In this, the final Saturday of 2012, it’s time to extract five topics from a year’s worth of Top 5‘s for our second annual “End of the Year Edition”. Given that this is a year-end list that exists on the Internet, I’m fully prepared for obligatory statements regarding my choices and how they prove my own ineptitude. That said, in an attempt to preempt such backlash, I’d like to welcome any and all readers to respectfully disagree with me in the comments section. Let’s keep it classy and enjoy a highlight reel of some of the best 2012 had to offer after the jump.

Anything that I write this week will ultimately prove miniscule and severely unimportant in the wake of the Aurora, CO tragedy. While it’s an unfortunate truth that lives are senselessly lost every day for reasons that defy any and all logic, the fact that this particular incident took place in an atmosphere so many us of cherish and during an event that was so genuinely anticipated has made this all too familiar story one that really hits home. All of this said, I’ll refrain from pretending to know or understand the first thing about what the victims of the shooting are going through. Instead, I’ll just offer my sincerest condolences to all those involved.

In an impossible segue, this week’s Top 5 is headlined by The Dark Knight Rises while also shining our weekly spotlight on The Punisher‘s new short film Dirty Laundry, the first poster and new trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master, Joss Whedon taking out a giant one-eyed monster in the 5-year-old inspired short film Scary Smash, and an ode to our nearly infinite supply of Comic-Con 2012 coverage. A link and brief recap for each rests after the jump.

Thomas Jane put together one of the most fun surprises of Comic-Con.  Jane recruited director Phil Joanou to make a new short based on The Punisher—titled Dirty Laundry—on the down-low and screened it at the panel for his RAW Studios.  That was in a small room, so few actually saw the short.  But Jane and Co. posted Dirty Laundry online for all to see, and you can now watch it after the jump. Ron Perlman also makes an appearance in the short scripted by Chad St. John and produced by Adi Shankar.  Check out our recap of the panel here.

Do you know the difference between justice and punishment?  Thomas Jane does and he proved it to the relatively small audience gathered at a Comic-Con panel for RAW Studios.  In an intimate setting in a small convention room that wasn’t titled Ballroom 20 or Hall H, Jane ran the show for the independent studio presentation.  Their projects included a Bad Planet videogame adaptation of their comic series with gaming company Red Fly Studio (check out the awesome early footage on their Kickstarter page), a short conceptual film for a Western they’re producing called A Magnificent Death from a Shattered Hand and, to the delight of Punisher fans in the audience, a fantastic short film featuring Jane as the Marvel anti-hero.  That was awesome enough, but a special guest star also joined the presentation: Ron Perlman, who recently proved how great a human being he is, had a small cameo in the film.  Hit the jump for a recap of the Punisher short film featuring Jane and Perlman.