2015 X-Book Awards- The Results

[worstblogever]

2015 X-Books Awards as Voted by the X-Forum- RESULTS!

Here was the original thread with the nominees, that a lot of folks voted in, and there were some votes that came in via Private Message.

The plan, as it stands, is I’m going to go ahead and post a few of these up at a time, over the next few days, and the thread is more than open to discussion of the results, including both the X-Book Award winners, and the X-Razzie categories that are available.

I strongly encourage, though, congratulations for the creators who work on the characters and titles that win, and those that win in the best writer and best artist category, when the time comes. With any luck, some of them may be willing to drop in and thank those who voted for them, and probably tease*that we haven’t seen anything yet, with 2015 already well and under way.

Thank you again to all those who participated in the voting, and thanks to the creators, that have given us all something to vote for!

And… on with the rundown…

FINAL RESULTS:

1/18/2016
Best Onomatopoeia
Winner: CRACK


Best Quote
2nd Runner-up: "I want them to see the Wolverine coming."- X-23
1st Runner-up: “Of course i was &#$% right!” - Inferno's Cyclops

Winner: "To me, my X-Men!"- Storm


Most Bizarre Moment (Rouge Mort Trophy)
Winner: The Utopians


Most Shocking Moment
Winner: God Doom breaks Cyclops' neck!


Funniest Moment
Winner: Gabby the Clone saves fingers


Best Fight/Battle
2nd Runner-up: Civil War Storm vs. Civil War Iron Man
1st Runner-up: God Doom vs. Cyclops
Winner: Martha Johansson vs. Rachel Grey


Best Death:
2nd Runner-up: Matthew Malloy
1st Runner-up: Clone X-23_3PAR
Winner: Cyclops



1/19/2016
Best Romance/Kiss:
Winner: Kitty Pryde & Star-Lord


Best Crossover
2nd Runner-up: Last Days Of...
1st Runner-up: Black Vortex
Winner: Secret Wars


Low Point of the Year
Winner: The Outing of Iceman


High Point of the Year
Winner: Iceman is Gay


Most Missed Character
2nd Runner-up: Warpath
1st Runner-up: Banshee
Winner: Dani Moonstar


Best Debut Character
2nd Runner-up: The Endless Summers
1st Runner-up: Azimuth
Winner: Bo

Breakthrough Character
Winner: Sunspot


Best Mutant Appearing Outside an X-book
2nd Runner-up: Dazzler
1st Runner-up: Sunspot
Winner: Rogue


1/20/2016
Least Favorite Villain(s)
2nd Runner-up: Luminous
1st Runner-up: Matthew Malloy
Winner: Mystique


Best Villain(s)
2nd Runner-up: Magik (Inferno)
1st Runner-up: Goblyn Queen (Inferno)
Winner: Mr. Sinister


Least Favorite Hero
2nd Runner-up: Beast
1st Runner-up: Fantomex
Winner: Teen Jean

Best Hero
2nd Runner-up: Magneto
1st Runner-up: Magik
Winner: Storm


1/21/2016
Least Favorite Cover
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *

Best Cover
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *

Best One-Shot
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *


Least Favorite Miniseries
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *

Best Miniseries
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *


1/22/2016
Least Favorite Story from a Single X-Title
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *


Best Story from a Single X-Title
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *


Least Favorite Ongoing
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *

Best Ongoing
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *


Best Artist
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner: *

Best Writer:
2nd Runner-up:
1st Runner-up:
Winner:*

[worstblogever]

ONOMATOPOIEA OF THE YEAR
The winner in 2014 was “BAMF!”, mostly because people were just relieved to have Nightcrawler back from the dead. But what about this year?

And the 2015 award winner for what amounts to, “Best Sound Effect” is…


“CRACK!” (12 points, 4 first place votes)

Almost every single vote in this category was for this incredible moment from Secret Wars, where it became very clear that God Doom was indeed almighty, taking down a Phoenix-powered Cyclops without breaking a sweat. I'm sure at some point, Doom's going to eat an optic blast down the line to even things out.

[worstblogever]

QUOTE OF THE YEAR
Last year’s winner was Beast fretting while saying “It means Scott Summers was RIGHT!” So… who was quotable this year?


Second Runner-up

"I want them to see the Wolverine coming."- X-23 (7 points, 1 first place vote)

Laura Kinney has taken on the mantle of Wolverine, and she's quickly making it mean something around the Marvel Universe, and for its fans. Quotes like this will do that.


First Runner-up…

“Of course i was &#$% right! - Inferno's Cyclops!* (8 points, 2 first place vote)

It seems like some version of, "________ was RIGHT." makes it into this category every year. This would be the third year in a row that I can recall it (Quentin Quire 2 years ago, Beast last year).


And the 2015 award winner for the quote of the year is…


"To Me, My X-Men!"- Storm (12 points, 4 first place votes)

Sends a tingle up your spine, so see Storm leading like this, doesn't it? And not just because of the residual electrical shock from the lightning. After YEARS of her fans clamoring for the Goddess to take charge, that time is now.

[worstblogever]

MOST BIZARRE MOMENT OF THE YEAR (a.k.a. the Rouge Mort Trophy)
Last Year’s Winner was Exodus is working for S.H.I.E.L.D.?!? That was totally out of left field, really. So what moment from 2015 made X-Fans go, “WTF?”



And the 2015 winner of the “Rouge Mort” trophy…


The Utopians Revealed! (15 points, 5 first place votes)

Alright, it was pretty explicitly stated at the end of "AvX" that S.H.I.E.L.D. had scoured the artificial island of Utopia, and it was abandoned completely but was to be observed by the intelligence organization to make sure that no one else came in and tried to swipe any of the technology that was in the place. So finding out that there were still angry, anti-human mutants seething there was a bit of a shock.

And some of them, you can see in their history, they wanted to lurk beneath the notice of humans, and attack if anyone came looking for them. Like Masque, a former Morlock, on the crew. You could believe Random would be down for that, because his motives has always been... well, random.

But how the hell is Boom Boom there, suddenly away from X-Force? How is Madison Jeffries there? Did he take an off-panel breakup with Danger badly? Karma? How is Karma there? She'd been spotted back at the Jean Grey School already. Why would she pack her bags and try and go live back on Utopia as a refugee without anyone noticing? Hell... ELIXIR. The last time we saw Elixir he had been unceremoniously killed off by Siphon in the Death of Wolverine event.

When a team of antagonists appears together without any character motivation to drive them, with what seems like all of the thought put into their assemblage that X-Forum users used to put into their Mutant League teams, that earns them the 2015 Rouge Mort Award win. Seriously, every vote in this category went towards "The Utopians". It was that overwhelming.

[worstblogever]

MOST SHOCKING MOMENT OF 2015

Last year’s winner was “Xavier and Mystique were married!”… now for this year’s winners…


And the 2015 winner of the “Most Shocking Moment” trophy is…


Dr. Doom kills Cyclops! (10 points, 3 first place votes)

That may have not been the character you thought would end up as fodder to establish the villain's threat level, eh? And he even did it one handed. For that reason, X-fans voted it as the Most Shocking of 20145.

[worstblogever]

FUNNIEST MOMENT OF 2015
Last year’s winner was “Emma Frost's Reaction to the Xavier/Darkholme Marriage”.*Because she reacted exactly how the rest of us did. But what won for 2015?


And the winner of the “Funniest Moment of 2015” is…

Gabby the Clone Returns Taskmaster's Fingers! (10 points, 2 first place votes)

X-23 has always shown some socially awkward behavior, what with having been raised to be a killing machine and all that. Well, upon finding several clones of herself without a healing factor in her new series, the Alchemax corporation is trying to recover them, and sent the mercenary Taskmaster to kill them off. He didn't count on the new Wolverine being there, and after a brief fight, he lost a couple digits because he didn't know she was packing adamantium foot claws.

And lo, we found out that Laura Kinney's clones, with similar back history to her, have some of the same quirky thoughts she does. Like how one of them, Gabriel, was nice enough to return Taskmaster's severed fingers in case he plays the piano (and having watched concerto pianists, he can). It was disturbing and sweet at the same time, and therefore hilarious.

[Ambaryerno]

FUNNIEST MOMENT OF 2015
Last year’s winner was “Emma Frost's Reaction to the Xavier/Darkholme Marriage”.*Because she reacted exactly how the rest of us did. But what won for 2015?


And the winner of the “Funniest Moment of 2015” is…

Gabby the Clone Returns Taskmaster's Fingers! (10 points, 2 first place votes)

X-23 has always shown some socially awkward behavior, what with having been raised to be a killing machine and all that. Well, upon finding several clones of herself without a healing factor in her new series, the Alchemax corporation is trying to recover them, and sent the mercenary Taskmaster to kill them off. He didn't count on the new Wolverine being there, and after a brief fight, he lost a couple digits because he didn't know she was packing adamantium foot claws.

And lo, we found out that Laura Kinney's clones, with similar back history to her, have some of the same quirky thoughts she does. Like how one of them, Gabriel, was nice enough to return Taskmaster's severed fingers in case he plays the piano (and having watched concerto pianists, he can). It was disturbing and sweet at the same time, and therefore hilarious.

I don't think that was Tasky's fingers they were talking about, just a random Alchemax mook.

[RLAAMJR.]

[SIZE="5"]QUOTE OF THE YEAR
And the 2015 award winner for the quote of the year is…


"To Me, My X-Men!"- Storm (12 points, 4 first place votes)

Sends a tingle up your spine, so see Storm leading like this, doesn't it? And not just because of the residual electrical shock from the lightning. After YEARS of her fans clamoring for the Goddess to take charge, that time is now.

Yes! and that line was used on 3 different comics, all by Storm.

[worstblogever]

BEST ROMANCE/KISS OF 2015

2014’s winner of this award was the whirlwind romance that started between Kitty Pryde and Star-Lord. This year...

And the winner of the “Best Kiss* of 2015” is…

Kitty Pryde & Star-Lord! (23 points, 4 first place votes)

Starcat shippers were a thing from the start of “The Trial of Jean Grey”, in spite of Kitty Pryde’s own admission that “I have bad luck with Peters.” (PHRASING, KITTY.) And by the end of that crossover, a spontaneous little peck has led into a long term relationship. Next thing you know, they fight off a whack-ass plan by Mr. Knife (who's Star-Lord's dad) to use the McGuffin known as the Black Vortex to hyper-evolve, coat a planet in amber, and let the Brood infect them all.

The heat of the moment saw Peter Quill propose, Kitty accept, and the next thing you know they're playing “Hooked on a Feeling” as his throes of passion are expressed in, “OOGA CHAGA! OOGA CHAGA!”

Good for both. Let’s just hope people don’t start clamoring to break ‘em up before one ends up getting their terrestrial/extraterrestrial status quo changed to justify a romance.

[worstblogever]

BEST CROSSOVER OF 2015
Last year’s winner was The Trial of Jean Grey, which was a fond farewell to three ongoing series at the same time.

This year’s nominees…
Nominees:

• The Black Vortex
• Last Days Of…
• Secret Wars: Battleworld

Second Runner-up…

Last Days Of...! (14 points, 3 first place vote)

There were a few Marvel titles that decided to not participate in the Secret Wars crossover, and didn't end like the rest... but instead, gave readers a few issues of the protagonist battling as the world itself came crashing down around their ears. It was "Last Days Of..."

And the X-Books' lone participant in that crossover was in the pages of Magneto (vol. 3), where the Master of Magnetism was revealed to have been warned by Namor of the impending end of everything, and proceeded to try to put the pieces in place to save a world where the great majority think of him of an insane genocidal terrorist.

We all know what sorts of things Magneto's willing to do if he feels his cause is just. And when the cause is saving everyone, across the board? Man, did he go all out, in one of his best stories ever.


First Runner-up…

The Black Vortex!(17 points, 3 first place votes)

All New X-Men (vol. 1) had a nice little crossover with Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova (vol. 3) last year where a mysterious space artifact was discovered that began wildly increasing the powers of those who touched it to "cosmic level" in terms of might.

After a lot of fumbling of the Black Vortex itself between the aforementioned heroes listed above, some notable power boosts to a few individuals, and the destruction of both the Kree homeworld Hala and near destruction of Spartax in a Brood invasion... the Vortex was left to be guarded by an ancient beneficiary of its power, Gara, while Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde decided they should get married.

Thirteen issues long, and a really fun read got it the silver medal in this category. So what won?



The Best Crossover of 2015 is…

Secret Wars! (20 points,*5 first place votes)

The biggest hyped Marvel event that gave us eight months of mini-series in lieu of regular ongoing series dominated sales charts, as well as grabbed all the attention in 2015. The only question coming out of it is... what now? Seriously, the X-Books' status quo has been turned on its ear off-panel, and we're left trying to determine what happened in the interim now that God Doom's Battleworld is no more.

There was some fun while it lasted, though, to be sure.

[worstblogever]

LOW POINT OF 2015
2014’s winner, according to the voters, was “The Eisenhardt Family Bloodline Retcon”, where all of a sudden after decades of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch being Magneto's kids and having daddy issues, they were revealed to have instead been mutants created in a lab by the High Evolutionary. Thus, Bova the Cow Lady is a goddamned liar, as well. But what was the most cringeworthy moment of this year?

The “Low Point” of 2015 is…

The Outing of Teen Iceman! (11 points, 2 first place votes)

Now, I want to be clear about this win... people were specific about the "Iceman is Gay" storyline being a low point not because it happened, but how it happened.

Teen Jean was bumbling about in the mind of young Bobby Drake and was suddenly aware there were thoughts of boning other dudes in there, and took it upon herself to confront him about it. As some critics noted (like this article right here), that's about the worst way to handle someone's acceptance of their sexuality. Teen Bobby did not "come out of the closet" so much as plucky Jean Grey doused it in gasoline and burned it down around him.

To say nothing about how Jean stomped out any and all hope that Bobby's bisexual, as his adult self's long line of lady loves through the years were ALL beards. Even the two he had who can change gender at will (Cloud and Mystique, who were never shown to while being romantic with him as men, in fact Bobby fled from the former when that happened once). There are more options than the gender binary out there, after all.

And that is part of why people selected it as their choice in the vote for “Low Point of 2015”, CBR posters.

[worstblogever]

LEAST FAVORITE VILLAIN(S) OF 2015

Last year’s winner for this award was Kade Kilgore and the Burger King Kids Club. I mean… New Hellfire Club, for the fourth, yes FOURTH year in a row making everyone long for the days of more credible club members, like Selene, Harry Leland, Gerhard von Ostamgen, Friedrich von Roehm, Castlemere, and Paris Seville. There are no jokes there. All of those characters were better Hellfire Club members than the Hellfire Kids. They finally, mercifully, did not appear in an X-Book in 2015, leaving the “Worst Villain” award to fall to anyone else...


Second Runner-up…

Luminous! (9 points, 3 first place votes)
*
She's what happens if you combine the wonder twin powers of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in the lab of the High Evolutionary... she's LUMINOUS! And she's the cockiest, campiest villainous since... what, Zaladane? Her origin could easily be that the High Evolutionary watched the Dragonball Z episodes with fusion, and thought, "Hell, I COULD DO THAT."

And then he did. And this is what we got. And she was really intimidating... until the Vision bailed out Wanda in a fight between the two "sisters" by sneaking up on Lumi and solidifying his arm and ripping her head apart from the inside out. She will not be missed.

First Runner-up…

Matthew Malloy(14 points, 3 first place votes)

THIS F'N GUY. He's the most powerful mutant ever, maybe the most powerful being ever in the history of the Marvel Universe, and he does an amazing impression of the ending of Akira for a bit, there. But he has zero control over his godlike abilities, and manages to keep vaporizing people in his general area and going, "OOPS. SORRY BRO." The only reason he didn't split the earth in twain years earlier was Charles Xavier, with Malloy's permission, established psychic blocks so he could live as a "normal" human being.

For whatever reason, in all of the events where Sentinels roamed the countryside looking for mutants, they never stumbled across him, either. Or Cerebro. The psychic blocks somehow left Malloy off of Cerebro. So his powers "awoke" after the death of Charles Xavier one day while he was bandying about South Carolina. And, he accidentally blew up tons of innocent people, then a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and then for a bit, killed a couple X-Men (don't worry, time-travel would negate). Instead, after the X-Men watched a video where Professor X asked Cyclops to lead a team down to neutralize Malloy they tried to think of another way other than just sizing him for a toe tag.

He wasn't worth it. In the end, he was done away with by Tempus going back in time, getting Professor X, and going to c***block Malloy's dad by making sure he never met his mom while in college.

So who's the new lousy villain champ?

The Voters’ Pick for Least Favorite Villain(s) of 2014 is…

Mystique (17 points, 4 first place votes)

Wait... Mystique? She's usually on the "Best Villain" list. What happened?

Well, she ended 2014 by getting her ass handed to her by Dazzler, then being revealed to have been Charles Xavier's first wife, and the mother of his kid (which she abandoned, natch, since she's Mother of the Year all the time). Then, she ended up being pulled in by the "Death of Wolverine" event, where she ended up being the leader of a team named for a guy she had grudge sex with, and was populated by a crew that included a clone of his, his bastard kid, and his arch-nemesis (who Mystique also grudge-f***s).

While the Wolverines series opened with Mystique threatening the lives of the Wrecking Crew, and them backing down... from there it became issue after issue of everyone on the team saying they didn't trust her (including the five issues where she spent five issues trying to not have to deal with Fang from the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, who suddently wasn't dead), but then then trusting her anyway. In the end, Raven received her umpteenth warning message from Destiny, before she died (seriously, Irene, just send her the winning Powerball numbers already), where Mystique got all the way to the Nexus of All Realities after betraying her teammates, only to be told the world was going to end, unless Wolverine was there to save the day.

And Mystique was like, "Uh, no. F*** the world, then." Seriously, that was the ending of the series. Her big endgame and... "Oh, it'll bring Logan back?... NEVERMIND."

Not the best year for Mystique, to say the least, earning her this award.

[worstblogever]

BEST VILLAIN(S) OF 2015
Last year’s winner for this award was Fantomex, who went bonkers and had to get humbled by his X-Force teammates (what is it about X-Force fighting one of their own teammates the past few series?). Anyway, the best villains of this year...

Second Runner-up…

Magik (Inferno)! (11 points, 2 first place votes)

There's just something about a bad girl, and during Secret Wars, we got a good look at a version of New York where Inferno never ended, and once a year, Colossus would go on an ill-fated rescue mission to bring his "Little Snowflake" home. He didn't take a hint when she mutilated his arm, or crippled Cyclops... and Ilyana, for her part, was biding her time and looking to overrun the rest of existence with her never-ending horde of demons from Limbo. She never pulled punches, even corrupting Nightcrawler to be her own Hellhound, and not taking s*** from anybody.




First Runner-up…

Goblyn Queen (Inferno)! (12 points, 2 first place votes)*

Some might wonder how she edged out the bronze medalist for the silver, and I'm just going to chalk it up to Maddie Pryor being one of the all time wielders of the might of underboob, and leave it there. Maddie was given a little more to do in Inferno, believe it or not... because she still had Havok as a lover (who sadly, wasn't a hot leather daddy, but all bearded and weird), and still had baby Nate alive, and chomping at the bit to help his mommy. She wanted to steal Limbo's throne away from Magik, but at the same time, Mr. Sinister was floating around trying to play the angles... so Maddie really was in on a great Mexican stand-off of villains, and did not disappoint.




The Voters’ Pick for Best Villain(s) of 2015 is…

Mr. Sinister!(29 points, 5 first place votes)

During "Secret Wars", a lot of the X-related books taking place on Battleworld had certain villains in them. But in Age of Apocalypse, Inferno, A-Force, and even the main Secret Wars series... there was Nathaniel Essex, preening and enjoying being the master of Bar Sinister. While most were vying for greater power, or trying to stay on top...

Mr. Sinister was just having a grand old time. He seemed pleasant whether he was calling a pregnant woman a cow, or whether he literally had his head ripped from his shoulders, only to inexplicably still keep nagging away at whoever was in earshot. In all the chaos of this event...

Essex was fun. And when it was over, he has continued to be, trying to solve the Terrigen Mists killing off mutants by any means necessary. And upsetting that new status quo, would be news well-received.

[worstblogever]

LEAST FAVORITE HERO(S) OF 2015

Last year’s winner for this award was Beast, who even the Watcher showed up to say he was an ***hole. Was he the repeat winner for 2015?



Second Runner-up…


Beast! (11 points, 2 first place votes)

Hank McCoy's grudge with Cyclops and his own self-righteousness have gotten so out of control, he walked out of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning after they tried to have an intervention with him for being a chronic f***up, and he has instead fallen in with the Inhumans, who are not really any less dysfunctional as a family.

Still, even with Cyclops dead, Beast's still going out of the way to piss on his grave like a bitter ex. Sooner or later, Queen Medusa's going to get tired of hearing about Hank's "other woman" and regret taking in the stray.


*
First Runner-up…

Fantomex! (17 points, 3 first place votes)

The X-Men's answer to "How can we make Gambit seem less like Pepe LePew" managed to go completely insane, and tried to murder the hell out of all his X-Force teammates. Somehwere along the line, even decided to go "One-winged Angel", except he screwed that up, too, and grew two.

Anyway, a couple years ago, during the first volume of Uncanny X-Force it seemed like Fantomex might have a future as a recurring X-character of note. Several power alterations, evil clones and lady-clones of himself running around far sooner than you'd hope for a character to exist and have that happened have hampered his exposure, and quicklky started turning him more into a self-parody.
*

The Voters’ Pick for Least Favorite Hero of 2014 is…


Teen Jean! (17 points, 3 first place votes)

For reasons covered in the "Low Light of the Year", as well as continuing to have awkward relationships with whatever man she crosses paths with. Seeing her date Teen Beast? Okay, they're the same age, whatever. But when she's in Extraordinary X-Men and interacting with Old Man Logan? That's never not gonna have a creepy uncle vibe.

Anyway, yeah, people have soured on Jean Grey (again). Your “Worst Hero” winner for 2015.

[ExodusCloak]

Wow the turnout is the poorest its ever been. I didn't vote I actually did not enjoy anything X-Men in 2015. I didn't even hate things enough to vote for it in the poor categories.