the 2022 GRANTIE™ Awards!

It's been a year.

Since the last Granties™? Well duh, yeah, but I don't mean it like that.

I mean, it's been a YEAR; A long, frustrating, scary, habitually disappointing year where it seems like almost everything that takes place outside of a panel or a splash is looking to drain humanity's bandwidth just a fraction more each time.

And, suffice it to say, that sucks moose ass.

But that's why comics and sequential art seem to mean so much more today. This perfect amalgam of words and artwork that magically seem to be more cinematic than a film and more thoughtful than an album has done so much for, well, me over the course of this year despite so many twists, turns, and setbacks. I don't know how well I'd be doing without the upcoming list of comic work and workers.

These are pieces that I have spent money on, stumbled upon, and been almost forced to read at times, and they struck me in that wonderful resonating way that makes your spirit vibrate. These are pieces I allowed into my life, and I feel that's the ultimate award anybody can give a piece of art nowadays, y'know? We're inundated by so much fucking content, so much of it inherently worthless (bc it's sharted out by almost any platform to get your attention and your money and your thoughts), that our ability to place value on our chosen books or pdfs or podcasts or whatever makes it SO much more precious.

And that's what these are, this dumb award thing I made up - These are works that have meant the most to me over this last year. If your work doesn't make my list? That doesn't mean it holds any less value to anyone else. That doesn't mean it's not good or it's unworthy. If you feel like you've been jilted, make your own goddamn awards - I did!

So, in addition to containing a shred of acknowledgment, I wanted these medalists to also have my gratitude, for producing something so subjectively pleasing in a field that means so much to me. I wish my dumb jpegs were more intrinsically valuable to our community in a broader sense, but I hope they serve as a reminder that your hard work meant a lot to one person. And if they can reach me (a dopey, awkward, middle-aged turd) on such a profound level, think of what your work must do to others!

But enough farting around, here are the 2022 Grantie™ Medallists!