You know, it’s funny: I’m so used to the daily posting schedule–wherein most of the comments on a given post happen within twelve hours of me putting it up and going to bed–that every time I do one of these, I end up panicking when I wake up the next morning and only see a couple of entries from the super-industrious among you.
But like always, as the week went on, the entries kept coming. And like always, they were fantastic, and I’m glad that so many of you took the time and effort to make a few jokes and celebrate four freakin’ years of the ISB.
So without further ado, here’s this year’s entrants!
Krod got in early with a one-panel summary of pretty much everyone’s reaction to Frank Miller’s The Spirit.
Will Wise gets this year’s Astley Award for including the line “Ahh! Internet Memes!” in his version of DC’s World War III.
Ephraim gives us the creepiest opening line of the contest with Terror of Trigon. Seriously.
notintheface combines cowboys, spacemen and the inimitable Cary Bates to bring us The Origin of Terra-Man.
Brian Smith, whose great entries have set the standard for the rest of the contest three years running, chronicles a year in his life that was devoted to The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe!
googum lets us know that Wolverine loves the Awesome Blossom–and who wouldn’t? It’s awesome!–and cites Micronauts #37 as the source!
Erich‘s entry detailing the events of Death of the New Gods was the only one that included the angry corpse of Jack Kirby. I expect better from the rest of you next year.
Canton does it up Cary Bates style with a reasonably faithful recap of True Believers, with bonus LOLCats!
Chris Heimpel creates a child’s garden of delights–and a morbidly obese Scorpion–out of the trainwreck that was DC/Marvel: All Access. And to be honest, J’eann G’rey, the Phoenician Manhurter cracked me up.
Jason gives us a world where the Tenth Doctor is played by John Hodgman in 2008: The Year In Review.
Doktor Puppykicker–of International Society of Supervillains fame–trims the fat (and masonic geometry) from the phone book that is From Hell.
Zak read Comet Man so you don’t have to. Not that you would’ve anyway. Just sayin’.
Doc gives us a very different look back at 2008 while displaying a grasp of anatomy that is scurrilous at best.
darksideofcomics and Peter Svensson, despite not being thrilled with the prizes, offer up their version of Batman: RIP.
Elliot Campos includes scary accurate portraits of me, Dave Campbell and Kevin Church, despite the fact that our scenes were sadly cut out of the final version of Y – The Last Man!
Jake gives us a version of The Dark Knight Returns that everyone can enjoy! Except Alfred, who died.
Brian Hughes included a picture of Nick Fury that made me… confused in his recap of New Avengers and Mighty Avengers.
DarKye tries to outdo me by relating the actual events of Secret Invasion in the manga style that the kids are so into these days.
Robert Mar gives us another Year In Review that ties it all together and features a surprise twist at the end!
Michael Noonan does one of my favorites: Marvel Two-In-One #99, guest-starring ROM: Spaceknight!
Adler goes the extra mile by condensing sixty issues of Transmetropolitan in one panel!
Philip Oldham does a bang-up job hitting the highlights of Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes!
Guayec was no doubt hobbling down to the pub and writing on his Treo during the creation of the condensed Black Summer!
An excellent crop and some great work this year, but before we get to the winner, I’d like to single out a few of my favorites:
Marc Haines gives us Identity Crisis, complete with lovingly detailed fishnet stockings that may or may not have contributed to my enjoyment!
Fan-favorite Das Ãœbernerd, who first won hearts with last year’s History of the DC Universe, gives us the best adaptation of Watchmen to be released this year. Yeah, I said it.
PJ Perez focuses on Tony Stark’s truly magnificent head of hair while recapping the totally rad saga of Armor Wars II!
The drawings alone in Carrie D’s version of The Ultimates 1 and 2 just crack me up, and that’s before I even got to the footnote.
Michelle almost won for the guest stars in the courtroom scene alone in her version of Batman vs. Lord Death Man, from Bat-Manga!
And finally, former champ Tim Curtin brings his A-Game yet again in his version of Will Eisner’s The Spirit. Seriously, page two is a masterpiece… well, as far as crayon-based recaps are concerned anyway.
Each one was a fantastic entry that would’ve made a worthy winner, but as we all learned from a surly, pimp hat-wearing Sean Connery, There a few problems that cannot be solved by an art-directed swordfight in a loft set to the glorious sounds of Queen. And also, there can be only one, which this year is…
Steve and his hilarious recap of Kraven’s Last Hunt!
Congratulations, Steve! You’ve just won a prize package consisting of all kinds of crazy crap, including a signed copy of Teenagers from the Future
Once again, I want to thank everybody who participated for making the Recap Contest a success for the third year in a row, and–perhaps most importantly–for generating content while I took the week off. Thanks for capping off Year Four with a bang folks… now get ready for Year Five!
John Hodgeman? Really?!? *sigh* There’s always next year. And congrats to Steve . . . though I do wonder if he ever got to read the issues of Black Panther when Kraven actually threw down with a Panther.
John Hodgeman? Really?!?
It’s the round head, I think. But for me at least, it made it funnier.
Heh. Okay, then. I just can’t seem to get the hang of drawing hair using Paint, and I just had to put the glasses on the Doctor. Should we start calling Matt Smith “Mac” from here on out?
Once more an absolutely spectacular set of comics. I’ll be honest that when I saw the Lord Death Man comic I thought that it was a shoo-in for the winner: pithy, clever cameos, and Batman.
Oh and: “the best adaptation of Watchmen to be released this year”?
Eat it, Zack Snyder!
Heck, when I saw “World War III” I realized I couldn’t win, and then things just kept being awesome from there!
I’m glad that “spectacular competition” was the reason that my streak of honorable mentions ended. The other option for ending it — immediate disqualification for lingering on all the implied centaur sex in a synopsis of “Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy” — is too terrible to contemplate.
Chris
thanks for the sport! Tough competition!
Although the content of Doc’s 2008 recap was dead-on (CURSE Quesada & Bendis), my vote woulda gone to Tim ‘s Spirit. I think I Wii’d myself reading it.
Great job to all and Congrats to Steve!
Wow, Adler really nailed it. I think I’ll even print that panel.
Oh yeah, Kraven’s Last Hunt is the clear winner. Although, I have to say, I wasn’t quite sure what was going on there when Kraven was blowing his head off…
Steve is a pal of mine, and I kept wanting to get on his back about contributing to the contest, ’cause I was absolutely sure he wouldn’t do so without me bugging him. But the holiday craziness kept getting in the way and I never got around to getting on his back, and wouldn’t you know it the little bastard got on it anyway! And now look!
Regardless, the important thing here is that I MEANT to get on his back and therefore the win — and those prizes — are rightfully MINE. Please remit.
Congrats, Steve!!!
Awesome work, Steve, I laughed like a maniac!
Awesome work Steve and everyone else too! Elliot, I didn’t think there was a way to make Sarah Palin any sexier, but brother, you found it!
What a great (and unexpected) surprise to wake up to. Thanks for the win, Chris–I truly appreciate it. I’m a really new blogger (I literally started three days ago), but I’ve been reading and enjoying the heck out of yours for about two years now.
The competition was pretty stiff; some of you guys are great artists. Brian Hughes’s stood out to me as deceptively well-drawn. I curse him for making me look at Nick Fury in that way.
Thanks to JohnE for kicking me in the ass in spirit and finally getting me to start my own blog. Chris, I’m totally going to steal the “30 seconds” format for classic horror flick recaps.
And Michael, you’re right about the shotgun panel. You can kind of tell which ones I drew as the deadline got closer. ;) If anyone asks me about it, I’ll just say that Kraven’s hitting an explosive bong.
Thanks again, everyone! It was a lot of fun!
I was robbed!!! I demand a recount…at the taxpayer’s expense of course.
A very worthy winner! Congrats, Steve!
And well done to all the entrants!
The best man won. I guess it’s back to the drawing board for next year.
Excellent work by all! Bonus points to Marc Haines, for Elongated man’s use of the phrase “set up pimpin'”.
I’d have given it to Steve for “Ka-Blam-ski!!!” and the “live-in girlfriend/boyfriend” references alone.
Although kudos to Philip for Polar Boy’s popsicle-arm.
I’m already hard at work on my next year’s entry, “Rage of the Red Lanterns in 30 Seconds”.
Here’s some sample dialogue:
“In Brightest Day…HUUUUURRRRKKK!!!”
Polar Boy’s popsicle arm was, in fact, a hoot.
I’m so glad the Kraven’s Last Hunt recap won. All were great, but that was a little greater.
Good job, everyone. Now go get jobs! ;)
Congrats Steve! And “you’re welcome” for the nightmare fuel!
So of course I had to read the Terror of Trigon recap first. Sadly, I don’t have any of those issues anymore, so I have NO idea what the hell Jericho thought he was doing in the beginning. You’re a creepy dude, Jericho. But! Lilith, yo! I totally forgot she was in that story. That DC killed her off for shock value in some moronic, instantly forgotten crossover — okay, let me clarify: that DC killed off a character whose raison d’etre can be summarized as PSYCHIC GO-GO DANCER for shock value in some moronic, instantly forgotten crossover — yeah. Nice job, you guys!
Also: Awwwwwwww, Vermin! There needs to be a plush Vermin doll.
I hate you all for being funnier than me.
I love all of these, but that Charlie Brown-esque Nick Fury cracks me up.
I like Das Ubernerd’s thought on Watchmen: What WAS with the pirates?
I’m officially a part of the ISB legacy. That is mondo groovy.
Thanks for putting mine up, Chris. And congrats to everyone else who put a lot more effort into their entry than me.
Congrats, Steve! And happy Awesomeversary, Chris!
Also, wow, I really have to step it up next year…
Terrific entries all. My vote for winner would’ve been World War III.
A very deserving winner, although my personal favorite was Transmetropolitan in one panel… because, well, it really summed things up perfectly. And hilariously.
Awesome, awesome entries. I sadly got too busy and didn’t get a chance to do my “Amazons Attack in 30 seconds” that I had planned to do. Ah well, there’s always next year!
Great competition and congratulations to Steve! Heh, “Live-in Girlfriend.”