The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (#0441 - #0450)

[Porthos]

Welcome to The Stick Awards II: Second Edition!

The Stick Awards are handed out to the best strips of all time as chosen by our fellow Playgrounders.

This week we are covering the comic strips 441 through 450.

For full details about the Stick Awards, please check out the main thread here.

To read more about the original Stick Awards, created by Nazzo, the 102nd, please read his thread here.

To vote in this thread, simply state which comic of the ten listed is your favorite. Bolding the number of the comic (Like this) helps it stand out.

Voting for this week will close on June 11th, 4pm EDT. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

Last week, 435 Amoral Dilemma discovered the values of patience and self-sacrifice. At least in its own inimitable way. Well what better way to reward such behavior than to allow it to face bigger and better challenges? And thus it moves on to the Best of the Hundred.

Ah, but which of the following will be worthy enough to join one as self-enlightened as it? Well, the only way to find out is to vote in....

.THE STICK AWARDS II: 0441 - 0450

441 Getting Ahead and Staying Ahead
442 We Can Do This the Easy Way...
443 The First Step is a Doozy
444 He's Dead, Jim
445 A Song for the Departed
446 Hell of a Job
447 Guarding the Sapphire
448 Just Crazy Enough to Work
449 Land of the Rising...
450 Wands Are for Suckers

[137beth]

This is a tough one. Several of these strips could win almost any other contest. The zombie dragon head crushing the death knight is a classic punch line, as is Evil: A Growth Industry. Roy's death is among the most powerful moments in the series, but it is arguably overshadowed by Elan's song for Roy.
The establishment of Tsukiko is also significant, though IMO it doesn't hold up against either the Roy's death scene or the entrance of Soon's ghost.

I think ultimately I am going to go with 449: Ghost Martyrs of the Sapphire Guard: ATTACK!

[Angelalex242]

Let me express shock that sexy shoeless god of war actually failed. I never would've expected it.

This week, though, I find myself torn between the badassery of the ghost martyrs of the sapphire guard and Elan's song.

Ultimately, I have decided that Roy's death is more important then badass Sapphire guard, so...

His requiem dirge as sung by Elan, 445, gets my vote.

[Emanick]

Tough choice. But, years later, I still remember the thrill of seeing the last panel of 449. 449: Land of the Rising... it is.

[Gift Jeraff]

#449 would be my choice for best of the hundred.

Out of all the major character deaths, Roy's has the least impact. (In the immediate sense. Obviously, it's a central plot point for the next 200 or so strips.)

[ChristianSt]

Another batch of great strips.

My vote goes to the only strip where the online version is much better than the print version: 443 - The First Step is a Doozy

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I love 441 and also 443, which I feel can only be experienced well online. I also love "Evil: A Growth Industry". However, here #449 wins for me.

[Livius]

449 is pretty good, but Xykon being Xykon in #448 beats it.

[Meph]

There are no doubts here: 442.
The problem will come against 435 (if my beloved 442 does it now).

[Sylian]

This is a strong batch, wow. Anyway, 449 gets my vote.

[David Argall]

Partly it is from being whipsawed in 447-8, but 449 is the winner.

[Bird]

448. Was it fun to see Xykon freak over the attack of the ghost-martyrs in 449? Sure. But that doesn't measure up to the visceral punch of what Xykon does to the guard in 448. Xykon is a funny lich, and the genius of 448 is in keeping him joking, but pushing the depravity so far that the joke isn't funny for the audience anymore. The paladin committing seppuku in the last panel is the coup de grace. Brilliant page.

(As an aside, I love how The Giant introduced all these paladins with different character designs in 447 and killed the lot of them off a page later.)

[Emperordaniel]

This is gonna be a tough one, no doubt.

I... I'm going to have to think about this for a little bit.

Out of all the major character deaths, Roy's has the least impact. (In the immediate sense. Obviously, it's a central plot point for the next 200 or so strips.)

I'd say it had the most impact, if you know what I mean

[Killer Angel]

Woah, plenty of wonderful stuff, here.

as much as i like the pathos of Roy's Death, and the epicness of the ghost martyrs, I'll go with the growing industry. 446

[declinator]

Oh buddy , the lich, the lich came calling... and I'll call for #445.

[nogall]

Easily one of the best bunch of the whole comic, if not the best.
I'm really torn between many of them, specially 445, but how can you not vote for 449?

[DolGrenn]

I vote for 445, because not even music can soothe the savage Belkar.

[Cartographer7]

448 and 449 are both really powerful. But I think I'll have to go with the positive one and pick 449.

[Emperordaniel]

I have made my decision. Ghost-martyrs of the Sapphire Guard... ATTACK.



#449 it is.

[lolthfollower]

The punchline in 445 wins it for me.

[LadyEowyn]

449, although it's a close contest between that and 443. I love the look on Xykon's face in the last panel.

[ImperatorV]

No contest. 449.

[Forealms]

449 for me

[Mike Havran]

IMO, #449 is still the best OotS strip so far.

[FLHerne]

#448 could tell a new reader everything we know about Xykon's character, in one strip. It's got his ingenuity, arrogance, love of chaos and sense of 'humour' - while still being pretty much the most viscerally evil strip ever.

On the other hand, Arise, my children. is an incredibly satisfying strip (possibly because of its predecessor!), and I was going to vote for it when I started writing this post.

But no, it just doesn't have the emotional impact. All the cutting splits it up, rather than the continuous fascinating horror of #448.

[Porthos]

It's funny. When I first started getting this batch together, I thought the, ahem, impact of Roy's death would cause 443 to be a runaway winner. But I had forgotten just how many classics were in this bunch. And I had absolutely forgotten about the sheer brilliance of 449. Or rather, I forgot it was in this set. Talk about missing the forest for the trees.

Why 449 though? Well, for many of the reasons that have already been covered in the thread. But it also has spiritual bent that rises above the others. It's poetic and moving. You can almost hear the orchestra building in the background as the scene plays out. It is epic in all the good senses of the word. At the time it felt like a pivotal moment that, yes, the heroes might just win this after all. That it turned out to be the high point for the good guys and it would be all downhill from here mattered little at the time. It was a sorely needed beacon of hope after the emotional shock of seeing Roy die just a short time previously.

Plus, as others have said, 's "OH, CRAP" expression was A) a sorely need takedown for the cocky SOB and B) Hi-lair-i-ously funny.

So, yes, count me in with the others for this one. OOTS at its best, IMO.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

449 Land of the Rising... is the winner this week. It now moves on to the Best of the Hundred tournament.

Full Results are as follows

........THE STICK AWARDS II: 0441 - 0450

	Comic Number	Votes Received	Vote Percentage
	441	0	0.00
	442	1	4.17
	443	1	4.17
	444	0	0.00
	445	4	16.67
	446	1	4.17
	447	0	0.00
	448	3	12.50
	449	14	58.33
	450	0	0.00

Please join us for the next round of voting for Strips #451 - #460 which can be found here.