Let's Go Ringo

We've covered the Anime Awards, now we take our stab at the Ringo Awards! Because if there is anything we love as much as anime here on Nerdom, it's comics!

If you have been here for our annual coverage of Crunchyroll's Anime Awards, then you know I get hyped for these sort of things. Now, I have covered the Anime Awards the past two years, but this is my first time covering the Ringo Awards. I was a bit to hesitant last year because I didn't know a lot about it. However, this year I decided: "What the hell?" And that is how we got HERE. I'm a little behind since nominees are now locked in, BUT let's talk about it anyway!

How are you behind if nominees are locked in? It's not like voting is closed! Hi, there peanut gallery, you always know how to lead the conversation where I want to go huh? The Ringo Awards work much differently than the Anime Awards. In all honesty, the two aren't really comparable. In the Anime Awards, a LARGE [50+] panel of judges are selected (usually people in the anime industry or nerdy social media influencers with a high fanbase as well as high content knowledge), it is these judges that select all the nominees. After that open voting ensues. Meaning, anyone and everyone can vote, AND they can vote multiple times over the course of a week. After voting closes, the judges give their votes. After combining the results from the judges and public votes, the winners are selected. The weight of the votes is 70/30 between judge votes/fan votes. The Ringo Awards are much different. Fans only involvement is during the selection of the nominees (this is also when the "Favorites" category winners are selected). And even then it is more limited. Fans votes only decide TWO nominees per category, the other three are selected by the preselected "Jury", which is only five people. Comic creators submit their comics to be potential nominees, fans vote which works they want selected, the nominees are finalized based on what I just previously said, and once the nominees are locked in only professionals in the comic industry can vote. The winners are decided based on number of votes and then broken down by a points system to remain fair. Very different, but still very honorable.

So, now that we know how it works, who are the nominees? Well, let's back it up for just a moment and take a look at our categories:

• Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)

• Best Writer

• Best Artist or Penciller

• Best Inker

• Best Letterer

• Best Colorist

• Best Cover Artist

• Best Series

• Best Single Issue or Story

• Best Original Graphic Novel

• Best Anthology

• Best Humor Comic

• Best Webcomic

• Best Humor Webcomic

• Best Non-fiction Comic Work

• Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel

• Best Presentation in Design

• Favorite Hero (Fan-Only)

• Favorite Villain (Fan-Only)

• Favorite New Series (Fan-Only)

• Favorite New Talent (Fan-Only)

• Favorite Publisher (Fan-Only)

Wowza, that is one doozy of a list, and it makes me so excited just thinking about all the potential! And guess what? Webtoon's creators and webcomics made it into some of these categories!

This isn't a surprise considering Webtoon has been nominated, and even won some, every year. But, I am thrilled that this time I get to watch it happen! SO, let's really get into it! Since there are SO MANY categories (and we would be here for ten years if you let me talk about them all), like the Anime Awards, I have chosen five to talk about today. I highlighted them above, but I'll also say them here: Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist), Best Series, Best Original Graphic Novel, Best Humor Webcomic, and Best Webcomic. Unlike with the Anime Awards, I will not be making any predictions regarding the winners, since there are many comics on these lists that I have not read, and I am well aware that I am extremely bias towards Webtoon. Instead, I will just be voicing some thoughts on the categories and nominees.

Let's begin!

Best Cartoonist (Write/Artist)

The Nominees:

• Derf Backderf

• Mongie

• Stan Sakai

• Rachel Smythe

• Adrian Tomine

• Sophie Yanow

The Thoughts:

Seeing Mongie, the creator of Let's Play, and Rachel Smythe, the creator of Lore Olympus, up there for such a high award fills me with immense joy. These nominations are well earned. Both of these webcomics are highly loved, and masterfully done. They are both similar in the sense of being extremely well balanced in their themes. Smythe's art style is extremely unique and her story telling ability has made her the longest running 1st place holder on Webtoon's popularity boards. Mongie is also a consistent high ranker and her portrayal of emotions personified is unique and brilliant. Both have had an extremely successful couple of years- Mongie completing two Kickstarters and Smythe publishing two novels. If the other nominees are as strong of players as they are, then well, I can't wait to see the winner!

Best Series

The Nominees:

• The Department of Truth, Image Comics

• Far Sector, DC Comics

• Lore Olympus, WEBTOON

• My Deepest Secret, WEBTOON

• Usagi Yojimbo, IDW Publishing

• Wonder Woman: Dead Earth, DC

The Thoughts:

After just talking about it, it is no surprise to see Lore Olympus on that nominee board. But Webtoon hit the jackpot also getting My Deepest Secret up there. I have personally not read it, but it is on my to do list. It ranks high though and get raving reviews from Chase if that helps. Webtoon should be immensely proud of all of it's nominees but this and the last category in particular deserves high praise and recognition. This is the big leagues and they made it! They are competing against DC comics for heavens sake! Speaking of, I am THRILLED to see Wonder Woman up there! This category is really coming for my heart! I do fully intend on checking out most, if not all, of these nominees, because if they made it this far, I guarantee they are worth it. That's why I love award season, so much new content already selected for me. I love it!

Best Original Graphic Novel

The Nominees:

• Buried But Not Dead, Source Point Press

• Kent State, Abrams Books

• The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist, Drawn & Quarterly

• Moms, Drawn & Quarterly

• Pulp, Image Comics

The Thoughts:

I have not seen or heard of a single one of these. And that's the point. I picked this category because it is very important to me. Seeing new creators, new works, and watching them climb, is an incredible experience. Maybe that's why I love webcomics so much, because you get to slowly watch someone's dream come true. And let's face it, all of our favorite comic book artists are getting to a point of retirement soon. So to have a category like this is important. It's the opportunity to watch fresh blood makes its way onto the scene. Best of luck to all these nominees. I intend on checking out each and everyone of these.

Best Humor Webcomic

The Nominees:

• The Abominable Charles Christopher

• Bagel High

• Beware of Toddler

• Cassandra Comics

• Cursed Princess Club

• The Middle Age

• Sarah’s Scribbles

• xkcd

The Thoughts:

CURSED PRINCESS CLUB YASSSSS! You might recognize that name because they were recently one of our Pick of the Month's! We are huge fans in this house and I can't help but desperately hope they get this win. This is such an outstanding webcomic. Regardless of the results, congratulations on the nomination, you earned it!

Best Webcomic

The Nominees:

• DPS Only

• Fangs

• Heart of the City

• Midnight Poppy Land

• Shiloh

• Totally Under Control

The Thoughts:

Webtoon takes two nominations and Tapas takes two nominations. This feels like a battle of wills honestly. Specifically mine and Chase's wills since she has recently been favoring Tapas for new content. Both are very prominent names in the webcomic world and I am very curious to see how this category turns out. Both platforms have made drastic changes over the years in both how they service their readers and how they advertise and expand. The comic world is changing as a whole and I think it is fair to say that these two will join the ranks of the greats one day.

Some final thoughts:

This was so hard considering there was so much content I was unfamiliar with. I have been out of the American comic game for a hot minute, I am behind on graphic novels and even behind on webcomics at the moment, but this gave me life! These awards have me ridiculously pumped for the next year of comics. This gives me plenty of new content to sort though as well! The winners of the "Fan-Only Favorites" categories will be announced at the Baltimore Comic-Con later this month. The rest of the winners will be announced on October 23rd, so make sure to stay tuned for who won and what's coming next!

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Thank you so much for joining me on this wild journey known as- The Ringo Awards. We will be keeping up with them as they go, I'm really excited for the Fan-Only category winners to be announced! I hope your week is going well, let's finish strong! We'll be back on Sunday with Rantt and The Mess, so make sure to join us then! In the meantime, stay safe, stay nerdy, and stay messy otaku!