Thought Balloons by Don MacPherson "366" I'm not one to celebrate birthdays. The date of my birth is a little nugget of information that only my family tends remember, and I'm not one to make a big deal about it to my friends. The occasion is usually marked by some phone calls from my parents and brothers, and that's about it. Hell, for my birthday earlier this year, I attended someone else's birthday party. Today's a different kind of birthday, though, and I'm making an exception and gabbing about it. On Aug.16, 2001 -- exactly one year ago -- The Fourth Rail went live. Mind you, Randy and I have been at this comics reviewing thing for much longer than that. I started posting my reviews to Usenet in December 1995, and Randy got his Snap Judgments under way a few months after that. For a couple of years -- with Psycomic.com and Fandom.com -- Randy and I even made our livings writing about comics. But now, it isn't a job. We keep doing it for a simple reason: we enjoy writing what we do. A lack of a paycheque wasn't going to stop us. It was a hell of a year. I'm proud of what we've done here, but it wasn't just about writing reviews. There are a number of people to thank. First of all, there are the publishers. As the year progressed, so did publishers' desire to see their work reviewed. Regardless of what we had to say about their books, the publishers -- and the creators -- were open to our comments. We received material from Patty Jeres and Steve Wacker at DC Comics, Bill Rosemann at Marvel, Elena and Jason at Viz Comics, Eric Stephenson at Image Comics, Larry Young at AiT/planetLAR, Eric Reynolds at Fantagraphics Books, Drawn & Quarterly, Moonstone Books and all of the Oni Press guys. Thanks to all those folks. And then there were the smaller companies and the self-publishers. They're too numerous to mention here, but they provided a wealth of material, offering a wide variety of new perspectives on what comics can be. And for those experiences, I am grateful. We had a few guest columnists over the course of the year. Batman writer Ed Brubaker got us started, and we also heard from comics pros Alex Robinson and Mark Millar. Other folks -- like Jeff Lester and Jess Nevins -- contributed entertaining and enlightening material as well. They're right there on the "thank you" list as well. Of course, we can't forget Patrick "Fightin' Words" Keller. He hasn't written his humor column in a while, but a big move and other priorities came first, understandably. Patrick's been hanging out with us (in a virtual sense... he's too smelly to actually have in our homes) since the Psycomic 1.0 days, and he'll always been the unofficial third member of our dynamic duo. Speaking of columnists, now seems as great a time as ever to thank -- and to welcome -- comics scribe Geoff Johns. With a regular column right here, the writer of The Flash, JSA, Hawkman, Avengers, The Thing: Freakshow, The Vision and various Superman books (and probably another 53 other titles by the end of the year, at the rate he's going) plans to share his thoughts on comics and creators who are getting things done right. There are also a number of people online who have been particularly encouraging. Mike Doran and Matt Brady, our one-time partners when Comics Newsarama was a part of Fandom.com -- are still our buds, and fellow reviewer Johanna Draper Carlson is a comrade in arms. A number of pros have been particularly supportive of our efforts... even when we pick apart their work. Fellow Psycomic survivor Joe Doughrity always provides a big boost when he touches base with us as well. A big shout out (God, that sounds stupid coming from me) goes to James Lucas Jones. Though better known as an associate editor/webmaster for Oni Press, he's also the man responsible for the Fourth Rail's site design. It's been a year, but every couple of weeks, I can't help but remark on how great it looks. And many folks point out how easy the site is to navigate. It's all James, folks. He's the king. Of course, I can't forget to thank our readers. Thousands and thousands of you visit the site every week, and our traffic keeps growing. Randy and I both get plenty of mail every week. Some of it is from folks in the industry, and a lot of it is from folks who just enjoy reading the site. We get some weird letters, and we get some angry ones. But the overwhelming majority of them are flattering and far too gracious. Though Randy and I write what we write because we enjoy it, having an audience for our work makes it even more rewarding process. Finally, I have to thank Randy. A couple of nights ago, I gave him a call. It had been far too long since we communicated with our voices as opposed to our keyboards. Randy and I not only have a great partnership going here, but a solid friendship (which we cememted while working directly together in New York in late 1999/early 2000). That phone call served as a big reminder of that fact. The biggest reason I was so disappointed that I couldn't make it to the Comic-Con International in San Diego this year was that I missed out on a chance to spend some time with Randy and his delightful wife, Suzanne. For all the things we have in common -- from our love of comics to our journalism training -- we have far more differences, and therein lies the strength of our collaboration. We often fail to see eye to eye on a number of facets of the site, and it's through our discussions (ie. arguments), I think more often than not, we arrive at what's best for the site in general. All aboard, friends. The Fourth Rail: Year Two is leaving the station. I'm headed out of town on vacation, and among my planned activities is the Canadian National Comic Book Expo in Toronto on Aug.23-25. I'll be wandering around. Feel free to say hello. Don MacPherson needs this vacation real bad. Email Don MacPherson comments about this column, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.