Well, we haven't received any really good ideas for the names. There were a few that I liked, but I don't think they were quite good enough to be a good name, or they were something that, should we decide to do this again next year, would make any sense for next year's awards. So, at this point, the name of the awards is still to be determined. I still had to make up some graphics, though.

That's right--your favorite comic could win a coveted TBD Award! In fact, you could help it win! Just submit your votes in the following categories to awards@fanboycomics.biz, or fill out one of our handy paper ballots we'll have available in the store. You don't have to vote in every category, but that's not discouraged, either. Here are the categories available for voting:

Best Cover - The issue with the best cover art released in 2006.
Best New Comic Series - Best series beginning in 2006; i.e., issue #1 was published sometime in 2006.
Best Single Issue - The best single comic issue released in 2006.
Best Miniseries - The best miniseries of 2006. At least half of the issues of the miniseries must have been published in 2006.
Best Story Arc - The best story arc in an ongoing series of 2006. At least half of the issues of the story arc must have been published in 2006.
Best Ongoing Series - The best ongoing comic series (i.e., not a miniseries) of 2006.
Best Moment - The best moment in any comic where you just went, "That was awesome."
Best Original Graphic Novel - The best graphic novel composed of material not originally released in individual issues.
Best Collection - Best collection of material previously released in individual issues.
Best Comic-Based Movie/DVD/TV Show - Pretty much anything you care about that can somewhat fit in this category. I'm not going to be too strict about it.
Best Indie Comic - The best independent comic book published in 2006. Indie is defined as not published by Marvel, DC, Image or Dark Horse.
Best Hero - The best comic book hero of 2006, by whatever criteria you deem proper.
Best Villain - The best comic book villain of 2006, by whatever criteria you deem proper.
Best Comic Babe - The best comic book babe of 2006, by whatever criteria you deem proper. I guess women can send in their votes for hot guys or whatever. THE THINGS I DO FOR FEMINISM.
Best Artist - The best comic artist of 2006.
Best Writer - The best comic writer of 2006.
Best Roleplaying Game Product - The best product released for any roleplaying game or system in 2006.
Best Card Game Product - The best product released for any card game in 2006.
Best Miniatures Product - The best product released for any miniatures game in 2006.

Alright, now that we've got the categories established and hopefully well defined, let's see those votes! To give you an idea of some of the awesome stuff that came out in 2006, the Fanboy Comics staff has all made their selections and we will be revealing them week by week until the final votes are tallied. This week, Mac is revealing his choices.

Mac: an enigma to all who encounter him. He likes things. Here they are:

art by
Tony Harris

written by
Grant Morrison
art by
Frank Quitely

written by
Reginald Hudlin
art by
Manuel Garcia

written by
Warren Ellis
art by
Stuart Immonen

written by
Greg Pak
art by
Carlo Pagulayan

written by
Brian K. Vaughan
art by
Tony Harris

by
Rick Veitch

written by
Neil Gaiman

by
Ben Templesmith
published by
IDW

art by
Adam Hughes

by
Robin D. Laws
Robert J. Schwalb

Here are the entries:

First of all, they are villains and they probably wouldn't fight unless they fought for who they wanted to fight. Anyway, Arcade can booby trap the room with bottomless pits and needle floors, but, since Arcade has no winning status, Forearm is going to smash in and, even if he falls down a pit, he can punch holes in the walls. Arcade by that time should be trying to run out of the room and soon he will meet his demise. Forearm would "play" wrestling with him and Ding!, Ding!, Ding!. Yep, he's hurt all right. Forearm sends Arcade to the hospital by taping a paper saying "Is hurt, needs help" and throws Arcade into the hospital window and Forearm walks away with few scratches. Forearm Wins!

That's Perry Morrison.  He's ineligible this month.  The other entry is from Sean Grimes:

Forearm has the mutant power of having extra arms. That will be useful when Arcade puts him in a giant pinball machine. So when an oversized pinball is headed his way at 200mph, Forearm will be better equipped than most mutants to catch it, and be immediately squashed like a bug. Arcade wins. 

Congratulations, Sean, you win.  Sorry, but this fight was so exceptionally bad I can't even come up with any good ideas for jokes this time.  So this week, I need a really good fight.  And I think I have just the one: Who would in in a fight,

A real courtroom drama, I say.  Send in your responses to fanboyfights@fanboycomics.biz!

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Penciler: Simone Bianchi
Inkers: Simone Bianchi & Andrea Silvestri
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99

Who doesn't love those landmark 50th-issue moments, the ones heralded by wraparound and variant covers and increased prices? Definitely hard to resist, and especially when said issue features such that beloved animal-man-Wolverine. While this Wolvie-starring series has been at it for more than four years, this issue marks the place where fence-sitters can climb on board with a new arc that starts here with our hero's rejuvenated battle with his most personal of foes: Sabretooth.

The story takes place in the time after the destruction of Genosha and the reduced number of worldwide mutants to somewhere less that 199 but more than 197 (even though there's no true agreement on an actual number of mutants left untouched after the Scarlet Witch said "No more mutants.") With all these major changes, Sabretooth has come to live in the X-mansion, and has joined the team. Wolverine is, let's say, miffed. The team's new leader, Rogue doesn't want to be tolerating any of Logan's B.S., so he's left with only one option: kick Sabretooth's giant ass. When the fight's on, it's right on; Simone Bianchi's art, which borrows a page or two of glorious detail from Steve McNiven, captures in close-up some excellent brutality. Bone-crushing power has rarely been better conveyed. Bianchi also gives Wolverine giant "wings" on his mask, which is awkward, but sure makes him more aerodynamic.

As always follows a near lapse in a coma, we get a memory from Wolvie's past, perhaps early in their embittered relationship, when Sabretooth crossed him real bad. What comes next is more fighting, a quaint revelation and...that's it. It sure doesn't feel like 22 pages, but it is. This issue breezes by, but it also feels the way a Wolverine comic should: savage, brutal, pugilistic. Jeph Loeb's writing is tight, but the fight gets too talky when there should be more slashing and choking. Look at me, wishing for more violence. Thanks, cable TV!

Included in this super-sized issue is a 12-page back-up also written by Loeb but this time illustrated by his early Superman/Batman partner Ed McGuinness. It's a quick, lightened retelling of Wolverine's first fight with the Hulk, marked by vivid colors and a pointillist style. Loeb this time leaves most of the words in narration, and McGuinness portrays the characters perfectly. Hulk is huge; Wolverine is squat and burly. There's also a fun surprise at the end of this abbreviated tale that changes its scope a bit.

One would hope that a landmark issue like #50 in these six-issue-mini-ripe-for-trade-collection days would be even bigger, but this issue tends to deliver where it should. It's a fun new direction for these characters as the new creative team takes hold of the series, and as Wolverine may say: "Let ‘er rip."

RATING: 4/5

Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: Tom Raney
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorists: Gina Going & SotoColor's A. Crossley
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99

I imagine we're all supposed to be grateful that at least one Civil War book came out this past week, just too bad it wasn't #7 of the main series so we can finally find out how they're going to tie up all the loose ends and tell some of us denser folk the significance of "42." Now it looks like we'll be waiting until mid-February. (Getting close to a year after the 2006 start of Civil War, Marvel!) Anyway, here we go with another (seemingly after-the-fact) tie-in book that serves two purposes: distract us and create a way to connect a promo for an upcoming series to the events of Civil War. It all comes together in a clumsy way in the first section (since this book follows two characters in separate stories: Captain Marvel and the Sentry), with a second section that serves no real discernable purpose other than to take up space.

So, Captain (Mar-Vell) Marvel died a long time ago, the result of exposure to nerve gas that proved to be extremely cancerous. It was this that ultimately consumed him. The nerve gas came courtesy of Nitro-the same villain responsible for the deaths at Stamford that set off this whole Civil War. Convenient, you say? The death of the good captain was covered back in the mid 1980s, in the pages of Marvel Comics' first true graphic novel. In addition to the re-cap, we get to find out how Marvel came to our world during the War, sucked through time courtesy of a Negative Zone gateway. I'm sure there's a whole paradoxical way in the fashion that this all goes down, but it gives me a headache and even if I thought about it a whole lot and plotted it with an intricate diagram, it still wouldn't add up to 100%, so I just accept it all on face value. The character's been dead a long time so we need to bring him back into current continuity. Fair enough.

Marvel comes through the gateway, where he's greeted by Sentry, Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic, all who convince him to help their pro-reg cause and become the warden of the Negative Zone prison "42." He agrees at first, but a series of revelations lead him to make the decision that'll no doubt be the catalyst for that new ongoing series that's heralded at the end of his section. An intriguing, if convenient, way to bring the character back into the fold.

The second section of The Return doesn't require much time: the Sentry fights Absorbing Man. A fair amount of action, overcooked grandstanding, and a yellow-suited hero who's looking more and more feminine with every passing page.

As what is essentially a #0 series prequel, this tie-in is a quasi-clever rouse. Paul Jenkins manages tight storytelling with a minimum of verbosity, but he doesn't offer much to work with. The way Captain Marvel is brought into this whole thing is too convenient to be compelling. The Sentry is incredibly stiff throughout both stories, so much so that if he turns sideways he disappears. Tom Raney captures the comic quite nicely and is a whiz with the action, framing panels that gracefully forward the story. I loved the colors on this book (the first part anyway), and the contrast between bright and dark is well executed.

It isn't the slightest of tie-in books, but it's not the best either. This is middle-of-the-road type of stuff. Easy listening. Mar-Vell and the Sentry are the comic Hall and Oates.

RATING: 2.5/5

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Jacen Burrows
Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
Publisher: Avatar Press
Price: $3.99

Here with go with a brand-new Garth Ennis miniseries, here basically on the heels of a cancelled Ennis book that should've never been canned because it had respectable sales, decent buzz, and a dark sense of humor that was hard to ignore. DC should've known what it was getting into with a new Ennis property, a series that would, through loosely-veiled doppelgangers, deconstruct, lampoon and vilify DC's main staples (Superman, Teen Titans, etc.). The Boys required big shoulders for publishing a full series run, and it's clear that DC is still sporting 1980s-style shoulder pads.

A good amount of message board chatter is seeing The Boys continue at either Image Comics (good choice) or Avatar Press-an okay choice (if you don't mind the book's release schedule starting out on time and then disappearing into the ether of non-solicits.) Ennis has the relationship with Avatar, and the success of his new series on that imprint, Chronicles of Wormwood, might be the indicator of where the cape-killers may be headed. While Ennis is notorious for claiming that The Boys would "out-Preacher Preacher," Wormwood is a degree closer to claiming that signifier. (Don't get me wrong; The Boys is one of my favorite series, but it's just not a book comparable to Preacher.)

By page 2, Danny Wormwood lets you know that he's the actual Antichrist and has "fixed" his rabbit so the creature can talk. Wormwood is the head of a slimy cable network that relishes in producing grotesque, violent, mind-numbing programming. In essence, the perfect job for the spawn of Satan.

Wormwood is an Englishman in New York City who marvels at his chosen city but also sees his influence (and his family's influence) all over the place. Rather than retreating from his position in this world, Wormwood instead basks in the spotlight afforded a media mogul the likes of Rupert Murdoch. He's even got a cable network rival in the guise of Paul Carnovitz, who

Wormwood engages with in a televised roundtable debate weighing the merits and harmful aspects of their medium. It's a debate to which Ennis is fully capable of adding his two-cents, and his quick-fire dialogue makes the talking heads spring to life. Oh, and Wormwood's best friend is "Jay," (Jesus, actually-black and dreadlocked) who is portrayed as an affectionate simpleton who only craves peace. Wormwood isn't the best guy on the planet, but he also doesn't seem like the worst.

Ennis' work here is clearly approaching Preacher territory. While Jesse Custer didn't have the level of righteous ambivalence that Wormwood displays here, the archetypes are similar. Wormwood is as intense and fascinating a character as Custer, but the supporting cast here isn't there, yet; Wormwood's girlfriend is hollow at first, and Jay is no Cassidy. And while the critique of media empires as possibly being the work of the netherworld isn't an earth-quaking premise, Ennis does provide for enough intriguing characterization and trademark quirkiness to keep things fresh. Chronicles of Wormwood is never a dull experience.

Darrick Robertson's art on The Boys always has the feeling of profound dimension and scale, whereas Jacen Burrows' razor-thin line work doesn't have such depth. This is a very well-drawn book, but the art and script seem on conflicting planes from time to time. The layouts are simplified and don't reach for much flash-refreshing, but also stale at times. Burrows' figures are charming, though, and he manages great emotion in his characters' faces.

With The Boys on indefinite hiatus, at least Ennis is pushing forward with a new series that capitalizes on some of his proven storytelling strengths, while also giving us his trademark grotesquery just as we like it.

RATING: 4/5

Writer/Artist: David Petersen
Publisher: Archaia Studios Press
Price: $3.50

If you're like me, the first thing you'll think upon seeing the cover of this book is, “Huh, looks like Redwall.” If you don't think that, then it's probably because you're not familiar with Redwall, in which case you'll just have to take my word for it. While it's true that the “mice with swords” concept isn't a new one by any means, Mouse Guard still manages to feel very fresh.

The Mouse Guard is an elite team of mice charged with protecting the colony from whatever danger befalls them. The issue starts out by vaguely introducing our heroes. However, you almost immediately begin to understand each characters' personality. Kenzie is the smart one who always tries to remain level-headed. Saxon is impatient and over-eager to fight. Lieam, the main protagonist, tends to follow their lead, and seems to be a little unsure of himself. It's blatantly evident that his character will be further developed in later issues. The plot is simple; a merchant from the village goes missing in the woods, and the Guard goes to investigate. They quickly find the source of the merchant's demise and go about putting an end to the situation.

The dialogue is minimal, and only used when absolutely necessary, which is alright because the pictures tell most of the story. In a way, it's almost as if the text is there merely to supplement the illustrations, instead of vice versa. This brings up the art. The art is nothing short of gorgeous. The artist pays particular attention of shading and texture. While reading the book, it almost reminds me of the books I would read when I was a child. Everything is so light-hearted, charming, and, dare I say, cute. However, don't let it's childish appearance fool you. Mouse Guard is easily one of the most enjoyable comics I've read in months. Sure it's simplistic and cute (there goes that word again) but that's not a bad thing. After reading the latest slew of gritty Vertigo comics, such a light-hearted book makes for a refreshing change of pace. It's a change of pace that I give my highest recommendation to.

Given that this was to be my first published (well, sort of published) review, I was very hesitant to give anything a five. I didn't' want people to get the idea that I the kind of reviewer who would hand out fives to anything that piqued his interest for fifteen minutes. However, after reading Mouse Guard: Belly of the Beast, nothing less than a five seems to do it justice. It's already one of my all-time favorites. -Tristan Hoagland is Fanboy Comments' newest reviewer, because he asked. We made him share a corner with Bryan Sandala though.

RATING: 5/5