The Year in Review

2007.

Professionally, a monster of a year. The first comics work I've ever done hit the shelves within a month of each other—both in time for SDCC, and both getting terrific reviews.

THE HIGHWAYMEN had been sitting on my hard drive for nigh on 8 years before making it out. And, despite criminally low sales for a DC book, it's getting collected into a trade next March. (Ahem, order code DEC070283.)

MONSTER ATTACK NETWORK survived release date shifts, artist crumbles, and hard drive meltdowns to sell out in San Diego and actually make a Best of 2007 list.

And we've got enough stuff in the pipeline—and the relationships to, hopefully, generate more—to keep us busy for 2008. Some Big Two work, some indie work, a webcomic and, lit-agent-discovery willing, a major publishing house OGN.

Personally, the second most challenging on record. I will say this: Autism will find new and interesting ways to kick you in the soul every chance it gets.

So, here's to 2008.

My Favorite Sentence of the Month

This one, which came at the end of a Variety piece about John Singleton's eventual A-Team movie:

"Story has been given a modern twist by involving oil tycoons and laser technology."

How modern is it? It's oil tycoon modern. You know, because there have never been any old movies featuring oil tycoons. Hell, the word tycoon invalidates any claim of modernity.

And when you refer to it as "laser technology," it sounds so, I don't know, Real Genius.

Best Of!

That's right, baby! Monster Attack Network made a Best of 2007 list. Check the specs:

"No book this year gave me a bigger nerdgasm than Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman’s MONSTER ATTACK NETWORK (AiT/PlanetLar). An island where giant monsters attack all the time? Bitchin’! A special police force dedicated to diverting the monsters and rebuilding in their wake? Fuggin’A! That’s totally what I wanted to be when I grew up. I’m not one to pant like a dog for sequels in any medium, but this book? It needs one. Right. Fucking. Now."

Marc Mason (who I now am totally in love with, and not just because he spells his name correctly) is not, for the record, in my employ. But he does, as the kids say, "get it."

The Possibilities Are Endless

I've got some friends who are new dads, and I envy them. Not the pre-dawn bottle raids and the never-ending supply of fresh shit. I'm glad to be past that, into the realm of potty training and pre-Christmas bicycle building and personalities and, from one of them, conversation.

I just miss that golden, magical period when the world was still on the horizon. When everything was possible. When they were nothing but raw, boundless potential. When everything was...fine.

Sorry. It was a tough night.

What Is Best In Life?

I've been watching movies for a good portion of my life. As have we all, I'm sure. And in that time, I've figured out for myself what works for me in a film and what doesn't. And I've boiled it down to a pretty simple list of three things that a film must have for me to like it. Said movie doesn't have to have all three, but at least one will suffice.

And they are:
1: Explosions
2: Gratuitous nudity
3: Lasers
3a: Ninjas are the lasers of feudal Japan. (Otherwise known as the Last Samurai amendment.)

Now, have I liked films that didn't have any of the above? Yes, but, they had to work extra hard to get over the no-explosions-nudity-lasers hump. And have I seen shitty movies that have had all three, and in abundance? Damned skippy. (Flesh Gordon, I'm looking at you.)

But that's my code of cinematic conduct, and it hasn't failed me yet.

Don't Call It A Comeback

Or, if you really want to, you can. I don't mind.

I'm back from a relatively well-earned 10 days off. (I say "relatively" because I'm well aware that my day job does not involve the lifting of heavy things or hours of exposure to the elements.) And while I was off, I learned a few things.

1) There need to be more meals that one can serve stuffing with. I don't care what it does to my gut, stuffing is a universal good.

2) Superman: Doomsday was pretty good. Even if I kinda hated the facial design. Supes looked about 20 years older than he should've. But there was a beat there—when Lois Lane goes to Martha Kent's house and breaks down in tears because these are the only two people who know that Clark Kent is dead, too, and they can only share this grief with each other—that was as affected as anything I've seen in a long while.

3) All movies should be in 3-D. After seeing Beowulf in Manhattan, I became convinced that every film should be as tastefully —which I quite liked—at the big IMAXimmersive. Of course, I know not every filmmaker who will eventually work in 3-D will be as talented as Robert Zemeckis and will resort to lots of goosing the audience tricks. But as far as giving you something you absolutely can't get at home? Can't be beat.

4) All videogames should be as bad-ass as Assassin's Creed. Play it, and you'll agree. Smart, fast, and vast. Even if it does end with a blatant hook for a sequel.

5) Serenity's a pretty good little movie. But you already knew that.

6) I hate my car dealership. Here's why: Because the loaner car they gave me is too nice. I've got a '96 Audi, see. And when it goes bust, I take it to the Audi dealership for service. (Apparently, your neighborhood mechanic has no idea what to do with an up-market Volkswagen.) They needed to hold my car for a few extra days, so they gave me a loaner. A 2008 A4. When the service manager gave me the keys, he told me, "Okay, you're gonna hate me, because you're gonna have to give this back to me in a couple of days, by which time you'll have already fallen in love with it." And he's 100% right. Fucker.

So, that, if you can put it all together, is pretty much what I did with my Thanksgiving vacation: watch movies, play videogames, eat like Mongul raiders were coming to town, and drive a car I can't afford.