega busy this year. Sadly this gala brought us a lot of deaths, think Jean, Lourdes, Cuckoos, Madrox clones, Frenzy, Cannonball, Dazzler, Jubilee and Prodigy. Probably more that we currently know. Al their lives ended by the hands of Orchis. Time for payback in 2024!


NUMBER 3
X-Men Blue: Origins
With 27 points and 5 number one votes
And here I thought one of the most hated things by us X-Men fans are supposed to be retcons. Apparently this one is okay by many of you. Probably because many hated the idea of Azazel being Nightcrawlers father. For me the idea Mystique changed into a man, so she grew a 4.9.3.11 and could make a child with Irene was one step to far in weird-weird-land. The art was great though and the story was heart melting.

[Master of Sound]

Least Favorite X-One-Shot

These 3 one-shots were received with little applause. As I did not even buy 2 out of the 3, as they simply did not appeal to me, I will leave it to others to comment on why they were not like, okay?

NUMBER 1
The Original X-Men
With 27 points and 6 number one votes


NUMBER 2
X-Men Annual (Cyclops vs. Captain Marvel)
With 21 points and twice voted as number one.
For this one, I can give some insight as this one I bought myself. This was just a hero versus hero fight that was part of the 2023 Contest of Champions event. The whole event did not make much sense and this one-shot was a god example as the why. There was simply no reason for this fight, a waste of paper if you ask me.


NUMBER 3
Murderworld: Wolverine
With 18 points and 2 number one votes.

[Rift]

Favorite Ongoing X-Title of the Year

This year we went through the Fall of X-era, which seems to indicate we will be done with Krakoa at the end of the next event, being Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X. Those will be leading into a new era, we all wonder how that will be like. Which of the current titles will continue the upcoming year, which will end, who knows? This year we had quite some ongoings ending, like Marauders and Legion of X, right before the SoS event. Now even Immortal an Red end right before this next event. So, you might like to know by now, which were the most popular ongoings of 2023? Compared to last years voting, we have the same top 3, only number 1 and 2 switched places.

NUMBER 1
Immoratal X-Men
With 85 points, including 13 number one votes
The series that focused mainly on the members of the Quiet Counsel gave us great character development moments. Each member had their own issue to shine, even for Cypher and Krakoa. With Krakoa most likely to end, I think it is doubtful something similar will be given to us in 2024. I for one hope there still will be some form of Krakoa will remain.


NUMBER 2
X-Men Red
With 83 points, including 15 number one votes
Here you can see that every voter counts. If there was just one more person whoi had put Red on number one (and not giving any to Immortal), X-Men Red would have been the winner. It was a very close call. Even though Red had more number one votes than immortal, the became second, with a great score nevertheless. The series on Storm, the Great Ring and planet Arakko was an amazing series and I think I can speak on behalf of us all, we hope it somehow continues. It would be a same if Arakko ends with Krakoa.


NUMBER 3
X-Men
With 25 points and one number one vote
X-Men is supposed to be the flagship of the X-books, but it did not become such for most voters. It might be due to the writing, it might be the shifting of teams going to quickly. The previous team did not gave us a time to shine for every member and the new team never happened. Now the X-Men are scattered, what will become of this series? Let's see, as this is one of the very few who continues.

The gap between second and third place, wow.

[Triniking1234]

There was a Contest of Champions?
Again?
WTF?

[NewMutant]

I did not participate this year but these are always a fun read. Thanks Master of Sound!

[Kingdom X]

Thanks as usual for organizing this MoS!!!!

The love for “Mutants' First Strike” is telling me Orlando would have had a more successful run with a traditional rescue team setup over the space/ time shenanigans.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Thanks again for organising this MoS and I'm looking forward to seeing the winners of the rest of the categories.

I was surprised to see Immortal X-Men edge out X-Men Red even though it was by little, given the amount of praise Red gets on these forums. I love them both tbh so it is a tough choice admittedly.

[Dermie]

There was a Contest of Champions?
Again?
WTF?

Not quite -- this one was "Contest Of Chaos", as it was being orchestrated by Agatha Harkness and Chaos Magic. But essentially the same basic concept -- hero-vs-hero battles as part of a larger contest.

[Master of Sound]

Favorite X-Mini Series

So this year the X-office launched quite a lot of mini series this year. This seems to become e trand, lesser ongoings, more mini series. Some love that, some hate it and some are fine either way. But there were many to choose from this year and these are the results.

NUMBER 1
Dark X-Men
With 27 points and 5 times voted as number one
Madelyne finally became a hero. She came at peace with Jean and was given 'the key' to rule Limbo by Magik and honestly, she did well and found her inner hero. Her embassy became a safe place for hunted mutants (well for most who came it did not end well, but who cares) and formed her own little team of heroes opposing Orchis and Battleworld's Goblin Queen.


NUMBER 2
Shared between Children of the Vault and X-Terminators
Both getting a total of 24 points
The positive thing about being published in 2022 and ending in 2023 is that you can take place in the same top 3 twice. That is the case with X-Terminators, who became 3rd last year, now 2nd, shared with Children of the Vault. The book probably would have sold better if they named it Cable & Bishop, but still, it was one of best mini series that came out during The Fall of X. We did miss some fan favorite Children, but still loved this mini. Judging from the end, we might not see them any day soon, but lets hope they do not obey.


NUMBER 3
Alpha Flight
With 22 points and 3 times voted as number one
Finally a new Alpha Flight series. We actually had one member who was unique: Fang, aka Daken, joining the team, who were up against the Canadian government/ Department H who cooperated with, well are actually part of Orchis. Now why not have another series and throw in another popular Canadian, just to boost sales. If we only could come up with one who could do that........

[kevlon]

Favorite One-Shot

Some of the times we do like self contained stories. Nice 1 issue stories. Of course some are better than others of course. So which one-shot pleased you the most? Last year the Giant Size Thunderbird won. Unfortunately we saw little of John in 2023, but I saw the next Unlimited story will include Thunderbird. The Hellfire Gala of that year and the one of 2021 all made the top 3 and guess what,... the one of this year made it as well.

NUMBER 1
Before the Fall: Mutants' First Strike
With 35 points and 6 number one votes
The large cast and the great art must have on you guys over to vote for this. We had so many characters in there we did not see for a long time and each was given their own unique moment to shine. Like Sanjar Javeed (First appearance as Life), Alchemist, Hindsight, Iracus and even Eye-Scream.


NUMBER 2
Hellfire Gala 2023
With 32 points and 6 number one votes
Like the previous two years, the Hellfire Gala always pleases a lot of fans. Weeks before the release, Marvel spoiled is with outfit teasers and heck, Jumbo Carnation and his assistant Stitch have been mega busy this year. Sadly this gala brought us a lot of deaths, think Jean, Lourdes, Cuckoos, Madrox clones, Frenzy, Cannonball, Dazzler, Jubilee and Prodigy. Probably more that we currently know. Al their lives ended by the hands of Orchis. Time for payback in 2024!


NUMBER 3
X-Men Blue: Origins
With 27 points and 5 number one votes
And here I thought one of the most hated things by us X-Men fans are supposed to be retcons. Apparently this one is okay by many of you. Probably because many hated the idea of Azazel being Nightcrawlers father. For me the idea Mystique changed into a man, so she grew a 4.9.3.11 and could make a child with Irene was one step to far in weird-weird-land. The art was great though and the story was heart melting.

Wow so close between 1st and 2nd place!

Thank you Master of Sound!

[Master of Sound]

Least Favorite Mini-series

This year the worst mini series were not from the long list of Fall of X mini series. Let's summarize them. I will leave the why out, just make a short guess, as I find it difficult to say why on behalf of the voters.

NUMBER 1
Rogue and Gambit
With 33 points and 8 number one votes
Probably both written so out of character and Gambit playing with an innocent woman's life were a turn of.


NUMBER 2
Bishop: War College
With 26 points and 4 number one votes
It did bring us the cmeback of Surge and Armor, but meeting another alternative group of X-Men from another dimension and the way the art was drawn, must have been the big tur off, I guess.


NUMBER 3
Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain
With 26 points and 4 number one votes
Even though it showed us the first Betsy Rachel kissing, it seems people are totally done with these writing skills. Maybe even tired of Betsy being Captain Britain. perhaps?

[Master of Sound]

Wow so close between 1st and 2nd place!

Thank you Master of Sound!

If you want to get a reminder to vote next year, just send me a friends invite and I will make sure of it. I do that with all who do so.