Results: X-Books Awards voting 2023

[Master of Sound]

Debut Character of the Year

Every new writer introduces new characters. Sometimes because it really fits the story, sometimes because they want to make their mark on the franchise and sometimes they better did not introduce their new characters at all cough-Irae-cough. This year we were introduced to just a few newcomers, there was only one real jewel that we would love to see more of. Last years winner, died off this year, (Fisherking), let's hope this years winner will stay a bit longer. As most votes went to one candidate, there is nu number 3, as none received more than 10 points.

NUMBER 1
IRONFIRE
With 46 points and 9 times voted as number one.
Being a hero during all the different timelines during Sins of Sinister and then making his entry as one of White Sword's the 100. He seemed to be Blue's favorite and some think they had more than just a friendship. He is a quite hotheaded guy and we like those kind of characters (like Sunspot and Hellion). Will Jon be able to keep this popularity forward?


NUMBER 2
STARK SENTINELS
With 11 points and once voted as number 1
Barely enough to make this top 3, but the creations of Feilong made it to this category. Another version of Sentinels was developed and caused a threat to the X-Men. You would hope that they will be a bit more creative and design other kind of armies in the future.

[Master of Sound]

Guest Star performance of the Year

The X-Men do have friends and enemies in the MU outside of the X-books, who will turn up to help in a fight or fight against them, date them, drink with them or (as often happened) come by to criticize them. This year the X-Men did have a lot of guest appearances, as many were invited to the Hellfire Gala. But there were plenty visitors besides the ones appearing on that killing party. Last years winner became a regular in this top 3: Nova

NUMBER 1
IRON-MAN
With 36 points and 7 times voted as number one.
As Iron-Man his company was taken over by one of Orchis, Feilong, that made them have the same enemy. Working so closely with the X-Men is a new thing for Tony Stark. Now Emma is actually a guests star in the Iron-Man series and they even got married.


NUMBER 2
KINGPIN
With 33 points and twice voted on number one
I would have guessed Kingpin would be a guest star perhaps one day. But I would never have guessed it would be as an ally. Let us hope this does not come back and bite the butts of those who needed to trust him in these desperate times.


NUMBER 3
NOVA
With 27 points and 4 times voted at number one
Richard Ryder is still a popular guest of the X-books. He made quite the impression becoming part of Storm's Brotherhood. Now he is wounded big time. Will this make him decide to leave, or will he stick around? What do you think?

[Master of Sound]

Death of the Year

Unfortunately every year brings us farewell as well. This year I think we saw many favorites die, but the good news is, they can be resurrected. That did take away the shock value though. But, will this option still be there for the ones recently dying? There were some dramatic deaths this year and these are the ones that made us tear up.

NUMBER 1
THE NEW X-MEN TEAM
With 52 points and 11 number one votes
In a bang they were all gone, the newly selected team of X-Men. Only 3 survived, but Cannonball, Dazzler, Frenzy, Jubilee and Prodigy all met their end by Nimrod the Hunter. There is a Dead X-Men series coming soon. But the title suggest they are not (yet) amongst the living.


NUMBER 2
4 QUIET COUNSIL MEMBERS
With 36 points and 6 number one votes
Hmmm, we surely liked the group murders this year, did we not? This time is was fellow Quiet Counsel member Mr. Sinister who was able to take out the 4 most dangerous members: Emma, Professor X, Hope and Exodus. Have they really recovered from this, are the real ones resurrected? Time will tell.


NUMBER 3
OLD WOMAN STORM
With 22 points and 3 times voted as number one
It is funny how quickly people get feelings for an alternative version of an X-Man. Storm was a great leader in the future that will now never be. Her end was sad, but we still have the real deal around.

[Thievery]

I'm glad that the New X-Men team one. That was one hell of a death scene.

I didn't vote for Archangel being killed by Gambit because the story says that Albert killed Warren off in issue one and that Gambit only killed an animated corpse.

If it had been real Archangel I probably would have voted it number one.

But it was still a cool death scene. Maybe I should have just worded it as "Gambit kills Archangel's flying corpse" and voted that way instead.

[Master of Sound]

Most Missed Character

In the resent years Indra made it into this top 3, funny as he was barely used in the past, except that one Mike Carey epic story. This year he did get plenty of votes, but I needed to disqualify those, as he made a short and weird appearance on Legion of X. These are the 4 you missed most;

NUMBER 1
HELLION
With 43 points and 8 times voted as number one
Same winner as for 2022. Rift, you are not standing alone, we need him back Marvel!


NUMBER 2
LONGSHOT
With 17 points and 4 number one votes
Longshot never made it to this top 3 before. Time for the X-Office to make sure he won't be needed to be here next year.


NUMBER 3
BLINK and WIND DANCER
Both receiving 16 points
Well Blink has just been spotted on Dead X-Men, so that is at least 1 of the 4 being finally noticed by writers. Let us hope this will happen to the rest of this top 3 as well.

[Rift]

YASSSS HELLION YASSSSSSSS

Third year in a row! A very depressing hat trick, but he did it! MY BOI he did it!

[Master of Sound]

Most Shocking or Bizarre Moment of the Year


There are those moments from 2023 that left you as a reader, shaking your head, and reading it something again, and again, to believe it actually happened. Sometimes it caused a popping sound to occur in your cerebral cortex, they were so socking, or weird, you just cannot believe it. This year we had Orchis killing humans at Hellfire Gala and Sinister possessing council members and that were not even the most Shocking and Bizarre moments.

NUMBER 1
Nimrod's entry at Hellfire Gala
With 46 points and 9 times voted as number one


NUMBER 2
Xavier reveals Sinister Diamond/ Xavier is Sinister
With 26 points and 3 number one votes


NUMBER 3
Gambit taking a woman hostage and getting her killed
With 17 points and 4 times voted as number one

[Havok83]

The Hellfire Gala massacre did happen last year. It feels like it was 2 years ago at this point

[Master of Sound]

Funniest Moment of the Year

After shocking and bizarre moments there were also those moment which made us wet our pants. Whether the creative teams were trying intentionally to be funny or not, there were those hilarious moments this year, they deserved to be highlighted. Even tough humor is like art, some like one joke, another does not. I was LMAO when Omega Sentinel bitch talks and slaps Kingpin. But you decided different and laughed most about;

NUMBER 1
Sunspot and Nova staring at Kobak when he gets up naked out of the hot tub
With 24 points and 4 times voted as number one


NUMBER 2
Sebastian Shaw calling his new assistant 'New Tessa'
With 18 points and 4 times voted as number one


NUMBER 3
Selene being a camp icon in Immortal X-Men
With 12 points and once voted as number one

[Master of Sound]

Quote of the Year

This category never one quote gets an awful lot of points, not because they were not funny, nope, just because each year there are so many quotes noticeable. Sometimes because they are funny, like the many bitchy remarks of Emma Frost, or they are heartbreaking, a clear statement, or shocking and scary. So which quotes stood out most of all, well we have a shared number one spot this year!

NUMBER 1
"We've made a mistake." - Destiny, "Oh, Irene...just the one?" - Emma
With 25 point and 5 times voted as number one


NUMBER 2
"He was your friend. But after today? I am not" - Storm to Xavier
With 16 points and 3 times voted as number one


NUMBER 3 (two quotes)
"Resist" - several mutants at Hellfire Gala
and
"Firestar, be seein' ya, traitor" - Rogue
Both receiving 14 points

[Master of Sound]

Best Romance/Kiss of the Year

What lip-locks caught our attention this year? This year there was a serious l was a lack of Gay-romance in the X-books, hopefully we see more of that next year. This year there was a lot of romance in the air. Last year Scott and Jean took the price. Last years winners were.... the same as this year.

NUMBER 1
MYSTIQUE & DESTINY
With 23 points and 4 times voted as number one
Same winners as last year, Raven and Destiny a couple for decades and still going strong.


NUMBER 2
NIGHTCRAWLER & SILVER SABLE
With 21 points and twice voted as number one
Will we see more of this affair in the upcoming year, or will Kurt's focus go back to Amanda, or a brand new girlfriend coming year?


NUMBER 3
STORM & CRAIG MARSHALL
With 15 points and 2 times voted as number one
Seems this little romance is here to stay in 2024. Seems they are quit a good fit. But comics is like soap series, you never know how long it lasts

[Master of Sound]

Best Single Battle/Fight of the Year

Which fight was it this year that takes home the awards? Was there one as awesome as last years winner, the fight of Uranus vs Great Ring? Was it a one on one fight who won this year, or was it a groups of X-Men versus an groups?

NUMBER 1
Shadowkat vs. Orchis, killing indiscriminately
With 26 points and 4 number one votes


NUMBER 2
Cable/Bishop vs. Children of the Vault
With 22 points and also 4 number one votes


NUMBER 3
Storm vs. Genesis' forces
With 21 points and twice a number one vote

[Master of Sound]

Low Point of the Year

We all saw some groan-worthy moments in 2023, that made us embarrassed to be seen reading it by your friends and made you some even deleting a title from their pull-list. In 2022 the ultimate low point was Beast's continuing villainy.


NUMBER 1
Barely any series is an ongoing
With 24 points and 5 times voted as number one


NUMBER 2
Fall of X is just Operation Zero Tolerance 2.0, or Mutant Massacre
With 21 points and 4 times voted as number one


NUMBER 3
Gambit tying a woman to a stove
With 20 points and 4 times voted as number one

[Master of Sound]

Highlight of the Year

This is the cherry on the X-Books Awards cake: The moments we all loved. These were some of the moments that made us proud X-Men fans. This were the moments we were waiting for all those years. Last year we were happy about Rachel's queerness going from subtext to text.

NUMBER 1
Storm leading the Arakko rebellion
With 23 points, 4 number one votes


NUMBER 2 (shared)
Rogue ripping Moira apart and saving Xavier
and
Improvement of Unlimited comics
Both getting 17 points


NUMBER 3
Nightcrawler's new origin
With 15 points and twice a number one vote

[Master of Sound]

That was it for 2023.

THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED

I hope next year we have more people voting though ;-)

In case you want a warning when I start the Annual X-Books awards for 2024, just add me as a friend. All my friend will be notified.