Too Cool for School

Traditions be damned - screw your top lists of the year! I hate you all!

...

Okay, now that's off my chest and the world now knows the fiery hate I have for the requisite year end pat-on-back-because-you-have-an-opinion-and-no-one-really-cares, I'm going to do mine. But because I didn't read everything that came out this year, I won't approach this as a tool to persuade anyone to read something because I put my stamp of approval on it. Fuck, I'm not even going to do this so the anonymous people in Internet Landtm think I am a smart or interesting person. But I am compelled to do a little 40 oz pour out to my favorites because everyone deserves a little praise and ego stroking. So despite my reservations, here are what I consider the highlights of our nub and paper world.

In no order, other than what comes to mind first:

Castle Waiting (both collected and single issues) by Linda Medley
American Splendor by Harvey Pekar and a fantastic cast of artists including Gilbert Hernandez and Dean Haspiel
Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness by Bryan Lee O'Malley
I Love Led Zeppelin by Ellen Forney
Dork #11 by Evan Dorkin
DMZ by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli
Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen
The Mourning Star by Kaz Strzepek
Schizo #4 by Ivan Brunetti
Nebuli by Vasilis Lolos and Becky Cloonan


And since we all know the internet exists for nerds to feel popular and a part of a community, I figured I'd mention some comic blogs that I actually like read and not just skim over. And pointing out that these are already on the sidebar will annoy me. People need love too, jerkface.

Gumpop
Beaucoup Kevin
Ian Brill
Chris Butcher
Journalista
Bully Says

And because I feel like it, I'll round this off with the two things that piss me off about comics this year:
ComicSpace and the untimely and unfortunate death of the Comic Weblog Update page.