The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (BotH [#0701-#0800]) [Semi #1]

[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.

Over the next few days, we're taking a bit of a break and entering The Best of the Hundred Tournament for Comics #701 - #800 as we take the time to decide which of the strips really are the best of best.

For full details about the Stick Awards, and any questions about them, 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 five listed is your favorite. Bolding the number of the comic (Like this) helps it stand out.

Voting, which only lasts five days during the Best of the Hundred Tournament will close on April 19th, 4pm EDT. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

The winner of this semi-final will go on to the finals which will be held after the second semi-final is done. The two strips that get the most votes during the semis that DIDN'T win, will also reach the finals. So voting is extra special important this time around, as it will determine who the 'Wild Card' entrants are.

Last week, 800 Right Tool for the Job had an epiphany about how to finally best its rivals in this competition. The judges agreeed with its novel strategy of using other strips as a weapon and merrily sent it on its way to the Best of the Hundred tournament.

And with the final entrant entering (or exiting depending on how one looks at it) the arena, now we can have them do battle with strips more up to their level of competeance. So lets figure ot which of these strips is worthy to be considered the best (well, of this Hundred at least) by voting in.....

................THE STICK AWARDS II:
BEST OF THE HUNDRED TOURNAMENT (701-800)
..............(Semi-Final #1)

704 - Dead Men Give No Speeches
718 - Spring Break Never Dies
723 - Generally Relative
737 - Comparative Mythology
750 - Making Up for Lost Time

[Cartographer7]

723 - Easily one of my favorite moments from this comic.

[thatSeniorGuy]

Dang, I really want to vote for #750 again, but I have to go for Tarquin's reveal in #723.

[Bird]

750 is fun.

[Gift Jeraff]

#723: Number Seven Hundred and Twenty-Three

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Some good ones here. I especially enjoy 737 and 750. However, I think #723 deserves the win here.

[Emanick]

Surprisingly, most of these are only a fair amount above average. I thought I remembered some really stellar ones from this part of the book.

Anyway, 723: Generally Relative is the best one here, I think. 750 has great non-traditional panel layout, and I really like its message(s) and everything else about it, but it just can't beat out a strip that resolves a subplot 673 strips in coming.

[ti'esar]

Hmm, I'm going to need a bit time to think about this one. The one thing I know is that I'm not voting for 718.

[Elenna]

Nice selection! I'm going to jump onto the bandwagon for 723 for Tarquin's reveal, establishing Tarquin's character, a Star Wars joke, and V's comment at the end.

[LadyEowyn]

Well, it's definitely between 704 and 750 for me. I'm going to eschew strategic voting and vote for 704, in favour of Gobbotopia and refreshingly direct theological revelations.

[Killer Angel]

A pity for 704, but the best one here it's 723

[D.One]

723 is my winner here. It is indeed a pity to 704, which is also fantastic, but heredity is a cruel mistress.

[kivzirrum]

Why are these decisions always so brutally hard? This strip needs to be less consistently awesome so there can be one clear stand out. I adore both 723 and 750. 723 has an awesome reveal that I did not expect--that Tarquin is not only Elan's father, which we all knew was coming, but that he was a lot like Elan. And boy, did that turn out to be relevant down the line. 750 is a little more unsettling. Elan having his best day ever, spending time with his father while we can see the awful things that the Empire of Blood is built on... well, it's funny, but in a very dark way. And then there are the scenes with Haley and Vaarsuvius freeing the slaves, and Durkon crafting a spell and laughing with Malack, all of which seem innocent until we know what happens later.

They're both fantastic, and fantastic in some similar ways. After an embarrassing amount of consideration, I'm going to have to give it to 750 for its non-traditional panel layout. Plus, I'm a sucker for (mostly) silent strips that let the pictures tell the story. It was impressive when Calvin and Hobbes did it, and it's impressive here.

[nogall]

723 --
-- I am your voter.
*gasp!*

[137beth]

For me, it is between 704 and 737. 704, because it shows the development of the goblinoid nation. 737, because of what it foreshadows in book six.

Ultimately I am going to go with 737.

[ChristianSt]

I'm in for 750 - Making Up for Lost Time. Just an overall awesome strip.

[martianmister]

737 - Comparative Mythology

[Mike Havran]

Oh MAN! I've always wanted to vote for #723! (again)

[Dushara]

750, for the innovative layout that describes a day without words.

[ti'esar]

I think I'll ultimately go for 750.

Sorry, Tarquin, but not everything's about you.

[Emperordaniel]

737 - Comparative Mythology. Good balance of humor and foreshadowing. I like it.

[sam79]

Hmm. This is an interesting selection of strips. The first four are all, well, interesting; they are all quite wordy, give important background and/or foreshadowing, and have some funny moments too. But none of them are really outstanding for me. 750 does stand out, if only because it is a wordless strip amongst a pretty verbose selection. It may be less important in terms of the overall story, but it tells us so much about our main characters in such a economical and beautiful way.

[declinator]

Hmmm. Hard decisions. But I'll have to say that I prefer 750 over the rest (723 particularly is a great contender). So let's make up for lost time.

[Xihirli]

dead men give no speeches

[Porthos]

Almost feel like throwing a pity vote to 718, simply for the "Lizgreaper" line. But, sadly for it, 723 is just too perfect. I said it before and I'll say it again. "Hereditiy is a cruel mistress" is such a wonderful line, that it has to be recognized.

And with that.....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

723 - Generally Relative is the winner of this semi-final! It now moves on to the finals for the Best of the Hundred tournament (701-800).

750 - Making Up for Lost Time is currently holding down Wild Card spot #1 with 7 votes and 737 - Comparative Mythology is holding down Wild Card spot #2 with 3 votes.

Full Results are as follows:

.............THE STICK AWARDS II:
..BEST OF THE HUNDRED TOURNAMENT
......... (701-800 | Semi-Final #1)

	Comic Number	Votes Received	Vote Percentage
	704	2	8.70
	718	0	0.00
	723	11	47.83
	737	3	13.04
	750	7	30.43

Please join us as we continue this Best of the Hundred tournament, in this thread here.