---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 208 4/02/99 Edited by: David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com FREE VIA EMAIL SINCE FEBRUARY 1995 ______________________________________________________________________ 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! [3] TRIVIA CONTEST ........................ Win *real* prizes! [4] Network Buzz .......................... News, gossip & rumors [5] 1998 SQUIDDY AWARDS ................... Kirby Krueger [6] Tony Isabella's Journal ............... Tony Isabella [7] Interview: Angelo Furlan .............. Paul Dale Roberts [8] Had Your Phil? ........................ Phil White [9] Pipeline Commentary & Review .......... Augie De Blieck Jr. [10] Odds & Ends ........................... Eddie Mitchell [11] And Let Me Tell You Why ............... David Coulter [12] Venting My Spleen ..................... David Groenewegen [13] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [14] My View: Astronauts in Trouble......... David LeBlanc [15] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [16] HYPE! Section ......................... Various [A] Submission, Subscriptions, Back Issues, Copyrights, BBS Info ______________________________________________________________________ World Wide Web Home Page-->> http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet HTML WEB EDITION at -->> http://www.digitalwebbing.com/cbem featuring the exclusive comic strip: HEROES RERUN by Johnny Gonzales ----------------------------------------------------------------------- o \o/ _ o _| \ / |_ o_ \o/ o /|\ | /\ _\o \o | o/ O/_ /\ | /|\ / \ / \ |\ /) | ( \ /o\ / ) | (\ / | / \ / \ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 with the word SUBSCRIBE in the SUBJECT to be placed on the FREE subscription list. To drop it use UNSUBSCRIBE as a SUBJECT. See section [A] for the address to mail material to be reviewed. ______________________________________________________________________ All text contained within is copyrighted to the originating author(s). Except where elsewhere noted, The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine is Copyright 1999 by The ComicBook Network. You may freely distribute or retransmit this file intact without alteration for noncommercial purposes only. Except for personal archiving, permission must be obtained from the individual authors to reproduce, retransmit, or publish any part of this magazine. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net David LeBlanc This past week has seen more controversy in the comic world. This time it was not about creators or distribution vs. retailing but instead it had to do with fan awards and the Internet. No sooner had the results of the annual SQUIDDY awards been announced over on the Usenet Newsgroups that started the oldest internet comic awards, than people started to suspect ballot stuffing. These awards in the past have been voted on by participants of the newsgroups in the recreation.arts.comics hierarchy to recognize the favorites of the year in the various comic fields. Lately it has included comic strips, editorial cartoons and of course web sites. One such web site, one with an online comic, has a large avid following and once the webmaster found he had been voted for in one of the categories he announced it on the web page and directed visitors to find the Squiddy web page and vote for his work. The plan worked too well as they flooded the ballot box with hundreds of votes, some in categories that should reasonably be reserved for professionals in print comics - the true spirit of the awards. In the end there was such a squawk at how lopsided the awards were, and how in all likeliness most of his voters do NOT participate in the Newsgroups, the creator of the comic and website withdrew his name from ALL categories. The final results are now corrected and are posted for your interest this issue. Of interest to our readers are the following categories which I now present for you in an expanded view. Best Publication: 164: Wizard 59: Comic Buyer's Guide 34: Newsarama 29: No Award 28: Previews 25: Comic Shop News 25: The Comics Journal 23: Comic Book Artist 22: The Jack Kirby Collector 16: CSN 12: Comics International 9: Jack Kirby Quarterly 8: Highlights for Children 8: Comic Book Profiles 7: CBEM <------------Tied for 15th! 7: ZENtertainment 7: Tripwire 7: "COMICON.com SPLASH" 6: comic book artist In pretty good company just behind Comic Book Profiles and tied with ZEN, Tripwire and Comicon's SPLASH. Best Web Site: (some corrected totals) 82: Newsarama (http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html) 69: Comic Book Resources 38: www.elfquest.com 31: Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast 28: www.warrenellis.com 26: COMICON.com 25: Mania 20: NCRL 17: Rich's Ramblings 16: Avengers Assemble 14: Tony's Online Tips 14: Sequential Tart 12: Legion of Super-Resources http://www.idyllmtn.com/rac/dc/lsh/lsh_res.htm 12: Dark Horse 10: Fanzing 9: THE CHEEKS THE TOY WONDER HOME PAGE (http://toywonder.simplenet.com/) 9: DC HQ 7: Ken Orlando's "Cheeks the Toy Wonder" page 7: Comicbook Resources 7: Snap Judgments 6: Comic Book Network http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet 6: Gay League of America hmm.. tied for 21st! Congrats to Mike Doran once again! Best RAC'r: 100: Warren Ellis 84: Kurt Busiek 61: Randy Lander 37: Erik Larsen 36: Dave Van Domelen 32: Kevin Smith 29: Don MacPherson 29: D. Curtis Johnson 28: Mark Waid 28: Chris Claremont 27: PAD 26: Todd VerBeek 25: Mark Evanier 24: Hosun S. Lee 22: Paul O'Brien 22: Tom Brevoort 21: Michael Doran 21: Elaine Riggs 18: CheeksMite 17: Johanna Draper 15: Bradly Peterson 15: David Crowe 14: Tom Galloway 13: David LeBlanc My highest total, for being a participant in the news group. I am surprised that so many people thought to mention me (you get to pick 3). Thanks to everyone who took the time to recognize our humble efforts, and for the rest of you for allowing me to brag just a little. On to this week's comics: ABSTRACT STUDIOS Strangers In Paradise Vol III #22, 2.75 DARK HORSE The World Below #1 $2.50 DC COMICS Fanboy #3 (Of 6), 2.5 Flash #148, 1.99 Hitman #37, 2.5 Invisibles Volume 3 #11 (Of 12), 2.95 JLA #29, 1.99 Legion Of Super Heroes #115, 2.5 Supergirl #32, 1.99 Superman Fantastic Four, 9.95 <--Pick of the Week! IMAGE COMICS Savage Dragon #59, 2.5 MARVEL COMICS Avengers #16, 1.99 Avengers Forever #6 (Of 12), 2.99 At this time I find it most appropriate to take note of two annual events. Perhaps if more people lived the lessons of of their faiths we would have a little less tension in the world right now. To our friends of the Jewish faith we wish a very joyous Passover. And to my Christian brethren - Rejoice! He will come again! HAPPY EASTER Everyone! 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 CBEM unless you specifically request us NOT to use them. Your Email address and/or name will be withheld upon request. +++++ From: "Augie De Blieck Jr." (augie@nic.com) Hi David, Just read David Groenewegen's piece in the latest CBEM and wanted to thank him for pointing out the Sherlock Holmes comic book. I had not heard of it before now. I wanted to recommend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories to the rest of your readership, as well. I've been reading them for the past couple of months. They're a lot of fun, in an intellectual way. Very smart. Well written. Yet short enough for today's attention span to get through in a half hour or so. If nothing else, some of the language of the day might come off as being peculiarly amusing to today's audience, particularly as Watson seems to "ejaculate" at least once a story. For comic book fans, they can also get a glimpse at what Batman should and could be: The ultimate detective. Master of disguise. Smarter than smart and well-versed in all forms of tomfoolery. The only difference being that I don't see Sherlock being a brawler as much as Batman, though I'm sure he could handle himself in a tight spot. Great stuff. -Augie +++++ Subj: THE COMIC JOURNAL'S TOP 100 LIST From: halschuster@hotmail.com (Hal Schuster) Hi everybody! I don't mean to seem cynical, but I was wondering if anyone else had noticed the high percentage of works on THE COMIC JOURNAL'S TOP 100 LIST published by Fantagraphics, the company that publishes TCJ, or by creators published by Fantagraphics?. Just a coincidence, I'm sure. Keep happy, Hal Schuster, Director Samret Communications, USA- Web Developers and Designers to the World! Hal Schuster, Director, WOW (World Organization of Webmasters) Thailand (www.world-webmasters.org/thailand) +++++ From: "Dave A. Law" (lawd@cadvision.com) Subject: Invitation to join: Creating Comics - Mailing list for comic professionals I recently started this mailing list and I thought you might be interested. Creating_comics is a moderated list for comic professionals and those aspiring to be so about all aspects of comic book creation including the translation of comics to other mediums. Tips, opinions, opportunities and support, etc are exchanged without the offtopicness and meaningless messages of unmoderated newsgroups and mailing lists. You can join this list by going to the following web page: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/creating_comics - Dave A. Law Moderator ----------------------- Creating Comics - The resource source of links for comic writers, artists, and self-publishers http://www.cadvision.com/dega/creating.htm +++++ Subj: Warner Store/Kingdom Come Statue goof From: Chris Curenton Alex usually seems pretty outspoken about paying tribute to the original creators of the classic characters. That's why I was so surprised to read this description of the Kingdom Come Superman statue at the Warner Bros Studio Store site (http://www.wbstore.com): Designed by the creator of the Original DC Comics superman, this limited edition sculpture captures the Man of Steel in cold cast resin finished with a cool silver patina. 14 1/2” tall. Includes a handsomely produced 8 1/2” x 11” lithograph,signed by Alex Ross. With Certificate of Authenticity. Limited Edition of 5,000. Apparently, they've retconned Alex Ross into the designer of Superman as well. I imagine he'd be irked to read that description. Chris Curenton +++++ Subj: Fwd: Using Comic Books To Motivate Students To Read From: Q-MAIL@webtv.net (MICHAEL WHITE) To: dcomarc@aol.com Hello, My name is Michael White, and I am a graduate student at National Louis University. I am currently pursuing my Master Degree in instruction. A part of my program requirement is to conduct what is know as a Teacher Action Research . The focus of my research is Motivating students to read using comic books. That brings me to the reason why I'm writing this letter I was wondering if you could provide me with any information that you know of that will help me with my research. Any books, articles or professional papers that might help me in my quest to incorporate the use of comic books in the classroom to motivate students to read will be helpful. I would like to thank you and hope to hear from you soon. You can e-mail me at Q-Mail@WEBTV.NET, or at mrwhite@win4edu.com. [Well readers I throw this one out to you. Perhaps educators or pros among our readers can Email Mr. White with direction to the material he seeks? - DL] +++++ Here is a letter from one of our early contributors: Subj: Great Job! From: drnate@hotmail.com (Nathan Bredfeldt) Hey. Nate here. I just wanted to give you a big high 5, and let you know what a great job you are doing with the e-mag! I am participating in a once a month webzine, and I am just so impressed with the amount of work it has to take to get a weekly e-mag done! If I had your stamina, I'd join you guys (we all know how that has turned out). But, in the meantime, hats off for all your hard work! I wanted to comment on Bruno Afonso's letter in 207. He's a great writer! I enjoyed reading the whole thing, never even occurred to me to skim past it (which I sometimes do, I admit). Bruno, you might seriously writing more often. I'd love to hear some of your other opinions! Heck, take up a column; I always love to hear great opinions from folks in different societies. Anyhow, back to reading. Take Care Nate [Thanks for stopping in and the kind words, Nate. - DL] +++++ Subj: 'Nuff Said! radio show info From: nuffsaid@escape.com (Nuff Said) 'Nuff Said is be on the air for a full hour every Tuesday at 10 PM on WBAI-FM, 99.5 in the New York City metropolitan area. Here's the schedule for some upcoming segments: Tuesday, April 6, 1999 - Mike Friedrich. "Castro Mike" was a regular in Julie Schwartz's letter columns in the '60s. In the early '70s, he wrote JLA, Robin, Iron Man, Ant-man, Kazar and several other DC and Marvel characters before starting Star Reach Publications in 1974, one of the first independent comic book companies. He is currently an agent for a number of comics and computer artists. Tuesday, April 13, 1999 - Lee Marrs. She was a writer/artist for DC's PLOP! and Marvel's Crazy in the '70s and did a lot of underground Comix, such as Wimmen's Comix; Pudge, Girl Blimp (and other Star Reach comics); and Gay Comix. More recently, she wrote the "Viking Glory" graphic novel. She did the storyboards for "Black Stallion," "The Right Stuff" and several TV commercials. She's currently doing computer graphics and animation. Tuesday, April 20 & 27 - Guests to be confirmed. Tuesday, May 4, 1999 - Jimmy Palmiotti. Successful Writer, Inker and co-publisher of Ash for Event (currently in pre-production from Dreamworks) and editor of the "Marvel Knights" titles from Marvel (Daredevil, Inhumans, Black Panther & Black Widow). Tuesday, May 11, 1999 - Probable pre-emption for the membership drive. Tuesday, May 18, 1999 - Probable extra-long special for the membership drive. Still in the planning stages. WBAI-FM, 99.5, is a 50,000 watt station broadcast from the Empire State Building. Our signal usually gets out to New Haven, CT; Westhampton, L.I.; the Poconos of Pennsylvania, Orange County, NY and Trenton & Princeton, NJ. The show covers the entire world of comics: golden age, silver age, contemporary, mainstream, independent, underground, foreign, strips and fandom. Hosted by Ken Gale (interviewer) and Ed Menje (Engineer). WBAI is a Pacifica Network station (if your local station carries any Pacifica programming (such as "Democracy Now" and Gary Null), they might be able to get 'Nuff Said! as well). WBAI is now at 120 Wall St., 10th flr, New York, NY 10005. --Ken Gale, co-host ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] [TRIVIA CONTEST] **THE FIRST PLACE TO FIND THE EMAG EACH WEEK IS ON OUR HOME PAGE!** IF YOU ARE DESPERATE TO WIN THE TRIVIA, GO THERE FIRST ON FRIDAY NIGHT http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet/emag.htm QUESTION OF THE WEEK (Prizes donated by THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT - Worcester, MA) (DC COMICS & DIAMOND COMIC DISTRIBUTORS, INC.) +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.+ LAST ISSUE'S QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Who spoke at Peter Parker's high school graduation? Many knew, but Paul Mounts got it first, it was J. Jonah Jameson. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: What was the name of the drug that brought Batman out of his coma after being attacked by Bane? 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! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [4] Network Buzz News, gossip and rumors from around the industry Marvel Enterprises Obtains $60 Million Working Capital Facility from Citibank, N.A. NEW YORK, April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) announced today that it has obtained a three year $60 million working capital facility from Citibank, N.A. The facility will be available to fund Marvel's capital expenditures and working capital requirements and for general corporate purposes. Eric Ellenbogen, President and CEO of Marvel, commented, "With the Citibank working capital line in place, we have now finalized our capital structure and are fully poised to implement our business plan. Marvel has begun the second quarter well positioned to deliver on our growth objectives. In the last two months alone, we made progress across a number of important fronts. We disposed of a major non-core asset, assembled an outstanding management team, successfully completed a long-term $250 million financing and, with Sony Pictures Entertainment, launched the Spider-Man filmed entertainment franchise." +++++ Comic creator appearance thatse@thatse.com (That's Entertainment) That's Entertainment welcomes Adrian Tomine creator of Optic Nerve on Saturday April 3 from 11am to 1pm.. Meet the winner of the 96 Harvey Award for "Best New Talent." Wired magazine praised Optic Nerve, saying " Tomine has rocketed to prominence among America's young cartoonists... In these narratives, we see a keen, expanding intelligence at work...untempered by compromise." That's Entertainment "New England's Largest Collectibles Store!" Featuring Comic Books, Trading Cards, Anime, Sports Autographs and Memorabilia, RPGs and Toys! Visit our web page at : http://www.thatse.com 244 Park Avenue , Worcester, MA 01609 508-755-4207, fax: 508-754-3882 Open 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., 7 days a week! +++++ NextPlanetOver.com Signs Exclusive E-Commerce Deal with Stan Lee Media NEW YORK, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- NextPlanetOver.com, (http://www.nextplanetover.com), the ultimate Internet destination for the entertainment hobbyist, and Stan Lee Media have announced jointly that the two companies will join forces in harnessing comic book and pop culture icon Stan Lee's global legion of loyal Super Hero enthusiasts. Under this multi-year agreement, NextPlanetOver.com will act as the exclusive comic book retailer for the internet community that Stan Lee is launching, this summer, in order to provide comic book and Super Hero fans around the world with his newly-created, branded interactive content. StanLee.net (http://www.stanlee.net) will boast a new storefront co-designed by both companies and operated by NextPlanetOver.com. The store will maintain the look and feel of StanLee.net while integrating NextPlanetOver.com's product information and content. In addition, NextPlanetOver.com will provide online auction services for Stan Lee Media, which will sell exclusive products and memorabilia. In exchange for exclusive retail rights and access to unique content, merchandise and collectibles, NextPlanetOver.com has given Stan Lee Media an equity stake in its company. "I am thrilled that NextPlanetOver.com will be our comic book retail partner. This enables us to offer our global community the largest inventory of retail comic books and related products available on the Internet," Stan Lee said. Added Stan Lee Media Co-founder, Peter Paul,: "Our fans and members from around the world will continue to have fun in Stan Lee's branded environment while shopping in NextPlanetOver.com's vast inventory of books and merchandise." NextPlanetOver.com Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dave Scott, explained that this partnership benefits his company because it allows NextPlanetOver.com to serve younger fans. NextPlanetOver.com's own site targets older users. "Together NextPlanetOver.com and Stan Lee Media will introduce comic books to a younger generation, which has yet to experience Stan Lee's unique and masterful style of story-telling," Scott said. "This is a natural partnership that will enable us to serve a younger demographic, while we give Stan Lee Media world class retail capability." About NextPlanetOver.com: NextPlanetOver.com is building the ultimate online destination for the entertainment hobbyist. This vibrant community will not only offer original articles and online forums, but will also sell a wide range of comic books, games, action figures and other popular entertainment products. About Stan Lee Media: Stan Lee Media is building a global lifestyle brand using the Internet to harness an audience of Super Hero enthusiasts of all ages. Its Internet based micro hub is building a community in a rich environment of original content and commerce, while launching a new multi-media universe of Stan Lee signature Super Heroes. Stan Lee spent 50 years as creative head of Marvel Comics. During this time he co-created the world's most popular Super Heroes including Spider Man, the Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Silver Surfer, Daredevil and The Fantastic Four. +++++ The South Will Rise Again! Butler and Mann team up to do RED REBELS! Silverline announced today that one-time Silverline partners Steven Butler and Roland Mann will be teaming up to do Red Rebels, an historically accurate tale of the Cherokee involvement in the War Between The States. "Red Rebels is, for me, a chance to work on a project that has all the elements of a solid, entertaining story,” said Butler, whose name will be familiar to anyone having read such titles as Marvel's Silver Sable, Web of Spider-Man , Malibu's Ultraforce, First Comic's Badger, D.C. Comic's Superman, and more recently, Sonic The Hedgehog . “ It also happens to have as it's subject matter a combination of two major areas of personal interest: Native Americans and the War Between The States. For as far back as I can remember, I've been absorbing any and all information I could get on what I consider was the single most important period of American History. The Civil War, and the events surrounding it shaped the future of our country, and represented a turning point in it's development. The fact that it was such a monumental event, and that it took place right here, on American soil, is so amazing to me, that I've always wanted to do something that expressed that interest. "Steven and I have always had so many things in common, beyond comics,” said Mann of the new project. "Our love for history, particularly American Civil War--or the War for Southern Independence as I like to say--and American Indians. It is only a small step of logic that we do a story about both!" Butler echoed Mann's sentiments, "Of very similar interest to me has always been The history of Native American peoples. There's such a rich vein of untapped storytelling potential in both these areas, and even more so when the two are combined." Red Rebels "will not be a spandex/alternative history thing," said Mann. "There's already a lot of that sort of thing going on. "This will be a story that we research, and that we will work hard to strive for historical accuracy. Of course we want to do it in an entertaining way--that's why we're doing it as a comic book.” "Red Rebels represents the next phase of comic book storytelling for me,” said Butler, who can list nearly two hundred works to his credit. “ It offers a look at some truly extraordinary real-life events that are educational as well as entertaining. This is truly a labor of love for me, and I think it will show in the quality of the book.” Butler continued, "Red Rebels also represents the chance to return to work with the person I started out with in the comic business-Roland Mann. When Roland and I first started talking about reuniting for a project, I had no idea that it would happen as swift as it has, or become so absorbing. But it has, and I think that it is a testament of our combined need to create something we both feel is unique and timely for both our careers. We started out in this business together, then drifted away from each other to chase our own dreams, then lo and behold, those very same dreams led us back to the same place we started out at...almost. We're both a lot wiser and know better what we want to do with this than anything we've worked on before. I think our mutual enthusiasm will show up in the work. It's my sincerest hope. Doing this project is a perfect way to end the decade, I believe. Here's to looking toward the future by uncovering the past!” Mann agreed, "there are a lot of folks out there who can create and tell good stories. It is my hope that Steven and I will be able to tell Reb Rebels in such a way that it will get readers interested in learning more of this incredible time. I dunno, I feel history is so important to our self identity, both individually and collectively. I would hope that after reading this, you'd be driven to learn more about this incredible time in our nation's history.” Red Rebels is the story of the Cherokee involvement in the Civil War, the story of an Indian Nation already deeply divided over removal yet having accomplished a nervous peace. When war breaks out between the North and South, old factions quickly pop up and take sides once again. It isn't long before Cherokee are fighting Cherokee, in their own Civil War within the Civil War. A release date will be determined at a later date. For more information on Silverline, visit the web site at: http://www.kakuta.com/silverline or email silverline@kakuta.com. +++++ SINNAMON has a new SAGA to tell! Toronto - Catfish Comics announces that the recently released SINNAMON #12 will be the last issue of that series. Before anyone gets too disappointed over this news, Catfish hastens to add that the high-flying heroine will be appearing in the all-new SINNAMON SAGA, with the first issue coming out in June! Creators Angelo Furlan and Nick Poliwko are very excited with their plans for the new title. "It was time for a fresh start," says Sinnamon scribe Furlan. "During the time it took us to get SINNAMON #12 ready, Nick and I came up with all kinds of ideas for the book. It wasn't long before we realized we were revamping so many things that a new title was practically obligatory." Some of these changes include a striking new logo, stylish cover elements, a more dynamic storytelling approach, and a brand new costume for Sinnamon. "A new costume was essential," says Furlan. "We wanted an outfit that would establish a distinctive identity for Sinnamon. Nick came up with a great design, and I really love the way he made her logo an integral part of the outfit!" "Nick has a lot of experience in layout work, so I was happy to let him create new design elements for the book. Loyal readers of the old series know that our logo used to change with nearly every issue, so consistency was overdue. Nick's efforts have boosted the overall look." Readers can get an advance look at The SINNAMON SAGA #1 when Catfish posts scans of the completed artwork on-line starting April 1. Just point those browsers at: http://www.thenerve2.com/catfish Angelo gave a few hints as to what fans can expect from the SAGA. The first six issues come together under the title of "Transitions". In SINNAMON #12, the heroine fought her most intense battle yet, and the repercussions of that fight's fatal finale will affect many aspects of her life. In SAGA #1, the Facility decides it's time for them to bring Sinnamon "back home", and they spare no expense to get the job done. And that's only the beginning. "Hey, this is Sinnamon we're talking about," says Furlan. "Sure, there will be lots of great fights in the SAGA, but expect a lot more from us! We'll have a TV taping that makes 'Springer' look tame, trash Las Vegas, and put Sinnamon on a therapist's couch! Heck, Sinnamon will be sleeping right through her origin story." "Everyone can be assured that while Sinnamon may snooze, the story will keep the readers wide awake." SINNAMON SAGA #1 - shipping in June 1999. 32 pages, black & white, $2.75. Solicited in the April issue of Previews! For more information, contact Angelo Furlan at (416) 630-6056 or e-mail: afurlan@pathcom.com Check out the Catfish Comics Web Page at: http://www.thenerve2.com/catfish Angelo Furlan Writer/Creator of SINNAMON, INFAMA, and BRUISER. email me at: afurlan@pathcom.com Check out the Catfish Comics Web Page at: http://www.thenerve2.com/catfish Check out the INFAMA Web Page at: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/1002/index.html [See the interview with Angelo Furlan later in this issue. ] +++++ To: Mile High Comics Mailing List (mail@milehighcomics.com) Subject: US Department of Justice Investigating Mile High Comics Seeking Federal Intervention in Comics Distribution link at http://www.milehighcomics.com In a move prompted by frustration over an inability to negotiate a reasonable compromise with Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., and Diamond owner Steve Geppi, over Mr. Geppi's takeover of internet retailer anotheruniverse.com, Mile High Comics, Inc. has filed a letter of protest with the anti-trust division of the United States Department of Justice. Mr. Peter Mucchetti, an attorney for the Department of Justice who has been investigating the role of Steve Geppi and Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. in the current state of comics distribution, agreed to also investigate the claims made by Mile High Comics, Inc. The draft of the original complaint is as follows: http://www.milehighcomics.com/comicjustice.html#mar16 In order to be sure that there was a complete documentation of all interactions between Mile High Comics, Inc. President Chuck Rozanski, and Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. President Steve Geppi, Mr. Rozanski compiled the following 22-page summary of activities for Mr. Mucchetti. Please be advised that this download is very long, and takes approximately 178 K of space. But the details provided are remarkable... http://www.milehighcomics.com/comicjustice.html#mar26 Mr. Mucchetti has indicated that he would like to hear comments from both fans and retailers on the issues raised in these letters. He asked however that we not publish his e-mail address for fear of overwhelming his system. But anyone wishing to send written comments to Mr. Mucchetti is welcome to send comments to (mailto:chuck@milehighcomics.com)chuck@milehighcomics.com . All comments will be forwarded, unless otherwise requested. Anyone desiring to write Mr. Mucchetti privately may request his e-mail address (also at chuck@milehighcomics.com) and it will be forwarded without question Due to the massive time required in preparing these requests for relief, there will be no special Internet sales offered this week. For this we apologize. It is highly probable, however, that we will be needing funds for litigation in the near future. That bodes well for those of you seeking bargains... All the best! The Staff at Mile High Comics If the above links do not work, please visit our home page, http://www.milehighcomics.com and click on the link that says Mile High Comics Seeking Federal Intervention in Comics Distribution at the bottom of the center menu. http://www.milehighcomics.com +++++ Subj: Dr.Speck has a Website! From: Poutmouse Dr.Speck Returns!! Out From the Ashes of the Direct Market--Dr.Speck-small press fave and SPX regular--returns to comicdom! After a hiatus of almost a year, following poor sales and the inevitable drop from major distribution--that hero of Quantum Buddhism returns --via the web and his brand new website at: http://hometown.aol.com/speck35132/Dr.Speckhome/DrSpeckHome.html The Website will be publishing all of Dr.Speck's adventures in their entirety and for free!!! To all who have a modem-- The Site is up and now features the fabled issue #2--"The Sleeping City, Part 1" which details Speck and Co's trip to the rooftop of the World --in search of the Dalai Lama and peace of Mind!! But peace of mind is far from what Dr.SpecK, Tabba Gundiaka, Melanie Seurat and Yeshi the Mountain Guide find--in the legendary city of Shambala!! So--if you missed it at the comics shops(and who didn't?) pick it up for free at the above address!! And I'm now at work on Dr.Speck No.5--which will be published directly on the web following the re-printing of #'s 3 & 4--which will be out one after another this summer!! Hope you'll visit and join the trip!! Geoff Grogan Poutmouse Productions +++++ COMICS 2 FILM at Website: http://www.comics2film.com Ash --- FROM CORONA COMING ATTRACTIONS: According the Corona Coming Attractions, recent reports indicate that veteran comic writers Len Wein and Marv Wolfman have been hired to work on the Ash animated feature. Reports from last year indicated that Ed Khmara (Merlin) was writing the screenplay. This latest report is said to be unconfirmed. When asked about it on the Event Comics website, recently-wed Ash creator Joe Quesada replied, "Absolutely the first I've heard about this." http://www.corona.bc.ca Marshal Law ----------- Comics 2 Film checked in with comic writer Pat Mills for a status update on the planned Marshal Law movie. He and Law co-creator Kevin O'Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) had been developing the movie with Baby Productions since 1995. At this point Mills tells us that he and O'Neill have taken the option back from BP. The pair are currently weighing their alternatives for bringing the good Marshal to the big screen. Preacher -------- FROM CORONA COMING ATTRACTIONS: Corona Coming Attractions is reporting that, although he's been rumored to be under consideration for the lead role in the Preacher, Ben Affleck (Armageddon) has turned down the role. A scooper reports seeing Kevin Smith (one of the movie's producers) at a speaking engagement at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire. According to the scooper, Affleck declined the role as he was reluctant to do two religiously themed movies in a row. Affleck has been working with Smith on the religiously themed Dogma. http://www.corona.bc.ca Starwatcher Agency ------------------ Jean-Marc Lofficier stopped by Comics 2 Film this weekend to say "hi" and tell us about the work of the Starwatcher Agency. The agency was founded in 1985 by Lofficer along with Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Claudine Giraud and Randy Lofficier. The purpose of Starwatcher is to assist comic creators in bringing their creations film, television and media outside the realm of comics. While exploring the Starwatcher site, we learned of the following projects in development by various clients. First up Jay Stephens (Land of Nod) has optioned Tutenstein, his good-natured young Frankenstein mummy, as an animated TV show. The option was sold to PorchLight Entertainment who produced the two swell Jetcat shorts which appeared on Nickelodeon's KABLAM! last year. Speaking of Jetcat, the site reveals that two additional shorts will appear on KABLAM! some time in the future. The episodes are tentatively entitled Lunchtime and Me? Ow! The first will introduce an all-new band of heroes called The Two-Fisted Five! A preliminary sketch of the new team appears on the site, revealing each of the hilariously named team members. Like the Nexus short, a Jetcat short can be downloaded from Malvina's Theater. In January of this year, Columbia-TriStar purchased the television rights to The Long Tomorrow, by Moebius and Dan O'Bannon. The comic is described as "a Chandleresque tale of a futuristic private eye and influenced the making of Bladerunner. Columbia-TriStar intends to produce a syndicated series. Dan O'Bannon has written the pilot script and the bible. Other projects are developing as well. French comic book creators Didier Cromwell and Eric Gratien are in negotiations on Anita Bomba for animated television. Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy are in negotiations for a live action film version of their The Light and Darkness War. Check out the Starwatcher website for more information on comic, movie and other projects by their extensive list of clients. http://www.starwatcher.org/ http://www.airtightgarage.org/malvindex.html +++++ ATTN: "Copybook Tales" & "Siren" fans Date: 31 Mar 1999 20:50:53 GMT For any of you who are interested, I'm thrilled to announce that I'm pencilling a few issues of "Batman: Gotham Adventures", beginning with #15, which is solicited in this month's issue of PREVIEWS, on page 77. Thanks for your attention! Tim Levins (Artist, "The Copybook Tales" & "Siren") +++++ From Newsarama; http://www.AnotherUniverse.com/newsarama WINNER OF THE 1997 & 1998 INTERNET "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE Editor Mike McAvennie revealed a shakeup in the creative teams on the LEGION OF SUPER HEROES two books in an AOL chat this week. Legionnaires co-writer Roger Stern departs LEGIONNAIRES with issue #77, and October's issue #78 sees the departure of art team Jeff Moy and W.C. Carani. Over in LSH, the entire creative team of Tom Peyer, Scott Kolins and Ray Kryssing bow out with September's Legion of Super Heroes #121. Tom McCraw, co-writer and colorist of both will stay on but only as colorist. The cover artists may not change and for two months Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning will fill in. +++++ From Zentertainment; HTTP://WWW.ZENTERTAINMENT.COM To sign a friend up or begin receiving ZEN yourself, e-mail SeanJordan@aol.com and say SUBSCRIBE. AIN'T IT COOL NEWS reports Sir Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters, Apt Pupil) may play Magneto in FOX's X-MEN feature film. http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com CALLIOPE Comics' MUSINGS website reports SICILIAN DRAGON Publishing will launch a new line of Anne Rice comics in August, beginning with an adaptation of TALE OF THE BODY THIEF. Faye Perozich will write the adaptations, with art by Travis Moore (Star Wars) and Michael Halblieb (What If), and covers by Daerick Gross, and Rice herself will provide original short stories as back-up features for each issue. Last month, Rice announced she'd be taking a year off from writing, signings, and tourings "as much for my writing, as for my health," so these back-ups will likely be the only new stories from her for well over a year. http://members.xoom.com/calliopecom http://www.annerice.com +++++ From the DCOnline newsletter; http://www.dccomics.com/newsletter.html To subscribe, or for questions or comments about the DC newsletter, please email DCWebSite@aol.com. NEWS BYTES DC GOES BACK TO PRODUCTION ON WONDER WOMAN ACTION FIGURE; THREE NEW ACTION FIGURES ON THE WAY DC is pleased to announce that, in response to overwhelming demand, it is going back for a second manufacturing run on the WONDER WOMAN ACTION FIGURE. This 6 1/ 4" tall, fully-painted action figure -- featuring nine points of articulation (including shoulders, elbows and knees) -- brings the Amazon Princess to vivid life, and comes with a removable battleaxe and shield. The new run will consist of only the regular figure, with no variants included, and is scheduled to arrive in stores on June 30. "We want to thank all of the retailers and consumers for their overwhelming response to our action figure program," says Syndee Barwick, DC's Director -- Marketing. "We were blown away by their reaction, particularly to the Wonder Woman figure which has been strongly in demand since it sold out, so we decided that it would be the best one to manufacture." Meanwhile, DC continues its successful line of direct market-targeted action figures with a trio of brand-new figures tied to the mainstream DC Universe and the world of VERTIGO: the JLA's Plastic Man, PREACHER's Jesse Custer and THE SANDMAN's Death, all scheduled to arrive in stores on August 18. Each fully-painted action figure measures from 5 and 5/8" to 6 and 1/8" tall and includes special, character-specific accessories, from Plastic Man's goggles to Jesse Custer's eye-patch. DEATH OF THE ENDLESS ACTION FIGURE. This beautiful 5 1/8" tall figure recreates THE SANDMAN's sister, featuring eight points of articulation (including shoulders, elbows, hips and knees) and comes with two removable accessories (ankh and umbrella) and one non-removable accessory (belt). The variant DEATH figure features a non-removable top hat in place of her umbrella. JESSE CUSTER ACTION FIGURE. The title character from PREACHER is strikingly captured in a 6 1/8" tall, fully-painted action figure that features ten points of articulation (including head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips and knees) and comes with a removable eye patch. Plus, Jesse's eyes glow red at the touch of a button in his back. The variant JESSE CUSTER figure features a white suit instead of black. PLASTIC MAN ACTION FIGURE. The JLA's most pliable hero becomes DC Direct's most pliable action figure! Measuring 6" tall, Plastic Man features stretchable arms (from shoulders to wrists) as well as six points of articulation (including hips, knees, neck and waist) and separately cast goggles. The variant PLASTIC MAN figure features different hands in the shape of a hammer and a pair of pliers. ANIMATION EPISODE SCHEDULE THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES airs weekdays and Saturdays on the WB Network, and BATMAN BEYOND airs Saturdays. Times given are Eastern and Pacific. This schedule is subject to change. 4/5/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Double Talk" (Batman) 4/5/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Bizarro's World" (Superman) 4/6/98 (4:00 pm) -- "Two's a Crowd" (Superman) 4/6/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Joker's Millions" (Batman) 4/7/99 (4:00 pm) -- "The Terrible Trio" (Batman) 4/7/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Mxyzpixilated" (Superman) 4/8/99 (4:00 pm) -- "Blasts from the Past -- Part I" (Superman) 4/8/99 (4:30 pm) -- "Blasts from the Past -- Part II" (Superman) 4/9/99 (4:00 pm) -- "House and Garden" (Batman) 4/9/99 (4:30 pm) -- "A Little Piece of Home" (Superman) 4/10/99 (8:00 am) -- "Stolen Memories" (Superman) 4/10/99 (8:30 am) -- "The Demon Within" (Batman) 4/10/99 (9:30 am) -- "The Winning Edge" (Batman Beyond -- NEW) ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] 1998 SQUIDDY AWARDS Kirby Krueger kirbyk@best.com The Squiddy Awards are voted on by participants of the rec.arts.comics hierarchy of Usenet, and this year via web page ballot which opened things up to anyone with a web browser. It is the oldest online award for achievement in comics. The top vote getters in each category are listed below. For the complete list go to: http://www.innocence.com/~squiddy/squid-results.cgi?full=yes Note - due to controversy created by the Sluggy Freelance web site dominating the awards, Pete Abrams (creator of Sluggy Freelance) has voluntarily withdrawn himself from consideration, and votes for Sluggy Freelance have been removed. See the discussion on rec.arts.comics.misc and his website at www.sluggy.com for more information. [Editorial note - some of the category totals are not final due to variant spelling that were not caught. The winners however are correct. - D.L.] Creator Categories Best Writer: 154: Kurt Busiek 141: Warren Ellis Best Penciller: 105: George Perez 54: Wendy Pini Best Inker: 50: Jimmy Palmiotti 45: Al Vey 44: Bill Sienkiwiecz Best Painter: 318: Alex Ross 56: Wendy Pini Best Letterer: 151: Richard Starkins & Comicraft 93: Todd Klein Best Colorist: 100: Liquid! 87: Digital Chameleon Best Creative Team: 293: Garth Ennis / Steve Dillon - "Preacher" 200: Warren Ellis (w), Derick Robertson (p), Rod Ramos (i) on "Transmetropolitan" Best Cover Artist: 200: Alex Ross 52: Wendy Pini Best Editor: 126: Archie Goodwin 96: Tom Breevort Best Political Cartoonist: 156: Gary Trudeau 63: Tom Tomorrow Book and Story Categories Best Story: 76: JLA - The Nail 54: Transmetropolitan - Year of the Bastard Best Series: 84: Transmetropolitan 59: Preacher 55: Avengers Best New Series: 70: Inhumans 61: Black Panther Best Limited Series: 87: JLA - The Nail 73: 300 Best Single Comic: 58: Incredible Hulk #467 52: CLERKS. (THE COMIC BOOK) Best Reprint Book: 74: Crisis on Infinite Earths 40: Batman:The Long Halloween Best Graphic Novel: 115: Superman Peace On earth 71: "You Are Here" by Kyle Baker Best Anthology: 51: Elfquest 44: Legends of the DC Universe Best Web Comic: 48: Daredevil #0 Web Edition on Marvel Interactive 42: "My Obsession with Chess" by Scott McCloud (http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/chess/chess.html) Best Comic Strip: 165: Dilbert 82: Fox Trot Other Categories Best Company/Imprint: 248: DC 140: DC Vertigo 104: Marvel Best Character: 80: Spider Jerusalem 54: Bun-Bun Best Team: 118: JLA 98: Avengers Best Other-Media Adaptation: 256: Batman/Superman Adventures 114: Blade Movie Best Publication: 164: Wizard 54: Comic Buyer's Guide 34: Newsarama Best Web Site: 82: Newsarama (http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html) 62: Comic Book Resources 38: www.elfquest.com 31: Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast 28: www.warrenellis.com 26: COMICON.com 25: Mania 20: NCRL 17: Rich's Ramblings 16: Avengers Assemble Best RAC'r: (participant online in Usenet Newsgroups rec.arts.comics.*) 100: Warren Ellis 84: Kurt Busiek 61: Randy Lander ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] Tony's Isabella's Journal Tony Isabella tonyisa@ohio.net Tony Isabella is a featured weekly columnist in the nation's largest comic book collector's publication, Comics Buyer's Guide. His satiric "Tony's Tips!" is a favorite among fans and industry professionals alike. A life long comic book fan, Tony began his career in 1972 as a comics professional as assistant to Stan Lee! He has worked in nearly every aspect of the business, from retailing, to distribution to writing. Among his credits is the creation of DC's first black super-hero, Black Lightning. Tony's latest project, the daily "Tony's Isabella's Journal" made its debut in June of 1997 on the world wide web exclusively through World Famous Comics, at http://www.wfcomics.com/tony The following is one of those daily columns . . . Tony Isabella's Journal #636 I'm continuing TOT's coverage of MEGACON '99, which took place from March 5-7 in Orlando, Florida. Dawn of the second day found me doing what I had done the previous morning...reading comics to review in this column. On top of today's pile was a special treat, a preview of THE L.A.W. #1 by Bob Layton and Dick Giordano. Let's see if I can do the book justice without giving any too many of the surprises awaiting its readers. ****** THE L.A.W. I'll start with some basic info. The stars of this DC Comics series are most of the great action heroes helmed by Dick Giordano when he was editor of Charlton Comics in the 1960s. That includes Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Judomaster, Nightshade, the Peacemaker, the Question, and Sarge Steel. "L.A.W." stands for "Living Assault Weapons," which isn't the warmest-and-cuddliest designation for a super-team, but still beats the heck out of the All-Winners Squad or the Mighty Men. Layton writes and inks L.A.W., while Giordano provides the pencils. The editor is Joey Cavalieri. This first ish opens with the arrival of a being known only as the Avatar, a being so powerful that not even the Justice League of America can stand against him...or it. So it falls to Sarge Steel and a secret organization known as the Peacemakers to gather a new force to defend the planet. If I tell you anymore about the plot, I'd spoil the suspense. As it is, I'll have to tip-toe around some of the reasons I liked this premiere issue. Bear with me; it's for your own good. First and foremost, I like this book because these are the for real Charlton heroes. Beetle is no longer the clown Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis turned him into; his subsequent teaming with the Question is far more interesting than the tired old song-dance-and- rubber-chicken act he used to do with Booster Gold. Judomaster and Nightshade are developed in fascinating ways. Best of all, Sarge Steel isn't the evil government official that he'd been turned into by the far-too-many writers who embraced that hackneyed modern-day cliche. I'm delighted to have *this* Sarge Steel back. Second, Layton tells a good story. It's a fast-paced thriller that utilizes the DC Universe in ingenious ways to add an "oh, wow" element to the proceedings. Third, the Giordano/Layton artwork is sensational. There is, at all times, a realistic sense to the drawings. These heroes look like real human beings, which makes it all the more exciting when they do remarkable things. The art made the fantastic believable; it was like watching a movie. Keep an eye out for THE L.A.W. when you're paging through your ordering catalog. I'm not sure when the mini-series will kick off, but it's most definitely worth getting. I hope it turns out to be the prelude to an ongoing title. ****** TRANQUILITY I also did some of my Friends of Lulu Review Board reading in the early hours, most notably TRANQUILITY #1-4 (Dreamsmith Studios; $2.50 each). Written by Fred Van Lente and drawn by Steve Ellis, the science-fiction "novel" is better than the sum of its chapters. Although I had favorably reviewed the first issues many months ago, I liked the comic book even better when I read this first series in one sitting. Tranquility is the star of the book, a genetically-engineered prostitute-turned-cop on Tranquilitatis Base, a human colony on the Moon in the near future. From the view of the average citizen on Earth, the base seems to offer a wonderful opportunity to build a new life far from the troubles of the mother planet. But, once the citizen gets to the base, he finds that "truth-in-advertising" laws don't extend into space. Tranquility is not a heroine you can warm up to immediately. Some of her actions are shocking and even brutal. But, to give Van Lente his due, he does a fine job revealing Tranquility's character in layers. By the end of the fourth and final--for now--issue, the reader will see her differently than in the first. Even the lady's talking gun "grows" as the series progresses. Tranquility wants to escape to Earth to find a happiness she has never truly known. Trying to achieve that dream takes her into danger, surrounds her with intrigue, and brings her face-to-face with horror. The title doesn't carry a "for mature readers" label for nothing. We should give artist Ellis his due as well. He's a pretty good storyteller--occasional his layouts get a little wonky--with the ability to attack the reader with the illustrative equivalent of an unexpected "BOO!" His designs are also good; John Q. Public (the "top cop" of the Moon) and Doctor Miranda Gaeia (Tranquility's "mother) are unforgettable characters. TRANQUILITY gets the thumbs-up from yours truly. If you can't get these four issues from your friendly neighborhood comics store, you might be able to get ordering information from Tran's creators. The e-mail address is: tranqmail@aol.com ****** ONWARD TO MEGACON DAY TWO I headed to the Expo Centre's Adair Room almost as soon as the show opened. My "Adding Reality to Comics" panel was scheduled to begin at 10:45 am. I'm really lousy at estimating attendance for these things, but my best guess would be that about 40-50 fans came to the panel with most of them staying for the whole thing. Since no one nodded off during my talk, I'm going to go out on a limb and report that I didn't suck too badly. "Sit down with the renowned comics writer and COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE columnist to discover the fine points of writing comics and adding that touch of reality," is how the panel was described and I did about fifteen minutes on that subject. However, since I was supposed to fill an hour, I had to pretty much wing it after that. Thankfully, I had help from the audience who asked some really good questions. Of course, my criterion for "really good questions" is based completely on whether or not I have really good *answers* for said questions. I answered questions about comicdom in the 1970s, about how I manage to write this column every day, about Black Lightning, about my kids, about CAPTAIN AMERICA: LIBERTY'S TORCH (which continues to get good reviews from its readers), about Hawkman, and about this, that, and the other thing. I was too busy talking to take notes, but several of the fans came up to me afterwards to tell me they'd enjoyed my talk...therefore adding more credence to my "didn't suck too badly" theory. I'll probably write an "adding reality to comics" column one of these days, but, in the meantime, here's the short version of my wisdom on that subject: Get the real stuff right. That's pretty much it. Comics writers, especially super-hero comics creators, are constantly asking their readers to believe the fantastic. I think that suspension of disbelief comes easier when the writers and artists take pains to depict the "real stuff" in as accurate a manner as possible. Your human characters should talk like real human beings. You should draw cars that look like real cars, clothes that look like real clothes, buildings that look like real buildings. If you use real world geography, history, law, or science in your stories, you should use it correctly. The readers want to believe your stories. Meet them halfway. ****** MORE MEGACON One of the highlights of the convention for me was hanging out with Carl Gafford, whose career in comics began about five seconds after mine. I've known Gaff for 30 years; we started out working for pretty much the same fanzines in the '60s and have been friends ever since. He's living in Florida these days, which is definitely the comics industry's loss. I also got to say "hi" to some other fandom buddies: Gary Brown, Jim Korkis, and Jim Shull. All of us were--and some still are--members of CAPA-Alpha, the finest apa in the history of comics fandom. Digression. An apa is an "amateur press association." It's one of the things fans used to belong and contribute to before the invention of the Internet. It's still a great way to hone artistic and writing skills, or to discuss comics with people who share your interest. If you'd like information on joining CAPA-ALPHA--and be warned that there is a waiting list for membership--you can e-mail Joel Thingvall, the apa's current central mailer, at: Thingvall@aol.com There were lots of other familiar faces at the convention. I don't want this to read like a roll call, but I did want to mention how great it was to once again see and chat with Brinke Stevens, Dick Ayers, Chris Mills, Darryl Cobbs, Jim Krueger, Ken Penders, Don Perlin, and Joe Pruett, to name just a few. I even met some new people. At the Marvel Comics booth--and isn't it great to see the company doing conventions again--I had a nice chat with Bill Rosemann, whose business card identifies him as "associate manager/retail sales/advertising & promotion." (It's a really *big* card.) Certainly Marvel Comics has its problems, many of which involve the company shooting itself in its foot over and over again, but I remain hopeful and even optimistic that they will continue to bring back more of that old-time fun and excitement that we're again seeing in mags like THE AVENGERS, CAPTAIN AMERICA, IRON MAN, and THUNDERBOLTS. Another thrill for me was finally meeting artist Alex Saviuk. We spoke on the phone several years ago--when he was drawing and I was writing WEB OF SPIDER-MAN for editor Jim Salicrup--but this was our first actual meeting. Saviuk recently stretched his artistic wings with a stint on THE X-FILES (Topps Comics) and he's presently drawing the Sunday installments of the SPIDER-MAN newspaper strip. It was good to meet him. In between autographing comics I had written shortly after the invention of the printing press, I hit the retail areas in search of Pokemon gifts for my kids. I also picked up review copies of CHASSIS from Chassis editor/publisher Jan Utstein-O'Neill and LADY PENDRAGON from Lady Pendragon creator/editor/writer Matt Hawkins. I'll be writing about these comics in a future TOT. In tomorrow's column, I'll wrap up the MEGACON report. In the meantime, if these "notes from the front" have you thinking about attending a convention yourself, then let me recommend THE BIG EASY COMIC-CON. This brand-new event is being produced by Roger Price of Mid-Ohio-Con fame and will be taking place from May 28-30 at the Hilton Riverside Hotel in New Orleans. I'll be there and so will Lou Ferrigno, Adam West, Gerard "Superboy" Christopher, Dick Ayers, John Byrne, Ron Garney, Irwin Hasen, Bob Ingersoll, Cindy "Blonde Avenger" Johns, Steve Lieber, Aaron Lopresti, Angel Medina, Sheldon Moldoff, Andrew Pepoy, Paul Ryan, Mark Schultz, Al "Spawn" Simmons, Roger Stern, William Stout, Al Williamson, and many other great guests. For the most current information on THE BIG EASY COMIC- CON, just click HERE. I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff. Tony Isabella March 6, 1999 ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] Interview by Paul Dale Roberts Silhouet9@aol.com A Revisit with Angelo Furlan of Catfish Comics! Interview with the writer of Sinnamon and Infama Question: Oh my goodness! I can't believe it! Did you really cancel SINNAMON? Angelo: Relax Paul, relax! While it's true that SINNAMON has been canceled as of the twelfth issue (in shops now - hint hint), did you really think I'd leave her loyal fans out in the cold? Starting this June, Sinnamon fans both new and old can enjoy the continuing adventures of our high-flying heroine in The SINNAMON SAGA. Question: So, you canceled the old title to replace it with a new one? Why? Angelo: Quite simply, I felt it was time for a fresh start. The original SINNAMON title was started with the best of intentions, but circumstances conspired to ruin our original commitment to publish the book on a regular schedule. As well, we kept changing the core design elements of the book, especially the logo. So by the time issue 12 finally came into sight, I decided this would be a good time to begin anew. We've got a cool logo, some great-looking design elements, and we're ready to roll! We'll start off on a quarterly schedule for the first four issues, so that retailers can get an accurate feel on how the book is selling. By the time we get to Saga #5, we'll try our very best to put the book out bi-monthly. I've got Nick Poliwko handling the art chores and he's as committed as I am to making The SINNAMON SAGA a top-level comic book, full of fun and action! If readers of this interview would like to check out some of the art for SAGA #1, we'll be posting complete pages to the Catfish Home Page (www.thenerve2.com/catfish) starting on April 1. Don't let the date fool you - we're serious about this! I am really excited by the work Nick is producing! He really makes my writing come to life! We're kicking off the new series with a six issue story arc. Before it's over, we'll have revealed our heroine's origin, as well as shedding a lot of light on the inner workings of the Facility which gave her those powers in the first place. Fans of the Bruiser character will be happy to see him make a meaningful contribution this time around as he gives Sinnamon a helping hand in a wild battle staged in Las Vegas. Oh, and Sinnamon will undergo therapy, Joan of Arc makes a truly unforgettable TV appearance, Terror-Dawn undergoes a few changes, and we even find room to introduce the Sinnamon Grrls within the space of these issues. Why, we may even sneak in some baked goods (long-time fans will get the reference)! Wait! I've saved the best news for last! The most thrilling change of all is Sinnamon's new costume! I asked Nick to design an outfit that would be unique and distinctive, and he came through with flying colors! The way he made her logo an integral part of the outfit was a stroke of creative genius, in my somewhat biased opinion. And Sinnamon will be wearing it right off the bat in SAGA #1! Let me catch my breath here. Can you tell I'm really excited by all this? Question: I'm beginning to get a bit heated up myself. Let's cool you down just a bit by having you tell something about yourself. About your family (especially your guitar picking cousin!), schools you attend and where were you born and raised? Angelo: I was born in Toronto sometime during the 20th Century. I don't like to reveal my age because it gets in the way of my pursuit of younger women. As far as education goes, I graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.A., so I'm not quite as dumb as I look. I took a lot of sociology courses, which might account for some of the slants in my story-telling. As for my guitar-picking cousin, Pat, I think I have to take some measure of responsibility for his musical exploits. While I'm not particularly skilled on the instrument myself, I did start Pat off with some lessons. He has since become a full-fledged guitar maniac, with his own band and a deep passion for everything related to guitars and amps. I've since got my niece hooked as well. I'm proud that she's got her own Stratocaster guitar and Marshall amp. It's safe to say that I'm a guitar freak as well. I've got an American Standard Stratocaster (Burgundy Mist) and a 1965 Fender Princeton Reverb amplifier which I make noise with on a regular basis. I may not be a great player, but I can drool over gear with the best of them! Just check out my Guitar Lust site (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/1002/guitlust.htm). Question: How did you get started in the comic industry? Angelo: A quirk of fate. My brother's girlfriend canceled an afternoon date sometime in 1993, and so he and I went out to spend some money. He suggested going to a local comic shop I hadn't frequented for a few months. After I picked up some books, he noticed an advertisement on the wall. Some fledging comic company was looking for writers and artists. As I had always been interested in working in the comics field, I went home and put together a script and a few pages about the concept in about three days. Within a week, I was meeting with people from Anthem Comics, and they wanted to publish my idea. Bruiser #1 didn't go very far, but it did get my foot in the door. A few mashed toes later, I'm still here. Question: What was the first comic book you ever read? Angelo: An issue of Tales Of Suspense. I'm sorry I can't remember the number, but this was the original Marvel series, which co-featured Captain America and Iron Man in two separate stories. Heck, I can't tell you what the stories were about, but I still remember buying that comic. My family and I were in a department store, and this was the first time I ever saw a rack of comics. I had been exposed to heroes like Superman, Batman, and some of the Marvel heroes through TV shows, but I didn't know these characters also came in print form. I still remember how excited my brother and I were as we stared at all those titles. I'm glad my parents were able to shell out the twelve cents for that comic book. I've never forgotten the sense of wonderment I felt that day. That probably explains why I've always wanted to write comics. Question: Your stories are always so suspenseful and full of action. How did you become such a great writer? Angelo: Thanks for the praise, but I've still got a long way to go. The key to becoming good at any skill is to practice your craft. In the case of writing, I think it's essential to read a variety of materials; in fact, I would recommend that an aspiring comic book writer not limit his choice of reading materials to comic books alone. A problem with a lot of today's mainstream comics is that too many writers only know comic books, and so we keep getting the same stories told over and over again. Question: For readers not familiar with your work, can you briefly tell us something about Sinnamon, Infama, and Bruiser? Briefly? Let's go in order of creation: The Bruiser is Jeff Able, a fellow who got his powers when he brushed his teeth with tainted Shine toothpaste. That toothpaste was rather nasty stuff, as it sickened many of the people who used it. For example, Jeff's wife Lee was made sterile after her exposure to the stuff. The "luckier" ones got strange and mysterious powers. In fact, that toothpaste was responsible for a number of the costumed characters running around in the Catfish Universe. For example, there's Bruiser, King Solomon, Nasty Stuff, Dandelion, and Pyre-Anna. Some of these characters appeared in the Bruiser's own series (published by Anthem originally, and then Mythic), some in SINNAMON, and some have appeared in both books. The Bruiser's powers are your basic enhanced strength and mild invulnerability. There's also the added kicker that his adrenaline gland has been affected, so when he gets angry or excited, the ensuing adrenaline surge can make him ill if he doesn't work it off. That's why putting on a mask and beating up on bad guys appeals to him. I can't reveal Sinnamon's origin yet, but it will be printed in SINNAMON SAGA #2 which should hit the shelves this September. Cindy Canyon's powers are a bit more varied than Bruiser's: she is really strong, and invulnerable, and she has the added bonuses of flight and force blasts. She can't control the blasts too well, so she tries not to use them too often. Personally, I like the idea that a petite young woman could be the world's most powerful hero. Sinnamon currently lives in Golden Valley, California, and battles crime as best she can, considering she's had little practice or training. I'd suggest she's a bit cocky or lackadaisical with regards to honing her skills because she has such incredible powers. For example, she nearly lost a battle to the less-powerful Aerobica (SINNAMON #8) simply because she became winded after a few minutes of battle. Generally, Sinnamon just flies around looking for things to make right. If you think this sounds like she doesn't have time for much else, you'd be right. Long time readers will have noted that Cindy Canyon doesn't have any friends, nor a job - in fact, she has no direction in life outside of fighting crime. This state of affairs has to change. That's why this upcoming story arc is entitled "Transitions". Time for Sinnamon to get a life. Whether it's a life she likes is another matter entirely. Now we come to Infama. Not only is her origin still a secret, so is her real name! She first showed up in SINNAMON #1 as a super-powered bank robber. She's not robbing banks any more, but I wouldn't call her a good girl by any means. Her powers come from a little gem she wears on her throat. Through it, she seems able to make objects appear from thin air. These objects are limited only by her imagination, and she's quite an imaginative woman! Question: Seems like you have some top notch artists at Catfish Comics! Can you tell us something about Greg LaRocque and M. Gerald Delaney, who did the high quality artwork in Infama? Angelo: Long-time comic book fans will recognize Greg's name from the work he did on Flash with Mark Waid writing. Remember the classic "Return of Barry Allen" storyline? That was Greg's artwork gracing the pages! He's also done work on Spider-Man, Legion of Super Heroes, and the Avengers. Right now, Greg is busy publishing "CryBaby" from his own Exiled Studio imprint. It's a full color book, and was written by Scott Lobdell. As for M. Gerald Delaney, he's the fellow who gave Sinnamon her original look and provided artwork for the first eleven issues. Seeking a small break, he drew MEDORA #1 for Lobster Comixxx. Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to reveal his upcoming project. It's with another publisher, and should please fans who enjoy his skill at drawing women in various stages of undress. All I can say is that this publisher is NOT Lobster Comixxx. Watch for a press release as soon as the contracts are signed! Question: Will the Sisterhood have a major role in Infama's life? Who is the Sisterhead? I think the Sisterhood will have a very big role in Infama's life. They're still mad at her for leaving without permission. If I reveal the Sisterhead's identity, I'll be giving away too much. Suffice it to say that when we complete the Infama mini-series (in one form or another), fans will learn all about Infama's origin, her relationship to a certain member of the Sisterhood, and the strange story behind Infama's power gem. Question: Tell us something about some of your hobbies and recreational activities. You mean besides playing the guitar? I spend a lot of time with my computer. Besides working with word processing, HTML, and DTP applications, I like to experiment with various music programs. It likely goes without saying that I'm a big fan of cyberspace - I must spend close to an hour daily replying to my email, and I think of the World Wide Web as being a massive library open for browsing at any time. The 'net is a marvelous resource! I like reading. Although I probably read too many guitar magazines (I buy them for the pictures), I try to broaden my mind by reading a daily newspaper and various magazines. I'm a sucker for books dealing with social or personal insights, as there's always plenty of material for future stories. To make sure my body doesn't get too puffy from all that time spent sitting down, I work out with weights regularly. My musical tastes lean heavily towards classic rock or blues, with some of my favorite artists being Cream, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, the Guess Who, the Beatles, and of course, the MC5. I think compact discs are the work of the devil, because I can't keep myself from buying the blasted things! Question: What are some of your favorite comic books now? Right now? The only books I buy on a monthly basis are Green Lantern, Flash, and DC Legends. I have to be careful about what I buy, because many of the comics I would like to buy are just too blasted expensive. The devalued Canadian dollar has really boosted the price of comic books. To see what I mean, look at the different cover prices on the next comic book you buy. There was a time when comics only needed the one cover price, because our respective currencies were basically at the same level. Don't think that Canadians have experienced huge wage increases since that time, because that hasn't been the case. Question: Can you tell us something about the "Fact Files" that you created for Infama? Sure. I like to give readers their money's worth, and since I'm a writer, that means I'll fill up "extra" (i.e., non-comic) pages with loads of text. I used to love the Legion of Super Heroes when the Bierbaums were on the title. They would include loads of text pages that helped to advance the storylines going on in the book. I'm dating myself here, but I remember when Stan Lee was actively editing the Marvel books and there was a letters page (or two), a Bullpen bulletins page, and other stuff. Did you ever see the "1963" series Alan Moore did for Image? He filled up every extra bit of space with parodies of those old Marvel books. I love comics that take more than seven minutes to read. Where the "Fact Files" are concerned, I wanted to make sure new readers were given a proper introduction to Infama, Sinnamon, and the other major players. And if loyal readers learned anything new in the process, so much the better. Keeping with this theme, the first issue of The SINNAMON SAGA will have "The Sinnamon Primer": I'll be combining text and pictures to introduce new readers to the character. Hopefully, I can make it entertaining enough so that long-standing readers will enjoy it too. Question: Catfish Comics seems better than ever! Welcome back Angelo! Is there anything you would like to add in this interview? Angelo: I'd like to praise the efforts of people like yourself for helping to maintain fan interest in comics. We're nothing without our audience. I spoke earlier about the sense of wonderment I got as a child from reading comic books. There's no reason why adults can't experience that same sense. Nick and I share a goal to make each issue of The SINNAMON SAGA a wonderful read for everyone who buys a copy. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to be interviewed, Paul! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] HAD YOUR PHIL? PHIL WHITE ogre4@earthlink.net [Phil White has contributed articles and cartoons to Comic Buyer's Guide, Wizard and Cinefantastique. He has written comic books for Americomics (AC) and Mattel Toy Company and has self-published comic books featuring his own characters, including Ogre, Felony, and the acclaimed "I Hunt." He supports his comic book hobby, and his family, as director of marketing and sales with a medium sized software and remote data-entry company in Southern California.] "There's something about a man in uniform!" How often have we heard this line repeated by drooling women in those WWII movies made in the forties? If you heard it enough times, you might begin to believe the propaganda and decide it is true. Girls love a guy in uniform. Girls aside, uniforms actually represent a status of "belonging." Whether you belong to the Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, to a ball team or to a branch of the services, Army, Navy, Marines, or Airforce, your uniform is a badge of brotherhood and conformity with others who wear matching livery. You are part of the team! In comic books, however, there seem to be three very different schools of thought regarding uniforms and teams. First there are the conservatives who feel team members should wear matching uniforms. The Challengers of the Unknown, the original X-Men and the Fantastic Four are teams who fall into this category. Their uniforms tell us that they are equal members of the team. There can be minor modification to a uniform to identify rank or special skills. These are most often seen on pseudo-military uniforms like those worn by the Darkstars, Agents of S.H.I.E.l.D. or the Alien Legion. The second school of thought belongs to those moderate folks who believe each team member can wear a singular costume provided it includes some identifying regalia of uniformity. This can be either a common design element or colors closely associated with the team. X- Factor and the Shazam family are nice examples. X-Factor sticks to blue and yellow uniforms. The Shazam family, Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel all wear identical uniforms but in different colors. (Okay, okay. Mary has a short skirt on hers. Don't get picky.) Designing different costumes with symbolic commonalties must be very challenging for the artist, which may be the reason we don't see more examples. Jim Lee did a bang- up job redesigning uniforms for the X- Men, especially the one worn by Cyclops, by continuing their established colors and adding utility belts with the "X" prominently centered in large, red, buckles. The Green Lantern Corps fall into this second category by necessity. Just as Ben Grim is limited to wearing modified FF shorts for obviously practical reasons, members of Corps must adjust the green and black costume, from the original design by Gil Kane, to suit their alien physiques. The same applies to the Alien Legion. Finally, there is the more dominate, liberal school of thought which believes that each member of a team is an individual, totally unique and special, and therefore is entitled to wear a completely unique costume rather than a uniform. The majority of comic book teams, from New Warriors to New Teen Titans, typify this school of thought. I've always had a big problem with this liberal attitude. I can understand the Avengers and the JLA not wearing unifying dress. After all, these teams are made up of draft picks, proven characters with established costumes that are icons. This has been the going on since the earliest days of the Justice Society and the All Winners. Still, it would be nice if these teams had some common costume element to help identify and unify them when they band together, something like the Legion of Super- Heroes' flight ring. To their credit, toward the end of their first series run the Avengers adopted brown leather jackets with an "A" shoulder patch and Hercules even wore his patch on a black tank top. The focus of my gripe is directed at those comic book teams that originated as teams, like Alpha Flight, Authority, Bloodpool, Gen 13, Stormwatch, Wildcats, Youngblood and countless others. Their creators ignored uniforms, preferring to give each member a costume and establish them as individuals, which is anathema to the concept of membership, teamwork and corps values. It's like having these characters shout, "I'm special... and more important than the team." That's too close to saying that the needs of the few, or the one, outweigh the needs of the many, or the team. Too often these same creators, who promote this self-centered ideology, pit their "team" against protagonist that are uniformed armies of darkness. Don't believe me? Check out Hydra, A.I.M., or the Sons of the Serpent. What really bugs me is when these liberals go overboard and start casting established, heroic teams, such as the aforementioned Darkstars and Agents of S.H.I.E.l.D., in the roll of villains because they represent militaristic or conservative organizations. The terms militant and fascist are not necessarily synonymous. Perhaps the biggest problem I have with non-uniformed teams is manifest during the mandatory slug festivals. Without uniforms it's sometimes impossible to know who belongs to what team. If you've never read a comic before, you can't differentiate between members of the Masters of Evil and those who belong to the Thunderbolts. Remember flag football? One team wears yellow flags and one team sports red flags, right? There's a reason for the colors, folks. So, let's see some comic book teams start demonstrating pride and team spirit in belonging to their team by wearing that badge of membership, a team uniform. After all, girls love a guy in uniform... and who among you didn't want to own a leather, Blackhawk jacket and flight cap when you were a kid? Phil White PS. Does it bother anyone else when professed loners who hate teams are the first to join? Why is Marrow, for instance, part of the X-Men if she loathes them so? Why do the others want a mean spirited witch like her around? Sure, if Galactus, for reasons of his own, threatened to eat the planet unless the X-Men promised to keep her on the team it would make sense. But, when the editors can't rationalize the situations they dictate, like this one, I bail from their books. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW Augie De Blieck Jr. augie@nic.com http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline COMIC BOOKS AS WE KNOW THEM Things sure have gotten complicated when it comes to credits, haven't they? You used to have a writer, a penciller, and an inker. These days, you can have any combination of: Writer, scripter, plotter, inspiration, idea, pencils, breakdowns, layouts, finishers, inkers, embellishers. Of course, you can also add "co-" in front of any of those to make it even more confusing. (Forget about coloring. You have separators, guides, colorists, and more there.) And the order has even changed back and forth. Back in the early 90s, John Byrne was working with John Romita Jr. on IRON MAN. He decided to put Romita's name first as artist, since that's what was selling the book. Sign of the times. Today, Marvel often puts the writer and penciller together as "storytellers" in their credits, although I suspect much of that is Comicraft's idea, since they do a lot of the design work on Marvel books these days. I suppose this is the most honest of the accountings, really, although it does lead to the question over how much plot or script input an artist has in the book. A writer will often write to an artist's strengths or desires, to keep things fresh for him. Speaking of the early 90s: Remember when books starting opening up with two-page splash pages? It seemed to start that year when John Byrne started up NAMOR and Todd McFarlane started up SPIDER-MAN. Looking back on it, a lot of people today would probably cry foul that it is the artist trying to control the pace and tempo of the book at the expense of the writer and his work. It's a chance for the artist to show-off. Quite honestly, I like the format and think it works on more than just that basis. Any writer will tell you that what every story needs is a strong and/or exciting opening. You want something to draw the reader into the story. No short story author will ever sell a story to a magazine, for example, unless the opening grabs the submissions editor. A 2-page splash across pages 2 and 3 forces the writer to come up with something quickly that has a big pay-off. Todd McFarlane got away with it in the first issue of SPIDER-MAN, really. His art was enough to excite you, so a two-page splash of Spidey above the city worked well. The second issue started with the Lizard attacking two unknown characters. That worked well and drew the reader's interest. So it serves a dual purpose and works on both accounts. Of course, if the artist really sucks it could very well backfire on you. But what the heck... Also, Marvel seems to have ditched the gatefold story summaries they were doing on the inside of the front covers. Apparently, like Vertigo, they needed those two pages of ad revenue to exist every month. But something else strikes me as being terribly wrong about this. When they added the gatefold, they also added 4 cents to the price of a comic, so that they could bring us these extra two editorial pages. Now they've removed the editorial pages, replaced them with adds, and still charge us the 4 cents. It's the principal of the matter, but I still feel gypped. (Wait, it turns out they've ditched the gatefold completely now. The cover price remains the same, though.) While I'm at it -- remember when a change in cover price elicited an apology for it in the letters column of the book? I don't think Marvel or DC did that with their last price changes. DC has abandoned the shiny pages often in favor of the plain whiter paper, too. Of course, this was done during the great paper shortages a few years ago to help bring down the cost of the book. So I assume the paper isn't in shortage anymore. =) Quite honestly, I like the plainer paper better, anyway. There is no reflection from the light blocking my view of the page. One need look no further than eBay to see what a sham comic book price guides are. WIZARD prices its rare Visa card giveaway comic, WITCHBLADE VS. THE DARKNESS 1/2 at $180. A quick search of complete auctions in the past 30 days show that two copies of this book have come close to selling at $140, while the average selling price across the other dozen copies comes closer to $100. (Some went for as low as $75. Mine went for $91. =) Checking out the rest of the auctions shows much the same pattern. I just won an auction for 5 McFarlane AMAZING SPIDER-MAN issues for $6.50. Most other auctions of just comic books end up going at about cover price, or at least far under the guide price. ANY guide. As always, Silver Age books are probably the exception, but my knowledge in that area is too limited to give you an exact figure. Uncle $crooge artist Don Rosa is fond of saying that back issues should cost less than cover price. He may have a point. After all, they didn't sell through the first time. They're old. If they're at all interesting, most comic book companies will repackage them in a reprinted edition eventually. . . When I go to a convention these days, I pick through the 50 cent bins and often find most of what I'm looking for. Books that are at one table for $3 can be found at another dealer's table for 50 cents. Such a thing happened to me just last month with a key issue of EXCALIBUR I was looking for. Remember those hologram covers? I think it was EXCALIBUR #70 or #71. Nice looking gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless. Pricing back issues at cover price or less is a radical idea, but I kind of like it. I didn't buy those McFarlane Spideys because I thought I could turn around and make a profit on them. I bought them because they were worth that price to me and because I was interested in them. I wouldn't have paid any price near "book" value. So I get the books I want; the seller gets the price he was asking for. Everyone's happy. And Wizard will ignore this. Why? Maybe it's because they're price guide only values the prices paid by customers who buy from people who have to pay for their storefronts and employees. That's automatically going to raise prices. My local shop bags and boards the comics, raises the price by a quarter, and lets them sit in the back issue bin for all of eternity. Is this insane? Or am I just being too radical this week? -Augie -------------------------------------------------- Augie De Blieck Jr. * augie@nic.com <*> Pipeline Commentary and Review: New Every Sunday: http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] Odds and Ends Eddie Mitchell memitch@worldnet.att.net A column of reviews and such [Eddie Mitchell lives in Louisville, KY with is partner of five years and three cats. Having read comics for most of his thirty-plus years, he believes strongly in both the medium and the message it can convey. His goal in life is to expose more sadly under-exposed comics to comics readers at large.] [We got 2 this week - maybe it was an April Fools glitch? :)- D.L. ] PART 1 I'm skipping the reviews this time to sound off about the topic that's been burning up the Internet of late. I'm speaking about The Comics Journal's "Top 100 Comics List." I go away for a week and then check back on Usenet to find tons of posts ranting about it. It seems everybody has a favorite that didn't make it and now they're all bent out of shape. The comix@ E-mail list has been having a more worthwhile discussion, looking at the narrow North American focus of the list, explaining and exploring the choices, rather than at the fact the Superman isn't on it. Even our own editor David has weighed in with a rather caustic comment or two. Now it's my turn. And I have to say that basically, I think it's a good list. It covers the entire century well, with representation from nearly every decade. It includes a wide variety of material and genres from a variety of publishers. I won't say that it's perfect, however. I do have some quibbles with it, which I will address in a moment. But they're nothing compared to the quibbles I have with many of the folks who are griping about the list all over the Internet. My primary beef is that so many of these comments and complaints came before the issue containing the list was even on the stands. People have been reacting to a press release, which just listed the names of the Top 100, with no other comments. The actual issue of TCJ (which I haven't gotten yet) contains comments about each selection, explaining to readers the importance that the selection committee found in each one. All the folks who are blathering about such and such choice and why it's on the list, would do well to pick up TCJ and find out why instead of making fools of themselves. In addition to the comments, the TCJ article also outlines the selection process and the reasons for choosing the "North American English Only" focus. Some of the people doing a lot of the griping are coming off like right wing fundamentalists who protest a movie they've never bothered to see because it's "blasphemous." I also think that there are a lot of people who have no idea exactly why lists like this are drawn up by various publications. The Comics Journal (and publications like Time and Rolling Stone, among others) are not seeking to be the final arbiter of taste and quality for comics or movies or records or whatever. Rather they are seeking to put down in some orderly fashion particular comics (movies, whatever) that they feel best meet their definitions of quality as laid out within the magazine's guidelines and policies. When it's done and printed such a list serves several functions. First it serves as a gimmick to get people to buy the magazine. Readers tend to go for these type of lists, particularly as the close of the century draws closer. TCJ would have been foolish not to do something like this. I'm willing to bet that both CBG and Wizard will soon have their own lists out as well. Second, it serves as a spark for discussion about the merits of the various works chosen and those not listed. Judging by the amount of bandwidth that's been dedicated to the Top 100, I'd say it succeeded there. Unfortunately, not all of the discussion has been productive or worthwhile. Messages that say something like "XXX is a piece of crap. Why is it there? Why isn't XXXX on instead?" are absolutely worthless in my opinion. So is name calling directed at TCJ, their review committee, and people who disagree with your own opinion. Geez folks! Grow up and start listening to what other people are saying. If you don't like a particular selection, then say why you don't like it. Be specific. Comments like "piece of crap" don't tell anybody anything. Say why you think such and such ought to be there instead. And again be specific. Then consider going out and buying the damn magazine and see why the title you don't care for was chosen! Read the comments. Think about them. See if you need to re-evaluate your opinions or take another look at the material in question with a more open mind. Then post further comments. If you aren't willing to invest more than a knee-jerk reaction into the discussion, then you shouldn't be wasting other folks' time. Third, this is the kind of article serves as a good jumping on point for folks who are looking to get into comics, but don't know where to start, as well as folks who are beyond bored with the same old same old as being continually served up by the "big 3." Aren't familiar with something? Read about it in TCJ and then go try it out. looking for something new or something different from the norm? Start here. Finally list like this outlines what The Comics Journal thinks of as the best, according to its own guidelines and standards. It's not the list I would have chosen, but I'm not TCJ. It's not the final be all and end all comment on 20th century comics. It's what one magazine (arguably the premiere magazine about comics) has to say. If you're wanting the "fanboy nostalgia" Top 100 list, wait for CBG's list. If you want the "shiny-all-fluff-and-no-substance" list which will undoubtedly name McFarlane as king of the century, wait for Wizard. They will come. In the meantime look at this list for what it is and interact with it appropriately. Before I go on, let me say that TCJ doesn't need me to defend it. I'm just a piddly ass columnist in a piddly ass online magazine. They've worked hard pulling together this list and putting this issue out and they stand by their work. The merits of the works that have been chosen is the only defense needed. I'm just sick of the drivel that's passing for commentary on Usenet. My personal reactions to the list run towards agreement for the most part. Like I said, it's not perfect. Where is Dori Seda , to name only one of several female artists not included? Work by women is greatly under represented on the list, as is work by gay creators or work with gay themes. Howard Cruse's Stuck Rubber Baby made the list, but not Dykes to Watch Out For or Desert Peach or Maurice Vellekoop. A handful of stand out young creators from the late nineties (Lutes, Abel, Tomine, Kelso) were unjustly snubbed, although this is balanced out somewhat by the inclusion of Doucet, Seth, Matt, and Sacco. They're the ones pushing and pulling the medium towards the 21st century, and should have been recognized. I also wish there was a way that artists working primarily in mini-comics could have been included, but they probably weren't prominent enough to register on the selection committee's radar screen. And where are Bushmiller's Nancy and Jack Chick? I do feel however, that absolute best of the super-heroes were chosen in the Kirby-Lee and Ditko-Lee collaborations at Marvel. Capes and tights didn't get any better. With the early Marvel and Watchmen on the list, everything that needed to be said about super-heroes was there. Though I prefer Veitch's Brat Pack to Watchmen. And while I understand the reasons for limiting the list to North American comics published in English, I also can't help but feel that the list is a little poorer for it. No Tezuka? No Miyazaki? No GARO? No Mafalda? No Asterix? No Trondheim? No Swarte? No TinTin? Sigh. Still, limits and lines have to be drawn somewhere otherwise the list would have a thousand entries or more. Everything given a spot, must of necessity mean that several other titles get passed over. And everybody will have a favorite or two that didn't make it. That's the nature of the beast. And if missing some of those familiar names means that Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary and Zippy the Pinhead get some well deserved exposure, then so be it. I wouldn't have wanted to be the one making the choices, that's for sure. Personally, rather than condemn TCJ, I applaud them for the tremendous piece of work they've pulled together. Take a bow. You all deserve it. And you definitely got it right when you named Krazy Kat number one. Comments? Drop me a line. Agree? Disagree? Keep it concise and specific. What would you have left off? What would you have included? Tell me why. What makes your favorite a Top 100 choice? I'll print the best feedback next week. [Editor's Note: Since you drop my name in there I will say I strongly disagree that 3 entries says all there is to say about super hero comics. There is no accounting for taste and so individual preferences will naturally shade their favorites for inclusion, but any list billing itself as TOP OF THE CENTURY cannot give so little recognition to the genre that has mostly popularized the medium in the last half of the century and provided some of the most recognized icons in the world - in particular Superman and Batman. Such an argument overlooks the importance those comics have had in growing and SUSTAINING the industry not to mention the dozens of truly great artists and writers who have contributed their heart and soul whose works were NOT published by FANTAGRAPHICS. This is not just limited to mainstream super hero either, as I have also noted another obvious omission, David Sim. Finally on the subject of not criticizing the list without ready the JOURNAL itself - uh, why then did TCJ release the list "by itself" a week before it hit the stands? I got a copy of it delivered to my Email but I am not allowed to speak about it without shelling out for their publication? A list is a list, is a list. If it needs explanation and defending it ain't much of a list. Feh! - D.L.] PART 2 Miscellanea, Odds, and Ends (MOE) Reviews of kick ass comics by Eddie Mitchell, MOE at large Memitch@worldnet.att.net Got lots of stuff in MOE land today. Which I want to talk about. And all of it is cool, cool, cool. A ten-plus on the MOE scale. Really. All comics are unless they are those arty black and white things that make you think or don't have fights and stuff. Which are pieces of trash. And only boring losers or mentally deranged read them anyway. Vampire Babe versus Asian Sword Girl special from Why Bother? Comics In this issue we meet Joe Moe. Who is the brother of Asian Sword Girl and is kidnapped by the bad guys. So Asian Sword Girl is pissed. Great characterization in this issue as we see how much she cares for her brother. I wanted to scream when he was killed. A pivotal moment in the story which resulted in Asian Sword Girl and Vampire Babe fighting. Which I could tell was going to happen as that was the name of the comic which is what versus means you know. And man! I love those girl-girl cat fights! Hot! Hot! Hot! A ten plus on the MOE scale. Great art with lots of those boob shots MOE loves. Plus all that emotion. I went to my comics shop today and guess what? There were lots of comics on the shelves! And then I went to the bookstore and there were all kinds of science fiction books in the science fiction section! Will wonders never ceased? And some of them were analogies! With lots of stories in them. Then I went to the video store and there were lots of horror videos in the horror section! Just amazing how much stuff there is for a MOE to look at. I would have bought or rented something, but I was too busy making my rounds to look at all the comics, books, and videos. Maybe next week. As this is the stuff that keeps MOE going. Manga Style Manga Babe from Same Old Comics. Wow! Who would have thought? Manga style black and white art versions of manga style black and white art! Manga Babe is so much more sexy in double manga black and white style. With eyes twice as big and more speed lines. She runs around and jumps and fights stuff this time. Lots of pinups and not too much dialogue. But that's okay. Since that means more black and white manga style art to look at. Ten ++ on the MOE scale. MOE likes them manga style black and white artwork babes. Stupid Teen Team from Big Old Comics. The first thing you notice about this comic is it's cover. With it's great art, as it shows that the original Stupid Teen Team is back to fight their clones for ownership of the clubhouse. The originals are pissed. But the clones have more power. It's all out action as they hit each other and throw stuff around. Plus we meet a mystery stranger. Who knows the secret of the Stupid Teens. Your going to love this one. Great art and a story that doesn't make much sense but you don't notice it because the art is so great. Another ten + on the MOE scale. The preceding has been an admittedly lame April Fool's Day parody and not meant to offend. Much. Regular Odds and Ends reviews will return next time. Happy Belated April Fool's Day! By the way, I'll send a prize to the first person who emails me this column with all the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary corrected. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [11] And let me tell you why ... David Coulter david102@netscape.net [David - who declared himself "America's Weirdly Cool Columnist" in a misguided tribute to The Firesign Theatre -- lives with his family in Kansas City and pays the bills as Marketing Director for a computer consulting group. He's heard the old saying that the best comics ever published were the ones that came out when you were ten ... and he's not buying it. He knows there are good comics out there, he can hear them breathing.] Near as I can figure, Linda Medley owes $2.56 cents. See, I bought Castle Waiting #8 last week --- and I want my money back! The books was -- without a doubt -- one of the lamest bait-and-switch tricks comics has seen since the days of Marvel's unscheduled reprints. And since I shop at one of those "if you order it, you HAVE to buy it" places... I was stuck. Hell, I couldn't even surreptitiously slip it back on the shelf, since I'm the only guy in the damn store who even buys the book! They order a single copy, and if that copy mysteriously wound up on the shelves, it wouldn't take someone -- even someone with the limited mental capacities of the cretin who runs this shop -- long to figure out where it came from. If you get the idea that I'm pissed, you're right. Mostly though, I'm just flabbergasted that someone smart enough to come up with a book as wonderful as Castle Waiting could do something this dumb. In her letter of explanation, Medley says this issue of Castle Waiting had the highest orders of any issues so far in the series. Certainly, this issue is the worst way conceivable to welcome a new fan and entice him or her to stick around for a year! It's like inviting someone to dinner and then serving them a dead bird you've picked up off the lawn. I can't even comprehend how she thought this might have been an adequate substitute for an actual issue. Did she think we'd be so excited about the Mark Crilley cover we wouldn't notice the price? (I like Mark Crilley a lot -- but not THAT much). She would have been better off to cancel the book. Now, let me be perfectly clear on one thing: Castle Waiting is a wonderful book (well, the first 7 issues and the recently re-released Curse of Brambly Hedge, anyway). Even though the book is going on hiatus, Medley will be keeping the series in print. If you haven't already, I highly recommend you buy the first seven issues -- which you can do at Linda's Website, located here: http://www.sirius.com/~medley/castle.html It really is a fine book, and one deserving of a far wider audience than it currently has (I think Medley even has an Eisner to that effect). I don't resent her putting the book on hold -- at least she was apologetic about it, instead of getting abusive like Martin Wagner -- I mean, I can totally understand having tto put aside something you love to do something you hate that pays more money. She's taken a bath for seven issues, now she needs to let some of the water out of the tub. That's fine -- I won't begrudge anyone the right to make money. What hacks me off is how she chose to make her departure, not only because I got rooked out of $2.50, but because this book is a going to seriously impair the chances that Castle Waiting will catch on next time around. Think about it. This book had the highest orders of any issue of Castle Waiting so far. It sucks, so -- at comic stores who actually ordered enough to put extra copies on the shelves -- it's going to be sitting on the shelves for a long time to come. A lot of people will hear buzz about the book, and pick this copy up, and wonder if all the people who like the book aren't nuts. Basically, Medley shouldn't have thought of this issue as the end of the current series -- but as an advertising piece for the series that's going to sit on racks in shops across the country for the next twelve months (well, the shops who actually ordered enough issues to put on the racks -- of which mine isn't one). And issue #8 isn't exactly a stellar piece of advertising. It's mostly text -- depriving us of Medley's wonderful artwork -- one of the books strongest selling points. There's a long letter from creator Linda Medley, explaining why she's putting the book on hiatus for a year, a lame rationalization of the issues contents, a preview (a text preview, of all things!) of the book she'll be doing for DC (which I won't be buying -- less out of any problem with Medley that simply because I find the Sandman corner of the DC world to be mind-numbingly dull, artistically retarded, and almost as played out and overexploited as Marvel's X-Men franchise.) The centerpiece of the book -- the only part that contains actual story and art -- is a short, roughly penciled piece of juvenilia that even Medley admits is an embarrassment! This would be like me creating a brochure for my company out of whatever miscellaneous crap I had within arm's reach on the top of my desk. I think my boss would take a dim view of that. She would have been better off to simply cancel #8, at let the wonderful reprint of The Curse Of Brambly Hedge act as her last word for the next 12 months. Yes, at $10 bucks it's a pricey package -- but it's certainly one of the nicest, most accessible stories comics stories ever published ... one that has a chance of creating a lot of new fans. But now, curious fans who want to give the series a try will have a choice between a $10 package and $3 package. THEY won't know that the $10 book is infinitely superior -- hell, they won't even know that the $3 isn't typical of the rest of the series. Why on god's green earth would anyone who's only exposure to the series is this issue want to buy the other 7? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments? Criticisms? Flames? E-mail them to DneColt@aol.com. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [12] VENTING MY SPLEEN David Groenewegen Melbourne, Australia david.groenewegen@lib.monash.edu.au [David Groenewegen is 30, a librarian and sadly addicted to comics. He has been reading them since before he could read, and plans to keep on doing so. His first trip out of the house with his infant son was to a comic shop. Can't start 'em too young. ] My, but there's been a lot of fuss about the Comics Journal list of the top 100 comics of the century. There's been a lot of idiotic complaints too ("Where are the foreign comics?", "Where's THE YELLOW KID?"), and a few justified ones (I can't believe they left out CEREBUS, and there is way too much of Los Bros Hernandez), but it has been an interesting exercise. One of the complaints I have seen around the message boards is the inclusion of both comic books and comic strips. Some people have argued that they are two fundamentally different forms, and to compare them is foolish. Others have said that they are no more different than movie serials and feature length movies. I'm inclined to agree with the latter view point, but it has provoked other thoughts in my head, namely the different standing that strips and books have outside the narrow world of comics. Go into any decent mainstream bookshop, find the Humour section (or equivalent) and you will find comics. Not comic books through, just compilations of comic strips. Usually the range is pretty limited - CALVIN & HOBBES, FAR SIDE, maybe some DOONESBURY, and of course the omnipresent DILBERT. Presumably these books sell, or bookshops wouldn't stock them. But why do only comic STRIP collections make it into the stores. Why not TPBs of comic BOOKS. I don't know if I have all the answers to this, but here's a few to try on for size. Firstly I suspect that that original place of publication has a lot to do with it. Strips appear in newspapers, hence they are more "respectable" and also more accessible. You don't need to go out of your way to get your hands on a comic strip, assuming you already buy a newspaper. So you can get a taste of the strip that might lead you to seek out more. Not so with comic books, especially in a market where such a tiny range is available outside of specialty stores. Secondly, the slightly older origin of the strips is crucial. While strips were originally a marketing device to sell papers, they evolved into an art form of their own without having to be the sole selling point of a newspaper. They got space to develop and turn into the wonderful strips of the 20s and 30s. Books started off as the bastard child of the strip (because they were originally just reprints). They never got that warm glow of credibility that the strips got in the twenties and thirties, because they weren't around, and when they did appear they weren't very good, and had to grow up in public. This is an almost sacrilegious thing to say in some circles, but the vast bulk of "Golden Age" comic books are crap. They are badly written, badly drawn and usually deadly dull. Compared to the really great strips of the same time (TERRY & THE PIRATES, WASH TUBBS & CAPTAIN EASY, LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE etc), even the best Golden Age comic books are pretty lame. OK if you were a kid, but pretty unreadable as an adult. Recently I have found myself drawn more and more to the strips of this era, over modern books and strips. The old strips have so much more depth, better delineated characters, a real ability to tell a story and maintain suspense. The Golden Age comic books I've read are horrible (as are a lot of the current books). I suspect that many adult readers who tried books and found them markedly inferior to the strips they got "for free" were turned off them for life, and helped spread the word that comic books were lousy entertainment. And of course there is the whole superhero question. There have been very, very few successful superhero strips. Books have become heavily associated with superheroes. Therefore, in the public mind, books=superheroes=not very good. Strips had a much wider range, although in the past forty years they have gradually been forced further and further into the "comedy" corner. The reasons for this are, I suspect, worthy of a column of their own. These seem to me to be the main reasons why you can buy a book of strips in a book store, but not a collection of comic books (and why enjoying reading comic strips seems to have less of a social stigma than comic books). I doubt that it is all the reasons, so if you can think of any more, let me know. David Groenewegen davidhar@lib.monash.edu.au ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [13] Multiverse Observer and Explorer Reviews Paul Dale Roberts silhouet9@aol.com [Paul promotes amateur and professional comic book artwork, scripts, storylines, and unpublished comic books with a newsletter called the Peoples' Comic Book Newsletter. Its website is at Jazma Comic Book Newsletter Productions at http://www.twmgrafix.com/jazma He is also a prominent letter hack, as anyone who reads comic letter pages would know. He is in production of his own self-published comic book called The Legendary Dark Silhouette and has copyrighted over 600 characters for his Jazma Universe.] MOE Sidenote: New at Broadway Comics & Cards are some hot indy titles like: Predator Homeworld 1 of 4 by Dark Horse Comics, DV8 #26 by Image, Aliens 3 of 4 by Dark Horse Comics, Chocolate Thunder by Gettosake Comics (an African American superhero for the Millennium), Nathan Never 1 of 6 by Dark Horse Comics and Rising Stars by Top Cow. Wilson Lew, owner of Broadway Comics & Cards keeps his racks full and carries all the mainstream titles, along with many independents that he finds in Preview Magazine. For more information you can contact Wilson at: wilsonlew@sprintmail.com MOE Sidenote: Right now at A1 Comics, hot off the press and on their racks are: Record of Lodoss War - CPM Manga, Silent Mobius (Viz Graphic Novel), Blackjacket - Two Fisted Surgeon (Viz Graphic Novel), Stray Cats #2 by L.G.X. Lillian Mousli, Eightball #20, Steve Ditko's 160 Page Package, Spice Capades, N. Kanan Lost Girl, Rayda - The Cyberian Connection 1 of 3 by AC Comics, The Saga of Rusty Plates by RA Comics, Frank Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated #5, Colonia #2 and Awkward by Ariel Schrag. For any information about these off-the-wall diverse titles, contact Brian Peets, owner of A1 Comics at: A1Comics@quiknet.com Multiverse Observer and Explorer signing off, until next time........ Name: The Skulker #2 Publisher: Thorby Comics Written by: Terrance Griep, Jr. Drawn by: Steve Kurth Price: $2.95 Comments: Paul Kurtin, former cop who is now the manager of Eden City Boy's Club, came across a hooded cloak. This cloak is occupied by the lifeforce of a wizard and gives Paul unusual powers. When wearing the hood, Paul becomes The Skulker. Last issue, there was a standard grave robbery, but something else was discovered. Skulker has found the machinations of Professor Lyttleton Blacklocke. A mad scientist determined to prove his theories on time. With that in mind, we find Eden City filled with many time anomalies. Take for instance, 17th Century pirates fighting against 18th Century whalers or past Eden City founders trying to burn Alvin the Scorcher from the present Red Devil Motorcycle Gang. You might just find a giant serpent in the city, or maybe a mad giant crane terrorizing the streets. Anything and everything can happen in Eden City as different time periods collide. This comic book is quite technical with scientific theories brought to light. Terrance really does his homework. You will learn about "Time One" which is the present. "Time Two" which is the future. "Time Three" which is the 4th dimension as presented through fictions. Here is where the future has already happened, set in stone. Canals aka time portals are opening up all around the city and the future and the past collide. One strange scene is where the KKK are causing havoc in the streets and they have no idea how they got to Eden City. They wanted to close the canals and send whatever came through the canals back to their respective time periods. But, all that went out the window, as more canals opened. A very shocking cliffhanger is set forth for the reader! Steve Kurth is a highly skilled artist with many credits under his belt. He does a superb job with the artwork. Terrance Griep, Jr., lays out a story that is exciting and thrilling from one panel to the next. You never know what will happen next! In the tradition of Siskel and Ebert. I would definitely give this comic book 2 thumbs up. A very enjoyable read. I highly recommend this comic book. I can describe it in 4 words: enchanting and thought provoking! More information contact them at: Thorby Enterprises, Inc., 16 Technology West, Suite 134, Irvine, California 92618 or their website at: www.thorby-comics.com or email at: tom@thorby.com Name: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Origin #3 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Written by: Daniel Brereton & Christopher Golden Drawn by: Joe Bennett/pencils Rick Ketcham/inks Price: $2.95 Comments: Daniel Brereton & Christopher Golden make the perfect team in producing a high quality action packed story - Buffy style! I like the way they get into Buffy's character, as the reader is able to feel her moods as things are pointed to the way she blown off her cheerleading and the dance committee. With cheerleading, what's there to cheer about. Every day Buffy faces death and it's eating at her day by day. When Buffy says "guys, it's a dance, it's a stupid dance with stupid kids, that I see every stupid day." I know exactly how she feels. I feel the same way with my own job, I see these people every day, so why should I go to the Department Saturday picnic. When the weekend hits, I don't want to see people I work with during the weekend, simple as that. I'm with you on that one Buffy. Buffy forces herself to go to the dance and her life is still in turmoil, the guy (Jeffrey) she likes is with another woman and dizzy Kim invites a whole schmoo of vampires to the dance, because their seniors! (For crying out loud, I had to laugh at Kim's stupidity). Pike had his hands full as the action began and is able to handle his own very well. He could become a full time vampire hunter and probably be pretty successful at it too, even though he's not a 'chosen one'. Jeffrey is out getting lucky and I was happy to see a vampire go through his windshield (thrown by Buffy). Buffy is able to handle situations like this easily. She has a hard exterior, but a soft interior. I felt sorry for Andy, he was doing the best he could and gets bitten. The cover up blew me away on how they called the vampires...."crack-crazed gunmen". Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Origin #3 was done with perfection!! Tonight, I was in a horrific mood and rented out 2 videos: Dee Snider's Strangeland & Black Circle Boys and topped off this horror with the most excellent desert and that was with Buffy! Name: Spirit of the Tao #8 Publisher: Top Cow Written by: D-Tron Drawn by: Billy Tan/pencils Team-Tron - D-Tron - Jeff DeLos Santos - Andy Kim/inks Price: $2.50 Comments: Holy Smackaroo!! I was completely blown away with the artwork in Spirit of the Tao #8!! Every page was a masterpiece. I almost flipped seeing the nature scenes....absolutely gorgeous, the colors, the details, the perfection of every drawing! Wow! Even the deforestation looked great! Let me calm down a bit and talk about the story. The story is brilliantly done as cries for Master Lang gets the story started and then seeing Cyrus being sacrificed by the evil Menicus. Menicus has become a potentially dangerous threat and now he leads the Jaikap warriors. I couldn't believe what he did to the grandmaster. Horrifying beheading and his callousness was even more terrifying. He cares about nothing as he is determined to be the Tao. When I saw Betsy's parents killed and then little Betsy, I was practically shaking like a leaf. I was much relieved to see it was only a nightmare. But, could something like this really happen? Is this the future? If it is, humanity is on the threshold of total chaos and disorder, that can only lead to annihilation! Breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking, I am more than anxious for the next issue! Name: Chocolate Thunder #1 Publisher: Gettosake Comics Written by: Jeremy Love Drawn by: Jeremy Love/pencils Robert Love/inks Price: $2.95 Comments: Things get started early in this action laced, dramatic comic book. Right from the beginning page, Harlem Jones of the Brick City PD has his gun drawn and ready for anything! Brick City has a very high crime rate and kids become very influenced by the mean streets of Brick City. Positive points are shown throughout the story too, like when Kevin shows his pops his certificate of appreciation for being top of his class. The negative aspects of this city is also show as kids are tempted to make an easy fifty bucks to transport illegal contraband. Very sad part of this story is a woman who is loved by her community, named Briana is shot for nothing. She stepped into the crossfires and killed instantly. Brick City needs a change, they have hope and hope has a symbol. That symbol is the superhero known as Chocolate Thunder! If you like stories about the inner city life, the people who live day by day on the mean streets and salvation through a superhero, then this is the comic book for you! Very enjoyable read. For more information contact the publishers at: Gettsake@aol.com or check out their website at: http://gettosake.hypermart.net Name: Threshold #12 Publisher: Avatar Written by: See Under Comments. Drawn by: See Under Comments. Price: $4.95 Comments: 4 big stories in one big comic book! The stories are: 1. Pandora / Written by William A. Christensen and Mark Seifert / Art by Rick Lyon. 2. Midnight Doyle / Written and Drawn by: Brian LeBlanc. 3. Snowman / Written and Drawn by: Matt Martin. Tantrum / Written and Drawn by: Jeff Rebner. I can sit here and talk about all 4 stories, but since time is pressing, I will only talk about two of them. I will tell you this; each story is high entertainment. Mature themes, so this comic book is NOT for the kiddies. First story I will briefly talk about is called "Midnight Doyle". There is a very evil entity in this story called Anazul of the Arkani. Anazul was created by long forgotten aliens and he has a vendetta to carry out and that is to take out Midnight Doyle. Why? He blames Doyle for killing his brother Kiku. Anazul and his demonic horde surround Doyle and Julie and what they do to Julie are just too sinful to talk about. They always say that red heads have a hot temper and wait until you see the femme fatale with the red main and big guns, who saves Doyle and Julie, just in the nick of time! But are they really safe? Charged up story that will have you gripping to the ceiling! Ahh, now let's talk about the beautiful Pandora! Mystery upon mystery upon mystery in this exciting tale, as the reader is left wondering about the "Gatekeeper Talisman". The mysterious Gatekeeper Talisman causes Pandora to be transported to face the evil Infinite Ones or does it? What horrible plot are Triarch and Rhapsody behind in sealing the fate of Pandora? How will Pandora get out of this mess? William who is also the editor of Threshold, is the writer of Pandora. He loves to keep the readers guessing. This story will make your hair stand on end as Pandora faces an uncertain future! Great reading! MOE Sidenote: New at Broadway Comics & Cards: James Kitchen - There's a Madman in my Mirror, Gifts of the Night 4 of 4 by Vertigo, World Below #1 by Dark Horse Comics, Dark Ones by Sirius, Aria - Blanc & Noir #1 by Avalon Studios, Raw Media #3 by Avatar. For more information on these comic books, you can contact Wilson Lew at: wilsonlew@sprintmail.com Also, be on the lookout for these action packed hero oriented movies: The Black Mask and The Matrix! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [14] My View David LeBlanc ComicBkNet@aol.com [David LeBlanc is the Editor of the Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine. He is a long time fan of comics and the electronic media - having been the moderator of the comics forums on WME, FIDONET and the Comic Book Network. He and his wife are attempting to raise two teenage sons in a suburb of Worcester, Massachusetts. David supports his comic book habit by working as the Manager of Marketing and Sales for a privately owned manufacturer of electro-mechanical components.] ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE: LIVE FROM THE MOON #1 24 pages, black & white, color cover, $2.95/$4.50, monthly Gun Dog Comics PO Box 80133 Starkville, MS 39759 http://www.astronautsintrouble.com planetlar@earthlink.net Larry Young - Writer/Creator/Letterer Matt Smith & Brian Wood - Art Matt Hollingsworth - Cover Color If you like science fiction but without the spandex then this is the comic you should read next. The premise is simple enough - a "very" rich industrialist, Ishmael Hayes, has decided to make it his personal quest to bring man back to the moon. It is late in the second decade of the new century and Mr. Hayes has enough money to finance his own space vehicle. Furthermore he has summoned the crack reporting team from Atlanta's Channel 7 "because he likes them" to accompany him on the trip! The gang of course is ready to jump at the chance since this will surely be the story of the century. But there is an organization of environmental radicals called Greensleeves who are determined to bring down the Hayescorp moonship and the company itself. As Heck, Sparky & Dave are live on the air interviewing Mr. Hayes there is a security breach and explosion in the hangar bay. The action moves rapidly forward as a major threat is issued not only to the company and its owner but also to all workers and animals nearby. A quick decision is made and..well, the title of the comic would indicate whether things will blow up or not. This is only part of the story. There is a short lead in that gets us familiar with the news team, the central characters to the story. The pace is deliberate so as to build on the idea being presented and to give some depth to the characters. It ends up a bit short perhaps, but not so that you can't imagine where things will pick up next time. The back up story is done in rhyme and involves two characters and features the art of Brian Wood. Next issue Steve Weissman does the back up. Matt Smith, the main artist, has a pleasant style that works well in black & white. He uses very little linework and yet creates distinct characters that are dynamic and show the range of emotions as required. Matt has a good grasp of using black & white art in its simple form to create action with contrasts and shadow. He constantly changes the perspective and mixes the layout, which serves to keep the reader interested and following the flow. This book is a good example of how story and art should mix. Neither overpowers the other and both compliment the other nicely. The story reminded me of the style in science fiction writing I remember from my youth - the sci-fi was the backdrop to the real story which is about human beings their passions and emotions. This looks like a promising series and is well worth the cover price if you want to judge for yourself