The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (#0661 - #0670)

[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 661 through 670.

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 December 14th, 4pm EST. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

Last week, 657 Second Chance proclaimed in a very convincing way that votes equal votes. Well, with that sort of logic, it was clear that it should move on toward the Best of the Hundred Tournament. And so it did.

Things are coming to a climax for this arc, it would seem. But while the arc is wrapping its business up, we still have a lot of things on our plate to clear. The most appetizing of which is to vote in.....

.THE STICK AWARDS II: 0661 - 0670

661 The Path of Least Expectation
662 The Price is Right
663 Or Mention That He's Getting Too Old for This
664 Down to Earth
665 In the Flesh
666 But Seriously, She Won't
667 Mending Wounds
668 Moving the Pieces
669 Logical Conclusions
670 The War Council

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Looks like you accidentally included 660 in the list too.

Anyway, I like 669 for the things it talks about, and I also like 670 for one of the few glimpses of elves besides Vaarsuvius. However, I think I like #667, for the things that Vaarsuvius and Durkon talk about, more.

[Bird]

661. Even when he was about to get bumped off by Soon, Xykon wasn't close to this angry. (Well, he wasn't really angry at all.)

[Emanick]

There are several real contenders here, but I'm going to go with 661: The Path of Least Expectation. Both incredibly surprising, plot-wise, and emotionally powerful.

[Angelalex242]

669

It's one of the last times we see Celia, and it shows how strong their relationship really is.

[Emperordaniel]

661 The Path of Least Expectation wins it for me.

Just when all seemed darkest...

[mythmonster2]

661 for MiTD's moment.

[NobodyWasTaken]

I'm going to vote for 666.

[Meph]

Hard call between 668 and 669 for me.
668 be it.

[Porthos]

Looks like you accidentally included 660 in the list too.

Thanks. Fixed.

[Mike Havran]

Lots of good stuff here, but I´m going to give it to #663

[Gift Jeraff]

#661 ucuejx

[ChristianSt]

Some nice strips - I really like Roy's thoughts about warfare in the world in 669, but I'll go with 661 - The Path of Least Expectation. Xykon sure doesn't like kill stealing.

[Killer Angel]

I'm really torn between 661 and 662, 'cos angered xykon is great.

But I'll go for 668, when the IFCC is finally established as a BBEG behind the screen

[littlebum2002]

As much as I enjoy the phrase "more eyes than ***holes" and the teleportation scene, "one saving throw at a time" is my favorite quote of the strip so far. 670

EDIT On second thought, I think I WILL go with "more eyes than ***holes" and go with 662

[Timy]

blah blah blah 661 will win

[martianmister]

666gccccccccccccbvcb

[declinator]

"More eyes than a**holes" (and Redcloak's incredulousness about Xykon's reaction to his absence) do it for me: 662. 2:1

[nogall]

I can't ESCAPE voting for 661.

[AGD]

666 gets my Vote.

[asorel]

661, for killstealing and MitD exposition.

[Murk]

I'll vote 666 for being a small moment of quiet in the hasty process that's called a comic.

[breathandpaper]

O-chul being great everywhere... "One saving-throw at a time" is his best.
And great slow-pace pages for a sorta victory ending. 665 calls for a marching band. 666 and 669 are slow, casual talking strips... just lovely.
I'm torn between O-Chul and V falling outta nowhere on top of Hinjo, mid-sentence - and Roy and Celia discussing our universe (when was the last time they talked?). They're both warm-feelings strips, but I'll go with 663, when V and O-Chul finally reach safety, that's more striking.

- Deleting my old comment to avoid double-vote.

[sam79]

A really consistent set of strips here. I can't pick out one as standing out from the rest, but I can't knock any of them out of the running, either. Surprised that there is no love so far for 665; not only is it the moment when the Order are reunited for the first time in ages and our protagonist returns to the land of the living, but we get some nudity and unconventional panel lay-out too. So that's my vote.

[LadyEowyn]

It definitely comes down to 661 or 667 here for me. I also like 670 for the Haley/Elan bit and "one saving throw at a time". As 667 doesn't seem to have much of a chance, I'll vote for 661.

[Domino Quartz]

#661, because the MitD gets to be awesome.

[137beth]

So, it's a question of which strip will ESCAPE from this set and make it to the best of the hundred?
There is only one answer:
661.

[thatSeniorGuy]

Another very good batch, but 661 takes it for me.

tSG.

[Porthos]

Another set of great strips here. By rights, I should vote for 661. It's one of the most dramatic and unexpected moments in the entire strip. It's a powerful one-two punch that drove discussion for weeks. And to this day, we still don't know what happened there. But I'm going to throw my to 662 as it has a subtle moment in there that deserve highlighting. Up front, there is the further deterioration Xykon/Redcloak relationship. Redcloak's machinations have come back to bite him in the.... eye. Xykon has shown that he has gotten fed up with things and while he's immortal that doesn't mean his patience is.

But the subtle bit is Xykon ordering Jirix to get raised. For a person who normally doesn't give two figs about his underlings, getting one of them raised is a rare moment for him. That it was as much pouring lemon juice in Redcloak's open wounds as it was rewarding Jirix for good work is neither here nor there. I also liked how Xykon could go from white hot rage to icy cold reflection on a dime. Both show an insight into the character that we don't often see.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

661 The Path of Least Expectation 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: 0661 - 0670

	Comic Number	Votes Received	Vote Percentage
	661	13	48.15
	662	3	11.11
	663	2	7.41
	664	0	0.00
	665	1	3.70
	666	4	14.81
	667	1	3.70
	668	2	7.41
	669	1	3.70
	670	0	0.00

Please join us for the next round of voting for Strips #671 - #680 which can be found here.