Lots of end-of-year nods for the company's books:

Tom the Dog calls Scurvy Dogs "terrifically funny."

Mike Sterling has some awfully nice things to say over at Progressive Ruin, including naming Demo and the Scurv as two of his favorite comics of the year.

Comics journalist/interviewer extraordinaire Chris Arrant singles out Demo as one of his favorite miniseries, and Ursula and Hench as two of his favorite graphic novels. In the "Comics I Wish I Read" category, he mentions 1000 Steps to World Domination. Good thing I have an autographed and sketched-in copy of that kicking around the office so I can send it off and start Chris' 2005 off right.

Am I the only one who has trouble not referring to Dorian Wright of Postmodernbarney.com as "pal Dorian" because I read Mike Sterling's references to him such so often, I ask rhetorically? Dorian has a great wrap-up, which brings the funny and the meaty content. Reading his blog is like watching a beloved 50's Rat Pack Vegas act: a few jokes, some camaraderie, a little sentiment, and a jaunty wave as the lights dim. This time out, Dorian names Demo (along with the frankly excellent We3) as Best Non-Super-Hero comic.

Laura Gjovaag names us "Best Publisher." I have to say, I am really warmly touched by that; thanks very much, Laura. "'Best Publisher' goes to AiT/Planet Lar, which, in addition to publishing a huge stack of really good books also took the time and effort to introduce comic book bloggers to those books. The AiT/Planet Lar listings have now become a must-read in Previews every month, and a huge number of their books made the nominee list." Laura also gives the "Coolest Book I Almost Didn't Buy" award to Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá's Ursula.

New Worcesterite Tim O'Neil has some awfully kind words for our company and for me in particular. Future generations will debate whether I was a holy angel what done saved comics with our superior entertainments or a demon tree-killer sent to sully superheroes and unfairly tempt those who only want to be left alone with their slabbed copies of Green Lantern. The results from Google searches will no doubt yield inconclusive results.

Fanboy Rampager Graeme McMillan names Tales From Fish Camp as one of his favorite comics this year, despite it not being a comic. You have to admit that's pretty impressive.

Laura also helps me prove that graphic novel backlist is a vital and even important part of the scene by naming February, 2003's True Story Swear to God: Chances Are... as the Best Comic Book of 2004: "A touching love story with humor, romance, joy, pain, and simple human flaws along with amazing triumph. Even a basic spelling problem becomes a plot point as the book references itself. This is a book I wouldn't hesitate to give to anybody. It's a great story, and it's done in such a way that it enriches the whole comic book medium. Kudos to AiT/Planet Lar for putting this out as a collection, and kudos to Tom Beland for creating this wonderful book in the first place."

...and finally, contrarian that I am, I use my last Loose Cannon of the year to apply academic scrutiny to Georgia O'Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright to make a sledgehammer point about "Best of 2004" lists. Oh, I'm a scamp, I am.

Johnny B. gives us THE JOHNNY BACARDI SHOW'S BEST COMICS OF 2004! which features Ursula: "A winningly open-hearted and warm fable about love, fantasy/reality and growing up, written and illustrated with aplomb by the tag-team of Moon and Ba."

Also making the Honorable Mentions list were Scurvy Dogs: "Absolutely hilarious, nutball, surreal pirate comics. More fun than a barrel of pirates, monkeys, ninjas and robots. I can't remember reading a stranger comic since the halcyon days of the Flaming Carrot." and Demo: "Overall very high quality series, and even though I liked some issues (#8 (my fave), #'s 3, 4 & 11) more than others (#6, #10), and while I was often very frustrated at the vagueness of many of the scripts, I came away loving Becky Cloonan's chameleon-like art and appreciating this quite honest attempt at doing something different, which never gets old."

I also loved Johnny B. calling Charlie Adlard "the Tommy Lee Jones of comics art."

This just in: The American Library Association's Booklist reviews Rob Osborne:

Osborne, Rob. 1000 Steps to World Domination. 2004. 136p. illus. AiT/Planet Lar, paper, $12.95 (1-932051-26-0). 741.5.
Monty Python has an American cousin. Osborne manifests the same propensity for attempting the improbable by means of the ridiculous that propelled the Pythons to the pinnacle of comedic renown. But the heck with comedic renown. Osborne wants world domination. Through comics (black and white, yet). On paper, he looks the part: shaved head, square jaw, fills a T-shirt nicely. Steps toward his goal include telling Butch (his dog, one of three, all drawn very realistically); talking it over with his wife ("I don’t even want something like that in the house," she says); trying on a Godzilla suit (Butch isn’t impressed); wrestling with a wisecracking, deprecatory monkey (clad in either plaid suit and bowler hat or various clown getups); and wearing a football helmet at the drawing board. God drops in with en/discouragement, the Devil tries to reach Osborne through TV, and aggressive General Fragg shows up to whip him into shape. Meanwhile, a tortoise races a hare, space invaders give humans anal probes, and Osborne gets promoted at his day job. Marvelously demented! ––Ray Olson

Today's the one-year anniversary of the daily update, and, coincidentally, look at what's on the Blogger homepage today:

You can't get anything by Chris Arrant. He's Number One on the Runway in terms of finding some news about The Black Diamond I posted up on Millarworld. Man, that Jon Proctor can draw.

Augie looks back on the year in trade paperbacks and gives us some nice compliments, including "I don't think of Planet Lar as a superhero publisher, but when I look at the list of trades I've reviewed from the company this year, I start to wonder. It doesn't take much of a stretch to classify almost half of these titles as superheroic. On the other hand, none of them are straight on superhero action/adventure."

Nothing like zigging when the Aug-Man expects us to zag. Hit that link above for Augie's reviews of 1000 Steps to World Domination, Bad Mojo, Codeflesh, Giant Robot Warriors, Hench, Planet of the Capes, Proof of Concept, True Story, Swear To God: 100 Stories and Ursula.

Speaking of, the latest AiT book to hit The Best Comic Book of 2004 according to Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog list is Ursula: "Ursula is an instant classic... a fairytale, a love story, and a philosophical text all wrapped up in one. This was a great one. I need to dig it out and read it again."

For more info (and the stellar A+ review from Variety), click here.

Randy Lander does his "Best of 2004 Covers" feature over at The Fourth Rail, and gives the nod to 8 of the 12 Demo covers! Nice job, Becky! Surprise appearance: Ryan Yount's Scurvy Dogs cover for number five! Must be all that bling. Good work, Ry!

Brian and Becky talk about Demo in an interview with Chris Arrant on Newsarama. All sorts of revelations there.

"I have finished reading Danielle Henderson’s Tales from Fish Camp — but as much as I liked it, I don’t feel like writing about it right now. It is however really really good."

Also, Laura Gjovaag's Best-Comics-of-2004 year-end review includes "True Story, Swear to God: 100 Stories by Tom Beland was a surprise to me... it instantly became a story that I just wanted more of... One of the best books I've read in a long, long time." and some very kind words for Astronauts in Trouble (which, although it's been out in one form or another since 1999, was just read by Laura this year): "Another nominee, one that months of reflection makes inevitable, is Astronauts in Trouble: Master Flight Plan."

Thanks very much, Laura. You can't imagine how gratifying it is to me personally that people keep discovering the book that made all the others we publish possible.

Paul Tucker, the artist who did "The Camera" for this Wednesday's Proof of Concept, sent this holiday greeting to us starring the half-dead guy and his pals from Bad Mojo:



I'm not sure what this says about Paul and the holidays.

Laura Gjovaag gives one of her Best of 2004 nods to Jax with the pleasant "Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden: Borrowed Magic is an amazing start to an epic featuring a strong, if a bit flawed, woman. The story moves around into different dimensions and isn't entirely linear, but it's an excellent book that made me want to immediately read more. This one became an instant treasure."