2006 - THE YEAR THAT WAS

So here we are, two days away from 2007 and I feel like 2006 just got started.

Still, all things considered, '06 has been pretty good to me.

• I started the year off with a bang by going to Manhattan for a week, and that was something I'd wanted to do for most of my life. I never made it to the Baxter Building, though. Oh, well, maybe next time.
• I got a raise at work.
• I bought a house.
• I got a dog.
• I self-published my first comic, and had another story appear in 803 # 3.
• And even though Comic Club saw a bit of a decline in attendance this year, I think we more than made up for it with the number of phone in guests we've had... Don Rosa, Steve Engelhart, Roger Stern, Roy Thomas, etc...
• I met Ricardo and Pedro, and will be doing more comics work with both of them in '07.
• And closed the year out by getting a video iPod, which I'm now addicted to.

See... not so bad.

Of course, now's the time everyone sits down to do their "Best and Worst of 2006" lists, and since I can't really think of anything better... here's mine.

Comics:

Best (or "Comics I was happy to buy!")

Astonishing X-men by Whedon and Cassaday
Daredevil by Brubaker and Lark
She-Hulk by Slott and various
The Thing by Slott and various (gone before its time)
Y-The Last Man by Vaughn and Guerra
Casanova by Fraction and Ba
Fables by Willingham and Buckingham
All-Star Superman by Morrison and Quitely
Runaways by Vaughn and Alphono
Aquaman, Sword of Atlantis by Busiek and Guice
Superman by Busiek and Pacheco

2006 also gave us some great mini-series' too, like BEYOND! by McDuffie and Kolins, and Agents of Atlas by Parker and Kirk, and Avenger: Earth's Mighties Heroes II by Casey and Rosado.

Comics I'm really looking forward to in '07:

The Spirit by Darwyn Cooke
Immortal Iron Fist by Brubake/Fraction and Aja
Civil War: The Initiative by Slott and various
New Nexus by Baron and Rude

Worst (or "Why'd they even put this out?")

Infinite Crisis by Johns/DC Editorial and various
Civil War by Millar/Marvel Editorial and McNiven
All-Star Batman and Robin by Miller and Lee
Onslaught: Reborn by Loeb and Liefield
Superman/Batman by Loeb and various
Green Lantern by Johns and various

Comics Underdog Award 2006:

This award goes to Mr. Paul Jenkins, writer of Civil War: Frontline for writing a mini-series that's twice as long and ten times as interesting and sensical as the main mini-series it spun out of.

You go, Paul. And congrats on the new kid!

Music:

I bought and listened to less music this year than I have since I was in middle school, and I'm kind of ashamed to be honest with you.

There was some really great stuff out this year that I came to late, so I don't really feel qualified to put it on any kind of list... however, here's some stuff that I liked a lot.

Beck, The Information
The Killers, Sam's Town
Jay-Z, Kingdom Come
The Roots, Best of...
The Flaming Lips, At War With The Mystics
Gnarls Barkely, St. Elsewhere
Thom Yorke, The Eraser
Eagles of Death Metal, Death by Sexy

Movies:

Of what I saw, here's what I liked most...

Casino Royale
Borat
Happy Feet
Mission Impossible 3
Clerks 2
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Crank

Movies I Regret Not Seeing:

Little Miss Sunshine
The Departed
Inside Man
Flags of Our Fathers
Children of Men
The Devil Wears Prada
Jackass, Number Two
The Notorious Bettie Page
Art School Confidential
The Prestige
The Grudge 2
Miami Vice

Movies I Regret Seeing:

Lady in the Water
Slither
De Vinci Code
Basic Instinct 2
My Super Ex-Girlfriend

TV:

Battlestar Galactica
Doctor Who
The Office
30 Rock
The Venture Brothers
Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip

Wanted to put My Name Is Earl on the list, but it seems to have lost something this season. Maybe too much Randy and less and less of Earl's interesting past.

Shark is pretty good, but I haven't been totally pulled in yet.

Also, Standoff is a bit a guilty pleasure... love that Ron Livingston.

Not terribly impressed with Heroes.

Still haven't finished Season 2 of Lost, but I did watch the first few episodes of Season 3 and thought it was pretty good.

I'm always catching hell for this, but I don't watch the Sopranos, 24, The Wire, Deadwood, Rome, or Nip'Tuck, but just based on my recently updated NetFlix quee, that's about to change.