Meaningless Awards of the Week- 9/24/08

Best Artist- Stefano Gaudiano, Daredevil #111

Take a look at these two pages of art:

One is from Daredevil #110, with pencils by Michael Lark. The other is from #111, with pencils by Clay Mann. Can you tell the difference? Probably not, and I think that has a whole lot to do with the talent of inker Stefano Gaudiano.

Inkers don’t usually get a lot of credit these days, but I guess that’s really the nature of the job. There’s really only two circumstances in which you’d notice their work: if they’re just really bad at it, or if they overshadow the penciller. Jerry Ordway is guilty of the latter a lot, specifically in the Trinity back-ups when he inks Mike Norton’s work. It looks like Jerry Ordway’s art, not Mike Norton’s.

Gaudiano’s guilty of overshadowing his artists too, but I don’t think anyone realizes it. I’d be willing to bet that the vast majority of DD readers didn’t even notice there was a different penciller this issue. Gaudiano’s inking brings a nice consistency to the art on Daredevil. That’s the sign of a great inker.

Best Announcement- Dan Slott named new writer on Mighty Avengers

I can’t stand Brian Michael Bendis. But I love the Avengers. See the problem here?

It’s been four years since Bendis disassembled the Avengers, I haven’t been able to enjoy an Avengers title since. Okay, Young Avengers and The Initiave have been good, but I’m talking classic Avengers.

And it doesn’t hurt that I’m a fan of Slott, of course. Is it too much to hope that he might stick She-Hulk on the team?

Best Publisher- Marvel Comics

Let’s see. Marvel published seven comids that I bought this week. DC published…Trinity. Sort of a disappointing showing this week from the DC Nation.

Of course, none of the Secret Invasion tie-ins I got this week (She-Hulk, Thunderbolts and Avengers: The Initiative) were very good. And X-Men: The Legacy wasn’t anything to blog about. Neither was Fantastic Four, for that matter.

So I guess it was really just Daredevil and Runaways versus Trinity. But Trinity kind of sucked anyway. In fact, Image may have put up a better showing (with PvP) than DC did this week.