It’s been an exciting year for A.D., SMITH Magazine’s follow-up to its first webcomic, Shooting War, which went from being an online sensation to a full-length graphic novel from Grand Central Publishing, one that’s received rave reviews (most recently from The New York Times). We launched A.D. on January 1, 2007, and in the year that followed have slowly but surely been unfurling the story of Leo, Michelle, Denise, the Doctor, Hamid, and Kevin–six real people who survived and escaped Hurricane Katrina. From NOLA’s own Times-Picayune to the L.A. Times, A.D. has received great press and big props. Creator Josh Neufeld and “characters” Denise and Leo appeared on NPR’s national show, News & Notes, right around the second anniversary of the storm, in perhaps what was one of the best conversations around this webcomic I’ve personally ever heard (and I’ve heard many). As 2007 wound down, A.D. has just been hailed as one of the best comics of 2007 everywhere from deep geek comic insiders to USA Today. For all that we are so grateful. And we hope you’ll stay with us as the story continues to unfold in 2008.