The Stick Awards II: Second Edition (#0421 - #0430)

[Porthos]

Welcome to The Stick Awards II: Second Edition!

The Stick Awards are handed out to the best strips of all time as chosen by our fellow Playgrounders.

This week we are covering the comic strips 421 through 430.

For full details about the Stick Awards, please check out the main thread here.

To read more about the original Stick Awards, created by Nazzo, the 102nd, please read his thread here.

To vote in this thread, simply state which comic of the ten listed is your favorite. Bolding the number of the comic (Like this) helps it stand out.

Voting for this week will close on May 28th, 4pm EDT. Any votes made after that will NOT count toward the totals.

Last week, 419 A Special Pre-Approved Offer found out that dealing with potential business partners can be a real pain in the neck at times. While that deal might have, ahem, fallen through, it can still console itself with a trip to the Best of the Hundred tournament.

While others gather the forces and harness the horses, it's time for us to muster the voters as we move on to.....

.THE STICK AWARDS II: 0421 - 0430

421 Oratory of the Stick
422 March to War
423 Periodic Bombardment
424 A Wizard's Work
425 War Makes Boys of Us All
426 Three of a Kind
427 They're Just Another Brick in the Wall
428 It Takes a Thief
429 Stay on Target...
430 Rematch

[Jasdoif]

I'm backing 428, both for Haley putting her skillset to use masterfully, and for her understated "Don't know, I'm not done expecting other places yet" punchline.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I'm going to vote for #429, although #428 comes pretty close.

[MilesBeyond]

430. I love Xykon, and this is one of his better moments. The last three panels are fantastic. Also, Roy hurling on the soldier gets me every time.

I love the idea of 422, but I don't think the layout quite works.

Also, in 423 (and later strips), what's the deal with the 1000gp tag on Redcloak's spyglass? I feel like it's a reference to something earlier, but I can't remember what.

[Angelalex242]

I agree with 430. Because I can just HEAR boss music in the background when Roy goes mano a mano with Xykon.

[Gift Jeraff]

#422 for its usage of art and symmetry as a tool for foreshadowing: the Azurite redshirts mirror the hobgoblin mooks. Roy mirrors "Xykon." The Lord of Azure City (and a paladin) mirrors the Supreme Leader of the Hobgoblin Horde and soon-to-be conqueror of Azure City (and a paladin hater). V mirrors fiendish creatures. O-Chul mirrors his future captor and friend in the darkness.

B R A V O
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[Sunken Valley]

424. Paper beats rock!!!!

[Emanick]

Also, in 423 (and later strips), what's the deal with the 1000gp tag on Redcloak's spyglass? I feel like it's a reference to something earlier, but I can't remember what.

I think it's just a reference to the price the Player's Handbook puts on a spyglass.

Anyway, I'm voting for 428: It Takes a Thief. Probably the most dramatic strip in this batch, which is what this part of the arc excels at. Although I do like the awesomeness of the first panel in 430.

[137beth]

429, the epic moment when Roy makes the jump.

Tough one, though.

[ChristianSt]

I normaly don't value the art much, but I think this time it influences my decision: The splash-page of 430 - Rematch is simple fantastic. On top of that the "Xykon can't remember" callback is a nice addition.

[Meph]

422, 428, 429 and 430 all the same bulk - and I can cast just one vote. This sucks.
422 for the graphic, the realistic (to me) pre-battle dialogues and the infernal hippie.
428 deserves it for Haley's outcunning and the last epic pic. But in this set looses ground, there are even more epic pictures and compared to them 428 lacks in humor.
429 for the last panel - can just a line be worth a whole strip? Make me think that we should have a contest for the top ten (better top fifty maybe) oots best punchlines. But this is another kind of contest, so 429 goes out this round together with 428.
430 starts one of the best sequences in my taste: Roy vs Xykon 2. A sequence of strips that will give me hard times choosing too, but my enthusiasm was perhaps due just to the anticipation of the following strips rather than to the 430th itself. Still a good strip, but merely an appetizer of its next ones - and not worth of subtract a vote to 422.
This leaves 422 earning my vote. Sorry if I made it so long, sometimes I allow myselft to because normally I do not.

[Emperordaniel]

Friends, Playgrounders, countrymen, lend me your ears, and vote for #421.

[thatSeniorGuy]

428, for Haley of course.

[NobodyWasTaken]

All of these are great
But I'm voting 428

[Cartographer7]

428 - because Haley being awesome, and "Oh.. Oh my."

But this one was hard. So many awesome moments.

[declinator]

Whose awesome moment is worthy of the honor: ? For me, Haley is the winner. 428 for this week's vote.

[nogall]

lots of good ones, and all-around bad-assery. But I'll go with the funniest of the bunch:
421.

[Killer Angel]

428, hands down (well, almost. 430 was close)

[Tannhaeuser]

I wavered considerably between 422 and 428. But Haley's frustration with Lawful Types and Belkar's "It's Pat" allusion, along with the reveal of the Undead Silver Dragon, decided me.


428

[LadyEowyn]

Voting for 422 - excellent non-standard layout and use of parallels and contrasts. And also "This one's for you, Mom".

Tough choice between that and 423, though, because I love Redcloak being a scientist.

[Porthos]

Approx 47 hour to go update:

421) 2
422) 3
423) 0
424) 1
425) 0
426) 0
427) 0
428) 8
429) 2
430) 3

Want your favorite strip of this bunch to get more votes? Well, only one thing to do then. And, no, I didn't mean bribing other posters.

[Torrasque]

425 because Roy loves Elan

[Porthos]

Many many strong strips here. Going through them, I whittled them down to two. 421 and 428 stand above the rest, IMO. 428 is plot critical, and a awesome moment for Haley. 421, however, is sheer brilliance for Elan. Hard to choose between the two, but I am in a slightly silly mood today, so 421 it is. 428 is worthy, but today at least I am willing to give Elan props for dealing with his bardic right of passage as only he can.

And with that....

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!

428 It Takes a Thief is the winner this week. It now moves on to the Best of the Hundred tournament.

Full Results are as follows

........THE STICK AWARDS II: 0421 - 0430

	Comic Number	Votes Received	Vote Percentage
	421	3	14.29
	422	3	14.29
	423	0	0.00
	424	1	4.76
	425	1	4.76
	426	0	0.00
	427	0	0.00
	428	8	38.10
	429	2	9.52
	430	3	14.29

Please join us for the next round of voting for Strips #431 - #440 which can be found here.