Giving Thanks

Here are some of the things in comics for which I am thankful on this Thanksgiving:

Gotham Central. Every month Rucka, Brubaker and Lark bring us the best police comic ever in the guise of a Bat-book.

Sam Hiti, for Tiempos Finales and its Lovecraftian trippiness.

Astonishing X-Men, for bringing me my monthly fix of Joss Whedon.

Spider-Man 2 & The Incredibles, for being good super-hero movies.

The Manga Explosion. Sure it's meant a lot of dreck on the shelves, but without it we wouldn't have gotten gems like Planetes, Uzumaki, or Paradise Kiss. Plus, it's brought comics into bookstores and young people back into comics.

Oni Press. Not only for publishing some of my favorite books like Queen & Country, Courtney Crumrin, and Blue Monday, but for publishing a diverse line of books with something to appeal to just about everyone.

Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely, for We3, which showed even this jaded camics reader that you can still do innovative storytelling within comics.

Fanboy Rampage. Graeme reads the message boards so that we don't have to.

Dorian, Christopher & Brian, for the retailer's-eye view of the comics industry.

Fantagraphics, for bringing us The Complete Peanuts.

Gold Digger. It's my monthly guilty pleasure.

JSA, for being one comic a month that we long-time Earth-2 fans can geek out over.

New Comics Day, for giving me something to look forward to in the middle of the week.

Gary Spencer Millidge, for StrangeHaven, a combination of Twin Peaks and The Prisoner in comics form melded with it's own sensibilities. Even if it does only come out a couple of times a year.

Webcomics, for giving talented strip creators an outlet not available in newspaper syndication.

And the entire artform that is comics, which at its best is the perfect interesection of pictures and story, art and commerce, passive and interactive entertainment; and the creators who work hard every day to bring their vision to us. There's no medium of which I'd rather be a fan.