The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (#0781 - #0790)

[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 781 through 790.

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 April 7th, 4pm EDT. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

Last week, 772 - Haley's Commitment had a long heart to heart talk with fellow competitors that.... could have gone better. Yes. I think that is the way to best put it. Rather than just sit there and stew, it decided to leave the rest of the strips behind and get on with saving the world winning this competition. Last we saw of it, it was headed to the Best of the Hundred Tournament where it hoped it would meet with some more reasonable company.

While that strip looks to continue its, just between you and me, rather daunting task, a new set of competitors has stepped into the arena to prove their worthiness. Which ones will get the proverbial "Thumbs Up" from the judges? Time to find out in....

.THE STICK AWARDS II: 0781 - 0790

781 Companions
782 Not Yet Met His Match
783 Cold Blooded
784 Unexpected
785 The Cost of Freedom
786 One Step Worse Than "Diminutively"
787 No Time for Losers
788 A Vexation Or Irritation
789 Also, His Popularity Has Waned
790 Unfamiliar

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Much as I love Thog, I think I will have to vote for him later. Tarquin's last line in #785 makes me laugh every time I see it.

[Gift Jeraff]

Good batch.

#789

[Elenna]

Nice batch - I really like this whole Empire of Blood arc. Going to go with 781 for Star Trek references and Both, I think, but it probably still averages out somewhere south of Neutral.

[ti'esar]

Man, there's a lot of possibilities here. I really want to go with the Zz'dtri reveal in 789, but I think ultimately I'll vote for the rather impressive creation of reader sympathy for minor antagonistic characters that is 783.

[declinator]

I have a hard time deciding between 783 and 785 - is it going to be the heartbreaking talk between Gannji and Enor, or their daring escape...

I'll have to think about that a little while longer.

[Meph]

787, such a thrill.

[Killer Angel]

So many excellent strips, so hard to decide.

783

[littlebum2002]

So many good ones. 781, it's the funniest strip of this arc I think.

[LadyEowyn]

Have to go with 783. Impressive work, making a strip about two amoral and antagonistic characters emotionally wrenching.

[Emperordaniel]

It's #783 for me.

[Bird]

788

thog thankful for update on talky-man's relationship status.

[declinator]

After sleeping on it, I find 783 to be the superior comic of the Gannji/Enor plotline, so it gets my vote.

[Emanick]

Wow, tough choice. Lots of comics I like a lot, none of which I positively love.

Ultimately, I think I'm going to have to give it to 783: Cold Blooded. It loses a lot of its oomph upon a reread, I think, but that doesn't mean it's not a great strip.

[kivzirrum]

Another great run, another tough choice--do I go with Enor and Gannji breaking my heart again, or do I go with the triumphant return of one of the comic's funniest characters?

Buh... really hard to say. Every line Thog has in 788 makes me giggle, but... yeah, I'm still going to have to go with 783.

[ChristianSt]

Bloodfeast the Extreme-inator is just too awesome to not vote for 784 - Unexpected

[martianmister]

783 Cold Blooded

[Mike Havran]

#785 for Tarquin's last line, but #783, #787 and #789 really stand out as well.

[AGD]

787 gets my Vote.

[thatSeniorGuy]

783 for me.

[nogall]

781. I do have a soft spot for off-panel violence...

[Sylian]

783 gets my vote.

[Porthos]

Nice batch here, but I'm not in love with 783 as it seems a lot of people are. Yes, pathos. Yes, angst. Yes, emotion. Granted. But, meh. Had enough of that in the preceding book. Not really feelin' it this time. And there's plenty better to come in that department later on.

No, for me it has to be 789. The line about "Parody is protected speech" to this day still slays me. And this was one of THE most unexpected plot twists the comic has ever seen. So unexpected that I think out of the hundreds of posters that were regularly commenting at the time, only one person, IIRC, predicted it ahead of time. Considering how many people predicted Thog showing up and how many will predict future plot points, this was a most impressive swerve indeed.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

783 Cold Blooded is the winner this week. It now moves on to the Best of the Hundred tournament.

Full Results are as follows
8
........THE STICK AWARDS II: 0781 - 0790

	Comic Number	Votes Received	Vote Percentage
	781	3	14.29
	782	0	0.00
	783	10	47.62
	784	1	4.76
	785	2	9.52
	786	0	0.00
	787	2	9.52
	788	1	4.76
	789	2	9.52
	790	0	0.00

Please join us for the next round of voting for Strips #791 - #800 which can be found here.