The Yellow Dot

As you know (or SHOULD know), I'm a big fan of DC's old Who's Who series, and consequently of the Who's Who Podcast brought to us wannabe-monthly by fellow bloggers The Irredeemable Shag of Firestorm Fan and Rob! of Aquaman Shrine. I'm usually among the first to listen to each 'cast as it is released, and the first to leave comments on Firestorm Fan (the Shrine is a huge site, Rob doesn't need more patronage). But I still didn't expect the guys to award me their Yellow Dot Award for Achievement in Commenting in their latest episode (so named for the dot pattern around the pages of the original Who's Who entries). The award, not unlike Marvel's No-Prizes and my own Annual Siskoid Awards, consists of absolutely nothing, coming to no mailbox near me.

But here's the thing. In my own life, I've been involved in competitions where the winners were so proud of themselves, they felt the need to create their own trophies which they were sure they would win again and again (and in fact, did). I've seen this particular example of hubris twice: The New Brunswick provincial high school improv tournament is a tradition started by a school who won a simple, trophy-less invitational, and decided to make their own prize and keep it going. They would go on to win the next 6 years! And the same thing happened at a big charity trivia competition in my region, with the elite team donating a big-ass trophy to the charity, which they continued winning year after year (although not for the last three or four). Now, I'm glad to see these events profit from the legacy, but I do find it rather arrogant and self-serving for those teams to make their initial wins more important than they would otherwise have been.

So of course, I'm going to do the same thing with the Yellow Dot Award.

Now, my inspiration actually comes from Rob! himself. You see, on the Aquaman Shrine, the first time you send Rob! some piece of Aquaman memorabilia, lore, etc., Rob! sends you a FOAM (Friends of AquaMan) membership certificate by email. In that same spirit, I think the Yellow Dot should also be a digital image that recipients can post on their web space to allow their readers to bask in the glow of their success. So Shag, Rob!, I give you my the Yellow Dot Award!

And it's mine for an entire month, or until the next Who's Who podcast is ready. All mine. Bask, readers and listeners, BASK IN IT!!!