---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 106 Edited by: David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com ______________________________________________________________________ FREE VIA EMAIL SINCE FEBRUARY 1995 World Wide Web Page------>> 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!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The ComicBook Network was founded by Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden ----------------------------------------------------------------------- If you wish to receive each issue automatically through your Email account, please address a message to: ComicBkNet@aol.com to be placed on the FREE subscription list. ______________________________________________________________________ T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net ............................ David LeBlanc [2] Letters to the Editor ................. Your Page! TRIVIA CONTEST......................... Guesses & Answers [3] Network Buzz........................... News, gossip & rumors [4] CSNsider............................... Comic Shop News [5] CBI NEWSARAMA ......................... Michael Doran [6] And Let Me Tell You Why ............... David Coulter [7] Tips of the Trade On . . . ............ Larry Underwood [8] Cover to Cover ........................ Justin Steiner [9] The Pen is Mightier ................... Brian Matus [10] My View:2 from Mark Wheatly ........... David LeBlanc [11] Top 200 Comics for April .............. Matt High [12] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [A] E-Mag Info: Submissions, Subscriptions, Back Issues, Copyrights [B] How to join ComicBook Network.......... BBS 101 [C] Bulletin Boards Linked into CBN........ CBN node list ______________________________________________________________________ All text contained within is copyrighted to the originating author(s). Except where elsewhere noted, The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine is Copyright 1997 by The ComicBook Network. You may freely distribute or duplicate this file intact without alteration for noncommercial purposes only. Permission must be obtained from the individual authors to reproduce, retransmit, or publish any item by itself. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net by David LeBlanc Congratulations to Doug Dewing of The Comic Reviewer (Email DaddyPop6@aol.com to find out more about his Emag of reviews) for becoming our subscriber #600! A special CHEEZY PRIZE(tm) will be on it's way as a surprise premium for helping us hit this landmark. On the racks to try: AGONY ACRES #3 BLOODSHOT #2 NINJAK #6 ADVENTURES IN THE DC UNIVERSE #3 JLA #6 STARMAN #31 GEN13 BOOTLEG #6 (TERRY MOORE) ASTRO CITY #6 AND get Comic Shop News #512 for the Marvel complete list of books shipping in June that should have been in PREVIEWS last week. :) Last week I had an unusual amount of copies bounce back for the same reason, "mailbox full". I have regularly posted a message here about things that are common sense and courteous in the way of mailing list and the like. This problem is a particularly difficult one since you can't send a message to tell someone their mailbox is full, because their mailbox is full! I rely on most people to wonder why they are getting no new mail, or in our case why they haven't got the latest or all of the latest issue. One person from Compuserve figured it out quickly but I had about five from Juno and no indications that they know about it yet. I don't automatically drop a name if this message shows up, but after a couple of weeks I need to trim them from the list and hope that if they really want the mag they will write back after fixing the problem. Now, for those neophytes out there who are scratching their head saying, "what is he talking about?" listen up. Your service provider allows you to get Email, usually for a fee, but not always. That Email is delivered to his computer (server) and is held for you to read. Most providers will not give you unlimited space for this mail to build up. How that is handled may vary. In some cases there is a kilobyte limit. Once you reach the limit, your mail box is full and no more is accepted by the server. This is a common problem with people that are new to Email. They just jump in and start enjoying the web and the newsgroups and that Email thing without reading the fine print. Maybe they get Emags and sign up for files or graphics to be delivered but are not aware that the stuff they got, is often still sitting on the server waiting to be purged. So, if you do not know the rules on your service check it out. Usually there is some method to delete messages from the server. A really good Email client (one not built into the access software but a separate program to use with any Internet Service Provider) will have a configuration option to automatically purge things from the server for you, after a given time period for example. Some of the pat services may require you to manually delete stuf, I don't know because I am only familiar with a couple. The multiple Juno messages leads me to believe that either they have changed there limit, and some folks got caught with lots there already (since not all my Juno subs bounced back) or it was just a bizarre coincidence but that seems less likely. I used to mail the Emag as one file, something I can easily do from my end with Eudora Pro. The problem with that is when the attached text file got big enough some systems (notably Juno.com) refused it due to the size of the file. I have resorted to text messages as large as I can make them and sending the Emag in parts. This the best compromise and has been working well for a long time. If Juno is suddenly filling up with the larger size of the recent issues I am at the end of my options. There is no way I can keep resending parts so someone can grab them and purge their mail so they can get the next part. Mail box full messages will be ignored for a couple of weeks and then the address will be dropped on the third occurrence. Some have sent messages advising me of their vacations or just inability to check mail so stop the mag for a time. This is both intelligent and courteous to do. I have no problem with stopping and restarting a sub if it results in no bounced mail. You see, if I did not pay close attention and let my inbox get full of bounced mail (the entire message is sent back to me, not just a notice) well then, my mailbox would get full too. So if you stop getting the mag, if you don't see it by Saturday night, or whatever your normal time is give or take a few hours, check to see if you can get any mail, if your box is full, or some other restriction is stopping it (If you are on AOL you MUST allow file attachments to get the mag. It is too big to be within the message size limit) and then send me a message. I will gladly resend an issue or advise you if I got a warning message from your service, if I can. David LeBlanc [ComicBkNet@aol.com] Editor The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [2] Letters to the Editor If you want to comment on this or any previous issue, want to offer something for us to publish, or just want to shamelessly suck up to the editor to try and get your name in print send Email 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. Your Email address will be withheld upon request. +++++ Date: 4/8/97 From: KBoose6474 I am a comic retailer in State College Pa and just recently saw your display in the May-June SCANS Syco distribution catalog. I must say that I am interested in seeing your newsletter. We just got a new computer here at home and I've been slowly building up my knowledge so that I can apply it to work down at the store. Please contact me about your newsletter. Thank you for your time Kris Boose Owner Comic Swap [Thanks Kris, you are on the list. So, just what is all about readers? Well, we have our VERY FIRST print ad in a distributor catalogue!! Sure we have gotten plugs in letter columns and text in various comics books out there, notably the independents we in turn support, but this is an actual ad for the Emag. To see it you gotta convince your retailer he should be getting SCANS from SYCO so he can order lots of stuff and help promote diversity in distribution. We are very pleased to be part of the premiere issue and wish SYCO Distribution great success!] +++++ [In order to get better exposure to Robert Beerbohm's article last issue I posted a {HYPE} notice on Usenet in rec.arts.comics.misc to briefly explain what the article was, mention Bob's credentials, and invite people to check it out and see for themselves. Often this type of message does not get response, none is required, it is only an ad. Here is what the next message in the thread said] Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc Subject: Re: [HYPE] - Origins of the Direct Sales Market in CBEM #105 From: patdoneill@aol.com Date: 7 Apr 1997 00:49:18 GMT In article <5i5o38$i2l@dfw-ixnews3.ix.netcom.com>, DavidLeB@ix.netcom.com (David L. LeBlanc) writes: >COMICS REALITY is a two part article about the origins and development >of the Direct sales market. It is written by Robert Beerbohm with >excerpts from his upcoming 600 page history of the comic business, >"COMIC BOOK STORE WARS" edited by Jerry Bails. > >Through his 30 years in the business Robert has had a unique insight >into the business having founded the first comic book store chain in >operation in the US with Bud Plant and John Barret. They not only >lived through the development of the direct sales market, they helped >shape it. Based on past discussions with Beerbohm on CI$, his "history" of the direct market is sadly skewed to his own experiences and not the general history nor the experiences of the market as a whole. For example, he argues (rather he boldly states) that the origins of the DM are in the head-shop distribution system for underground comix of the late 1960s. That's patently wrong, as the DM was created when Phil Seuling convinced first DC and then Marvel to sell to him on a non-returnable basis for distribution to the existing back-issue comic-book dealers, primarily in NYC and then later around the nation. I'd also argue that his claim for "first chain" may also be suspect. Best, Pat The words and opinions expressed are those of Patrick Daniel O'Neill and do not represent the opinions or policies of WIZARD: THE GUIDE TO COMICS. [note:he does not indicate he actually read COMICS REALITY as we ran it just cites memories from CI$, which in a later message he states are from a few years ago. Rather than post a back and forth here I simply invited Pat to read the article and send a letter of comment to this Emag. Further, for the purpose of defending Robert in that forum, I challenged him to explain what was wrong with Robert writing about his experience and to back up his claim with names and dates if he could actually disprove the claim to the first comics chain. He has not done either. The above message was forwarded unedited to Mr. Beerbohm for his comment and this is his response, which was also posted to Usenet.] Date: Sun, 6 Apr 1997 22:53:39 -0500 From: Subject: Re: [HYPE] - Origins of the Direct Sales Market in CBEM #105 David, many thanks for some good humor tonight re Pat O'Neill. If you wish to run his letter, please put this as my response. "I had a few run-ins with him on Compuserve three years ago back in 1994 on their Comics Forum. Several regular participants there informed me that Mr. O'Neill simply likes to stir up bullshit for the sheer hell of it. "I will not dignify Mr. O'Neill with a response to what he says about me personally as it took me a while but I came to the conclusion long ago that the lights are all on at his house but no one is home. One can only hope he will read the article in toto rather than run off at the mouth without looking at the entire picture like he was typically prone to do in the past there on Compuserve. "Now, it is common knowledge in this industry to any one who has spent some time in it that Comics & Comix was indeed the first chain store operation in the country. It is also common knowledge (simply ask Bud Plant) that I was around Day One, was roommates with Bud Plant for a couple years there and was also a partner in the afore-mentioned comic book store chain which was spread out over a 100 miles within a year of us opening up the first one in Sept 1972. "No where did I mention "head shops" in my essay. This is simply typical of O'Neill's confrontational "style" of pseudo-journalistic mumbo-jumbo of twisting things around to satisfy some bizarre urge to argue that oranges are really apples cuz they are both fruits. "Regarding Seuling & the origin of the DM, I might direct the reader to re-read Phil's very own words quoted from the interview Will Eisner conducted published posthumously (sp?) shortly after Phil passed away in 1984 about "underground" methods of comics distribution. "The commentary in "Editor's Note" at the beginning of my essay was worded by Jerry Bails. Jerry's Alter Ego to some of us Comicollectors while informing us of what was On The Drawing Board is "Father of Comics Fandom." I feel honored that he edited my thoughts for publication. robert beerbohm +++++ [On a more pleasant note, here is a letter of comment from a old friend of Robert's] From: Scott Stewart To: beerbohm@teknetwork.com Subject: review of your e-zine article Hey, Bob: How ya doin'? Saw the 1st part of your article in an e-zine lately, and wanted to offer a couple observations. Edited by Jerry Bails -- holy shit! Couldn't have a better and more knowledgable person on the job than Dr. B! My impression from the whole piece is that the collaboration between the two of you has resulted in a really focused and cogent piece of work. I'm sure you know that your writing style tends to ramble and digress, but this article is insightful and to-the-point. I was struck, reading the early parts, how much your research into the distribution system and circulation statistics has enlightened your point of view. The material on this stuff was absolutely novel, something that really hasn't been explored before. Seems like a fertile field for exploration and observation. The last page of the article also seemed insightful and even eloquent. There did seem to be some disparity between your condemnation of recent events in the industry and your seeming admission that you were in on the ground floor of market manipulation back in the '70s. Can you reconcile those two positions somehow? As I said, I'm increasingly impressed with the material. My totally unsolicited opinion is that you will do best to concentrate on your personal areas of expertise (the industry aspects and the growth and direction of the direct market), downplaying the history-of-comics aspect -- it's been covered elsewhere in great detail, at least as far as modern comics are concerned. I'm anxious to see this material punched-up with relevant illustrations. With good graphic design, I think your book could be a big success, and a valuable document in comics' history. Gimme a call one of these days. See ya later. Scott [RLB: I am not about to try and pick apart art styles, etc insomuch as such commentary affects the business orientation of my book. With regards to history-of-comics, I will be attempting to present aspects & concepts that I have never before seen in other histories. There are some pretty blatant misconceptions (ie myths) that I feel pretty strong about correcting before future historians that will come after all of us go nuts trying to sort it all out. As far as reconciling those two "positions" you mention, that's easy. Once I did things one way; now I am older & wiser (I hope) these days, so I have a more mature outlook of the long range hopes of survival of the comics field. There is no "seeming" about it. I feel I helped pioneer some of the concepts that led to later dealers who entered the market place in the 80s to "rape & pillage" ardent comic book collectors to the point that so many have stopped being in this hobby. Once the "DM" was firmly established by the mid 80s (right around the time when Best of Two Worlds' warehouse flooded out), I was doing what I could to try and hold prices down. By then I had been a comic book seller for 21 years and understood so many of the "trends" which affected the industry. *IF* I am able to present this book the way I have it pictured in my head, then you can be assured that it will indeed be a visual treat. I sent your letter to Jerry and he wants it known that he has been editing my essays, but that the thoughts contained therein are mine. I will say that after he has edited my thoughts, the "flow" of the text is so much smoother. To quote a line from Wayne's World, "I'm not worthy!! I'm not worthy"" Thanks, Jerry!!] +++++ [I got a new subscriber based on seeing the article reposted to the Jack Kirby mailing list. I wrote the poster to thank him and got this] From: mayerson@SIDEFX.COM (Mark Mayerson) To: ComicBknet@aol.com Hi David. Yeah, I posted the info on the Kirby mailing list. I found that article (and a previous one on the pristine golden age "San Francisco" collection) to be excellent. If you can print more material by the same author or similar material from others, I'd be very appreciative. I enjoy getting CBEM every week. Keep up the good work! +++++ From: Chris Oarr re: the Emag Actually, I had been letting them pile up for a while until about a week ago, when I had six issues to skim through. Man, I don't want to let THAT happen again. The thing has gotten pretty hefty. Given how hard it is to keep my inbox free (i.e., keep on top of my work), I was thinking of unsubscribing. Then I read the first installment of Beerbohm's story o' the dm a couple weeks back. Fascinating stuff, topped only by the far superior two parter from the most recent edition. This is the single most important, entertaining, and interesting feature ever carried by the emag in any incarnation (with the Benny Powell interview a close second---nyuck!). Congratulations. Beerbohm's reflections on the origins of the direct market, the cross-fertilization of "underground" distribution and "mainstream" publishers, and how that process led American comics into the cultural cul de sac we're in today are extremely interesting. And his conclusions ring true to me. This series has probably been the strongest writing about comics I've read in a long, long time. I hope Beerbohm continues writing and publishing through the Emag. Ciao, Chris +++++ Subj: JACK KIRBY Date: 4/10/97 From: Comxking@aol.com Hello comics fans! I am doing a survey strait from the Jack Kirby household! We are thinking of producing Jack Kirby bumper stickers. They would let all the fans out there, show they're respect for the king and of the comics industry in general. My question is: If these bumper stickers were out on the market for about 1.50$ would you buy one. If you can, please E-mail me back with a "yes" or a "no", or any other comment you might have. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank You Jeremy Kirby RESPOND TO: Comixking@aol.com [TRIVIA CONTEST] LAST WEEKS TRIVIA QUESTION: > When the previous incarnation of the Legion of Super-Heroes, known >as "v4", came to a tangled end in Zero Hour, nearly everyone who had >ever been part of the Legion had made at least a token appearance. >What three members of the Legion did not appear in any way, shape or >form in the v4 continuity? From: Eddie Mitchell Wasn't reading LSH at the time, so this is just a guess (and probably a bad one): Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy +++++ From: Monster X7 The legionnaires who were no shows are as follows: 1. Quislet 2. Nemesis kid 3. Sensor Girl +++++ From: JK Parkin Um....Quislet, Tellus, and Chemical King? +++++ From: maxx@nectar.com.au (Mark Annabel) Trying to remember back, I think that Quislet was the only one not to show up in V4, that was not dead or showed up as part of Batch SW6. The other possibles are Superboy/girl (who did not exist in current continuity), Chemical King (dead) or Nemesis Kid (dead). I really enjoy the mag - keep up the good work. +++++ From: fglen@diamdcom.com Supergirl, Kid Psycho, and Magnetic Kid Glen Folland on behalf of Barry Lyga (who is not privileged enough to receive this magazine) +++++ From: Monster X7 You know my 1st guess was jimmy olsen, lana lang, kid psycho Leon Allen +++++ From: hunter@eros.rdc.puc-rio.br (Pedro Jervis d'Athouguia Bouça) Well, Karate Kid appears as a villian during Zero Hour, and Supergirl must be considered Laurel Gand, so the answers are: Quislet, Kid Psycho (former reserve member) and Magnetic Kid (Cosmic Boy's little brother). +++++ From: Monster X7 How about Jimmy Olsen, Lana Lang & Nemesis Kid ? Hope thats it cause Im plum out of ideas [Well you got 2 out of 3 so you are declared a winner along with Danny Sichel who sent in the question and stumped the readers. As he has explained to me in detail to my satisfaction all of the names guessed so far did appear in SOME WAY, SHAPE or FORM during the v4 run EXCEPT: Jimmy Olsen, Lana Lang, and Pete Ross] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: From: maial@haltonbe.on.ca (lino maia) What brand of smokes does Cassidy like? IMPORTANT RULES NOTICE: The first correct answer to reach the editor wins the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm). The editor will be the sole judge as to which guess arrived first! Messages with more than one guess will be disqualified. LIMIT: ONE PRIZE PER MONTH PER PERSON! Submit your own trivia and win the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm) if you can stump the readers! You MUST submit the correct answer with your question. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] Network Buzz News, gossip and rumors from around the industry PRESS RELEASE: SPX97 Debuts the Ignatz, A New Comics Award, dates announced Expo to be September 19-21 in Bethesda, MD -------------------------------------- >From SPX press release. For more information contact Chris Oarr, Phone: 301-565-8340, Fax: 301-565-9140, E-Mail: coarr@erols.com. The 1997 Small Press Expo will be held the weekend of September 19-21 at the Holiday Inn in Bethesda, Maryland, just one mile outside of Washington DC. Admission is $5 per day or $10 for a three day pass. Now in its fourth year, the Small Press Expo has expanded from a one-day artists' exhibition to a weekend convention, making it the east coast's premiere event for independent, alternative, and self-published comics. SPX97 will bring together hundreds of artists, publishers, and retailers in a tradeshow showcasing the most innovative segment of the comic book market. The changes introduced this year should make SPX97 the best Expo yet. SPX97 will be held in cooperation with the International Comics and Animation Festival, an annual convocation sponsored by Georgetown University and the embassies of France and Belgium. ICAF is one of the few academic convocations in the United States primarily devoted to critical analysis of the comics medium, involving artists, scholars, and critics from around the world. ICAF begins the Thursday prior to the Expo on the Georgetown campus, and on Saturday September 20th ICAF and SPX97 come together at the Expo site in Bethesda. There's plenty to see and do at SPX97. The Expo opens Friday afternoon with panels, "chalk-talks," and presentations from leading artists and publishers. There's a big bash Friday night, at which cartoonist and impresario James Kochalka will perform songs from his forthcoming CD "Monkey vs. Robot." There will be other bands too, and it should be a blast. Saturday is the big exhibition day. With over 100 booths of artists and publishers presenting work of every conceivable stripe, fans are bound to find plenty of great comics that may not have made it to the local comic shop. Daytime programming consists of lectures and symposia presented by ICAF and other panels of special interest to comic book retailers. As always, SPX will hold an auction of comicbook art and memorabilia Saturday afternoon to benefit the Comic Book Legal Fund. Sunday SPX97 hosts the "Small Press Summit," an opportunity for artists, publishers, distributors and retailers to discuss issues of mutual concern. Distributor presentations, publisher-retailer symposia, and breakout panels on topics of professional interest to comic book artists run through the early afternoon. Also there will be programming specifically designed for individuals looking to break in to comics, where publishers and distributors will explain basic ins-and-outs of submission guidelines, solicitation rules, and the like. The 1997 Small Press Expo will inaugurate a new award for notable achievement in comics and cartooning. The Ignatz, named after George Herriman's brick-wielding mouse, recognizes outstanding work that challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an artform and a means of personal expression. The Ignatz is a festival prize. Winners will be determined by ballot at the Small Press Expo. All attendees of SPX97 will have an opportunity to cast their vote in seven categories: Outstanding Artist, Story, Series, Comic, Minicomic, Graphic Novel/Collection, and Promising New Talent. The ballot will consist of five nominees for each category and will be determined by a jury of artists. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony during the SPX Banquet on Saturday September 20th. As the Ignatz is an annual award, only comics, minicomics, and graphic novels originally published from July 1996 through June 1997 are eligible for this year's ballot. Nominees will be announced in mid-July. Below is a brief summary of prize categories and guidelines. For more information about the Ignatz or SPX97, contact Chris Oarr at (301) 565-8340 or coarr@erols.com. GUIDELINES AND CATEGORIES Attendance at the Small Press Expo is not a precondition for winning the Ignatz, and it is not necessary that an artist apply to be nominated. However, artists and publishers may call the jury's attention to their comics by sending 5 review copies to: SPX97, P.O.Box 5874, Takoma Park, MD 20913. Submissions should be received no later than June 30 to be sure to reach the jury, and the artist or publisher should include a note indicating which categories they wish to be considered for. * Outstanding Artist may be anyone (writer or cartoonist) who has created notable work published within the two years preceding SPX97. * Promising New Talent is an artist whose first comic was published within the two years preceding SPX 1997. * Outstanding Story recognizes a published story of any length told in comics form, whether it's one page long, serialized over several issues, or collected in a novel-length edition. * Outstanding Series may be awarded to an ongoing or complete series, so long as an issue was published during the preceding prize year and at least two issues were published by the end of June 1997. * Outstanding Comic is awarded for an individual issue, which may be a one-shot comic or a single issue of any comic book series. * Outstanding Minicomic will be awarded to a one-shot or a minicomic series. * Outstanding Graphic Novel/Collection recognizes either a single story or a collection of individual stories published in collected form within the prize year. For regular updates on artists attending SPX97 or travel and lodging information, check out the new SPX97 web site. For information about exhibiting at the Expo, write SPX97, P.O. Box 5874, Takoma Park, MD 20913 or E-Mail coarr@erols.com. Phone inquiries may be directed to Chris Oarr at 301-565-8340. +++++ AP-NY-04-10-97 RENTON, Wash. (AP) - Wizards of the Coast Inc., publisher of the trading card game "Magic: The Gathering," announced Thursday the acquisition of TSR Inc., creator of the "Dungeons & Dragons" adventure game. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to be completed next month, subject to approval by the Wizards board and shareholders of TSR. Renton, Wash.-based Wizards is privately held and TSR of Lake Geneva, Wis., is a closely held corporation. Neither releases sales figures. TSR was founded in 1975, and within seven years "Dungeons & Dragons" had been featured in the hit movie "ET." The line now includes merchandise and the Dragonlance book series. "TSR Inc. is the pioneer of adventure games and carries an important industry legacy," Wizards president Peter D. Adkison said. Since "Magic" was released in 1993, more than 2 billion cards have been sold at prices of $7.95 for an initial pack of 60 and $1.95 and $2.95 for additional packs of 8 and 15, respectively. Wizards' other card games include "Battle Tech" and "Corporate Shuffle," soon to be released and based on the comic character Dilbert. +++++ NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 1997-- Baby Ruth Teams Up With Hawkman in New Ads DC Comics today announced a new deal with Nestle Chocolate & Confections, in which the candy giant would be the first advertiser in history to use the legendary DC superhero, Hawkman. The spots, which began airing March 17, show Hawkman saving a school bus full of children and fighting his arch-foe, the Lion Mane, with the help of an energy boost from a Baby Ruth candy bar. Joel Ehrlich, Senior Vice President -- Advertising and Promotion for DC Comics and Warner Bros. Consumer Products, said, "DC Comics generally shies away from this type of promotion, but when we saw the wit and creativity of J. Walter Thompson's team, how could we resist?" DC Comics, a division of Warner Bros. has a 60 year history of innovative publishing and utilizing its characters to support the marketing of products. From its early alliance with Kelloggs' on the classic Superman radio programs that debuted in 1939, to the first online service devoted to comics, DC has demonstrated its heroes' abilities to leap from the printed page to conquer other media. CONTACT: Martha Thomases 212/636-5450 dcomartha@aol.com +++++ Interactive, Animated Comic Book Adventures Come to Life as Technology and Imagination Merge on the Digital Stage SAN FRANCISCO, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- As DC Comics introduces "Xero," its latest comic book superhero with paranormal powers, Mediadome(SM) (http://www.mediadome.com) brings the character to life in a series of interactive, animated adventures on the site between April 7 and April 20. Xero is a man split into two physically and mentally different identities: a basketball superstar and a secret agent working for a top-level undercover branch of a United States intelligence agency. His most powerful weapon is knowledge, and his complete access to the Ultranet allows him to track down and execute target warrants on villains across the globe. On Mediadome, visitors can experience life through Xero's eyes as he saves the world from evil using RealSpace's virtual reality technology RealVR* or Apple Computer's QuickTime VR* (QTVR), which bring 360 degree views to the Web. Exclusive interviews with the comic book series' creators and a behind-the-scenes look at the DC Comics headquarters present the development stages of a new character, from the concept and design to the finished product. An historical overview of DC Comics, home of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, is also highlighted. Mediadome continues to enhance Web-based entertainment by enabling users to access audio and video in real time. Macromedia's Shockwave* and Progressive Network's RealAudio* and RealPlayer* are among the downloadable technologies being offered at no charge during the current webisode. Mediadome(SM), a collaboration from CNET: The Computer Network (Nasdaq: CNWK) and Intel Corporation, melds innovative Web technology with content from pop culture to show users what is possible on personal computers connected to the Internet today. Every two weeks, Mediadome debuts an exclusive, original program, or "webisode," featuring a variety of interactive elements based on content from today's hottest media properties, from top musical artists and major motion pictures to comic books, television programs and works of literature. A digital showcase for the latest Internet technologies, including motion picture animation, streaming audio and video, Java and virtual reality, Mediadome offers users a brand-new experience in Web-based entertainment. +++++ By Chris Petrikin HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Ensuring it won't be left home alone without one of its most successful film makers, 20th Century Fox has signed Chris Columbus to a new three-year deal for the hyphenate to write, produce and direct films. Columbus' relationship with Fox resulted in the comedy hits "Home Alone," "Home Alone 2" and "Mrs. Doubtfire." He also directed "Nine Months" and produced "Jingle All The Way." Of the more than 20 films his 1492 Pictures production company has in development at Fox, Columbus is attached to direct only "Shields Green and the Gospel of John Brown." The drama is based on the exploits of the abolitionist John Brown and his relationship with a freed slave. Columbus will most likely start work on the project after he wraps "Stepmom" for TriStar Pictures. Other pictures 1492 is readying for production include the big-budget comic-book actioner "The Fantastic Four," the comedy-drama "My Ride With Gus," and the fantasy-comedy "Once More With Feeling." +++++ Kyodo News Service TOKYO, April 8 (Kyodo) - A resident of Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo was arrested Tuesday for making thousands of crank calls to the offices of major publishing company Kodansha, police said. Police arrested Yutaka Akatsuki, 35, on suspicion of illegal obstruction of business activities by harassing workers at Kodansha's office for comic publications by making more than 24,000 phone calls over the last three years. Akatsuki told investigators that he made the calls out of spite after a comic draft he submitted to the weekly magazine 'Shukan Morning' was rejected by the editors. The investigation revealed that from Feb. 27 to April 4, Akatsuki made at least 530 crank calls from a public booth in the prefecture, screaming insults or just hanging up. Acting on a complaint the company filed in mid-March, the police tapped Kodansha's lines and eventually traced the source of the calls to a public telephone booth in Ichihara in the prefecture. Akatsuki, who was near the booth, was arrested Tuesday afternoon. +++++ FROM iNDY Xeric Foundation grant winners announced $24,168 Awarded to five comic book creators -------------------------------------- >From Xeric Foundadion press release. For information contact: Kendall Clark Engelman The Xeric Foundation has announced its most recent grant recipients. A total of $24,168 was awarded to five comic book creators. The Foundation has awarded in excess of $415,000 to comic book creators and non-profit organizations since its first grant cycle in September 1992. Established by Peter Laird, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Northampton, MA based foundation offers financial assistance to self-publishing comic book creators nationwide and qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations in western Massachusetts. Unfortunately, artists outside the United States are not at this time eligible to apply. The current grants cover the six-month period beginning August 1, 1996 and ending January 31, 1997. The next deadline and review dates are July 31, 1997 and September 1, 1997, respectively. The charitable organization grants were decided in June 1996 and announced separately. The artists receiving grants are as follows: * Ellen Forney -- I Was Seven in '75 * Henry Wolyniec -- Wahh * Jim Ottaviani -- Two-Fisted Science * Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys -- Sofa Jet City Crisis * Gene Yang -- Gordon Yumamoto and the King of the Geeks For a brochure, write to: XERIC FOUNDATION, 351 Pleasant Street, Box 214, Northampton, MA 01060. E-Mail: xericgrant@aol.com +++++ ALSO FROM iNDY Press release from Kitchen Sink Press. For more information contact: Chris Bleistein (413) 586-9525, ext. 3013. Northampton, MA, April 8th, 1997 -- Comics legend Will Eisner will discuss his 60-year career as a cartoonist in a conversation with Jules Feiffer and Art Spiegelman at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Cooper Union is located in New York City at 41 Cooper Square, at Third Avenue and East 7th Street. The event will take place on Wednesday, April 23rd, 1997 at 7:00 pm. It is open to the public with a $5.00 admission fee. Eisner, who celebrated his 80th birthday last month, is the grand statesman of American comics and the pioneer of the modern graphic novel. Starting in the fledgling comics industry in 1936, Eisner went on to form one of the first comics studios and provided a training ground for young artists, including Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert, Bob Kane, Wally Wood, Lou Fine, and Jules Feiffer. In 1940, Eisner debuted his most acclaimed and cherished creation, The Spirit. The quintessential noir detective series, The Spirit ran as a unique, full-color Sunday supplement in most major U.S. newspapers. With its pioneering use of splash pages, exciting camera angles, and dynamic layouts, The Spirit established much of the modern vocabulary of comics. In 1941, only one year into the run of The Spirit, Eisner told a reporter, "the comic strip is no longer a comic strip, but, in reality, an illustrated novel. It is new and raw just now, but material for limitless intelligent development. Eventually and inevitably, it will be a legitimate medium for the best of writers and artists." Eisner's own graphic novels are a fulfillment of the medium's promise. Beginning with A Contract with God in 1978, Eisner's recent work continues to explore the unique storytelling potential inherent in the combination of words and pictures. Eisner taught cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and is also the author of two works examining the medium, Comics and Sequential Art and Graphic Storytelling. His visual depictions of the city, celebrated in the Whitney Museum's 1996 "NYNY: City of Ambition" show, have influenced several generations of artists. While his peers may have scoffed at his remarks in 1941, Eisner has lived to see comics become recognized as the only indigenous American art form besides jazz. Eisner will be joined on stage by Jules Feiffer and Art Spiegelman, two Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists who were deeply influenced by Eisner's serious approach to the medium. Feiffer got his start in comics as Eisner's assistant on The Spirit. Spiegelman is best known for his graphic novel Maus. Now that Eisner has retired from teaching and resides in Florida, this appearance is a rare opportunity for a New York audience to see him speak. The event will be filmed for a documentary entitled "Will Eisner: American Cartoonist", produced by Alan Edelstein and Thom Powers. A reception will follow. Kitchen Sink Press is the publisher of The Will Eisner Library, a book series which includes his complete backlist of graphic novels as well as definitive collections of The Spirit and earlier strips. This June, Eisner and Kitchen Sink will debut The Spirit: The New Adventures. This all-new, monthly series will feature the work of today's top comics creators, all eager to pay their respects to the medium's master storyteller. The first issue reunites Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the creative team from the ground-breaking Watchmen series. "Will Eisner is the single person most responsible for giving comics its brains," says Moore. "He's given us a way to see and to think about comics. He has helped to provide an understanding of its workings that we must have it we are to take the medium forward rather than allowing it to stagnate. There is no one quite like Will Eisner. There never has been, and on my more pessimistic days, I doubt there ever will be." Upcoming issues will feature new Spirit stories by Mike Allred, Brian Bolland, Kurt Busiek, Eddie Campbell, Geof Darrow, Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Michael Ploog, Paul Pope, Alex Ross, Mark Schultz, and many more. The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, established by Peter Cooper in 1859, is a private institution of higher learning where all students receive full-tuition scholarships. Peter Cooper's legacy supports degree programs in Art, Architecture, and Engineering. The historic Great Hall is home to public forums, cultural events, and other community activities. Eisner appears as part of the school's prestigious lecture series, the Philips Lectures. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [4] CSNsider by W. Batty and C. Biggers This is the CSNsider from CSN #513, which will be in shops on 4/16/97. It is reproduced in its entirety with the expressed permission of COMIC SHOP NEWS! Beginning in April, Jeff Smith's Bone will be serialized in full color each month in Disney Adventure Digest, picking up with the second issue of the series. DAD serialized the first issue in color back in '94. "Ever since we first ran Bone, I've been getting requests for its return from our readers," editor Heidi MacDonald said. "Tom Luth is doing the colors, and his work is amazing"... Spy Game, the ABC-TV show that many thought might prove to be as clever and quirky as The Avengers, has been cancelled after only three episodes, so don't look for it to make the jump to comics... Look for a cast shake-up on Star Trek: Voyager next season... Friends' Matthew LeBlanc has replaced Sean Patrick Flanery as Major Don West on the upcoming Lost In Space film... Look for Neve Campbell to return in a sequel to Scream and Natasha Henstridge to return in a sequel to Species next year... Quentin Tarantino will supposedly begin work on his Man From UNCLE film after he completes his current project, Rum Punch... The Wild Wild West film project has, at last, a star name associated with it-and that star is Will Smith (?)... Willam Dafoe's lack of interest in playing Steve McGarrett has led to a total revamp of the Hawaii Five-O film; now it's a made-for-CBS project with Jack Lord returning to play Governor Steve McGarrett, who is shot early in the episode. His shooting will be investigated by an all-new Five-O team... Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller goes on hiatus after the twelfth issue... MGM has won the rights to the Spider-Man film, which was tied up in the Carolco bankruptcy for quite some time; no word yet on whether James Cameron will be a part of the new film or not... Tim Burton may be doing a live-action Scooby Doo film (ruh roh)... Can it be true? Will the third Crow film really be written by Rob Zombie of White Zombie?... Allen and Albert Hughes have signed on to direct the film version of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell, with Terry Hayes doing the script... Avatar Press editor William A. Chistensen has announced that two former Entity titles, Nira X and Snowman, will move to his imprint this summer. Plans call for Bill Maus's Nira X to relaunch in August, with Matt Martin's Snowman following this fall... Alternative Press, publisher of Spectacles, has a new book coming up from Steve Weissman, whose work has been seen on CD's by the Presidents of the United States of America and in Pulse Magazine. His one-shot, Tykes, debuts in July, leading into his Yikes series coming this fall... Fox-TV has announced that David Hasselhoff will star in five TV movies based on Marvel's Nick Fury; the first one goes into production this May... Dorothy Crouch has been appointed vice president-licensed publishing and associate publisher of Mad Magazine effective April 15th. "Dorothy brings an extraordinary range of skills and experience to our growing Licensed Publishing business," DC Publisher Paul Leviz said. "It's a pleasure to be working with her full time again"... Another second printing from DC: response to the first issue of Resurrection Man was so strong that DC is rushing out a second printing of the book (look for it this week, in fact); the second printing will include the first printing's eye-catching lenticular cover enhancement... George Perez will be quitting as Teen Titans' inker after the twelfth issue, although he will continue to ink the book's covers through Teen Titans #15-but before Perez fans get too upset, bear in mind that's giving up the inking honors because he anticipates penciling two books (Crimson Plague and Avengers) instead. He's also talking with DC about doing a Starfire one-shot that will bring her back into current Titans continuity... Michael Doran's syndicated Newsarama column reports that Mike Baron and Steve Rude's Nexus will move to black and white with the series Nexus: Nightmare In Blue. Nexus began as a black and white title fifteen years ago, and Mike Baron promises that he and Rude will find a way to give readers "more bang for the buck" when the big change occurs... Grant Morrison and Val Semeiks are handling the creative honors on the JLA/WildCATs crossover oneshot slated for summer '97 release... Look for Steven Grant and Gil Kane to take over as writer and artist on Wetworks later this year... The Warrior Nun Areala Universe expands further in July with the debut of Mother Superior, a new series by Pat Kelley that focuses on the young new trainer of the warrior nuns.. Rod Espinoza has a new manga-style sf-fantasy series, Foreternity, debuting in July from Antarctic. The publisher describes it as "an absolute must for fans of Gold Digger and Ninja High School"... Norm Breyfogle will be illustrating Batman: Shadow of the Bat #s 65-67... Dark Horse calls on forty major artists-including Kelley Jones, Art Adams, Mark A. Nelson, Guy Davis, and Peter Bagge-to supply the visuals for Mark Schultz's 32-page Aliens: Havoc one-shot this June... Rob Liefeld says that he's still talking with Marvel about doing some work for them, including a Bucky project spinning off from his work on Captain America... Now that Todd McFarlane's toy company is producing Kiss figures, can a McFarlane-produced Kiss comic be that far behind?... Mojo Press is producing a signed limited edition of Joe R. Lansdale's Bad Chili; the Mojo edition will feature a cover and design work by John Picacio, and will be signed by the both writer and artist. Look for the $47 edition in June... Skybolt Toyz, a division of Lightning Entertainment, has reached an agreement with Bill Maus to produce a Nira X: Cyber Angel action figure. "We intend to build a name for ourselves by creating the highest quality figures in the direct market," Joe Zyskowski of Lightning/Skybolt said. "The Nira X figure will be sculpted by a team also used by Disney"... Ruben Diaz, former editor at DC Comics, has moved to WildStorm, where he will edit DV8, the remaining Heroes Reborn issues of Iron Man, and WildStorm Spotlight. +++++ CSN is available exclusively at over 1,000 finer comic shops nation-wide. A list, sorted by zip code, of shops that carry CSN is available at our website. CSN only costs your shop a dime each, so if they don't carry it, nag them until they do. Isn't your patronage and satisfaction worth a dime a week? We post some art to go along with this news at our website: http://www.dreamsville.com/CSN/CSNsider.html Ward Batty wardo@netdepot.com Cliff Biggers cliffbig@netdepot.com (c)Copyright 1997 CSN, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] CBI NEWSARAMA Michael Doran Compiled, written and edited by Michael Doran (mike-doran@prodigy.com) [Items under the NEWSARAMA banner are published throughout the week and often new items are released after our deadline for publication. Newsworthy items will be carried forward here in the next issue we publish. So, this column is really a compilation of items from various NEWSARAMA releases, not already reported elsewhere in CBEM.] CBI NEWSARAMA 4-5-97 Compiled, written and edited by Michael Doran (mike-doran@prodigy.com) CAPTAIN CATHARTIC Rob Liefeld is going to vent some of his frustrations over his removal from Marvel's HEROES REBORN project when he and Extreme Studios release AGENT: AMERICA on July 4th. The project, written by former Captain America writer Jeph Loeb with art by Liefeld, Stephen Platt and Jon Sibal tells the story of "a great patriotic hero who is reactivated in order to combat the evil machinations of an all-powerful conglomerate known as Chapter 11". Say Liefeld, "I loved working on Captain America and I'm ecstatic at the opportunity to work on yet another all-American hero. When creating Agent: America, we were clearly inspired by other classic patriotic heroes such as Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's The Fighting American and Archie Comics The Shield," he adds. The character's first appearance will actually be in the upcoming Extreme event mini-series Judgment Day written by Alan Moore shipping in May and June. * * * WILDSTORM ON THE "HORIZON" In July, WILDSTORM STUDIOS will kick off the next phase of their publishing future with NEW HORIZONS, a plan that will see Wildstorm regroup and refocus on their core titles after spending much of their attention on HEROES REBORN in the last year. The main focus of the strategy is trim some of the fat off the Wildstorm Universe. In addition, as part of the plan, Wildstorm will institute guaranteed shipping . Details are still sketchy, but some changes you will see -- -The GRIFTER series will be canceled and hee will return to the cast of WILDC.A.T.S. -As previously announced, BACKLASH will be canceled and that character (along with Taboo) will become part of a new Brett Booth superteam-title WILDCORE. -JIM LEE will create and pencil and brand nnew series. - Possible new creative directions and teamms for DV8, WETWORKS and STORMWATCH. NEWSARAMA is following this story also and should have more details next week. * * * CARTOON NETWORKING Andy Mangels of MANIA (www.mania.com) is reporting that Warner Bros. Animation is producing a series of animated features based on DC superheroes. The first, as reported in January by NEWSARAMA, will be JACK KIRBY'S NEW GODS, to be followed by (in no particular order) Aquaman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Spectre, and Shazam! The features have no definite release date, and don't expect to see NEW GODS until at least 1999. Mangels' also reports that a direct-to-video Superman Animated feature will be released in conjunction with the SUPERMAN REBORN live-action film on Warner's 1998 release schedule. This will follow the animated Batman: Sub Zero video feature being released with this summer's BATMAN AND ROBIN. And in summer 1999, another animated Batman film is expected to be released on video with BATMAN 5. * * * BYTES & PIECES As reported in NEWSARAMA's Rumor Mill week ago, Marvel is indeed planning to launch a new HORROR line of comics to be edited by Ralph Macchio. The line is currently being planned as a NON-CODE line of books. Look for news of titles and creative teams in upcoming editions of the CBI-N. Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort tells us the last issue of the final (for the time being, at least) VENOM limited series ships in November. No reason was given for the "cancellation" of the series (of mini's) or word of the character's future. The ASTRO CITY: LIFE IN THE BIG CITY TPB is going back to press for a 3RD printing (in 8 months). DC has launched a new website for their HELIX line of comics at WWW. HELIXCOMICS.COM. The site features games, chat rooms, information on their current lineup and creators, and previews of upcoming Helix titles. KURT BUSIEK'S WIZARD TALE (with fully painted art by Dave Wenzel) originally scheduled as a November 1996 release from Homage Comics, is being resolicited for July shipping. Previous orders for the November ship date have been canceled. The delays, that Busiek attributes to color-separation scan problems, apparently have been overcome and Homage is confident they can get the book to stores by July. TOP COW plans a DARKNESS/WITCHBLADE crossover for this November. * * * THE GRAPELINE (a.k.a. the Rumor Mill) Look for a some shuffling of the creative teams for Marvel's STAR TREK line of books. In addition to changes in creators, the shuffling could also include the reformatting of certain titles and a line-wide crossover in the coming months. * * * So, what's going on with the FF? Well, looks like that rumor about Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett signing on as the new post-HR creative team might have been a little premature. Turns out in a classic case of the 'ole telephone game, word that came to NEWSARAMA to the effect that Kesel/Grummett would get the book was based on the fact that Kesel/Grummett WANT the book, and some other creators in and around Marvel want them to get it to also. Karl has informed Newsarama that he wants the series, has submitted a "proposal", and has even offered to ink Grummett's pencils. But as of Saturday, they hadn't been offered the book. Don't mean they won't get it, just means the haven't yet. Stay tuned... +++ *The CBI NEWSARAMA is a weekly compilation of news gathered directly from comic book publishers, professionals, and from independent sources on the internet. For a list of the various internet venues that carry NEWSARAMA, email us at the below address. Any fan or pro with news, rumors, suggestions, or complaints, can address them to NEWSARAMA editor Michael Doran at the below email address. We encourage any & ALL feedback. (C) 1997 Michael Doran (mike_doran@prodigy.com) ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] And let me tell you why ... David Coulter FIRST OFF: You want to hear something weird? >> Hiya, David. I thought you might find this interesting. I was reading your column in the latest Comic Book E-mag a few moments ago. You mentioned the first comic you had ever bought, an issue of JLA with Adam Strange and Kanjor Ro. You even remembered what Kanjar was saying on the cover. Right next to my computer is a pile of back issues I bought yesterday. Sitting on top is a copy of that comic, JLA #120, with Adam Strange and Kanjar Ro on the cover. You even got the quote right: "Dust to dust, Adam Strange! Your friends are gone for good!" If there was ever a great time to hear Twilight Zone music, that was it. See you out there. Paul<< Is that synchronicity? Or coincidence? It's a good thing, as I told Paul, that I choose to use my powers for good! Now, on with the show.... WHY RETAILERS ARE PINHEADS The First of an Occasional Series. Reading Mr. Beerbohm's article last week (COMICS REALITY, Part One) was an infuriating, albeit eye-opening experience for me. Especially since I *was* one of the fans who was on the receiving end of all the screwing he detailed. I went tear-assing all over town looking for a HOWARD THE DUCK #1 in 1976, spending god knows how much on bus-fare, before finally buying a copy from a comic shop years later for $10. I was told by the comic shop guy I bought the book from that the local distributor had thrown away all the copies of HTD #1 because he thought the cover was "too dirty." Yet, somehow, he went on to add in a sly, Indiana Jones way, HE'D managed to turn up "several" copies. Now I know. But what really ticked me off was his whole examination of the speculator mentality -- and how retailers not only bought into, but helped make it worse. I mean, fan-speculators are bad enough, and I've always thought it was their influence that was slowly driving this hobby off a cliff. But the antics of the retail-speculators Mr. Beerbohm wrote about were appalling. Turns out there not just driving it over a cliff, but making plans for the body after it hits. And this bugs me -- a lot. If this makes me a Pollyanna -- fine. Whatever. But when retailers sit around and scratch their heads and say "Gee Wally, how come the kids don't come around no more like they usedta?" I'd say they have no one but themselves to blame. Here's a perfect example: >> Books like SHAZAM #1 had a cover price of $.20 and we were able to sell it for $2 for awhile there. This mark up was entirely legal; no one can dictate the cover price to a retailer. The cover price is merely a suggestion. << So let me get this straight... independent distributors reporting comics they had sold to dealers as "destroyed" is wrong, while selling a comic book at 10 times the cover price because you have every copy in the city ISN'T? In what way is this NOT price-gouging? Okay, maybe it WAS entirely legal. But it still sucks. And it's a good example of the retailer's outrageous double standard. It's fine for them to stick it to the fan -- hey, whatever the market will bear, right? BUT... I'm 100% confident that if a *distributor* had decided to ask twice his normal wholesale price for SHAZAM #1, that every retailer would have been screaming bloody murder. When a retailer does it to a fan, it's speculation. But if a distributor does it to a comics dealer, it's fraud. Sort of: "if I screw you, that's just business. But if you screw me, it's a crime!" >> While what we were doing may seem a bit unscrupulous to the public, but there were some whose tactics went even further. << A BIT unscrupulous? I guess when compared to the guy who hijacked "every copy of every comic book" bound for distribution one week in Manhattan so he could sell them himself at a convention, screwing a little kid out of an extra $1.80 for a copy of SHAZAM #1 is peanuts. The "every copy of every comic book" story was enlightening, but I don't know exactly what Beerbohm was using that story to illustrate. He seems to be suggesting it somehow affected the movement of mainstream books into the underground system, but he did it without seeming to consider the moral implications of the dealer's actions. "It was phenomenal," he said: >> It also opened the eyes of the high school teacher who was the chairman of the comic book convention [Phil Sueling] as well as the soon-to-be appointed President of DC Comics [Sol Harrison] ... They saw something at that show.<< What did they see? Did they see their traditional distribution system being exploited and manipulated by a greedy individual? Or did they see exactly how addicted their fans were -- and therefore the lengths to which they could push them? And what about the Manhattan newsstands who were expecting delivery of those books? What about the kid who lived up at 88th and 3rd, who trooped down to the corner newsstand looking for that weeks comics and got found nothing? "Even when I was still in Jr. High school," continues Beerbohm. "I was engaged in speculation. I bought 100 copies each of DAREDEVIL #1 and HAWKMAN #1 back in 1964 ... [i]n 1968, I purchased 200 copies each of SILVER SURFER #1, SHIELD #1, SUB-MARINER #1, and IRONMAN #1. My point is that speculation began long before many so-called "experts" seem to think." That's as may be, but it is EXACTLY this kind of mentality that makes reading and collecting comic books -- for me -- such a monumental drag sometimes. Let me tell you a story. One afternoon when maybe 13 or 14, I ran across a huge cache of Silver Age Marvels at a used-book store downtown. At the time I'd only been collecting for a couple of years, and I knew nothing. But I figured, you know, they were OLD, and that was probably good. The guy was selling them at twice the cover price since, as he said "them older books go for more." I got him to sell me the whole box for $20, which, at the age of 13, was a princely sum (not to mention all the money I had on me). I'm sure I looked like a schlock lugging this enormous box home on the bus -- but it was worth it. The box was loaded with second-tier Marvel titles from the sixties, there were lots of TALES TO ASTONISH, TALES OF SUSPENSE, STRANGE TALES, HULK (this was before he became "Marvel's TV Sensation" and he was still a second stringer), NICK FURY, CAPTAIN MARVEL, FANTASY MASTERPIECES, and the hidden gem, the one and only issue of IRON MAN & SUB-MARINER. I pored over those books every day for the entire summer -- reading and re-reading Steve Ditko's Dr. Strange, Steranko's Nick Fury, Gene Colon's Iron Man, and Jack Kirby's everything else. It was a one of the best summers I ever had. When I got back to school in the fall I bragged of this collection to my friend Chris, the Serious Collector (he bought a copy of Overstreet's Price Guide every year, and had a briefcase with copies AVENGERS #1, DAREDEVIL #1, and X-MEN #1 that he'd cadged from his older brother in it). I figured if anyone would share my excitement over these wonderful comics, it would be him. So Chris comes over, and scans the collection, and promptly pronounced the entire collection worthless, since it only contained a few #1's. "First issues," he said authoritatively, "are the only comics that are ever worth anything. No one would buy these." "But I don't want to sell them" I said, perplexed. "Then why did you buy them in the first place?" He said. I collect comics to read them, not to sell. And I think most creators create their books to be read, not to be double-bagged and vaulted -- or to be hijacked by unscrupulous retailers. I always shake my head at the "Limit 5 Copies Per Customer" signs that get tacked up in comic shops over that week's hot comic. What's the point? Chris the Serious Collector bought three copies of every book he collected. One to read, one to bag and save, and one to bag and sell later when it was "really valuable." When money got tight, he gave up his reading copy. Years after the above story, I bumped into Chris at a convention, trying desperately to sell three unopened cases of ALPHA FLIGHT #1. He couldn't figure out why no one wanted them. After all, John Byrne was hot, and this was a #1. "Well, did you read it? It wasn't that good." I offered. "No. But what's that got to do with it?" He said. Talk about not getting it. And if you still don't, let me spell it out. People who buy any comic book printed after 1970 for any reason other than pleasure reading are fools. Even GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1 Is never, ever, EVER going to sell for $30,000. Not in a million years. Do the math. ACTION COMICS #1 is valuable because there are, like, 10 left in the world -- and they've been sitting on a basement floor for fifty years. There are a million copies of X-FORCE #1 -- a MILLION... a one and six zeroes -- and they're ALL triple-bagged and boarded and stored vertically in acid-free storage boxes in climate-controlled suburban houses. Those 10 copies of Action Comics #1 are disintegrating before our eyes. But there are still going to be a million copies of X-Force #1 fifty years from now. Hell, there are still going to be a million copies of X-Force #1 *250* years from now. No one is EVER going to pay you a dime for *any* of the 30 copies you got in your closet. And anyone who paid more than cover price for it because they thought it was going to keep getting more valuable is a dolt. So wise up. Instead of buying 30 copies of SNOT-MAN #1, buy 1. There are two reasons for this. One is: You won't make a fool out of yourself by desperately flogging 30 copies of SNOT-MAN at a convention in 5 years. The other is: Retailers are pinheads. If everyone buys 30 copies of SNOT-MAN, then pretty soon SNOT-MAN is all he will order. Take the money you would have spent on the other 29 copies of SNOT-MAN and buy 29 other comics and READ them. You might find something you like. And don't listen to retailers when they tell you something is HOT. Remember, they're pinheads. Just because they bought 400 copies doesn't mean you have to. Comments? Criticisms? Flames? DneColt@aol.com ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] Tips of the Trade on . . . by Larry Underwood The Comic Art Form Been a hectic week for us here at Volunteer Comics. We've been busy wrapping up the last details for getting our books out to the distributors for inclusion in the catalogs, gathering funds for advertising, getting said ads finished and mailed and coordinating work on the books. I've also gotten a lot of requests for the script of the "Get Published" contest and have been sending it out regularly. And along with those interested e-mail messages have come several letters from people interested in Volunteer Comics and wanting more information. One such letter I received was from a guy named Junaid Khan. He is in the beginning stages of putting together a website about creating comics, and wants to cover all the stages on his webpage. He contacted me to see if I could comment on several different topics, to sort of give him a professional's opinion to go along with his own observations. As I was considering what to cover in this week's column, I thought I would answer some of his questions here, as some of his questions were really good ones and I thought might be of interest to everyone. The first question he asked was "Why is the comic field so great?" This is akin to another question I've personally been asked before - "Why comics?" Well, it's a good question. I'm certainly not in this to become rich. Although there are those who have done well for themselves in this field, there are plenty of other career choices through which the potential for riches is much greater and the chances of success are much greater as well. Money is not my prime motivational factor to continue this quest; if it were I would have stopped years ago. I know, I know, I can hear you out there now . . . "Larry, if you didn't get into comics for the money then you must have done it for the babes." Oh yeah, that's it! Nothing attracts women quicker than telling them you're a comic book artist. Yeah, bud. Except maybe telling them you're a computer programmer. Mmm hmmm. Seriously though, the reason I got into comics was because of comics themselves. I love comics. Harlan Ellison describes comics as a form of art as one of the seven truly American forms of art. By that he means Art forms that originated right here in the United States. There is a rich heritage of comic history that dates back decades. One doesn't have to search too hard to find great works of literature created right here in this field we call comics. Will Eisner, the famed creator of "The Spirit" and pioneering artist in comic history, considers the very title "comics" a misnomer. And in a sense he's right. The term "comics" brings to mind images of kiddie books, cartoon characters and comical material. And while comics can encompass all these things that is by no means the entire iceberg, it's merely the proverbial tip. Comics are all these things and so much more! Comic books are indeed a medium that deserve to be given respect and taken seriously. Will Eisner wrote one of the most highly acclaimed books on comic art titled "Comics and Sequential Art." This is by far a more appropriate name, as sequential art is exactly what comics are all about - storytelling. Which is what's so great about creating comics. You get to tell stories to people, and you get to tell them exactly as YOU want to. You don't have a producer, seven camera men, stunt men, animal actors or eccentric billionaires to deal with. You have an unlimited budget and can place your action anywhere in the world with any special effects you want! Every director out there would give the limb of your choice for such an opportunity. The only thing holding you back is your own imagination. Do you remember the first comic you ever bought? I bet you do. For me it was an issue of the Amazing Spider-man. It was love at first read, and I knew I wanted to draw comics someday. I remember spreading those books out on my bed and tracing the pictures, trying to figure out just how they drew those wonderful images. As I grew older and my interests changed, comics evolved along with me, and there is now material available for all ages. Comics aren't just for kids, and they aren't just comical. If you want to see just how good comics can be just pick up Maus, or Sin City, or Watchmen, or The Spirit, or Sandman, or Cerebus, or The Dark Knight Returns, or . . . the list is endless. What's your favorite comic? Bet you'd be hard pressed to pick just one. Comics are a magical medium, one that can draw a child's interest and hold that of an adult, regardless of sex or race. And we haven't even seen everything comics can be. In an age where kids are growing less and less interested in reading, comics still have one thing going for them. They have wonderful illustrations to go along with the text, and this alone can entice some kids to read who might not otherwise be so inclined. Like the R.L. Stine Goosebumps books, if it's something the kids are interested in, then they'll read it, and anything that keeps kids reading keeps them learning. I remember going to get the dictionary to look up just what Peter Parker meant when he said Mary Jane had "jilted" him. Comics can be a learning tool as well as entertainment. These are a few of the reasons I think comics are so great. Plus they're just plain cool, a truly unique art form and method of storytelling that is growing more and more influential on society day by day. Besides, if they're good enough for Harlan, they're good enough for me! ****************************************************************** The "Get Published" Contest is still going strong. Had lots of people e-mail us so far wanting the script. The deadline for entries is April 30th. I'll be announcing the winner here in the May 2nd column. Stay tuned. We've got two books coming out in the May Previews - "Battle Cry" #1, the anthology named by the readers of this column and which will contain the one page contest winner of our current contest! - And "Tombstone Blues or Dead Girls Need Love, Too," a horror book written by me and art by Chuck Angell; also features a fully painted cover by "Razor" artist Eric Powell. Look for the ad in the May Previews! That's all for this week! If you have any comments or would like the "Get Published" contest script, e-mail volcomics@juno.com or write Volunteer Comics, 151 Timberlake Dr., Hendersonville, TN 37075. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Cover To Cover By Justin Steiner jsteiner@netnitco.net I didn't enjoy Amalgam Comics as much this year and I only bought half as many as last year (only three this time around). It's not that the comics themselves were bad. No, the creative teams of SPIDER-BOY TEAM-UP, IRON LANTERN, and CHALLENGERS OF THE FANTASTIC did their jobs and put together good, fun comics, especially Kurt Busiek, Paul Smith and a host of inkers on IL. Overall, though, they left me feeling flat. Maybe that's because the Amalgam concept wasn't new this year - the joke was wearing thin, to use an inept metaphor. Maybe it's the fact that they squeezed 12 new number one issues out of it and I would have liked to see some of the titles pick up from last year. And maybe I resented the fact that my regular DC titles didn't come in, like JLA and STARMAN. Maybe all three. I don't know. Anyone else have an opinion on Amalgam 1997? I was distressed to read Mike Doran's report last week on NEXUS reverting to black-and-white status with an upcoming mini-series. The series is one of the better-colored comics out there, with Paul Mounts doing the duty on the EXECUTIONER'S SONG mini, and it will be a loss not to have the color. I know that Steve "the Dude" Rude and Gary Martin will still turn in stellar art in the B/W format. Heck, NEXUS started out as a B/W book, so that's not the problem. But all of this means something else as well. It means that readership for the book is falling and that's the real tragedy. This is one of the best books on the market today and deserves wide support. I urge all of you to pick up the upcoming GOD CON mini-series and tell your friends about it too. Let's bring the color back to NEXUS. I was flipping through PREVIEWS the other day and wanted to bring a few smaller press books to your attention. Caliber Comics is soliciting the first issue of ROB HANES, JUSTICE INTERNATIONAL. This series is by Randy Reynaldo and continues the story of Rob Hanes from the self-published ADVENTURE STRIP DIGEST. Don't worry, you don't need any previous knowledge of the series. The title is a cool action/thriller book, with beautiful women and cool bad guys. A James Bond for the '90s, if you will. Definitely worth a look. The other title to look out for is BIG TOP THB by Paul Pope (from Horse Press). Pope has been giving readers lots of bang for their buck with his last few projects, publishing over-sized titles with lots of pages for only $4.95. His artwork is gorgeous; the world of THB is well-defined and interesting; and he delivers thoughtful essays on working in the comics medium. Good stuff. Well, I'm off to watch some T.V. and read this week's comics (like JLA and STARMAN). Until next week.... ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] The Pen Is Mightier... By Brian Matus So Marvel's raising all of their books to $1.99 because now EVERY issue is going to have a gatefold cover. Too bad instead of extending the cover art, they're putting an ad there (you didn't think the $.04 was going to cover the costs, did you?). The 2-page plot synopsis inside the gatefold is supposed to encourage new readers to pick up the book, but when was the last time someone picked up a comic to read two pages of text? As it is, people are complaining that James Robinson's STARMAN and SHADE are too text heavy, and supposedly Drew Hayes gets complaints when he slips text pages into POISON ELVES. Wait until new readers see the two pages of prose Marvel has in store for them before they even get into the book! Sheesh! What I'd like to see is a one paragraph synopsis like the Spawn and Wildstorm books have, and a drop in price to $1.75 (keep the gatefold). But unfortunately I have no say in the matter, so... Rob Liefeld, fresh off his suck-cessful run on CAPTAIN AMERICA, is putting out a new title called AGENT: AMERICA. Maybe he'll do a one shot crossing Agent: America with Supreme and call it - SUPER SOLDIER! Wouldn't that be clever...(readers unfamiliar with the Amalgam books may ignore the preceding paragraph.) Is anyone out there reading Jae Lee's HELLSHOCK? This is the most literary book I've read since Neil Gaiman packed up for the BBC, without all the fairies, elves, talking animals, and pumpkin-head men that tended to suspend my "suspension of disbelief" in most of his work. This book is well grounded in reality right now (well, considering the main character is an intern in a mental ward), with promises of a war between Heaven and Hell in the future. What more could you ask for? Honestly, if you like alternative comics, Vertigo comics, intellectual comics, or you're just looking for the next SANDMAN, pick up this book. This week I picked up: BATMAN/ALIENS#2 (art by Bernie Wrightson), BLOODSHOT#2, BOOK OF FATE#5 (written by Keith Giffen), CAPTAIN AMERICA#7 (Script by James Robinson, Cover by Jim Lee), CSN#512, CURSE OF THE SPAWN#7, FRIENDS OF THE MAXX#3, SPAWN#59, STARMAN#31, and JINX#7. This is the last Caliber issue. Look for the new JINX#1 from Image comics in June. For more info see this month's PREVIEWS from Diamond. Also keep on the lookout for the JINX CHARITY SPECIAL, featuring lots of popular creators like P. Craig Russell (ELRIC, SANDMAN), Dan Brereton (WORLD'S FINEST, THRILLKILLER), David Mack (KABUKI), Drew Hayes (POISON ELVES. Wow, I guess they don't really hate each other. ) Guy Davis (SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE, THE MARQUIS), Vince Locke (SANDMAN, ST. GERMAINE), Phil Hester (SWAMP THING, THE WRETCH), and others too numerous to mention. Looks like an all-star jam to me. Review of DICKS#1 >From Caliber Comics Written by Garth Ennis Art by John McCrea There's been a lot of talk (or "typing", whatever) on the internet recently about this book. What it is or isn't, how good or horrible it is, how it compares to various other books, etc. Allow me to set the record straight... DICKS#1 is an abridged version of the book A FEW TROUBLES MORE, which is a collection of a serial which ran in CRISIS, a comic/magazine formerly published in the U.K. I bought AFTM and TROUBLED SOULS, another Ennis/McCrea CRISIS collection, through SQP, which you'll find in the "other comic companies" section in PREVIEWS, after the "premier comics" section and the "comics magazine" section. SQP distributes these and other Fleetway/Quality collections (2000 A.D., JUDGE DREDD, etc.) through PREVIEWS, and it's always worth it to take a look and see what they're offering that month. Note: a lot of the most popular creators in comics today started in either 2000 A.D. or CRISIS (Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Alan Grant, John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, and John McCrea come immediately to mind), and you can pick up some of their early/hard to find work through SQP. But enough of that... Like I said, DICKS#1 is an abridged version of A FEW TROUBLES MORE. I believe this was to introduce the main characters, Dougie and Ivor, to the unfamiliar masses, and the rest of the mini-series (I think it's only 4-issues) is going to take off from there. Therefore it's not necessary to read AFTM to understand DICKS. Dougie and Ivor only make brief cameo appearance in TROUBLED SOULS, making this book even less necessary to read than AFTM. Of course TS is a brilliant piece of work about the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland similar in style and quality to HEARTLAND, so you'll probably want to pick it up if you can find it. AFTM, on the other hand, is closer to HITMAN, funnier and less political, but if you'd like to see the longer, original work, with some great painted art by McCrea, you'll probably want to pick this up too. (TS is also painted by McCrea.) DICKS is basically a vehicle for Ennis and McCrea to exhibit all of their most outrageous ideas. If you are offended by HITMAN, don't buy this book. If, on the other hand, you think HITMAN is for sissies, and you wish Ennis and McCrea would finally cut loose, then you should definitely pick up this book. Also, don't come to this book looking for socio-political commentary. This is a COMIC (a.k.a. funny) book, and comedy is what you're going to get. Low-brow, crude, lewd, rude, and in-the-nude bathroom humor. Nothing more, nothing less. Similarly, the artwork and lettering are looser and more cartoony than you'll see in HITMAN, befitting the style of the book, which isn't nearly as dark and gritty. (Sorry about all of the HITMAN references and comparisons, but both books are similar in a lot of ways, produced by the same writing/art team, and most people are already familiar with HITMAN.) Early on there were rumors that this was going to be about private detectives (hence the name), but that may have been a joke. Right now this book is about two friends who play tricks on, beat-up, and otherwise abuse each other, but part of the fun in reading anything by Garth Ennis is that you never know what'll happen next, so it's entirely possible that this will become a book about private detectives in the future. Besides, the last line in the book reads, "Next: Mickey Spillaine, Eat Your F*ckin' Heart Out..." Warning: to avoid possible spoilers, skip the next paragraph. Flipping through the book quickly, I see cursing, bathroom references, a snake, a bar, the snake crawling out of a man's fly, the snake getting run over, the snake's owner having a heart attack, a bachelor party, vomit, quite possibly the most embarrassing way to be found by cops, a reverend getting his nose busted with a car door on his way to a wedding (by the groom), farting, constipation followed by diarrhea, a ghost, the snake's ghost, and Dougie and Ivor in full body casts. This book is not for everyone. It's probably not even for most people. But if you're as sick as I am, you'll probably laugh your arse off. Flatulently, Brian bmatus@suffolk.lib.ny.us ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] My View David LeBlanc This is a review of two comics, RADICAL DREAMER PRIME, and FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE. RADICAL DREAMER PRIME - B&W $2.95/$4.10CAN Created, written, drawn, lettered, designed, typeset, promoted and published by - MARK WHEATLEY MARK'S GIANT ECONOMY SIZE COMICS! 7844 St. Thomas Dr. Baltimore MD 21236 Email: insight@clark.net Home Page: http://www.clark.net/pub/insight This book is more about the genesis of RADICAL DREAMER and how Mark came to jump into self publishing than it is about Max Wrighter, the Radical Dreamer. If the name and address sounds familiar it is because you have heard of Mark before; possibly from the DC/Vertigo "Breathtaker" series, MARS, BLACK HOOD, BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT, TARZAN, FLASH, DOOM PATROL, JONNY QUEST, and of course DR. CYBORG. Mark has been publishing RADICAL DREAMER as an ongoing series since 1994. As a strong supporter of Insight Studio's effort on Dr. Cyborg I was sent representative works from the collaborators on Dr. Cyborg. I was familiar with Mark's work on MARS, an excellent series to track down in the back issue bins, and of course in Dr. Cyborg. This was my first exposure to the Radical Dreamer series. It turns out that this book is a perfect place to start. The first half of the book takes us on a retrospective of Mark's previous works, notably the Black Hood, Mars, and Prince Nightmare. The Radical Dreamer shows up to debate with Mark about the challenges of self publishing versus the need to earn a living. Of course, Radical Dreamer is just another character he created, but being a "dream walker" he is the perfect one to confront the author with his own fears and anxieties about letting his creative spirit free and sharing his creations with the world. The rest involves a very detailed recap of the RADICAL DREAMER history, a sort of "story til now" episode and ends with Mark making the decision to publish RADICAL DREAMER. To date there have been 5 issue from Blackball Comics(vol. 1), DREAMS CANNOT DIE (the collected volume) and 6 issues self published as well as this book and the next reviewed, "Forbidden Knowledge". The basic story takes place in 3054, a world of no ethics or morals. The elite "Owners" get perverse entertainment from owning slaves. Living in floating cities, enable by the discovery of an alien city that crashed to Earth. That alien technology also brought about the Dream Network, which programmed people's dreams and soon became addictive to those the Owners wanted addicted. The person responsible for bringing it about soon found a way to escape his own dreams and found the road linking all dreams. There is way too much to recap about the plot other than to say that this "Radical Dreamer" died while on the net and then fought the Owners to stop their corrupting influence, and the agents they devised to carry out their wishes. The ending of this book, as I said before, is resolved with Mark deciding to publish his work, which he does at least once a year. This book is the perfect place to get a feel for what it is all about and decide for yourself about finding the individual chapters of the story. This recap has intrigued me enough to find the back issues. FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE - 48 PGS. B&W $3.50(US) Written, designed, drawn by Mark Wheatley First this is truly 48 pages of entertainment from front to back it is all story, no ads, no text, no hype. The Radical Dreamer, Max Wrighter, has succeeded in bring his creation to a halt, a dream network allowing people's dreams to be programmed to their wishes. A more addicted narcotic was never made. In bringing it down the floating city 'More was dropped from the sky leaving some of the inhabitants stranded in the "Tortured Forest". This is the story of one of those survivors, his lover Val McKinnion, two months after, trying to survive in the savage jungle. As she is frightened at a water hole by cats she plunges deep into the forest and eventually to and underground library which is guarded by an ape man we all know. The point of this story is that Tarzan and Jane have lived for centuries through some miracle drugs, but now Val has stumbled into the secret after Jane has finally passed away. the story revolves on the effects of immortal life on the psyche of Tarzan and the lure he offers Val to become his mate and never die. There is also an apelike being attacking them that provides conflict and another link to the past. In all this is an enjoyable read, though not so much about the Radical Dreamer himself, but the results of his actions. I would recommend it as a stand alone story anyone could enjoy in the spirit of the science fiction/fantasy traditions of Edgar Rice Burroughs and others. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [11] Top 200 Comics for April 1997 From Matthew High Now that Marvel has returned to Diamond (huzzah!), their sales figures are now available again! With the addition of Marvel Comics, I've expanded the list from the top 150 to the top 200 comics. Some more sales stuff (though not recently updated) can be found at http://www.texas.net/~antarc/salescharts.html ------------------------- Top-selling Comics for April 1997, based on pre-orders through Diamond Distributors. estimated # # Title Publisher sold (1000's) 1 Uncanny X-Men #345 Marvel 179.4 2 X-Men #65 Marvel 177.8 3 Fantastic Four #8 Marvel 154.9 4 Spawn #61 Image 141.1 +0.3% 5 Wolverine #114 Marvel 139.6 6 Exciting X-Patrol #1 Marvel 135.3 7 Iron Lantern #1 Marvel 135.3 8 JLX Unleashed #1 DC 134.5 9 Magnetic Men / Magneto #1 Marvel 134.3 10 Challengers of Fantastic #1 Marvel 133.8 11 Spiderboy Teamup #1 Marvel 131.1 12 Iron Man #8 Marvel 130.7 13 Dark Claw Adventures #1 DC 130.4 14 Super Soldier Man of War #1 DC 127.8 15 Bat Thing #1 DC 123.3 16 Thorion of the New Asgods #1 Marvel 121.7 17 Generation Hex #1 DC 121.4 18 Avengers #8 Marvel 120.9 19 Captain America #8 Marvel 114.7 20 Generation X #28 Marvel 112.9 21 Lobo the Duck #1 DC 108.6 22 X-Man #28 Marvel 103.9 23 X-Men Unlimited #15 Marvel 99.2 24 JLA #6 DC 98.8 +12.8% 25 X-Factor #135 Marvel 98.5 26 Gen 13 #18 Image 98.3 -0.3%* 27 X-Force #67 Marvel 96.4 28 Curse of the Spawn #8 Image 94.0 -4.3% 29 Witchblade #14 Image 93.3 +2.6% 30 Darkness #5 Image 90.9 +3.5% 31 Cable #44 Marvel 90.0 32 Incredible Hulk #454 Marvel 83.8 33 Excalibur #110 Marvel 80.1 34 Amazing Spiderman #424 Marvel 79.1 35 Superman #124 DC 77.0 -63.9% 36 Action Comics #734 DC 74.3 -23.3% 37 Peter Parker Spiderman #81 Marvel 74.1 38 Adventures of Superman #547 DC 74.0 -26.4% 39 Superman Man of Steel #68 DC 72.3 -18.2% 40 Cable and X-Force 97 #1 Marvel 72.0 41 Spectacular Spiderman #247 Marvel 69.5 42 Sensational Spiderman #17 Marvel 66.8 43 Batman vs Aliens #2 DHC 65.5 -11.1% 44 Deadpool #6 Marvel 64.8 45 Beast #2 Marvel 64.6 46 Batman #543 DC 60.8 +1.7% 47 Gen 13 Bootleg #6 Image 59.7 -7.4% 48 Detective Comics #710 DC 55.5 +2.0% 49 X-Files #29 Topps 55.4* -0.7% 50 Batman Long Halloween #7 DC 54.2 +2.8% 51 Supergirl #10 DC 53.7 +0.8% 52 Lady Death Crucible #4 Chaos 52.1 +4.6%* 53 Wildcats #37 Image 51.4 -4.5% 54 Preacher #26 DC 50.4 +1.8% 55 Green Lantern #87 DC 47.7 +4.4% 56 Batman Legends Dark Kn #85 DC 47.1 +0.9% 57 Elektra #8 Marvel 46.8 58 Arcanum #2 (resolicitation) Image 46.6 -37.4% 59 Thunderbolts #3 Marvel 46.3 60 Batman Shadow of the Bat #63 DC 46.1 +3.4% 61 Astro City #9 Image 45.8 +3.6% 62 Nightwing #9 DC 45.1 +2.0% 63 Darkchylde #1 remastered Image 44.6 64 Batman Wildcat #3 DC 44.5 +2.1% 65 Crypt of Dawn #2 Sirius 44.4* -18.7%** 66 DV8 #7 Image 44.3 -4.7% 67 Marvel Vision #19 Marvel 42.8 68 Catwoman #46 DC 42.0 +1.7% 69 Flash #126 DC 41.3 +2.0% 70 Robin #42 DC 41.2 +0.7% 71 Unknown Soldier #3 DC 40.4 +6.3% 72 Spiderman Teamup #7 Marvel 39.2 73 Unknown Tales Spiderman #22 Marvel 39.2 74 Silver Surfer #129 Marvel 39.0 75 Venom: License to Kill #1 Marvel 38.9 76 What If #98 Marvel 38.8 77 Star Wars A New Hope Sp #4 DHC 38.5 +2.7% 78 Star Wars Rogue Squad #1 DHC 38.5 79 Tenth #3 Image 38.1 -2.8% 80 Weird War Tales #1 DC 37.8 81 Wonder Woman #122 DC 37.6 +1.9% 82 Cyberforce #33 Image 37.3 -0.8% 83 Daredevil #365 Marvel 36.0 84 Azrael #30 DC 34.7 +1.8% 85 Weapon Zero #12 Image 34.4 +0.3%* 86 Dreaming #13 DC 34.1 -1.2% 87 Journey of Mystery #510 Marvel 33.5 88 Hellshock #4 Image 33.3 +0.6% 89 Teen Titans #9 DC 32.4 +1.6% 90 Wetworks #28 Image 32.0 -0.3% 91 Impulse #26 DC 31.5 +1.6% 92 Stormwatch #47 Image 31.4 +22.2% 93 Adventures in DC Universe #3 DC 31.2 -1.9% 94 Aquaman #33 DC 31.1 +2.6% 95 Starman #31 DC 31.0 +5.4% 96 Superboy #40 DC 30.6 +0.6% 97 Hitman #15 DC 30.5 +2.3% 98 Ka-Zar #2 Marvel 30.0 99 Classic Star Wars Han S #2 DHC 30.0 -8.5% 100 Savage Dragon #38 Image 28.5 +1.4% 101 Books of Magic #37 DC 28.3 +2.2% 102 Savant Garde #2 Image 27.4 -27.5% 103 Legion of Superheroes #93 DC 27.2 +1.8% 104 Punisher #20 Marvel 27.2 105 Jack Kirby's Fourth World #4 DC 27.2 +1.9% 106 Star Trek: Voyager #8 Marvel 26.7 107 Young Heroes in Love #1 DC 26.5 108 Legionnaires #49 DC 26.3 +3.1% 109 Star Trek: Deep Space 9 #8 Marvel 26.1 110 Anarky #2 DC 26.0 -15.6% 111 Manga Shi 2000 #2 Crusade 26.0* -21.7%* 112 Star Trek: Early Voyages #5 Marvel 25.6 113 Backlash #31 Image 25.6 -4.5% 114 Avengelyne #14 Maximum 25.3 -0.8% 115 Shade #3 DC 25.3 +6.3% 116 Suspira Great Working #2 Chaos 24.9 -23.4% 117 Star Trek: Starfleet Aca #7 Marvel 24.8 118 House of Secrets #9 DC 24.8 -3.1% 119 Grifter #10 Image 24.7 -3.9% 120 Batman Robin Adventures #19 DC 24.7 +2.9% 121 Leave It To Chance #6 Image 24.0 +5.3% 122 Ghost Rider #86 Marvel 24.0 123 Superman Adventures #8 DC 23.8 0.0 124 Ka-Zar #2 variant Marvel 23.7 125 Vampirella vs Hemmorhage #1 Harris 23.4* 126 Hellblazer #114 DC 22.9 +1.8% 127 Invisibles v2 #5 DC 22.6 +5.6% 128 Predator Hell and Hot H2O #1 DHC 22.3 129 Simpsons #30 Bongo 22.3* +0.9%* 130 Resurrection Man #2 DC 22.0 -30.6% 131 Superboy and Ravers #10 DC 21.8 +1.9% 132 Power of Shazam #27 DC 21.7 +4.3% 133 Uncanny Origins #10 Marvel 21.6 134 Spectre #54 DC 21.3 +8.1% 135 Lobo #40 DC 20.8 +1.5% 136 Crow Waking Nightmares #4 KSP 20.8* -2.8% 137 Untold Tales of Capt Marv #1 Marvel 20.4 138 Savage Dragon Red Horizon #3 Image 20.3 -3.3% 139 Sandman Mystery Theatre #51 DC 19.7 -2.5% 140 2020 Visions #2 DC 19.6 -15.5% 141 Green Arrow #121 DC 19.5 +4.3% 142 Marvel Adventures #3 Marvel 19.1 143 X-O Manowar #7 Acclaim 18.9 -0.5% 144 Supreme #48 Maximum 18.8 +7.4% 145 Wynonna Earp #5 Image 18.6 -7.5% 146 Sovereign Seven #23 DC 18.0 -1.6% 147 Siege #4 Image 18.0 -7.2% 148 Shadowman #6 Acclaim 17.6 -3.3% 149 Glory #22 Maximum 17.6 0.0 150 Operation Stormbringer Acclaim 17.5 151 Elric Stormbringer #2 DHC 17.1 -16.6% 152 Ghost #24 DHC 16.7 +0.6% 153 Steel #39 DC 16.7 -0.6% 154 Espers vol. 3 #1 Image 15.8 +690.0%* 155 Turok Timewalker #1 Acclaim 15.6 156 Nexus God Con #1 DHC 15.6 157 Wildstorm Spotlight #3 Image 15.6 -13.3% 158 Trinity Angels #2 Acclaim 15.6 -32.5% 159 Dicks #1 Caliber 15.4* 160 Challengers of Unknown #5 DC 14.7 -7.0% 161 Magnus Robot Fighter #4 Acclaim 14.7 -2.6% 162 Devil Dinosaur Spring Fl #1 Marvel 14.7 163 Firstman #1 Image 14.6 164 Lady Rawhide #6 Topps 14.6* -3.9% 165 Glory #16 Maximum 14.4 166 Fault Lines #2 DC 14.2 -23.2% 167 Bloodshot #2 Acclaim 14.1 -28.8% 168 Head Hunters #1 Image 14.1 169 Ess. Vertigo Sandman #11 DC 14.1 -2.8% 170 Oh My Goddess Queen of Veng DHC 13.5 +9.8% 171 Xero #2 DC 13.4 -29.5% 172 Poison Elves #23 Sirius 13.2* +2.3% 173 Hate #27 FBI 13.0* +9.2%** 174 Jaguar God #8 Verotik 12.8* -10.5%** 175 Freak Force #2 Image 12.4 -17.9% 176 DHC: Star Wars Dark Emp #2 DHC 12.3 -6.1% 177 Ranma 1/2 VI #5 Viz 12.1* +2.5% 178 TCB #1 Crusade 11.8* 179 Troublemakers #5 Acclaim 11.7 +1.7% 180 Elfquest #11 Warp 11.5* -2.5% 181 Mars Attacks High School #2 Topps 11.5* -18.4% 182 Blade of Immortal Call #1 DHC 11.4 +9.6%** 183 Ninjak #6 Acclaim 11.4 -3.4% 184 ERB Return of Tarzan #1 DHC 11.4 -5.8%* 185 Star Crossed #1 DC 11.4 186 Book of Fate #5 DC 11.4 -5.8% 187 Squee #1 SLG 11.3* 188 Quantum Leap Special Acclaim 11.1 189 Teenage Mutant Ninja Tur #9 Image 11.1 -2.6% 190 Bone #18 reprint Image 10.9 -4.4% 191 Dusty Star #0 Image 10.9 192 Vampirella Silver #4 Silkie Harris 10.8* 193 Amanda and Gunn #1 Image 10.4 194 Drakuun Rise of Dragon #3 DHC 10.3 -1.9% 195 Warrior Nun Black White #2 Antarctic 10.3* -23.1* 196 Santa Barbarian vs Easter B Maximum 10.3 -27.0%** 197 Cerebus #217 Aardvark 10.3* +2.0% 198 Eightball #18 FBI 9.9* -11.2%** 199 Inu Yasha #1 Viz 9.8* 200 Vampirella Silver #4 Beachum Harris 9.8* ...and the top-selling comics from companies that did not quite make it into the top 200. 202 Scud Disposable Assassin #15 Fireman 9.7* 211 Razor vol. 2 #5 LNS 8.7 223 Uncle Scrooge Adventures #48 Hamilton 7.6* 228 Sonic the Hedgehog #48 Archie 6.8 229 Tales From The Crypt #20 Gemstone 6.7 242 Warrior #4 (resolicitation) Ultimate 5.7* 245 Double Impact Assassins #1 High Imp 5.6* 254 Midnight Panther #1 CPM 5.1* 260 Berlin #4 (resolicitation) Black Eye 4.9* 261 Tenchi Muyo #2 Pioneer 4.9* 267 Lady Vampre in the Flesh #1 Blackout 4.7* 283 Mythography #3 Bardic 4.1* 287 Vamperotica #26 Brainstorm 4.0 293 Donna Mia Giant Size #1 Avatar 3.8* 294 Art of Usagi Yojimbo #1 Radio 3.8* 296 Goblin Lord #4 Goblin 3.8* The "estimated number sold" is an estimate of the total number of copies pre-ordered through Diamond Distribution, in thousands. PLEASE NOTE: This figure does not include advance reorders, reorders, or sales outside of Diamond Distribution. Comics marked with an asterisk (*) are not exclusive to Diamond. The "change" is an estimate of the percentage change over the previous issue. An asterisk (*) indicates the previous issue was published two months ago (February), and a double asterisk (**) indicates the previous issue was published three or more months ago. Note that a change of TWO PERCENT OR LESS is statistically insignificant, and nothing should be inferred from very small increases or decreases in sales. Comparisons are not available for Marvel Comics this month but will be available in the future. Comic Book Market Share by dollar value, April 1997: Publisher Comic Books All Products 1 Marvel Comics 28.52% 21.84% 2 DC Comics 23.30% 18.30% 3 Image Comics 13.31% 10.76% 4 Topps 1.79% 3.96% 5 Dark Horse 4.84% 3.83% 6 Kenner/Hasbro 3.81% 7 Wizard 3.39% 2.60% 8 Decipher 2.33% 9 Gemstone 1.67% 10 Acclaim 1.94% 1.48% 11 Viz 1.31% 1.15% 12 Extreme/Maximum Press 1.07% 0.82% 13 Chaos 0.78% 14 Fantagraphics/Eros 0.94% 0.72% 15 Tohan 0.68% 16 Toy Biz 0.65% 17 Harris 0.60% 18 Upper Deck 0.60% 19 Caliber 0.60% 20 Sirius 0.59% Other Suppliers 19.58% 22.24% Note: This information was obtained from Diamond Distribution's DIAMOND DIALOGUE, which publishes various sales charts every month, and is available to comics retailers. This listing includes sales of all comic books (excluding Marvel) sold through Diamond, which constitutes 98-99% of all direct market comic book sales. This list only includes pre-orders, and does not include advance reorders, reorders, or cancellations. This listing also does not include trade paperbacks, magazines, or other non-comic items. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [12] New Comic Book Releases List by Charles LePage cslepage@highway1.com +++WINNER OF THE 1996 REC.ARTS.COMICS.* "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE+++ http://www.ccse.net/~ncrl NCRL: New Comic Book Releases List for Wednesday, 4/16/1997, compiled by Charles LePage with information from Suncoast Comics. This is the >>*preliminary*<< list and is not complete. The completed list is posted weekly, usually Monday evening, at rec.arts.comics.info, http://www.ccse.net/~ncrl, and Compuserve's Comics Publishers Forum. Last updated Wednesday, April 09, 1997 11:44:38 AM "TPB" means "trade paperback". "AA" means "available again". "S/N" means "signed/numbered". PUBLISHER, TITLE, ISSUE NUMBER, PRICE IN U.S. DOLLARS ACCLAIM Quantum & Woody #3, 2.50 Shadowman #6, 2.50 Waterworld #1 (of 4), 2.50 ARCHIE Jughead #94, 1.50 Jughead With Archie Digest #134, 1.79 Sonic The Hedgehog #48, 1.50 BONGO Jimbo #7, 2.95 COMIC SHOP NEWS Comic Shop News #513, free CRUSADE Shi Rekishi #2 (of 2), 2.95 DARK HORSE Aliens: Pig (One Shot), 2.95 Blackjack Vol. II #1 (of 4), 2.95 Chronowar #9 (of 9), 2.95 Dark Horse Short Story Collection TPB, 12.95 Edgar Rice Burroughs Return Of Tarzan #1 (of 3), 2.95 Lords Of Misrule #4 (of 6), 2.95 DC Anarky #2 (of 4), 2.50 Animaniacs #26, 1.75 Azrael #30, 1.95 Azrael/Ash, 4.95 Batman #543, 1.95 Books Of Magic #37, 2.50 Brainbanx #4 (of 6), 2.50 Fault Lines #2 (of 6), 2.50 Green Arrow #121, 2.25 Hardware #50, 3.95 Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy TPB, 14.95 Icon #43, 2.50 Impulse #26, 1.75 Jack Kirbys Fourth World #4, 1.95 Legionnaires #49, 2.25 Mad Super Special #121 Night Force #7, 2.25 Resurrection Man #2, 2.50 Sovereign Seven #23, 1.95 Supergirl #10, 1.95 Superman Adventures #8, 1.75 Superman #124, 1.95 Weird War Tales #1 (of 4), 2.50 EVENT Painkiller Jane Vs. Darkness #1, 2.95 FANTAGRAPHICS Eightball #18, 3.95 GEMSTONE Panic #2, 2.50 Tales From The Crypt #20, 2.50 Weird Science #20, 2.50 GLADSTONE Uncle Scrooge Adventures Don Rosa 1997 Special #1, 10.95 Uncle Scrooge Adventures In Color #23, 8.95 HAMILTON Coo-Coo #1, 10.00 IMAGE Amanda And Gunn #1, 2.95 Arcanum #2 (resolicited), 2.50 Bone #18, 2.95 Brass #3, 2.50 Darkchylde #5 Freak Force #1 Grifter #10, 2.50 Hellshock #3 Labman #2, 2.95 Strangers In Paradise Vol. III #5, 2.75 Weapon Zero #12, 2.50 Wetworks #28, 2.50 WildCATS #37, 2.50 Wynonna Earp #5, 2.50 magazines Jack Kirby Collector #15, 4.95 MARVEL Avengers #8, 1.95 Fantastic Four #8, 1.95 Star Trek Deep Space Nine #7 Uncanny Origins #10 Untold Tales of Spider-Man #22 X-Man #28, 1.95 MAXIMUM Newmen #23, 2.50 SHEA Hallowed Knight #1 (of 4), 2.95 SLAVE LABOR Caffeine #6, 2.95 Johnny The Homicidal Maniac #5 (2nd printing), 2.95 VIZ Battle Angel Alita Part VII #7 (of 8), 2.95 Maison Ikkoku Part V #9, 2.95 Riot Act Two, 15.95 Rumic World Trilogy Vol. III, 15.95 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [A] E-Mag Info: Submissions, Subscriptions, Back Issues, Copyrights SUBMISSIONS ----------- To submit an article, review, column, etc. to our e-mag, simply E-mail it to the editor at: ComicBkNet@aol.com If you have access to the ComicBook Net, submit your articles for consideration in any ComicBook Net conference and leave me a message in the CBN: E-Mag conference giving me permission to use the article. Reviews of mainstream books are welcome and will get included when submitted from sources outside of CBN, they are not excluded off hand. We give more consideration to reviews of indies and self published material as we feel that material deserves more exposure to the general public. If You write intelligent, coherent, and timely reviews of anything it will almost always be printed so give us a shot. Commentary on the state of the industry, and personal observations and reflections related to comics are *most* likely to be included in our publication. We also accept product for review purposes. Advanced copies of comic books will not be returned but anything sent to us will be reviewed in the ComicBook Net Emag. Send all material to: David L. LeBlanc 84 Heather Circle Jefferson, MA 01522-1419 SUBSCRIPTIONS ------------- If you wish to receive each issue automatically through your Email account, please address a message to ComicBkNet@aol.com to be placed on the FREE subscription list. THE CBN WEB PAGE http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet ---------------- 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 ComicBook Net, and other neat features like newly released comic book graphics, links to Jeff Mason's lists of Comic Book Company addresses and Comic Professionals Email addresses, details of upcoming conventions around the country, plus other Comic Book related Web pages! LOCATING EMAG ISSUES -------------------- The latest issue is always available from all the systems linked into The ComicBook Network. You can also find the back issues at America Online, by going to Keyword: COMICS, then choose the menu item _Comic Book Forum_ and then going to the _Comics Library_ from there. Most issues should also be available on Compuserve, Genie, as well as some non CBN affiliated Bulletin Board Systems. All back issues are also available on our World Wide Web page. COPYRIGHTS ---------- The Comic Book Net E-Mag is published by the many participants of The ComicBook 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 is copyrighted to the originating author(s). Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Editor, the Network Administration Team or the members and users of The ComicBook Network. Except where elsewhere noted, The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine (CBEM) is Copyright 1997 by The ComicBook Network. You may freely distribute or duplicate this file intact without alteration for noncommercial purposes only. Please do not distribute except as the complete file as originally transmitted by The ComicBook Network. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [B] How to join the COMIC BOOK NETWORK (CBN) 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 ComicBook 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 conversation, collecting, gaming and other forms of entertainment. 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 free to download from most BBS's. I recommend SLMR or OLX-TD, shareware programs for DOS, to get started. 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! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [C] BBSes Linked into CBN Here's the most up-to-date node listing for the COMIC BOOK NETWORK CBN Node Board Name Sysop Phone ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 23:102/1 The Congressional BBS Jeff Floyd 1-912-929-3762 23:103/1 Karate & Comics &... Robert Wood 1-501-968-3910 23:103/2 The Factory Rick Brewer 1-901-885-9647 23:103/3 The Mystic Curtis Tesch 1-501-284-5503 23:104/1 TI-Raleigh Maximus Walter Tietjen 1-919-833-3412 23:104/6 The Federal Post Frank Koza 1-910-436-2055 23:108/2 Never Never Land Wayne Bell 1-407-253-8754 23:109/1 Extreme Online Eric Cohen 1-904-363-6347 23:110/1 Steel Dog Cafe' Keith Schultz 1-904-654-9385 23:111/1 Programmers Citadel Thomas McNeill 1-904-357-0355 23:111/2 Ded Dudez Mike Burgess 1-904-343-7272 23:112/1 Information Interchange Mitchel Waas 1-305-792-9622 23:202/1 The RASTER Line Jeff Watts 1-713-568-0825 23:202/2 Dream Sequence Biju Mathai 1-713-835-0965 23:203/0 Nearly Dallas Wayne LeMonds 1-214-494-3702 23:203/2 Star Streams Michael Rudolf 1-214-938-7115 23:203/5 Way Out There Justin Pasher 1-214-680-2755 23:206/1 Snart's Dreamland Jeff Bennett 1-918-371-0980 23:206/2 CompuMate Danny Pelletier 1-918-663-3454 23:206/4 The Round Table Garett Merrill 1-918-274-0775 23:207/1 Young Blood T.J. Gohl 1-817-699-2254 23:208/1 Beggar's Forum IV Lonnie Johnson 1-405-787-2540 23:208/2 Beggar's Forum IV Lonnie Johnson 1-405-787-2557 23:400/1 Starbase : RED DWARF John Dragun 1-914-247-9601 23:401/3 Archives BBS John Viera 1-508-995-0085 23:401/7 Keystone BBS John Harris 1-508-753-3767 23:401/8 Call Again Soon Joe Johnson 1-508-791-8456 23:401/9 Muskrat & Heatwave Dennis Racine 1-508-984-4632 23:401/10 HellFire BBS Brock Cordeiro 1-508-979-8930 23:403/4 Crystal Aerie Spencer Greenwald 1-703-415-0134 23:403/6 Bifrost Kevin Carlin 1-301-779-9381 23:403/7 Vampyre Bar Darryl Pierce 1-301-698-5194 23:403/8 Womens World East BBS Net Wendy Dumser 1-301-445-1612 23:403/9 DataStorm Tarek Gordan 1-301-390-5243 23:404/3 Brickyard BBS Don Foster 1-603-332-0419 23:405/1 Asgard.TW BBS Tom Pemberton 1-516-422-4225 23:406/1 Comic Book Board William Horton 1-215-365-5225 23:406/2 Dark Lands Chris Ford 1-215-487-7315 23:407/1 Generation X Eric Sears 1-716-647-9068 23:409/1 Shearata's Realm Linda Peek 1-301-884-9732 23:410/1 Bergen BBS Jacob Greenberg 1-201-722-1495 23:410/2 Cyberspace Arcade Rick Smorawski 1-201-440-0563 23:410/3 Unnamed BBS Edward Di Geronimo 1-201-368-1866 23:410/4 Quantum Zone Wayne Robinson 1-201-307-9225 23:410/5 Virtual Connection Dmitry Korsun 1-201-796-7202 23:411/1 Phoenix Modernz Systems Tal Meta 1-908-830-8265 23:503/1 The Trading Post ][ Gary Ranchuk 1-519-974-2976 23:503/2 The Snake Pit BBS Mark Godard 1-519-979-4251 23:506/1 Gananoque System Mike Serson 1-613-382-1788 23:507/2 The Final Destination BBS Andy St.Pierre 1-319-359-4449 23:508/1 The Oan Citadel Brian J. Stewart 1-816-554-9733 23:509/1 Dark Knight Michael Cross 1-519-850-9929 23:509/3 Mach 1 Tomasz Heiber 1-519-457-6771 23:509/5 Stargate: Above & Beyond Paul Nicolas 1-519-472-4938 23:510/1 Warp Speed Alex Gen 1-708-776-2395 23:512/1 Rob's BBS Arcade 1 Rob Swanson 1-219-325-3655 23:512/2 Rob's BBS Arcade 2 Rob Swanson 1-219-324-4713 23:600/1 Longview On-Line! Node1 Jeanne Lejon 1-360-577-7358 23:600/2 Longview On-Line! Node2 Jeanne Lejon 1-360-577-0276 23:601/1 Alpha's Attic Robert Richards 1-206-272-8083 23:601/2 Area 51 Paul Powloski 1-206-538-9435 23:700/0 Mexico DF Net Emilio Karam 52-5-264-2994 23:700/1 The Gate Emilio Karam 52-5-264-2994 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - End of another Issue .. see ya in the funnny papers!! I SMILE BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON.