Face front, Crawlspacers! On an upcoming edition of our podcast, we’ll be announcing the best of Spider-Man in 2013 as decided by YOU! It’s a little something we call the Crawlie Awards, and only your votes can make it possible. So read the complete rules and categories by clicking “read the rest of this entry” and send your picks to crawlspaceawards@gmail.com. The (possibly tentative) voting deadline is January 2, 2014. Remember to read the rules carefully (don’t forget to send up to three ranked choices for each category!), and help us decide who will strut down the webbed carpet and enter the Crawl of Fame!

GENERAL RULES:

– This awards show is intended to focus on Spider-Man. That means in order to be eligible in each category, a candidate must be Spider-Man related. “Spider-Man related” means related to Spider-Man or a character closely associated to Spider-Man, like Venom, Morbius, Scarlet Spider, and others along those lines. Use common sense to determine what is appropriate.

– If a candidate is only partially Spider-Man related, try to focus on the Spider-Man related aspect when making your choices. When considering Thunderbolts, focus on Venom’s role in the title. When considering Brian Michael Bendis, consider Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, but not Guardians of the Galaxy.

– Consider only candidates from 2013. That means only take into account material released no earlier than January 1, 2013 and no later than December 31, 2013. Similar to the rule above, try to base your decision only on the portion of the candidates that was released in 2013. So when picking your favorite title, only base your choice on issues released in 2013, and so on.

– Candidates from all Spider-Man media are eligible and they compete in the same categories as one another. This means that if the category is favorite writer, you could pick a comic book writer, a cartoon writer, the writer of the story for the Lego Marvel video game, or so forth as your favorite. That said, these categories are definitely designed with comics in mind, so you won’t see categories specific to other media.

– When voting, be as specific as possible, even if you think you’re stating the obvious. For example, if you say “Ultimate Spider-Man” I won’t know if you mean the cartoon or the series Ultimate Comics Spider-Man unless you specify that. Or if your favorite cover is a variant cover, make sure you specify that. Voting for “Spider-Man” is not sufficiently specific because that doesn’t specify whether you mean  the Superior Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon), Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles), Newspaper Strip Spider-Man, Lego Spider-Man, etc. BELABOR YOUR SPECIFICITY! 

– Many of the categories overlap with each other. For example, Superior Carnage is both a title and a story. And Boomerang is both a lead character and a villain.

CATEGORIES:

1. BEST LEAD CHARACTER
What character was the best star in 2013? With so many spin-offs and alternate versions, you have a lot to chose from!

2. BEST SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Sometimes the most memorable moments come not from the star of a given book, but from the people surrounding him or her.

3. BEST VILLAIN
What bad guy or gal was the most compelling in 2013?

4. BEST NEW CHARACTER
Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created characters whose legacies continue to this day, but this category’s purpose is to recognize the best additions to the world of Spider-Man from the past twelve months! You can choose a completely original character, or a character who appeared for the first time in a new continuity.

5. BEST WRITER
Who penned the best Spider-Man related stories in 2013?

6. BEST ARTIST
Any type of visual artist is eligible for this category, be it a penciler, inker, colorist, animator, character designer, letterer, cover artist, or whatever else you can think of!

7. BEST COVER
What Spider-Man product looked the best before you even opened it? Even if you didn’t buy anything Spider-Man related this year, you can still vote in this category because looking at covers is free!

8. BEST SINGLE ISSUE, EPISODE, ETC.
This category is open to individual issues of comic books, episodes of the cartoon, and so on. It can be a standalone story, or the best individual chapter of a multi-part story arc.

9. BEST STORY
This category is open to any story of any length. Multi-part stories qualify for this category. Single-part stories also qualify. For story arcs that were only partially released in 2013, focus on the parts that came out in 2013. Obviously, all parts of a story are interconnected and cannot realistically be considered in a vacuum from one another, but do your best to follow the spirit of these awards.

10. BEST SERIES
This is where you consider what Spider-Man series is the best when you consider all of its storylines, artwork, and writing as a whole. Ongoing comics, miniseries, one-shots (if published as a separate title), animated series, and anything else analogous thereto are eligible for this category.

VOTING PROCEDURE

– In order to vote, email your selections to crawlspaceawards@gmail.com.

-For each category, you may vote for up to three candidates. Rank your candidates from your most to least favorites. NUMBER YOUR RANKINGS, with 1 being your most favorite, 2 being your second favorite, and 3 being your third favorite. Your first choice will be allotted three points. Your second choice will be allotted two points. Your third choice will be allotted one point. MAKE SURE YOU NUMBER YOUR RANKINGS. The candidate with the most points overall will win.

– You may vote for fewer than three candidates for a category if you wish, but RANK the choices you do put down and NUMBER YOUR RANKINGS.

– You do not have to vote in every category.

– If you do not follow the voting rules, your votes will be awarded fewer points or possibly not counted at all. Submit no more than three ranked choices for the categories in which you vote.

– When voting, ask yourself if there is any possibility of confusion on what you’re voting for. If so, be more specific. This is important when there are so many titles, alternate universes, variant covers, and media adaptions. You must err on the side of being ABSURDLY specific. I reserve the right to interpret ambiguous votes, but try to make it so the winner is decided based on what YOU really want to win, and not my judgment calls.

– You can ask questions about these rules in the comments section. It’s possible that I will answer them!

– Voting deadline: January 2, 2014. It is possible that more time will be added as we pin down our recording schedule, but don’t count on it. The final Wednesday of 2013 is December 25, so all the comics of the year will be out by then. Do vote early if you can because logistically it will be easier to tally the votes that way. If something that is released after you vote changes your mind, you may submit an amended ballot. Just make sure to let me know that’s what you’re doing so that I don’t double-count your votes.

– The winners will be announced on an upcoming podcast.

– Voting is open to all!