------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE - ISSUE NUMBER 62 ________________________________________________________________________ World Wide Web Page------>> http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet ------------------------------------------------------------------------ o \o/ _ o _| \ / |_ o_ \o/ o /|\ | /\ _\o \o | o/ O/_ /\ | /|\ / \ / \ |\ /) | ( \ /o\ / ) | (\ / | / \ / \ This publication is brought to you by the members of the premiere BBS network for the discussion of comics books and the people who create them, The ComicBook Network!!! Edited by: David LeBlanc [ComicBkNet@aol.com] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The ComicBook Network was founded by Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you wish to receive these issues automatically through your E-mail account, please address a message to ComicBkNet@aol.com to be placed on the subscription list. ________________________________________________________________________ T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1] On the Net ............................ David LeBlanc [2] Letters to the Editor ................. Your Page! TRIVIA CONTEST......................... Guesses & Answers [3] CBN Insider ........................... News, gossip, & rumors [4] INTERVIEW: Phil Foglio ................ Keith O'Brien [5] Suspended Animation ................... Michael Vance [6] Harvey Nominations .................... The Comics Journal [7] George Perez Sketches Again! .......... Roland Mann [8] New Comics Shipping 6/12/96 ........... Bobb Waller [A] How to join ComicBook Network.......... BBS 101 [B] BBSes Linked into CBN.................. CBN node list [C] E-Mag Info: Submissions, Subscriptions, Back Issues, Copyrights ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1] On the Net by David LeBlanc No editorial this week. I'm flat out. David LeBlanc [ComicBkNet@aol.com] Editor The Comic Book Net E-Mag ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [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, complete with the sender's Email address may be used in future issues of the CBN E-Mag unless you specifically request us NOT to use them. Email address will be withheld upon request. +++++ Date: 02 Jun 96 02:46:07 EDT From: Roland Mann <72623.776@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: CBEM #61 David, Thanks for the most recent (and early!) issue. It was good to see the old review of SLUDGE #1. Ultimately, SLUDGE was my favorite UV title. You can imagine I was pretty excited when the book was transferred to me as editor. Gerber is definitely one of the most talented writers around. You can also imagine my disappointment when the title was cancelled. This review was also good to read in another way: it reminded me that the UV really DID have a lot of good things going for it...initially. It's a shame that--those who make the comic decisions--couldn't come up with anything better to do than what was done, and what ultimately led to the cancellation of the entire UV line (okay, so TECHNICALLY it is still around--but does anybody really care?) Keep up the good work! Roland Mann [I really liked the Ultraverse at the start. I had read a few things by Robinson and really was jazzed by Firearm. Like wise Mr. Hudnall's writing is always entertaining and of course Sludge was right up there as one of Gerber's finer efforts. And to answer the rhetorical question, not many care any more.] +++++ From: GSassaman@aol.com Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 18:35:05 -0400 Subject: Re: CBEM #61 Hey...thanks for the re-mention in the latest CBEM. I appreciate it. To update you...IB2 is doing poorly...at Diamond it was dead on arrival, with orders of 90, down from 625 for the 1st issue...But at Capital, it was up 33%, undoubtedly due to the great space and CERTIFIED COOL they gave me in Advance Comics. I got a great review in CBG PRICE GUIDE, a few issues back...and Ward Batty tells me I'm in CSN 469 coming up in 2 weeks, so the recognition is definitely there... Plans for #3 proceed, also starting up a newsletter called FIB (Friends of Innocent Bystander)...available from me for a 32 cent stamp. Thanks again for all your help. -Gary. [our pleasure, and I have an extra copy of IB #2 ready to give away as a prize when the right time comes] +++++ From: nexus1@soho.ios.com Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1996 16:43:57 -0400 Subject: Torre's "Reviews" Memo to J. Torres: "reviews" are not simply lengthy regurgitations of a book's story. Sometimes they even offer OPINIONS on the books content! =:-0 {to which Mr. Torres replies} Date: 96-06-02 23:45:57 EDT From: jtorres@CAM.ORG (J.Torres) To: nexus1@soho.ios.com On Sun, 2 Jun 1996, you wrote: > >Memo to J. Torres: "reviews" are not simply lengthy regurgitations of a > >book's story. Sometimes they even offer OPINIONS on the books content! Yeah, I kinda got carried away with that Kingdom Come summary. But I did say that I liked it and that it was a "must for DCU fans". Don't know if you've read my other reviews but I tried something a little different with the Kingdom Come piece; admittedly it's not the usual route I take in my column. My SiP review was more of the standard - much more "opinionated", you must admit... J. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [+] j.torres [^] ** THE COPYBOOK TALES #1 from Slave Labor ** [!] jtorres@cam.org [=] ** is now being solicited in this month's ** [x] montreal, quebec [$] ** PREVIEWS and ADVANCE COMICS catalogs!! ** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- +++++ [TRIVIA CONTEST] LAST WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: What was the significance of the Comedian's badge in Watchmen? Only one response: Subj: Trivia Date: 96-06-01 08:31:08 EDT From: EmilioTorr Answer: It has significance in many levels. It is the first thing we see at the beginning of the series. It is right there on the first panel which is also the cover of issue #1. The badge was the first clue that helped Rorschach in finding out that Edward Blake and the Comedian were one and the same. This "smiley face" badge stained with a drop of blood in the form of an arrow (making you think of watches) eventually became the symbol of the whole series. [You are close, but the significance is the symbol of the watch. It's a reference to the doomsday clock on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. They have a clock on their cover to represent how close we are to nuclear war. The minute hand was about where the bloodstain on the Watchmen smiley face is, though since then with the end of the Cold War they had to move it back.] Since last week's winner, Mark, gave us the question HE wins the Cheezy Prize (t.m.) for a record 3rd time! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: Who is Magnus, The Robot Fighter's father? 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! Please be sporting and send only one guess at a time. LIMIT: ONE PRIZE PER MONTH PER PERSON! Submit your own trivia and win the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm) if you stump the subscribers! You MUST submit the correct answer with the question. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3] CBN Insider - News, gossip and rumors from around the industry Never one to keep a story from reaching the masses, Jim (Master of Comics) Murdoch passed this on to me Thursday: TOP COW LEAVES IMAGE! As of this week, Marc Silvestri's Top Cow Studios is no longer a part of Image Comics. No specific details yet, but unconfirmed rumors indicate the Lee/Liefeld/Marvel deal as the main reason. Expect a press release from Top Cow or Image Monday at the latest. Jim, Master of Comics smiv@primenet.com +++++ I missed this message last week, but CBG reported it and so it is news to many. From Sr. Editor Stuart Moore at DC: Just a quick informational note that DC's new science fiction line has a new name: HELIX. The change is due to a prior claim on the name Matrix that we weren't aware of. This will not affect the content or the scheduling of any of the books (though it did take a week out of my life :). The e-mail address for comments on HELIX remains DCOMAMAIL@aol.com (as announced in PREVIEWS) for the time being; in mid-June it will change to reflect the new imprint name. I'll let everyone know when the address changes. --Stuart Moore Senior Editor, Helix/Vertigo +++++ More from Fabian Nicieza about the upcoming changes at VALIANT: Speculate away as to which of the 8 MONTHLY titles in the VALIANT HEROES line will be revamps and which will be brand new titles. That was the point of dropping the hints. ;-) But also take into account that there will be 2 on-going Quarterly titles (sort of monthly titles in-waiting) and One Quarterly "Special Event" (in lieu of forced multi-title crossover nauseum). This "Event" will always be a fun, big book about IMPORTANT things, that has sub-plots from the 8 monthlies feeding into it and sub-plots feeding back out (and yes, the first one will be called MAN OF THE ATOM, but it's not about Solar. Or it is. Depending on your point of view. It's about Life, History and God.). Regarding the VALIANT HEROES relaunch, we've come up with the catch phrase "Same As It Never Was" and I've compared my plans with the way I imagine Julie Schwartz had to approach his superhero titles in the 1950's at DC (in baseball terms, that hint is a bunt down the third base line). Also needed for our Valiant Heroes, Crime Fiction, Science Fiction and other genre-specific lines, since we'll live or die in the Direct Market, many of our other publishing plans are intended for the booksellers and/or custom sales to outreach to non-traditional comic readers. Our Young Reader line, Classics Illustrated Study Guides and Television Nostalgia Hardcovers are intended to use comics AS publishing instead of just publishing comics. Is that too nebulous? Oh well, I know what I mean, at least! If the Direct Market shows interest in this material, so much the better for the state of our industry, much less Acclaim Publishing. [BTW - Mark Waid said on an AOL chat that he will be doing the re-launch of X-O Man-O-War. D.L.] +++++ There has been a lawsuit filed by the Blues singers Johnny and Edgar Winters against DC, Time Warner and creative personnel Joe Lansdale, Tim Truman, and Sam Glanzman alleging defamation, invasion of privacy and emotional distress. By the clause in the work for hire contracts, Truman and Lansdale said they could be left to pay a settlement if DC does not defend the suit. This was filed back in March in Los Angeles over the 5 part Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such. The Winters claim it is a malicious and defamatory portrayal of the brothers, misappropriates their likeness and shows them in a false light. The characters in the series are a pair of half-human, half-worm characters called Johnny and Edgar Autumn. +++++ This week in the AOL Superman Chat Hour, Patricia Mulvihill mentioned that the title of DC's September event, previously DARKEST NIGHT, has been changed to THE FINAL NIGHT. Ms. Mulvihill is the colorist for the four-part miniseries in which Earth's heroes try to salvage the dying Sun. She mentioned something about confusion over the title DARKEST NIGHT with the tenth anniversary of Frank Miller's DARK KNIGHT. [And while we are on the subject, my speculation on how Hal will figure into the story, making the ultimate sacrifice, has been the buzz on CI$ this week from some pretty reliable people. I was only guessing, honest. Just hope they don't change it now, ala Armageddon/Capt. Atom] +++++ MIKE DIANA'S CONVICTION UPHELD FLORIDA ARTIST, MIKE DIANA FOUND GUILTY ON TWO COUNTS OF OBSCENITY For Immediate Release Tuesday, June 04, 1996 Contact: Carmi or Shane, MICHAEL HUNT PUBLICATIONS Phone: 708-539-6660/708-894-5119 [Largo, FL] - A ruling issued on Friday by Circuit Judge Douglas Baird has declared Mike Diana's zine's, BOILED ANGEL #7 and #ATE as obscene. The judge emphasized throughout Mike's ruling that he personally found Diana's comics "patently offensive." Referring to Diana as "the appellant," and stated, "The evident goal of the appellant's publication is to portray shocking and graphic pictures of sexual conduct so it will be noticed. If the message is about victimization and that horrible things are happening in our society, as the appellant alleges, the appellant SHOULD HAVE created a vehicle to send his message that was not obscene." "I find it disappointing and I'm disgusted with Florida. I'll keep fighting for the first amendment." stated Mike Diana who is currently in New York City on a a book tour promoting WORST OF BOIL from Mike Diana's publisher, Michael Hunt Publications this week. The book is a collection of "the best" of BOILED ANGEL #1 through #ATE. Diana's publisher has also been compiling an Anthology book in Mike's name with some of the biggest names in the art world to assist with the expense of court costs. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) has estimated that over $56,000 has been spent on Mike's case to date. "It's futile that Mike's case is appealed to the State court as the State of Florida's history of overturning is nil." stated Susan Alston from the CBLDF. To obtain additional information on Mike Diana or his books and comix, contact Michael Hunt Publications @ 708-539-6660/708-894-5119 or 360-23 W Schick Road, Suite 116, Bloomingdale, IL 60108. If you're an artist who is interested in submitting YOUR interpretation of Mike's case, renditions of his artwork, or censorship topic for Mike's Anthology, please send submissions by October 1, 1996. Michael Hunt Publications 360-23 W Schick Road Suite 116 Bloomingdale IL 60108 +++++ Mark Waid talked about Flash and Kingdom Come this week on an AOL chat. Here are some notes (AND SPOILERS!): John Fox (the Flash from the future) will not be another Professor Zoom gag character, next issue reveals more...he and Alex Ross both hate Lobo, see him in kingdom Come #2...Superman and Magog are not related at all...Captain Marvel is the most pivotal character in the entire story, the fulcrum upon which it all rests... Bruce Wayne meets with a bald genius in #2...Mark and Brian Augustyn are working on the relaunch of X-O for ACCLAIM...Lois Lane did not appear in #1..the black kid with lightning eyes is not Black Lightning but Johnny Thunder and the yellow lightning girl is his Thunderbolt...the trading cards will have a full character ID set...Steel appears on Batman's side... Green Lantern and Flash are purposely left vague as to their identity but Oliver Queen will show up, though NOT as Green Arrow...no Booster Gold or Skeets, no Fury, Azreal, or Artemus, no Neron...the LSH we saw may not even have been on Earth...the jester girl on the cover of #1 is Joker's daughter, the one to the right of Magog is Huntress and that is a new Catwoman at Spectre's feet. +++++ From the CSNsider in this week's Comic Shop News #468, lots of stuff we already told you about, plus . . . Fantagraphics will be printing a 144 page volume of highlights of the first ten years of FELIX THE CAT by Otto Messmer. It will include over 100 pages of never before reprinted color strips from the Sunday funnies from 1923-32. . . There will be variant, "virgin" (no print, no logo) covers issued for the Elementals: How the War Was Won #1, The Vampire's Revenge #1, and the Swimsuit Spectacular 1996 from Comico. . . Don Simpson's "Megaton Man", will appear in four page installments in Asylum beginning with issue #7. . . DEMONGATE will now become an ongoing series from Sirius due to overwhelming response. . . WARCAT, originally from Alliance Comics in 1994, will continue in August from Coconut Comics. . . There will be a major feature in New Yorker Magazine on Marvel. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [4] Interview with Phil Foglio by Keith O'Brien {Keith O'Brien (The Keith) is the publisher of Zine called Kluttered Visions, distributed in the Phoenix area. It explores the world of visual fringe pop culture thus dealing with visual medium like comics, cards, films (but not just audio, like music recordings) in the fringe i.e. not mainstream, and pop which means this stuff is available in quantities for people to own. (Videos, laser disks, comics, cards, etc). It is digest sized and packed with reviews, interviews, and information about all this stuff and is supported by paid advertising. If you have a product that falls into this category, we urge you to support his effort to promote it with a reasonably priced advertisement in his publication. He can be reached at: gerbil@aztec.asu.edu} Keith O'Brien: We're interviewing Phil Foglio, famous for many things such as BUCK GODOT and XXXENOPHILE. Any other humor projects on the horizon? Phil Foglio: No, that's pretty much it for the moment. I do have another project for when I finish this run on BUCK GODOT, but can't talk about it yet. But there is something out there, just to be annoyingly tantalizing. K: Oh, tantalize us some more. P: I can't really talk about it. K: You've been doing humorous cartoons for quite a long time. P: Yes, about 15 years. Maybe even longer if you count the single illustration stuff. K: Where were you first published? P: Well, let's see, first published? I was a very active member of science fiction fandom and I contributed to a lot of science fiction fanzines. I mean hundreds of them. And I won the Hugo award for best fan artist in '77 and '78 so I guess you could say, first ones? Around '73? No, '74. K: You were in high school then? P: No, just graduated from college. K: P: Excuse me, yeah, just graduated from high school. I was in college. K: I was going to say you're not that old. P: No, not quite that old. K: What kind of training do you have in art and/or storytelling? P: Well, storytelling, really the only training you can have is to just sit around and write or draw stories and just keep doing it, doing it, doing it 'til you get better at it. K: You mentioned at least once before about "taking the rules of comedy and plugging them in." That indicates that there are some rules. P: Oh man! I always knew somebody was going to call me on that. Yeah, there are, but to try and elucidate them would be pretty tough. It's an instinctive thing, at least for me. I mean I just know: this is funny, this isn't, this is lame, this is funny, whatever. The drawing. I attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts which went out of business the year I graduated. Although I swear I had nothing to do with that. K: You kept them alive. P: That was pretty much the only training I had except for the training most natural cartoonists and artists have, which is: their idea of fun is to sit down and just draw for six hours a day, everyday, their entire lives. K: And this is your idea of fun? P: Well, yeah. Isn't it everybody's? K: What about your wife's? P: Well, she doesn't do as much, but she's so good she doesn't have to. The way I look at it is she doesn't really have time to just sit around. She did do that kind of drawing when she was in high school. When she graduated from college, which was from the University of Washington, which possibly has the worst art department on the face of the earth. They have a fine arts department as opposed to a commercial art department. Big huge difference. In a fine art department they teach you how to paint cinder blocks orange, put them in a public place, and not be embarrassed that you're doing this. So, once she graduated from that she started doing commercial illustration and displaying at science fiction conventions, which is where the people from WIZARDS OF THE COAST, who put out the MAGIC card game, saw her work. And so she's been working steadily pretty much for them ever since then and doing well enough that she doesn't really have to work excessively hard. Which drives all of our other artist friends crazy. K: But not you? P: Well, no. I'm thrilled to death. My ultimate dream is that she do all the work and let me retire and work in the garden. K: What humorous books out there do you enjoy? P: Books? You mean comics? K: Comics. P: Okay... let's see, BONE, of course. LARRY MARDER'S TALES FROM THE BEAN WORLD, great stuff. Gosh... MICHAEL GILBERT'S MR. MONSTER. WOLFF & BYRD, COUNSELORS OF THE MACABRE. I'm sure there are one or two others, but that's pretty much it. K: What comics in the general pool of comics do you enjoy? P: None! Sorry, I just don't. The only mainstream comic I read and buy is... K: I didn't say mainstream. P: Oh. Fair enough. K: I meant the whole general pool of comics. P: Well, let's see, SANDMAN. I like that. K: That's the only... P: That's the only mainstream comic I buy. Aside from that, comics is a vast wasteland and I'm sick to death of it, doo dah. K: So you like SANDMAN, a handful of humor titles, and that's it. P: Yeah, pretty much. I'm sure, I'm sure there are a number of fine books that I am just completely spacing at the moment, but I just can't think of any at the moment. Scott McCloud hasn't done anything in ages and a lot of the people who's work I really like, I just don't know what they're doing these days. Charlie Wise is working for me. He's doing UTOPIA UNLIMITED. He also does BLUE MOON for MU PRESS. It's a fine book. Colin Upton is working for me. He's doing INCUBUS. He's also doing a new series, again for MU PRESS, called BUDDHA ON THE ROAD, which I haven't seen yet. A lot of the people who I really like are either making a decent living working for the majors or they're working for me in one capacity or another. It's hard to say what else is going on. I don't really follow comics 'cause there's just so much crap it drives me crazy. K: But that's true in everything. P: That's right. K: What would you like to see happening with comics? What do you think could be done that would make you more interested in it? P: Oh gosh, well... better stories, better art. That is such an open question that it's really, I mean there are a lot of interesting things that the medium could do but just doesn't. To publish a comic requires so many things that it's understandable why creators, as a class, are pretty useless at a lot of them. It just doesn't happen. To publish an independent comic book you need somebody who's got money. It's not cheap. It'll cost you a couple thousand dollars. Hell, thousand dollars? That buys a lot of ramen. Most independent comic creators got their priorities straight. You need somebody who can not only tell a good story and do good art, or you need a good artist and a good writer who can work together consistently over a long period of time without breaking each other's heads in with monkey wrenches. You need someone who understands how to market a book, how to sell a book, how to deal with distributors, how to promote and advertise, and where do you store the excess issues? Do you print excess issues? Have you ever done a press check? Do you know what one is? Where do you get your books color sepped? There's a tremendous amount of technical and business work that needs to be done to put out a good independent comic book. Finding people who can do everything and still do a good book are just incredibly small. How to make it easier? Gee, I don't know. That's why I started my own company. And even there are several areas I think I fall down on. But at least I got nobody to blame but me. K: Slightly outside of alternative press, you've done a number of things for DC COMICS. I know you've put in a few proposals that I haven't seen anything about. Anything brewing there? P: No, not really. DC COMICS? Gosh, it was an interesting experience and they paid on time, but I probably won't do anything more for them. K: Not even SUGAR & SPIKE? P: Nope. Probably not even. K: But you so like Bernie the Brain. P: I do indeed. The problem is I would put as much work into an INFERIOR 5 book, say, as I would into an issue of BUCK GODOT, or else why bother? But I'd have no control over my inker, I'd have no control over my letterer, I would have no control over my colorist. With STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER they edited out some of my best jokes, I got no advertising support, trying to work with the established DC characters was just a pain in the butt, and at the end of all this blood, sweat, and tears- you know I created a couple of characters for the STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER series, Ambrose Bierce and Nyx, and, well, they're DC's now. I don't own them. I don't have the trademarks or copyrights or anything. All I got was a "Hey! Thanks very much." And, quite honestly, I didn't even really get that. Plus, on the money side, quite honestly I made as much from an issue of STANLEY as I made from an issue of BUCK GODOT. I mean, sure, it sold like ten times as much, but I own PALLIARD PRESS, which puts out BUCK GODOT, so I get all the money and, here's the thing, I'm not supporting three f*@#ing office floors full of lawyers and guys who make coffee. K: And on that cheerful note... P: Yes? K: Thank you very much for your time. P: Hey! Sure, no problem. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [5] SUSPENDED ANIMATION by Michael Vance A Golden Age Comics writer quipped that comic books aren't so much written as typed. But times have changed. Today, most comics aren't so much written as computed...except for STARMAN. But isn't this just _another_ re-working of an old 1940s superhero? moan adult readers. No, this one is actually written. Yes, all of the comics touchstones disdained by adults - silly, alliterative names and spandex costumes, bloody noses and clinched fists in the battle of Good against Evil - are here, but not as the focus of STARMAN. Characterization is the star of this title, and that means real, complicated people talking about real situations in real language. Superhero trappings are barely a backdrop. As example, Starman's clumsy attempts at impressing babes with his superhero status are met with disdain. Imagine yourself being introduced to a woman at a party as Dr. Surgery or Captain Accountant. The reactions you'd get are gotten by Starman. Fantasy is a major element in this series, but solid, realistic dialog and characterization suspends much disbelief and breathes new life into the exhausted superhero genre. Writer James Robinson deserves four stars, man. It's a shame the art needs a breath freshener. Raves over it's writing crumble into rumblings of discontent over it's art. Although the pseudo-realistic style is right for the series, STARMAN is artistically weak - anatomy and foreshortening are inconsistent (it's not nice to fool mother nature), and STARMAN looks too much like forty other titles. Because of average art, you'll give STARMAN two instead of three stars, man, and two out of four isn't bad. (Mr. Vance is a professional writer having written for numerous magazines like CBG, Starlog and Comics Interview. His work has appeared in over 500 newspapers and he's had work published by Comico, Renegade, Innovation and Rip Off Press. SUSPENDED ANIMATION appears in 14 publications reaching 214,000 readers in the U.S., Ireland and Portugal.) ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [6] Harvey Awards '96 Nominations Announced By Greg Stump This information is from the Comics Journal Home Page: http://www.halcyon.com/fgraphic/home.html Fantagraphics, Dark Horse, Image, Kitchen Sink, and DC dominate this year's nominations for the Harvey Awards. Astro City and Bone helped put Image in the running with multiple nominations. Charles Burns' Black Hole from Kitchen Sink also joined the list of multiple nominees this year with Marvel receiving a lone nomination for Akira. Ballots will be mailed out to over 2,000 cartoonists and publishers worldwide at the end of May. (Cartoonists who are not on the mailing list, or who have moved in the last year, can call 214-739-5123 to receive a ballot.) The winners (including the latest two inductees to the Jack Kirby hall of fame) will be announced at the Dallas Fantasy Fair on Saturday, July 27th, at a ceremony attended by the nominees. BEST WRITER: Kurt Busiek for Kurt Busiek's Astro City; Dan Clowes for Eightball; Garth Ennis for Preacher; Neil Gaiman for Sandman; Alan Moore for From Hell. BEST ARTIST: Charles Burns for Black Hole; Mike Mignola for Hellboy; Frank Miller for Sin City; Bill Sienkiewicz for Voodoo Child; Chris Ware for ACME Novelty Library. BEST CARTOONIST: Charles Burns for Black Hole; Dan Clowes for Eightball; Frank Miller for Sin City; Jeff Smith for Bone; Chris Ware for ACME Novelty Library. SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR: Doug Allen, Peter Bagge, Dan Clowes, Evan Dorkin, Jeff Smith. BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES: ACME Novelty Library (Fantagraphics); Bone (Cartoon Books/Image); Eightball (Fantagraphics); From Hell (Kitchen Sink); Sin City (Dark Horse); Stray Bullets (El Capitan). BEST INKER: Gerhard for Cerebus; Kevin Nowlan for Superman Vs. Aliens; Jimmy Palmiotti for Ash; Wade Van Grawbadger for Starman; Jim Woodring for JIM. BEST COVER ARTIST [new category]: Dan Clowes for Eightball #16; Tony Harris for Starman #10; Adam Hughes for Ghost #1; Dave McKean for Sandman #71; Alex Ross for Astro City #1. BEST LETTERER: Dan Clowes for Eightball; Todd Klein for Sandman; Tom Orzechowski for Spawn; Dave Sim for Cerebus; Richard Starkings and ComiCraft for Kurt Busiek's Astro City; Chris Ware for ACME Novelty Library. BEST COLORIST: Laura Allred for Madman; Mark Chiarello for Vigilante; Matthew Hollingsworth for Grendel Tales; Angus McKie for Martha Washington; Chris Ware for ACME Novelty Library. BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY: Kurt Busiek's Astro City #1 (Image); Blab! #8 (Kitchen Sink); Black Hole #1 (Kitchen Sink); Eightball #15 (Fantagraphics); Sandman #69 (DC Comics/Vertigo); Self-Loathing #1 BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT: Alley Oop Vol. 3 (Kitchen Sink); Complete Crumb Vol. 11 (Fantagraphics); Li'l Abner (Kitchen Sink); Pogo (Fantagraphics Books); The Yellow Kid (Kitchen Sink). BEST NEW SERIES: Kurt Busiek's Astro City (Image); Black Hole (Kitchen Sink); Optic Nerve (Drawn & Quarterly); Preacher (DC Comics/Vertigo); Stray Bullets (El Capitan). BEST AMERICAN EDITION OF FOREIGN MATERIAL: Akira (Marvel/Epic); Button Man: The Killing Game (Kitchen Sink); Ghost in the Shell (Dark Horse); Heavy Metal (Heavy Metal); Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Viz). BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM OF ORIGINAL MATERIAL: Confession of a Cereal Eater (NBM); Dropsie Avenue: The Neighborhood (Kitchen Sink); Jar of Fools Vol. 2 (BlackEye); Stuck Rubber Baby (DC Comics/Paradox Press); Voodoo Child (Kitchen Sink). BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM OF PREVIOUSLY RELEASED MATERIAL: Best of Negative Burn (Caliber); Hellboy: The Wolves of St. August (Dark Horse); Madman Adventures Collection (Dark Horse); Pussey! (Fantagraphics); Tales of One Bad Rat (Dark Horse). BEST ANTHOLOGY: Blab! (Kitchen Sink); Dark Horse Presents (Dark Horse); Drawn and Quarterly (Drawn and Quarterly); Negative Burn (Caliber); Zero Zero (Fantagraphics). SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION: ACME Novelty Library (Fantagraphics); Blab! #8 (Kitchen Sink); Jar of Fools Vol. 2 (BlackEye); Narrative Corpse (RAW Books/Gates of Heck); The Yellow Kid (Kitchen Sink) BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION (BOOK, PERIODICAL, FILM, OR VIDEO) CONTRIBUTING TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF COMICS AS AN ARTFORM: Comics Buyer's Guide (Krause Publications); The Comics Journal (Fantagraphics); Comic Strip Century (Kitchen Sink); Crumb (feature-length motion picture documentary); The Yellow Kid (Kitchen Sink). BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL: Calvin and Hobbes; Dilbert; For Better Or For Worse; Underworld; Zippy the Pinhead. BEST NEW TALENT: Ivan Brunetti; Zander Cannon; Joe Chiappetta; David Mack; Adrian Tomine. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [7] Perez is sketching again... from Roland Mann David, I didn't know if this was something you'd be interested in or not...so I sent it anyway. Roland ----------- [Thanks Roland, I am sure some folks will check it out.] from George Perez: ------------------------------ Hi again all. Well, seeing how my "crass commercialism" in plugging my PEREZ OBSCURA book (copies still available BTW) I've decided to plug yet another project through which I hope to build a financial nest egg from which to hatch my CRIMSON PLAGUE series. The newest project is: CONVENTION SKETCHES BY MAIL! Yep, m'friends, you read that right. I've not done convention sketches in almost a decade (except for a few months three years ago for charity) and I figured that might be a good way to get some green for CRIMSON. Now the sketches would be black and white, pen and ink, and the character would be of the buyer's choosing. There will be two types offered: PORTRAIT: Head and shoulders (with occasional chest insignias) for $25 FULL FIGURE: Any position, minus backgrounds (unless I decide it's necessary, like a moon, shadow, or outer space) for $100 Now I've deliberately charged a high price for the full-figures because, quite honestly, I'm trying to discourage orders for them. They take much longer and with characters like Cyborg or Galactus being particularly time-consuming. Characters like the Silver Surfer balance things a bit though, although there is that board. Some ground rules however: All pictures will be done on 8.5 x 11 white board (the kind used to back comics) to minimize postage costs (included) One character per drawing, please. No "All the Teen Titans" sketches. The character need not be comics related. You can ask for a generic witch, gargoyle, knight, etc. Be imaginative. I love a challenge. No nudes of copyrighted characters. No limit to the number of sketches drawn per order as long as each sketch is personalized to either the buyer or someone for whom the buyer is purchasing the sketch. No sketch can be published without the copyright holder's and/or my permission. That pretty much covers it. Please feel free to copy this message and circulate it to as many people as you feel would be interested. This offer expires in one year, when the first issue of CRIMSON PLAGUE premieres. After that, it may be another decade before I do something like this again. All checks are to be sent to: PACESETTER PRODUCTIONS P.O.Box 953158 Lake Mary, FL 32795-3158 ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [8] New Comics Shipping 6/12/96 by Bobb Waller Here is the list of materials scheduled to ship next week June 12,1996. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Acclaim Comics: Mutant Chroni8cles Sourcebook #1 Archie Comics: Betty & Veronica #103 Flintstones #13 Jughead w/Archie Digest #128 Little ARchie Digest #17 Art & Soul Comics: Tug & Buster #4 Astro Comics: Hilly Rose #3 Big Comics: Primortals #2 Phage:Shadow Death #3 Comic Images: Heavy Metal:Movie & More Foil Box CSN Inc.: COmic Shop News #468 CSN Summer Preview Crusade Comics: Tomoe #3 Dark Horse Comics: Dark Horse Insider #7 Dark Horse Presents #110 Dominion Conflict1-No More Noise #4 Ghost #15 Girl Crazy #2 Heartbreakers #3 DC Comics: Adv. of Superman #537 Animaniacs #16 Batman #533 Batman/Demon Batman GCPD #1 Books of Magic #27 Essential Vertigo: The Sandman #1 Fate #21 Flash Archives Vol. 1 Green Arrow #111 Green Lantern #77 Hardware #41 Impulse #16 Invisibles #23 KINGDOM COME #2 Legionnaires #39 New Gods #10 STatic #38 Superman Annual #8 Diamond Publications: Diamond Dateline Vol.VII #57 Dynamic Cards: Creators Alternate Universe Foil Box Entity Comics: Nira X:Cyberangel #2 Eros Comics: Mara Paperdoll Book Event Comics: 22 Brides:Married to The Mob #2 Fantagraphics Books: Bitch is Born GN 2nd Printing Popcorn Pimps FPG: Kelly Freas Cards Foil Box Metallic Femme Fatales Foil Box Gemstone Publishing-R. Cochran Books: Crime Suspenstories #16 Frontline Combvat #5 Haunt of Fear #16 Haunt of Fear Annual Vol. 3 Gladstone Comics: Donald Duck #298 Green Man Press: Book Of Ballads and Sagas #3 High Top Comics: Brinke of Destruction #3 Image Comics: Bone #8-Image Printing Dragon #4 Hazard #1 Maggie the Cat #3 Stormwatch #36 Strikeback #5 Youngblood #8 Kevlar Studios: Horseman #0 Marvel Comics: Amazing Spider-Man #414 Daredevil #355 Generation X #18 Ghost Rider #76 Professor X & The X-Men #10 Thor #501 Untold Tales of Spider-Man #12 X-Factor #125 X-Men 2099:Oasis X-Nation #6 Maximum Comic Press: Asylum #5 Avengelyne Swimsuit Poster Models: Frankenstein Vinyl Model Kit Sirius Entertainment: Poison Elves Poster Slave Labor Graphics: Skelton Key TP S.Q.P.: Demon Baby:Hell on Heels Sleeping Giant: Death By Chocolate Toys: Electronic Lightsabre Star Wars:Speeder Bike/Scout Figure Verotik: G.O.T.H. #3 Videos: Ranma 1/2 Anything Goes:Darling Charlotte/Subtitled Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle:Dim Sung Darling Viz Comics: Maison Ikkoku:Part 5 #8 Maison Ikkoku:Good Housekeeping Manga Vizion V2#6 Riot:Act 2 #3 Wizards of the Coast: Alliances Expansion Display ============================================================================== What No X-Files Books? I was beginning to think it was a weekly... Origin: FIAWOL/MSConnections * PP288MT II V.34 * 214-790-6472 * (23:203/4) ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [A] How to join the COMIC BOOK NETWORK (CBN) You too can enjoy the intelligent conversations and informative threads that occur in the conferences of the Comic Book Net every day! However, many people who read this e-mag aren't familiar with the Local BBS echo-mail system.... Bulletin Board Systems are scattered everywhere across the continent and the world, many of them are free! Chances are, if you have a modem you have the accompanying communications software. Using the Terminal Emulation software that came with your modem, you can dial up one of the many systems linked into CBN (see the listings down a few paragraphs). Most of the boards offer all the message echoes in the Comic Book Network... There are message bases devoted to all the bigger comics publishers, as well as big Small Press and Independent message bases, not to mention sections for general conversation, collecting, gaming and other forms of entertainment. If you are worried about long distance charges, worry no longer! Most if not all the BBS's offer a mail service from which you can download a .QWK packet of recent e-mail to read offline with a program called an offline mail reader. You can read & write messages at your leisure, and then upload your own messages & replies the next time you call your local BBS. There are many .QWK packet readers out there, for every type of computer system. They all give you a better explanation in their documentation than I can. These programs are available all over the Internet and are free to download from most BBS's. I recommend SLMR or OLX-TD for DOS to get started. These "mail runs" (dialing up, downloading the mail packet and uploading replies) generally take less than 5 minutes to accomplish, and at the average after-5pm/weekends/holidays long distance phone rates, that is LESS THAN $.75! See? Even less expensive than many of the commercial information services available! :) So what else can you find on free BBS systems? There are plenty of files for specific types of computers. Some systems also offer other types of message networks ranging from general topics to specific themes like sci-fi, role playing, games, music, etc. And, let's not forget online games. Join into the many different multiplayer games, each system sports different challenges. There's nothing like becoming the most powerful being in a online adventure! And when you _do_ log on, leave a message in The Bullpen conference to ALL, and introduce yourself to us! You're guaranteed to get plenty of replies and all the help you need to join in the fun! ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [B] BBSes Linked into CBN Here's the most up-to-date node listing for the COMIC BOOK NETWORK F=FIDO Q=QWK B=Both *=Major HUB -- ARKANSAS ------------------------------------------------------------ F* Karate & Comics & ... Russelville AR 501-968-3910 Robert Wood Conway PC Users Conway AR 501-329-7227 Tim Stone -- CALIFORNIA ---------------------------------------------------------- Q Freedom Flight Victorville CA 619-955-6445 Ronald Siodla Electronic RPO Newbury Park CA 805-498-8061 Kelly Cruise -- FLORIDA ------------------------------------------------------------- F Never Never Land Melbourne FL 407-253-8754 Wayne Bell Steel Dog Cafe Destin FL 904-654-1631 Keith Schultz Ghost's Realm Crestview FL 904-689-6664 Kie Dorton Oak Street BBS Ft.Wayne BeachFL 904-244-7434 Michael Fischer -- ILLINOIS ------------------------------------------------------------ -- INDIANA ------------------------------------------------------------- F The CyberSpace BBS Indianapolis IN 317-856-9020 Charlie Smith -- KENTUCKY ------------------------------------------------------------ Lex Corp Georgetown KY 502-867-0992 -- MARYLAND ------------------------------------------------------------ F The Vampyre Bar! Frederick MD 301-698-5194 Darryl Pierce F DataStorm Kettering MD 301-390-5243 Tarek Gordan F Bifrost Mount Rainier MD 301-779-9381 Kevin Carlin F Womens World East BBS Silver Spring MD 301-431-0647 Wendy Dumser F Sherata's Realm Mechanicsville MD 301-884-9732 Linda Peek -- MASSACHUSETTS ------------------------------------------------------- F Archives BBS Acushnet MA 508-995-0085 John Viera F Muskrat & Heatwave New Bedford MA 508-984-5321 Dennis Racine B* Keystone BBS Shrewsbury MA 508-753-3767 John Harris F HellFire BBS S. Dartmouth MA 508-979-8930 Brock Cordeiro B Call Again Soon Worcester MA 508-791-1281 Joe Johnson -- MICHIGAN ------------------------------------------------------------ F Intl. Comic Network Dearborn Hgts MI 313-565-8464 Anthony Palacio -- MISSOURI ------------------------------------------------------------ F The Oan Citadel Grandview MO 816-767-1488 Brian J. Stewart -- NEW HAMPSHIRE ------------------------------------------------------- Venom's World Rollinsford, NH 603-743-4188 Ira Locke -- NEW JERSEY ---------------------------------------------------------- Phoenix Modernz Systems Seaside Hts. NJ 908-830-8265 -- NEW YORK ------------------------------------------------------------ Asgard TW BBS West Islip NY 516-422-4225 Tom Pemberton Interzone BBS Long Is. City NY 718-786-5557 Jim Garvin F Starbase : Red Dwarf Saugerties NY 914-247-9601 John Dragun -- NORTH CAROLINA ------------------------------------------------------ F Electronic Hangover Durham NC 919-286-4542 Richard Lee F Psychotronic Durham NC 919-286-7738 Richard Lee F* TI-Raliegh Maximus Raliegh NC 919-833-3412 Walter Tietjen F Federal Post Spring Lake NC 910-436-2055 Frank Koza -- OKLAHOMA ------------------------------------------------------------ Compumate Tulsa OK 918-628-0887 Danny Pelletier F Snart's Dreamland Collinsville OK 918-371-0980 Jeff Bennett F The Dreaming World Broken Arrow OK 918-451-3056 Greg Adkins -- PENNSYLVANIA -------------------------------------------------------- F Comic Book Board Philadelphia PA 215-365-5225 William Horton -- TENNESSEE ----------------------------------------------------------- The Factory BBS Union City TN 901-885-9647 -- TEXAS --------------------------------------------------------------- F Razor's Domain ][ Edinburg TX 210-631-5159 Kevin Nunn B* FIAWOL/MSConnections Irving TX 214-790-6472 Bobb Waller F Star Streams Waxahachie TX 214-938-7115 Michael Rudolf F Orion BBS Odessa TX 915-530-2712 Dennis Brown -- VIRGINIA ------------------------------------------------------------ B Crystal Aerie Arlington VA 703-415-0134 Spencer Greenwald -- WASHINGTON ---------------------------------------------------------- -- ONTARIO, CANADA ----------------------------------------------------- F Dark Knight BBS London ONT 519-850-9929 Michael Cross F MACH 1 BBS London ONT 519-457-6771 Tomasz Heiber Stargate:Above & BeyondLondon ONT 519-472-4938 Paul Nicholas -- MEXICO -------------------------------------------------------------- B* The Gate BBS Mexico City 52-5-264-2994 Emilio Karam - From USA, dial international-access 011 then 52-5-264-2994# ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [C] E-Mag Info The Comic Book Net E-Mag is published by the many participants of The Comic Book Network. This is a compilation of articles and columns which were originally posted in the network's conferences or written specifically for this electronic magazine. Some articles are independent of any connection with CBN and are used with permission. All text contained within is copyrighted to the originating author(s). Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Editor, the Network Administration Team or the members and users of The Comic Book Network. Except where elsewhere noted, The Comic Book Network Electronic Magazine is Copyright 1996 by the Comic Book Network. You may freely distribute or duplicate this file intact without alteration for noncommercial purposes only. Please do not distribute except as the complete file as originally transmitted by The Comic Book Network. THE CBN WEB PAGE ---------------- If you have access to the World Wide Web, please stop by and visit our web page! On our web page, you can find the latest issue of our E-Mag, as well as an annotated index and all back issues. You'll also find important information on how to join the conversation in the Comic Book Net, and other neat features like newly released comic book graphics, links to lists of Comic Book Company addresses, Comic Professionals Email addresses, and other Comic Book related Web pages! The URL address is: http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet LOCATING THE ISSUES ------------------- The latest issue is always available from all the systems linked into The Comic Book Network. You can also find the back issues at America Online, by going to Keyword: Science Fiction, scrolling to the menu item _Comic Book Forum_ and then going to the _Comics Library_ from there. Most issues should also be available on Compuserve, Genie, Channel1 BBS and Software Creations BBS as well as other non CBN affiliated Bulletin Board Systems. All back issues should be available at the above sites, as well as our World Wide Web page. SUBMISSIONS ----------- To submit an article, review, column, etc to our e-mag, simply post it in any Comic Book Net conference and leave me a message in the CBN: E-Mag conference giving me permission to use the article. If you cannot access the Comic Book Net, submit your articles for consideration to the editor at: ComicBkNet@aol.com Reviews of mainstream books are least likely to get included when submitted from sources outside of CBN. We give more consideration to reviews of indies and self published material as we feel that material deserves more exposure to the general public. Commentary on the state of the industry, and personal observations and reflections related to comics are *most* likely to be included in our publication. We also accept product for review purposes. Advanced copies of comic books will not be returned but anything sent to us will be reviewed in the ComicBook Net Emag. Send all material to: David L. LeBlanc 84 Heather Circle Jefferson, MA 01522-1419 SUBSCRIPTIONS ------------- If you wish to receive these issues automatically through your internet account, please address a message to ComicBkNet@aol.com to be placed on the subscription list. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - End of another Issue .. see ya in the funny papers!! Psst..."bagged" comics rot in the bag. Pass it on...