THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE - ISSUE NUMBER 46 ________________________________________________________________________ Our Web Page is now at http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o \o/ _ o _| \ / |_ o_ \o/ o /|\ | /\ _\o \o | o/ O/_ /\ | /|\ / \ / \ |\ /) | ( \ /o\ / ) | (\ / | / \ / \ This publication is brought to you by the members of the premiere BBS network for the discussion of comics books and the people who create them; The ComicBook Network!!! Edited by: David LeBlanc [ComicBkNet@aol.com] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The ComicBook Net was Founded by Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________________ T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net ............................ David LeBlanc [2] CSNsider #454 ......................... W. Batty & C. Biggers [3] JEFF (BONE) SMITH Interview............ Jeff Mason [4] Rich's Revelations..................... Richard Johnston [5] Review: Cyberfrog #1 .................. David LeBlanc [6] New Comics Shipping 2/22/96 ........... Bobb Waller [7] CBN vs. The Internet.................... Michael Cross [8] Letters to the Editor.................. Various [9] Join in the Fun!....................... The how-to section! [10] BBSes Linked into CBN.................. our node list [11] E-Mag Info ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net by David LeBlanc Well it has been a bit longer than we like since our last issue. Many things have hampered the publication lately including the illness and eventual resignation of the former editor Ryan Brewster. On top of that, the network SuperHub also crashed and that left a lot of us unable to communicate with each other in the normal fashion. At times like these we revert to Email and are scrambling to get our member BBSes connected back together through new links with each other. Soon we will have all the links set and will publish a new nodelist for potential new participants to call. There is a dedicated core of true fans of the hobby at the heart of CBN and we will continue to rise to the challenge no matter how difficult times may get. The Emag continues, and despite rumors to the contrary, it has not changed its name, only the editor and the method of distribution. If you have been receiving the Emag through Email you may have to once again request to be put on the mailing list. This is unfortunate, but we can not be sure we are reaching all former subscribers since the former editor also kept track of the mailing list. If you DO NOT want to continue receiving this publication, please send Email to my address and I will stop mailing it to you. Apologies for any inconvenience sending you this issue might cause. Finally, the frequency of publication will probably vary from time to time. Right now the network is going through change, and some regulars are not very active for personal reasons. With everyone involved in so many things these days it becomes harder to pull enough material together to make things worthwhile on a weekly basis. This publication was started to promote the Comic Book Network and entertain our fellow fans of the comic book media. Rather than promise a weekly issue filled with my own thoughts about the hobby, I'd rather promise interesting reading from a variety of sources whenever we are able to pull it together. I hope it is worth your time to read and send feedback. David LeBlanc [ComicBkNet@aol.com] Editor The Comic Book Net E-Mag ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Note: I have been getting the CSNsider since it first became an electronic posting from the folks at Comic Shop News. It is my favorite feature of CSN and getting it two weeks early is really neat. Ward Batty extended permission to me to reproduce CSNsider so that other fans in the BBS world could see it as well as those who frequent r.a.c.m or get it by Email. I never alter the content (well maybe a misspelling is corrected on occasion :> ) and want to publicly thank CSN on behalf of those who enjoy it on RIME COMICS, FIDO COMICS, WME COMICS, WCSA COMICS, and of course - The Comic Book Network! [D.L.] [2] CSNsider #454, by W. Batty & C. Biggers This is the CSNsider from CSN #454, which will be in shops on 2/29/96 (Superman's Birthday). It is reproduced in its entirety with the expressed permission of COMIC SHOP NEWS! When Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld take charge of the Fantastic Four and Avengers titles in the aftermath of the Onslaught storyline, Whilce Portacio will come on board as illustrator of Iron Man... Image has its first-ever company-wide crossover storyline in the works; while most Image heroes have met one another at one time or another, the company has never offered a single storyline that brought its diverse line of superheroes together; but writer Alan Moore will remedy that later this spring or in early summer... Star Trek fans and collectible card game fans will both be interested to hear that Fleer/SkyBox has secured the rights to produce a collectible card game based on the original Star Trek television series; the company has signed Mag Force 7 to develop the game. "Our classic Star Trek CCG needs to be a great game to capture the essence of the unique Star Trek property," Ken Baroff of Fleer/SkyBox said. "The game mechanic developed by Mag Force achieves both of those objectives." Look for the game this summer... Gilbert Hernandez' first post-Love & Rockets miniseries, Girl Crazy, will appear under the Dark Horse imprint; look for the first issue in May... William Messner-Loebs, co-creator of The Maxx and writer of DC's upcoming Artemis miniseries, has signed on as writer of Maximage beginning with the third issue (although he actually began scripting with the second issue). "I'm excited," Messner-Loebs said. "This is my first real Image book, in the sense that it fits snugly into a coherent universe with other superheroes."... Fleer/SkyBox plans to offer 1,996 factory sets of their Youngblood trading card series; the $99.95 set will include the 90 regular cards, the wiggle cards, the stickers, and the Badrock SkyDisc... Nexus & Madman cross paths in a one-shot special by Mike Baron, Mike Allred, and Steve Rude; look for the offbeat crossover from Dark Horse in May... Marvel's latest Captain Marvel series comes to an end with issue #6, while Fantastic Four Unlimited #12 is the last issue of that title... Steve Roman's Lorelei is returning to the comic shop racks from a new publisher, Power Comics; they'll publish a Lorelei Returns Special in June, picking up where the Starwarp Concepts series left off, then follow it up with a bimonthly Lorelei series beginning in August... Superman fans are probably a bit confused right now: while Clark and Lois got married on the February 11th episode of The Adventures of Lois & Clark, Lois left the Man of Steel in the issue of Action Comics that followed just three days laterÑbut Lois and Superman are still an item in DC Vs. Marvel #3, a February 22nd release... Billy Zane has the title role in The Phantom, which is currently shooting on location in Thailand... Let's see if we have this straight: George Clooney left The Green Hornet to star in the non-comics-inspired film PeacemakerÑand at the same time, E! Entertainment is reporting that the comic book hero The Peacemaker has been licensed for a film? Confusion, or something more?.... Todd McFarlane has announced that he will write, pencil, and ink Spawn #50, a 48-page special issue that offers fans their first look at Spawn's new face... Mojo Press has announced plans for a 1997 release of The Good, The Bad, & The Gorilla, a 64-page Gorilla Gunslinger graphic novel produced by writer Norman Partridge and illustrator Marc Erickson. The book continues the exploits of Monjo, the Gorilla Gunslinger who first appeared in Mojo Press's Weird Business hardcover comics anthology... And speaking of Mojo, they recently announced The Big Bigfoot Book, a 100-page hardcover of original Bigfoot material featuring work by Neal Barrett, Jr., Bill D. Fountain, William Browning Spencer, Newt Manwich, Joe Pruett, Doug Potter, Paul O. Miles, Dan Burr, Mark London Williams, Phil Hester, Ande Parks, Norman Partridge, John Lucas, Batton Lash, John Bergin, and A.A. Attanasio. Look for the $6.95 book in July... It's the end of an era: Spartan Printing, the 47-year old company that printed virtually every comic book during the Silver Age, has closed its doors, laying off 850 employees. In recent years, they had lost most major publishers to other printers... Topps will launch a second X-Files title in May, featuring adaptations of television series episodes; their monthly series of original stories will also continue... MainBrain Productions, the entertainment company founded by former Malibu honchos Tom Mason and Chris Ulm, has announced their first group of entertainment properties, code-named Pacific; these properties range from Rooks (a hard-boiled futuristic cop thriller) to Newts ("Die Hard with funny animals"). Look for these properties to appear on the comic shop racks in late '96... Ghost & Hellboy cross paths in a one-shot Ghost/Hellboy Special from Dark Horse in May; Mike Mignola is the writer on the book, which is illustrated by Scott Benefiel and Jason Rodriguez; the one-shot serves as a good re-introduction to Hellboy prior to his second miniseries' launch in June... The CSNsider is just a small part of each issue of Comic Shop News. CSN #454 features Heroes from Milestone Media on the cover as well as more news and the March Hot Picks. Only CSN covers every major publisher and it only costs shops a dime each. If your shop doesn't carry Comic Shop News, ask them to start! Aren't you worth a dime a week? The CSNsider is now available via e-mail! In order to subscribe to CSNsider, send a message to majordomo@redweb.com, with a single line message saying: SUBSCRIBE csnsider Visit our WWW site at: http://www.actwin.com/csn We post the new CSNsider there each Monday or Tuesday and it will go out via e-mail each Wednesday or Thursday. The WWW site is still the first place it will appear each week, but we wanted to offer it via e-mail as well. Ward Batty wardo@netdepot.com Cliff Biggers cliffbig@netdepot.com (c)1996 CSN, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] Bone Gets a New Image Jeff Smith Interview by Jeff Mason This file is available as: http://grove.ufl.edu/~jrm/smith.html LOTS of reviews available: http://grove.ufl.edu/~jrm/interview.html This Interview is copyright 1996 Jeff Mason and may not be reprinted or transmitted without permission, except for fair use snippets and such. I am generally pretty agreeable to my interviews being used in other publications, etc, but talk to me about it first! This interview appears in Indy Magazine #13, on the stands now at comic book stores everywhere. Some folks have mentioned to me that if I upload the interview here, then nobody will want to go out and buy my magazine, but heck, I am a member of the lovely internet community and I am always in favor of adding useful information. Anyway, there's plenty of GREAT stuff in Indy Magazine #13 in addition to this interview, such as: Sarah "Action Girl" Dyer interview, Hart "Boneyard Press" interview, Spirits of Independence tour convention reports, comic reviews, comic news, cool new comix strips, and everything else readers would need to stay on top of the wonderful world on alternative/independent comics. Check out the Indy Magazine WWW page at: http://grove.ufl.edu/~jrm/indy.html Ok, enough of the hyping and plugging, here's the interview... -------- Last October marked the first issue of Jeff Smith's wildly successful Bone series that was not self-published by Smith's own Cartoon Books. Smith's move to Image Comics raises a number of questions about the state of the comic book industry, especially in terms of self-publishing. indy magazine: Why did you go to Image? Jeff Smith: Basically, I looked around the industry and saw the big players gobbling each other up -- not unlike the real world where conglomerates are always consolidating -- and as far as I could tell, the people who were writing the future of our industry were doing it without the small publisher in mind. No, one of the reasons I got into self-publishing, as opposed to the reason I got into comics, was to have control. I was losing control with the way that the distribution system was turning. In order to maintain some of that control, I joined forces with the Image guys. They were more than happy to extend to me the protection that the Image "i" would get in the distributors' catalogs, while still giving me all of the control I wanted. indy: Is that because with Cartoon Books, your self-publishing company, you only had a tiny industry market share, therefore you had to play by the distributors' rules? Smith: Sure, that is why I felt as if I had no control, because Bone, which even though it sold as well as it did, it was just one title. One title does not make a significant market share at any given time. Whereas Marvel, or any company that puts out multiple titles at any given moment, they are going to have a more significant market share. indy: So even if your one title is outselling the majority of another company's titles, you are still considered insignificant compared to them. Smith: Yeah, that is pretty much how it works. Bone is too small to think about when you have a crisis with your bread and butter books, and yet it's big enough to notice when it comes time to cut costs. I think I should make it clear here, that Bone is no longer a book that I do by myself up in my loft. I still write it and draw it, but my wife Vijaya handles a lot of the publishing duties like invoicing, licensing, foreign language editions; we have a staff, office space, storage, equipment, overhead -- all the expenses it takes to run a publishing company. If our sales dropped, it wouldn't just be a drag, it could put us out of business! Image's market share offers a bit of a buffer from some of the craziness. indy: So your only other option to get market share other than to join another company would be to start putting out a lot of different titles. Smith: [Laughs] Yeah, I could do the swimsuit issues and make every millionth one a solid gold cover. indy: Did you see it coming that you were not going to be able to get what you needed from the distributors? Smith: I think it was already starting to happen. indy: So how did joining Image happen? Was Larry Marder a big part of it? Smith: Larry was a huge part of it. As soon as the announcement was made that Marvel was buying Heroes World, I was pretty much cut off from the information circuit at the distribution and publishing level. I had no real information coming to me, and I could not really find out what was going on. Had it not been for Larry, I do not think I would have really known what was going on. He was my only source really high up there. Of course, previously I had felt pretty comfortable talking with anybody at any of the companies; distributors or publishers. Suddenly it got a little frosty outside [laugh]. Second, I know Larry because of Beanworld. We're good friends. He is the one who made me see Image as not just a smaller Marvel, but as pretty much a co-op of really successful, huge self-publishers [laugh]. It was important to me, philosophically, that Image was a creator-owned and creator-controlled company, as opposed to a company like DC, for example. DC publishes Sandman, which I think is a really good book, and Batman is one of my favorite characters, but they are very corporate controlled, and the creators have little or no say. Except for in the case of Sandman in which they are giving Neil some say for a couple more issues [laughs]. indy: Before your deal with Image for them to publish your book in the United States, you have done this in Germany and France as well? Smith: I think Bone is in nine languages now. We are doing very well in Germany. Vijaya does a lot of the dealing with the foreign companies. She sorts through the offers that come in and figures out which companies are valid, and does the contractual work and that kind of stuff. indy: So how does your current deal with Image differ from what you are doing in foreign companies? Smith: In the other countries, we are licensing the Bone stories I have already done to other publishers. It is more like the normal book market in the United States. In Germany it is Carlsen-Verlag, for example. We just license the properties to them over there. indy: Do you have a say in how the books are translated? Smith: Sort of. They send them to me for my approval, but I cant read German, so... [laughs] Germany was the first translation we did. Vijaya now takes the translations and sends them to another person. There is a service that we work with that will read the translations and tell us if they think that it has been done pretty well. Almost one hundred percent of the time they say that these translations are some of the best they have ever seen. Occasionally, they will have some nit-pick thing like the German translation may be too formal in one instance. Something that you would not really think of. Now the difference between those deals and the one with Image is that we are actually still producing books. We are not licensing the Bone characters to Image at all. indy: What was it like to be part of the giant Image display area at the San Diego Comic-Con last year? Smith: That was actually kind of fun. We did not actually have an official "i" logo on our booth, but we were in the Image area, so we tacked up an Image t-shirt so that there would be an "i" up there. There were some people who came by who had never heard of Bone, but they saw the Image "i" so they took a look. And of course once they got a good look at the book, they really could not fathom how we got into the Image section [laughs]. I think they started calling for Security [laughs]. I would have to say that it was a lot of fun. You can't deny that the Image guys have brought a lot of excitement into the industry, and a lot of that excitement takes place at conventions. We got to be a little part of that. I liked it. The reaction to our move was overwhelmingly positive. indy: Speaking of San Diego. You received three more Eisner awards at the convention this year. Did you expect it? Smith: I did not expect it. I figured that there is a lot of timing involved for these things. I remember that Bone was getting a lot of good word of mouth right about the time that ballots were being mailed out in 1994. Taking home so many awards in 1994 was really overwhelming, but I figured that this is it, that everybody went "Oh my god, well if I had known he was going to win all of these awards, I never would have voted for him!" But, no, to get three of them again, and especially the ones that I got, it was pretty overwhelming. indy: "Best Humor Publication," "Best Writer/Artist, Humor," and what was the third? Smith: "Best Continuing Comic Book." That's a pretty big one right there. I was quite surprised. indy: Does this mean that you are not just the flavor of the month, that you are the real deal? Smith: Well, it is comforting to me in that respect, yes, a little bit. I do not think it necessarily means all that much in the long haul, we will have to wait and see about that. But, yeah, it is a little comforting. indy: Speaking of the long haul, you just came out with issue #21. How do you see the story progressing now, as compared to a year or two ago? Smith: I am into the second section of the story. I remember I was talking with Gary Groth, when I did an interview with The Comics Journal. We were talking about some gripes someone had about my book. I was saying then that I hadn't gotten very far into the story, that there was more to the story than the humor part. And of course everyone who had read Bone knew that there was this underlying darker part, this fairytale type side. Now we are into it. Bone #21 is the scariest one to date. It isn't fun. indy: Do you think that Bone is still suitable for readers of all ages? Smith: Yeah, I do. I think that fairytales are very scary. I do not show a lot of blood and gore. I think that scary stuff is good for kids, and I think that kids enjoy it. indy: What percentage of each book is completely planned out ahead of time and what percentage is made up on the fly? Smith: I would imagine that within an issue about twenty percent comes out while I am actually physically making the book. For example, in Bone #21, for a long time I have known that this was going to be a confrontation between Gran'ma Ben and the rat creatures. I also knew that Kingdok was going to come up and meet them. While I was writing the story I had it planned a certain way. The whole time Gran'ma Ben was holding her sword during her confrontation with Kingdok. I always thought that he was just going to decide to fade away into the woods, to step backwards, almost like a Cheshire cat. As he got farther back, you would just see his eyes and his grin, and he was just taunting her, as if her time would come. Kind of to leave it on pins and needles there. She could have been killed, but it was just his whim that she was not. Well, then when I was actually drawing this story, for some reason, I had Gran'ma Ben hand off the sword to Thorn. All of the sudden, while Kingdok was trying to kill Gran'ma Ben, Thorn comes out of nowhere and cuts his arm off! Man, I did not plan that! That was not in any of the outlines. It was never in any of the plans. It was never in my head to have Kingdok lose an arm. His arm comes off, and he has a hallucination. All of that was completely on the fly. It was when I was actually drawing the panels that it all just came out. indy: What do you think of the idea of self-publishing as a community? Smith: I like the idea of solidarity. Nothing happens in a vacuum. When I was starting out I got a lot of help from guys like Jim Valentino, Larry, and Dave Sim. I try to repay the favor by plugging comics that I like in my book. I run ads free of charge for stuff I really, really like. And I think that as long as we all get together at shows and share tips and talk about the pitfalls, the community will flourish. I dont buy into the "us" against "them" philosophy. Like it's a war of the self-publishers against the rest of the comic books. I am a little troubled when I look around and see the clique-ishness that the movement has taken; where the emphasis is more on the technicality of self-publishing, rather than on the artists who have decided to self-publish. The importance of self-publishing is that it remains one of the strongest tools an artist has to bring his or her own creation to market without corporate interference. But again, to my mind, the emphasis should be on the work. The real revolution is to try and get the marketplace to accept different kinds of comics; and on that front we are making real progress. Think back just two or three years -- can you imagine books like Bone, or Stray Bullets, or Strangers in Paradise getting the kind of attention they do now? -- Geoffrey R. Mason | jrm@grove.ufl.edu Editor - indy Magazine | 611 NW 34th Drive College of Law - Univ of Florida | Gainesville, Florida 32607-2429 -- URL = http://grove.ufl.edu/~jrm/index.html ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [4]Rich's Revelations From Richard Johnston Date Fri, 16 Feb 1996 21:32:18 GMT Rich's Revelations: Believe what you want. Well, I previously reported it but, Knockabout won against Customs, over importing My Troubles With Women and other titles, and were awarded 6 grand legal costs. Witnesses included Paul Gravett of the Cartoon Art Trust, and William Thompson, lecturer in Criminology at Reading University (pronounced redding, but its still apt) Gary Erskine is taking over the art for a Dark Horse Star Wars series. To aid Knockabout and Savoy's legal costs, original art from Hunt Emerson is appearing as special benefit badges (pins or brouches to you Yanks). Further designs are by Robert Crumb, Kris Guido and Mike Higgs. Ring 0 (1144) 1785 243310 for more details, at Robert Martian's Comic Emporium. John Higgins and Simon Furman are setting up Turmoil Studios and will be reviewing portfolios at UKCAC. Scott Lobdell is now a confirmed guest, and there will be some kind of advance screening of Barb Wire for us Brits. - Marvel Zero Hour thing IS happening after all. So is it evil side of Professor Xavier triggering a humans/mutants war? Is it a reality altering event that plunges Fantastic Four, Cap America, Iron Man, Avengers, Thor, and an aspect of Hulk into a whole new world? Both? And will MArvel relaunch everything from issue 1? Marvel have signed a deal with an on-line service, probably AOL. Wayne Markley at Cap City has reported from an unamed source that Perelman is dumping Marvel, possibly trading for MCA/Universal or Viacom. In fact he may have sold his TV interests to Fox and his media interests, including Marvel, to Murdoch's News International group. Let's look forward to Cap getting his tits out on page 3 of the Sun, eh, reades? So who turned who down? Did Waid see Liefeld's Cap America plots and get turned off? Does Dixon not mind as much? This Image mega-crossover that everyone's on about? Todd's not so happy about Spawn crossing over with "second-rate" characters, and Moore is denying any link to writing it. Vapourware? Bye all. Most info from the news and rumour sections of Comics International. Richard Johnston Copywriter back in work! Creator and Publisher of Dirtbag and X-Flies as Twist and Shout Comics. Reviewer and Networks contributor for Comics International, and reviewer for Indy. Dirtbag 6 will be solicited in next month's Previews and Advance Comics ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] CYBERFROG #1 reviewed by David LeBlanc Cyberfrog #1 (HARRIS) - preview edition "Directing Traffik" Story & Art - Ethan Van Sciver Letters - Robin Spehar Colors (not in this preview) - Demetrius Bassoukos & Digital Hellfire Editor - Meloney Crawford Chadwick For those who need them, this will spoil some plot elements. ***SPOILER WARNING*** o /|\ / \ \o/ | / \ _ o /\ |\ _\o /) | _| \o ( \ \ / | /o\ |_ o/ / ) O/_ | (\ o_ /\ / | \o/ | / \ o /|\ / \ The preview is in black and white so no comment on the coloring. The title has to do with the first group we see our hero fight. Since they only last 5 pages I wonder if it is appropriate. The art is difficult to judge without color. Some product is made for black and white, and the shading and pencils finish the look. The main character, Cyberfrog, "needs" color as the detail leaves you wondering if he(it?) is all or part machine. In Black and white he looks like he is made of glass, filled with all kinds of circuits and mechanisms but the color is needed to give him a clear definition. The style itself is somewhat reminiscent of McFarlane and the main villain will surely be dubbed a rip off (in appearance) of a Spawn nemesis. The pencils are pretty good, with a more cartoonish feel that Todd and plenty of detail with varied panel placement and composition. I am interested to see them after full coloring. As to the story. Well, it is not what interests me to make me keep coming back for more. I am sure there may still be a market for blood crazy "heroes" and even worse villains, but the level of story and dialogue here plays strictly to that "blood and guts" fanboy group and not much else. The best dialogue of the book is delivered by the obligatory rescued bimbo after watching Cyberfrog literally tear apart her would be rapists/killers. She said exactly what I was thinking - "You didn't have to MURDER them all!" As you can guess he brushes her aside and proceeds to move us into the main plot, pondering some recent murders he was unaware had happened. You see he has a spider. . er "homing" sense that alerts him to crimes in progress but someone is killing and eating kids around town and his "sense" did not alert him. Throw in the bad guy named Ben Riley, of all things; news announcers that are sarcastic as you wish they would be; a brief origin that reveals little about where the hero came from and there is plenty of time left for silly jokes and more gore. There is a plot and the story moves along filling us in on the bad guy and his motivation, it just doesn't stand up as worth coming back for more. Perhaps if I was back in my teens, looking for a *different* look I might be convinced this kick butt, no nonsense mystery frog was kewl. After seeing it all before, I look for more depth in my stories, or much better humor when the idea is to play things as a gag. Unfortunately this book didn't make it for me on either level. Add the lack of proper spelling in several spots (although it is clearly marked as an uncorrected proof) and I can't help but wonder if Ethan would do better illustrating someone else's characters. With so much product to choose from these days, and the rising cost of each, I would have to give this one a pass. Thanks to HARRIS and Seth Biederman for the free preview copy. I applaud any company willing to seek out feedback in hope of providing what the public wants. You can't please everyone but hopefully they will find the right crowd for their type of products. Lord knows we need as much diversity as we can get. RATING: I don't *do* ratings. Sorry, I don't recommend this one. úúúúÄÄÄÄÍÍÍÍ*David LeBlanc> ComicBkNet@AOL.COM david.leblanc@mailtrain.com RIME->15 FIDO 1:322/743.1 ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] New Comics Shipping 2/22/96, by Bobb Waller Well what a week, Spidey makes the front page of The Wall Street Journal, and I finally have the New Toby Peters mystery. All is right with the world. Now onto the list of what is SUPPOSED to ship 2/21/96: ========================================================================== Acclaim Comics: Eternal Warrior: Fist & Steel #1 Mutant Chronicles Golgotha #2 Astro Comics: Hilly Rose #5 Big Entertainment: Mike Danger #10 Mr. Hero, The Newmatic Man #? Chaos! Comics: Evil Ernie Straight to Hell #4 Comic Shop News: CSN #453 Crusade Comics: Shi Senryaku HC Dark Horse Comics: Arzach TP Grendel Tales the Devil May Care #3 Space Usagi #2 Walter: Campaign of Terror #1 You're Under Arrest #3 DC Comics: Animaniacs #12 Azrael #16 Batman Chronicles #4 Big Book of Freaks Catwoman #32 Death: Time of Your Life #1 Detective Comics #696 Extreme Justice #15 Flash #112 Industrial Gothic #4 Legion of Super-Heroes #79 Robin #28 Shade:TCM #70- Final Issue! Spectre #40 Superboy #26 Superman:TMOS Vamps: Hollywood & Vein #3 Wonder Woman #108 Fantagraphics Books: Sidetrack City Suckle The status of Basil Gemstone Publishing-Overstreet: Overstreets Fan #10 Graphitti Designs: Mr. Monster Limited Ed. HC Mr. Monster Orgins TP Image Comics: Black & White #1 Black Ops #2 Combat #2 Deathblow #24 Glory #9 Grifter #9 Lethal #1 New Shadowhawk #6 Savage Dragon: Force to be reckoned with Union #9 Wetworks #14 Youngblood #4 Marks Giant Economy Size Comic: Radical Dreamer Vol 2 #6 Marvel Comics: Marvel Vs. DC #3 Doom 2099 #40 Fantastic Four 2099 #4 X-Men 2099 #31 Fantastic Four #411 Doc Samson #4 Incredible Hulk #440 Punisher #6 Green Goblin #7 New Warriors #70 Spider-Man #67 Spider-Man & The X-Men Team-up TPB Excalibur #96 Storm #3 What If? #84 X-Force #53 X-Man #14 X-Men #51 All New Exiles #5 Mantra #5 Terminator 2 Future War: Nuclear Twilight #4 (As an aside Notice that Marvel's putting out EIGHT (8) X related things next week!!!!!!) Maximum Comic Press: Battlestar GalacticaThe Enemy Within Sirius Entertainment: Dawn #3 Dawn Poster #3 Slave Labor Graphics: Action Girl #1 2nd printing Sumitek: Taoland #4 Tavicat Comics: Reality Check #2 Topps Comics: Duckman #0 ========================================================================== I counted the TPB and The Exiles as X-men titles if you were wondering. See Ya on the Spinners! ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [7]CBN vs the Internet by Michael Cross I've noticed quite a bit of whining lately about how CBN, networks in general, and BBSs are doomed because of the InterNet. I suppose that would be true if you believed it ... after all, the same philosophy was held about radio when TV came onto the scene. I would however like to point out that BBSs, Comic Book Net and other networks have MORE than a share of the future. 1) Most new users don't know the difference between InterNet and BBSs. InterNet is spread through word of mouth, while sysops and networks don't do as much promotion. If people don't know the difference, they won't see the benefits of message networks and BBSs. 2) BBSs have a greater amount of security and safety for users. The only limit is the sysop of a BBS. If the sysop is a moron who doesn't care about his users, he's is indeed doomed. However, access levels restricting areas are available on BBSs. Also, sysops can let users know that they are there for users ... if harrassed, stalked, etc., a sysop can aid the user in help and convicting the offender. Security and safety is greater on BBSs and networks than InterNet. This is of paticular importance to many users. 3) People can't afford much, and this isn't changing soon. InterNet costs the big bucks while BBSs are free aside from donations on most boards. On ones that do charge, there is still a BIG savings. 4) Moderators are a downside in some cases to message networks. This is not to say that moderators aren't a vital part of a well managed network, however some go overboard. On Fido international, I was discussing the following with a user in the states in a Star Trek echo: warp drives, old Star Trek, and life in general. See a problem? I was notified by a moderator that warp drives should be discussed in the Star Trek Tech echo, old Star Trek in the TOS echo, and life in general in the chat echo. After this I didn't post for 3 years. Some moderators need to lighten up! 4) Competition is another downside to BBSs. Since every network and BBS has a different feel to it, different people will be attracted to different ones. The competition between some networks and BBSs is ridiculous. I admittedly copied the format of the listing of different echoes from Comic Book Net for my own network called KnightNet. While the echoes were completely different, certain parties in CBN didn't like this, and I changed it. Despite the fact that Comic Book Net has been mentioned in high esteem in KnightNet, and the echo list was taken from the format of CBN out of acknowledgement for the high quality that CBN has, competition reared it's ugly head. As mentioned previously, people will choose a network to post in by how comfortable they feel in it. Competition is not necessary as people have different tastes. 5) Acknowledging users as a vital part of a network or BBS. Chatrooms on InterNet are popular as users make the rules and choice of topics. A "Suggestion Box" type area is used by KnightNet, and has proven successful. People who use the network choose topics for echoes, vote on them, and are then implemented. 6) Pointing out that users don't have to be experts! This is important in my opinion. Why? New users will read messages on comic books or other areas, and feel intimidated, and because of this NOT POST! I've collected comics for 20 years now and felt like an amatuer in some areas because people know more about what's going on now than I do. Due to the price of comics, I can't afford to be up to date, and neither can other collectors. Also, there's always others that are more knowledgeable. It's important to mention at times in areas that novices, people a little out of date, and up to date users are WELCOME! 7) BBSs and message networks will always be more community based than internet. People want to talk with others that are similar to themselves, or in the same community as themselves. While I've almost written a novel here, I think I've hit on some important points. InterNet isn't taking away from BBSs or message networks ... WE ARE! What started as a friendly COMMUNITY BASED way of communicating has turned into a regimented, die hard computer user way of talking. Remember what it was like when you first started using BBSs and networks. Remember that people appreciate help. Remember that people appreciate a feeling of safety and security. InterNet will NEVER take out BBSs and networks. It will be the BBSs and networks that extinguish themselves. Everytime a new element has been introduced to society, old elements have been thought of at times as being obsolete. Newspapers to radio to TV to BBSs to networks to internet. If we act in the same mature manner as those before us, we'll not only endure but prosper as well. We may also set a few standards for those who came before us. Origin: Dark Knight BBS * London Ontario * (519) 850-9929 (23:509/1) ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Letters to the E-Mag There aren't any! Well, DUH! No one knew we would be changing editorial direction and though we always had a network Address, ComicBkNet@aol.com, lots of feedback went directly to Ryan at his private Email address. If you want to comment on this or any previous issue, want to offer something for us to publish ( reviews of mainstream books are least likely to get included from outside sources but reviews of indies and self published stuff is most welcome, as is commentary on the industry and creators as well, we promote diversity!) or have sent mail to the prior editor that you want to be sure gets to the CBEM office, send it to: ComicBkNet@aol.com Note, letters of comment may be used in future issues of the CBN E-Mag unless you specifically request us NOT to use them. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] Join in the fun! You too can enjoy the intelligent conversations and informative threads that occupy the conferences of the Comic Book Net every day! However, many people who read this e-mag aren't familiar with the Local BBS echo-mail system.... Bulletin Board Systems are scattered everywhere across the continent and the world, many of them are free! Chances are, if you have a modem you have the accompanying communications software. Using the Terminal Emulation software that came with your modem, you can dial up one of the many systems linked into CBN (see the listings down a few paragraphs). Most of the boards offer all the message echoes in the Comic Book Network... There are message bases devoted to all the bigger comics publishers, as well as big Small Press and Independent message bases, not to mention sections for general (doesn't even have to be about comics!) conversation. If you are worried about long distance charges, worry no longer! Most if not all the BBS's offer a mail service from which you can download a .QWK packet of recent e-mail to read offline with a program called an offline mail reader. You can read & write messages at your leisure, and then upload your own messages & replies the next time you call your local BBS. There are many .QWK packet readers out there, for every type of computer system. They all give you a better explanation in their documentation than I can. These programs are available all over the Internet and are downloadable from most BBS's. These "mail runs" (dialing up, downloading the mail packet and uploading replies) generally take less than 5 minutes to accomplish, and at the average after-5pm/weekends/holidays long distance phone rates, that is LESS THAN 75›! See? Even less expensive than many of the commercial information services available! :) So what else can you find on free BBS systems? There are plenty of files for specific types of computers. Some systems also offer other types of message networks ranging from general topics to specific themes like sci-fi, role playing, games, music, etc. And, let's not forget online games. Join into the many different multiplayer games, each system sports different challenges. There's nothing like becoming the most powerful being in a online adventure! And when you _do_ log on, leave a message in The Bullpen conference to ALL, and introduce yourself to us! You're guaranteed to get plenty of replies and all the help you need to join in the fun! ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] BBSes Linked into CBN The nodelist is down for repairs. Our Super Hub crashed and we have to verify each and every link in the network, sometimes getting a SysOp to call a different BBS to get his mail from now on. This will take a few more days. rather than post an old node list, full of no longer or temporarily inactive boards, I have decided not to post the list until we have the most accurate up to date information to pass on. Thank you for your patience. If you want to join and can't wait send me Email with the details of where you are calling from so I can find the node nearest you. úúúúÄÄÄÄÍÍÍÍ*David LeBlanc> ComicBkNet@AOL.COM david.leblanc@mailtrain.com RIME->15 FIDO 1:322/743.1 ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [11] E-Mag Info The Comic Book Net E-Mag is published by the many participants of The Comic Book Network. This is a compilation of articles and columns which were originally posted in the network's conferences or written specifically for this electronic magazine. Some articles are independent of any connection with CBN and are used with permission. All text contained within are copyrighted to the originating author(s). Freely distributable for noncommercial purposes only. Please do not distribute except as the complete file as originally transmitted by The Comic Book Net E-Mag THE CBN WEB PAGE ---------------- If you have access to the World Wide Web, please stop by and visit our web page! On our web page, you can find the latest issue of our E-Mag, as well as an annotated index and all back issues. You'll also find important information on how to join the conversation in the Comic Book Net, and other neat features! The URL address is: http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet LOCATING THE ISSUES ------------------- The latest issue is always available from all the systems linked into The Comic Book Network. You can also find the back issues at America Online, by going to Keyword: Science Fiction, clicking on the menu item Comic Book Forum and then going to the Comics Library from there. Most issues should also be available on Compuserve, Genie, Channel1 BBS and Software Creations BBS as well as other non CBN affiliated Bulletin Board Systems. All back issues should be available at the above sites, as well as our World Wide Web page. SUBMISSIONS ----------- To submit an article, review, column, etc to our e-mag, simply post it in any Comic Book Net conference and leave me a message in the CBN: E-Mag conference giving me permission to use the article. If you cannot access the Comic Book Net, submit your articles for consideration to the editor at ComicBkNet@aol.com SUBSCRIPTIONS ------------- If you wish to receive these issues automatically through your internet account, please address a message to ComicBkNet@aol.com to be placed on the subscription list. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - End of Issue #46.. see ya in the funnyy papers!!