In NO particular order, here's 20 things that I liked in 2005:
1. JOSS WHEDON'S "FIREFLY" SERIES
This was an amazing show, and it jumpstarted the part in my brain that really enjoys character-driven sci-fi. I am just floored at how well written this show was, and also how hard it sucked me into it's story, especially because of my aversion to space drama sci-fi junk. A major inspiration for my next writing project, whether I know it or not.
2. SPX
The Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD was a revitalization for me of what a good comic convention should be, when it focuses on the creators rather than the Dukes of Hazzard car and the washed up pro wrestlers appearing at the show. A well run and truly inspiring 3 days that made me more confident that the indy comic market can still do the right thing. Plus, it was a great excuse for Jane and I to celebrate our first wedding anniversary around our friends in the industry.
3. MOPED ARMY FUNDRAISING FOR DAVE BRZEZICKI
Watching the Moped Army raise $3500 in under 2 weeks for one of their own who got seriously injured by an SUV was nothing short of awesome, and made me more sure than ever that I picked a good group to do a graphic novel about.
4. ROYKSOPP: "THE UNDERSTANDING"
This album gets my final vote for Album of the Year. They moved ahead from their first album, but didn't leave behind the stuff that made them good. Catchy intelligent electronic pop music that you can not be ashamed about. Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge are some of the smartest Norwegians in the electronic music arena today.
5. CLAUDIA BRUCKEN
Former lead singer of 80's German synthpop group Propaganda who was actually nice enough to respond to an email from me, AND now corresponds regularly with me AND who likes comics, AND who lets her daughter Maddy read my LITTLE WHITE MOUSE comics! Going from a simple fan letter beginning, we are now two professionals exchanging ideas and respect, which is still a geeky kind of thrill for me!
6. "AVENUE Q" SOUNDTRACK
Sorry, but catchy Broadway songs about puppets downloading porn on the internet and being racist is a shoe-in for any "Best Of" list from me!
7. STARTING UP CAFE DIGTAL COMICS
After years of working for other publishers for my comic work, I finally got off my ass, made my own self publishing company, wrote the checks and published my own books! About damn time, Sizer!
8. GREEN BRAIN COMICS/DAN AND KATIE MERRITT
These two things go hand in hand, and were responsible for some of the best comic moments for me in 2005. Dan and Katie just rock, OK? They run an awesome store (Green Brain), they ran the excellent SNAP COMIC FESTIVAL, and they put their money where their mouth is when promoting the comic industry! Plus they are just fun as hell to hang out and goof around with! And they're raising an awesome teenaged daughter, AND they go to punk rock shows with her. Hooray for awesome comic couples!
9. MY SUMMER LIBRARY COMIC WORKSHOP TOUR
15 workshops in 3 months, all around Michigan. Busy time, but all really good times, meeting with young artists and cool people. And a testament to how much crap I can cram into my work schedule.
10. THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS @ SPRING INSTITUTE
In an inspired bit of booking, Kevin King and group managed to get They Might Be Giants to appear at the annual Spring Institute conference and play a 20 minute acoustic set and do a book/DVD signing. They rocked the librarians, and set the record for their earliest performance gig in their history (9 a.m.)
11.DAVID SEDARIS @ THE STATE THEATRE, KALAMAZOO
Where I got the phrase still on our fridge to this day: "SHIT is the tofu of swearing." Brilliant show, great writer, great readings!
12. DEL REY MANGA WEBSITE WORK
A bolt from the blue to design a bunch of mini-websites for publishing giant Del Rey/Random House (they hunted US down, go figure!), which led to the opportunity to completely redesign their entire Manga site! Also great to have Jane as a partner to do the coding. We DO make a formidable design team.
13. ULTIMATES 2 #9: GRAND THEFT AMERICA
Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's "ultimate" take on the Avengers has been great all along, but this issue transported me right back to 12 years old, reading a comic book and screaming "HOLY CRAP, HOW COULD THEY DO THAT?!?!?" Pretty amazing what happens when a big company respects it's creators and lets them do what they're good at. An ACTUAL cliffhanger in a day and age where I thought all that was over.
14. "MOPED ARMY" GRAPHIC NOVEL COMING OUT
Sorry, but this WAS a big deal for me, and after 2 years of hard work, I was so fortunate to have such a great response to it! Thanks to everyone who bought the book, reviewed the book, recommended the book, told others about the book, and sold the book. And thanks to everyone who came out to the TWO STROKE INVASION TOUR stops.
15. "ROBOT CHICKEN"
Knowing the power of short, laser focused comedy, this anarchic 15 minute long episode stop-motion show had me and Jane peeing our pants and crying laughing every episode!
16. DEVIANTART
This is an amazing, insane art site, for artists of all disciplines to share work in a format that really does encourage artistic "browsing". The best online art site I've found this year, and the one place I've been exposed to more artists who simple blow me away! Over 17 million pieces of art online, and growing every second.
17. MASH-UP MUSIC
There one moment, and gone the next due to massive copyright infringements, this movement was a massive wake-up to the "remix culture" of our time, and saw an amazing amount of incredibly creative mash-ups of unrelated music getting together. The real thrill was finding a site and getting as much downloaded as you could before the site would mysteriously "disappear" the next week. Yes, illegal, but yielded much interesting musical directions/questions/legalities to ponder and revitalize the next generation of musicians.
18. "TOP TEN: THE FORTY NINERS" BY ALAN MOORE AND GENE HA
TOP TEN has always been a great book that shows Alan Moore's skill with re-imagining classic superhero genre, and this one is the perfect swasong for the book, showing off Gene Ha's amazing and beautiful art and a surprisingly tender tale set after WWII.
19. FRIENDS LEAVING, FRIENDS ARRIVING
As bittersweet as it was for my friend Mark Paulik and his wife Robin move out to Portland, OR, I was so happy to see Mark get a chance to revitalize his art and be appreciated so much for his drawing and animation skills. He is way past due, and his CHUMBA web comic shows in spades what happens when he does something he loves to do. On the flip side, my good friend Kenjji and his wife Kito are moving back to Kalamazoo from Detroit, and it will be very cool to have them around to enhance the "cool Kalamazoo couples" scene!
20. JANE
Hey, c'mon, this was a no-brainer. Everything that went well this year for me was in some way linked to her, and at the one year and over timeline on the "new married couple" thing, I still find myself amazed and thankful I found such a good partner/wife/soulmate in my life. Here's to 2006 making that bond even stronger.
