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.  Now that you've seen what all of our staff is voting for, you might have some ideas for what you'd like to vote for!  Voting is going to close this Saturday, March 3rd, so have your votes in by or before then!  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 before March 3rd!

Writers: Mike Carey & Skottie Young
Artists: Greg Land & Skottie Young
Inker: Jay Leisten
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $2.99

Marvel is rolling out a series of horror one-shots of late called Legion of Monsters, a quick-flash series including this title and one featuring Marvel's vampire Morbius and their Swamp Thing-analogy, Man-Thing. The small publishers have been doing such a bang-up job with horror (thanks, IDW), and with this label Marvel is entering the game by firing on all cylinders. Mike Carey (Utlimate Fantastic Four, X-Men) and Greg Land (Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate Power) team-up for their werewolf story for "Smalltown Girl", and Skottie Young (New Warriors) contributes words and pencils to the moody monster of Frankenstein back-up story.

First off, I'm always on board for a story featuring Mike Carey and Greg Land. Carey has had popular runs on Lucifer and Ultimate Fantastic Four. Greg Land's work on the Marvel Zombies and evil Namor arcs of Ultimate Fantastic Four with Mark Millar yielded revisionist storytelling and embraced the outlandish in fun fashion. Here, Carey's ability to write dynamic personalities and Land's photo-surreal style of real-world monsters work for an entertaining and, unfortunately, one-shot affair.

The original Werewolf by Night was known as Jack Russell, and while Jack makes an appearance here, the story belongs to a young woman who has always known that the ladies in her family have a taste for the lycanthropy. Her mother made her two daughters sew silver threads into their arms in order to keep the monsters at bay. But there are certain baddies in her small town who aren't happy that a known werewolf stalks around town, no matter how timid she is. (Wait a sec-are they the bad if they're fighting a werewolf?) A mysterious stranger (Jack Russell) swaggers into the bar while our young lady is about to be taken down. In Patrick Swayze Road House fashion, Jack proceeds to protect a fellow wolf, especially when there's a romantic possibility.

It's a breezy little tale, one that Carey and Land infuse with some needed gravity. Skottie Young's backup story is slightly weak by comparison. It's a more staid and plotted affair, where Frankenstein's freak of nature isn't the only monster roaming around that's fabricated of grave-robbed parts. The art is satisfying gritty, the polar opposite of his cartoonish work from the past, and Young's monster roams around the pages with brute strength rather than a lumbering hobble. This story is more playful with its horror elements, and the plotting is to some extent more forced.

The Legion of Monsters books are already promising to deliver the goods: horror storytelling that doesn't shy away from the fun of the genre, rather than bogged down in forced gore.

RATING: 4/5

Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: George Pérez
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99

DC has finally brought back their seminal team up series after a 25 year absence as a proper, ongoing series. There have been miniseries versions in those intervening years, but this marks the second volume proper. It also comes on the heels Marvel's third volume of their rotating hero book, Marvel Team-Up, which ceased to be in 2006. Robert Kirkman's work on that series was energetic, humorous, ambitious and playful; what Mark Waid and George Pérez have done with this debut is one-up the Marvel series in nearly every way as a cooler, more muscular older brother.

The format of the Brave and the Bold is like this: a rotating cast of heroes teaming up for episodes in an ongoing storyline. Right out of the gate we get Batman, Green Lantern and Las Vegas. Come on, that town deserves to be a character. Hal Jordan discovers a human corpse in the far reaches of outer space. It appears as if the poor dolt bit it as result of a gunshot wound to the chest. Who does Jordan call for a consult? Gotham's greatest detective. Turns out the same exact body with the same exact wound was discovered in the Batcave. Jordan comes down to Earth and the two of them follow the clues and villains to a much larger, darker conspiracy.

It would be unfair to reveal more, because Waid slowly and methodically peels back layers page by page as the action scenes-and these are top-notch-play out at a regular clip. This is the kind of well-orchestrated character book that can handily reveal nuance and humor, but not at the expense of great storytelling. Batman regularly gets to utilize those honed detective skills, and Hal Jordan uses his ring (along with the admittedly corny Green Lantern rhyming oath). A particularly effective moment comes when Jordan compares the loyalty of his power battery to that of Batman's lap-dog training of Robin. Waid regularly pounces on moments like this where each of the heroes can appear to have the advantage over his partner. They work together quite well, but each one wants to be the coolest guy in the room, and they both get their chances.

The story takes them from Gotham to Vegas and things move quickly, but Pérez is there every step of the way. His classic art-style was made for this book. Taut pacing and appealing layouts make this book shine. A scene featuring Bruce Wayne and Hal Jordan-out of costume-at a blackjack table amusingly illustrates the one-upmanship interplay between the two. When it comes to the many action scenes, Pérez can easily handle the demands of transition with intense forward momentum. Even if you didn't know thing-one about these characters, The Brave and the Bold would be a fun book.

By the time you reach the end and the tease says "Next," followed by the Superman and Green Lantern logos, that's really all you need. If this opening shot is any indication, The Brave and the Bold may turn out to be the most fun available on the shelf.

RATING: 4.5/5

Writers: Sean McKeever, Fred Van Lente and more
Penciler: Terrell Bobbett, Federica Manfredi and more
Inker: Gary Martin, Terry Pallot and more
Colorist: Bruna Brito, Sotocolor's A. Crossley and more
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99

Move ahead with the "Back in Black" movie tie-in portion of Spider-Man's current storytelling arc, here's an all-ages attempt at giving readers unfamiliar with Spider-Man of the present (and the past) a primer with which to get a taste of some history. Sean McKeever (Gravity) writes a new, original one-shot with a youngish Spider-Man, in his black symbiote costume, taking on Sandman and Blackcat. Another team crafts a museum-theft episode featuring Blackcat and Hellcat. After that, it's two stories from Spider-Man's past, reprints that provide more "Essentials"-style background on Sandman, Green Goblin, and the curious disappointment that is Spider-Man Japan.

McKeever knows how to write an all-ages story. His Spider-Man is energetic, overly confident and arrogant-just the way we like him. He's dealing with the alien costume, trying to realize how it affects his behavior, while taking on gun-thieving bad guys. His main enemy here is Flint Marko, AKA Sandman, who's leading the goons at the docks for some container-robbing. Their fight is fun, and what's most exciting about Sandman as a villain (and hopefully it plays out in the film) is that he's not an endlessly funded, super intelligent, scientist-millionaire. He's a street thug with this unconquerable power. It makes him a fun bad guy.

Spider-Man also hands a run-in with Blackcat (who, unfortunately, probably won't be appearing in Spider-Man 3) which is ultimately uneventful, and she leads into the next story, which is a quick, pointless jaunt with Hellcat. There's actually not that much going on there aside from a momentary diversion. But again, it's a good time.

The Spider-Man reprints, featuring Sandman and Green Goblin, are surprising retro good times. Peter Parker, still in high school (and compulsively clad in a tragic, day-glo blue suit), has a first date opportunity with Betty Brant, but his emotional ineptitude and self-doubt. These character flaws play out in his battle with a meaner, more vindictive Sandman. Of course, it all gets resolved by the end, but the story is intelligently constructed.

The next story, in which Spider-Man battles a loony and vicious Green Goblin (no matter how ridiculous he looks-makes me appreciate the movie version even more), Parker battles with Jonah Jameson, Aunt May and a self-assured Mary Jane. It's easy to see why readers may have such affection for these classic stories. Behavior is outlandish and the action is over-the-top, but it's definitely an entertaining ride.

The Japanese Spider-Man story? It's better forgotten. Thankfully, this boy Spider-Man stays across the pacific.

This generation-spanning Spider-Man compilation is a pleasurable lead-in to the movie storyline. What's fun is seeing the way Spider-Man has endured no matter the age of the intended audience or the predilections of his writers.

RATING: 3/5

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Marc Andreyko
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $24.99

There's so much to say about Torso that I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll just start with the basics. Torso is based on the true story of the infamous “Torso Killer,” who was generally considered to be the first American serial killer. It follows the three people directly involved with the investigation: Veteran Detectives Walter Myrlo and Sam Simon, and the newly appointed Safety Director Eliot Ness. Torso not only follows their investigation, but also delves into their personal lives and how they're personally affected by the murders. It's hard to give many specifics regarding the plot because even giving a synopsis of the first chapter would contain spoilers. But it's the fast pace of the novel that makes it so intriguing, suspenseful, and so damn hard to put down. Trust me, when a book keeps you up past 1:00 reading it, when you know you have a class at 8:00 the next morning, you know you've got a winner in your hands. I think the best way to summarize the plot without giving things away is to directly compare it to Se7en (the movie, not the comic series) because there are so many parallels between the two that they may as well be the same story. Two detectives tracking a serial killer with delusions of grandeur, who is constantly toying with them. The detectives become good friends with each other throughout the story, until the end when a dramatic confrontation with the killer goes and twists the story even further, and then ends on a huge downer. I mean, who needs resolution? Then at the end, as a bonus, there's a whole portfolio of the actual investigation, which is kind of shocking, because by the end of the book, you're so drawn into the story, that you forget that this actually happened.

The dialogue here is sharp and very appropriate to the time period. As you read, you're acutely aware that this is taking place in the thirties. Bendis also manages to balance the amount of dialogue perfectly. The characters say what they need to say, without weighing the book down with pages of idle conversation. At the same time, there's enough dialogue to keep the story moving at a steady pace without making it feel rushed, like the author only had 300-500 words to convey something very complicated. Kind of like this review, actually.

Probably one of the greatest things about Torso is the art. The simple black and white format really gives it a gritty noir atmosphere. The art's a lot like that of Sin City, except instead of having certain things colored in an otherwise monochrome world, Torso will occasionally have a highly detailed photograph in certain places (usually as a backdrop) which gives it a unique sense of realism. Bendis' use of negative space is remarkable, and it becomes as much a driving force on these pages as the narrative itself. I actually can't take credit for that last sentence, because I actually just pulled that directly from the introduction. I also thought that the negative space was an important factor in this book (as well as the unusual panel layout), but I couldn't think of the right words to convey this point, and after several minutes I became frustrated, and decided to quote Greg Rucka, as I don't think I could have said it better, no matter how long I tried. Thanks, Greg. See, even the introduction to this book is genius!

Basically, everything about this book is excellent. It will greatly appeal to anyone who like any of the following things: suspense, crime novels, noir, Se7en, serial killers, and pizza. According to my statistics, that is every single person on the planet, because everyone loves pizza. For those of you who don't even bother reading the review, but instead just skip down to the very bottom to see the rating, and maybe read the last few lines that summarize the reviewers thoughts on the book, I'll make it easy. Book good! Buy now! -Reviewer Tristan Hoagland is remarkably realistic, with over twenty-seven points of articulation and karate-chop action!

RATING: 5/5