Ah, another whirlwind week where I barely found the time to read all the webcomics I have on my Favorites list, let alone write ABOUT them. But you don’t want to hear about all that wedding planning and retail job crap, do you? I think not. So what has been on my plate as far as webcomics go, besides the creation of the next episode of The Amazing Superzeroes?

Why, the Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards, of course, which our venerable host and master, Daku, has already posted about. So why should I drop my two cents on this obviously dead horse? Because they’re my opinions and they are meant to fill this space, that’s why!

(The following paragraphs will feature less outlandish and overly embellished punctuation. Promise.)

So now that I’ve been on the other side of the wall for better than a year, I am more aware of the methods of back-patting we webcomic creators employ to keep from throwing in the towel from update to update. The best method seems to be the WCCA. When I heard that the nominees for this year’s awards had been announced, I rushed like an adolescent boy scurries to the toy store to check out the latest wares and checked to see if the impossible had indeed come to pass.

I scanned the long list of mentions and nods and found no, NO sign of my brilliant work. Not one fan had taken the time and (unnecessary) effort to get verified with the WCCA board of voters and nominate me for that next step towards greatness. Once I had wiped the tears from my eyes and the feeling of isolation and failure from my heart, I did what I always do with these lists: I made more lists.

I started by looking up these strips that I’d never heard of before and checked them out, one by one. Many were manga. Blech. A few were amusing. And most were, at best, just not my cup of tea. At worst, they were just not very good. So I added a couple of those strips to my full-to-bursting Favorites list before returning to my bitterness and starting an article about how much everyone else sucks and I rule. Luckily, time came along and swept me away from my computer, just long enough to get these selfish thoughts out of my head and off my screen. These venomous remarks transmogrified into something much more respectful and constructive, leaving my bitter thoughts of the WCCA and where they can stick it to be lost forever to the unforgiving beast known as Microsoft Word.

My point? The WCCA, like every other self-serving awards ceremony, at the very least inspires debate and conversation. And right now, that’s exactly what the webcomic medium needs. We need to get people impassioned and inspired so they will stand up for their creations or even the creations of others; to write to Zoinks! Magazine and criticize or praise the latest strips they’ve printed; to buy the T-shirts and wear them proudly to the big comic book conventions; to make people take notice that this is one of the most versatile, unique forms of art to come along in YEARS and that it should be nurtured and cared for as such.

So go! Check the list, read some strips, and tell everyone what you do or do not like! It’s good for business.