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From: tyg@hq.ileaf.com (Tom Galloway)
Subject: Welcome to rec.arts.comics: Glossary
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Posted-By: auto-faq 2.4
Archive-name: comics/faq/part2

WELCOME TO REC.ARTS.COMICS (part 2 of 7: the r.a.c. glossary)
written by lots of different people
edited by Paul A. Estin 1990-1993
          Tom Galloway  1993-present

[last update: 11/10/94]

2.	The USENET/ Rec.arts.comics lingo glossary:

Terms defined here (a + before a term indicates a changed definition, a *
indicates a new entry).

AOL
bandwidth
btw
CIS
FAQ
flame
flame war
FYI
IMHO
IMPO
kill file
LOL
newbie
ROFL
September
signal-to-noise ratio
SOL
Web
wrt
WWW
:-)
ashcan
*Bizarro Squiddy
CBG
comix
Crisis
CSN
dangling plotline/dangler
fanboy/fangirl/otaku
fourth wall
furry
JLA, JLE, JLI
L*
LNH
LSH
PAD
patch
phonebook
pod person/pod
pogs/milk caps
post-Crisis
pre-Crisis
+retcon
spoiler
Squiddy
Suicide Squid
TMNT
xbooks
Zero Hour
ZH

General Usenet terms:

AOL = America On-Line, a commercial on-line service which provides Usenet
      access.
bandwidth = analogous to a radio bandwidth (frequency), referring to
	the resources needed to propagate posts.  Usually used in the
	phrase "stop wasting bandwidth", which means simply "don't post
	if you don't have anything relevant to say."
btw = by the way
CIS = Compuserve, a commercial on-line service which provides Usenet
      access.
FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions; topics which have come up repeatedly with
        answers to try to avoid having them come up again. See part 3.
flame = an inflammatory, insulting post
flame war = a flame response to a flame responding to a flame...
FYI = for your information
IMHO = in my humble (or honest) opinion
IMPO = in my personal (or pompous) opinion
kill file = a file usable in the "rn" and "nn" news programs that one can
	keep to "filter out" disliked topics, keywords, or posters
LOL = Laughing Out Loud. To the compiler of this FAQ, an unfortunate
      migration from BBS land to indicate that you thought a post was
      funny. See ROFL.
newbie = [General] anyone new to Usenet or a particular newsgroup.
         [Specific] anyone who makes a netiquette mistake showing that
           they've not bothered to learn the customs of either Usenet or
           the newsgroup they're posting to.
ROFL = Rolling On Floor Laughing. To the compiler of this FAQ, an unfortunate
      migration from BBS land to indicate that you thought a post was
      *really* funny. See LOL.
September = Tradiationally the time the net sees an influx of newbies as
      college freshlings get accounts. This is now distinguished as Actual
      September (the actual month of September) and Virtual September, which
      occurs when a pay service such as AOL or Compuserve causes a large
      number of newbies to gain access to Usenet.
signal-to-noise ratio = in a newsgroup, the proportion of useful articles
	to useless ones (such as flames).  We like to keep the signal
	relatively high and the noise very low.
SOL = shit out of luck
Web = See WWW
wrt = with respect to
WWW = World Wide Web, a hypertext linked system of information resources.
      See part 5 of the Welcome message for more information.
:-) = a "smiley", used to indicate humor or sarcasm

Specific R.a.c terms:

ashcan = a half-sized (4" x 5"), typically black and white,
	promotional copy of a comic book.  Originally, ashcans were
        produced to claim trademarks.  Today, ashcans are produced more as
        a promotion than to gain guardianship of intellectual property.
Bizarro Squiddy = The sillier and more net oriented annual r.a.c.
        awards. See "Squiddy" for more detail. Formerly known as the
        Alternative Squiddy, but changed to avoid confusion with 
        alt.comics.alternative
CBG = Comic Buyers' Guide, a weekly newspaper
comix = independent, non-mainstream comics, such as _Yummy Fur_ or
	_Desert Peach_.
Crisis = the Crisis on Infinite Earths (usually).  (See the Frequently
	Asked Questions (FAQ) in part 3)
CSN = Comic Shop News, a free weekly hype sheet
dangling plotline/dangler = an unresolved plotline or mystery which an
        author has apparently forgotten about, since it hasn't been
        mentioned in a long time.  
fanboy/fangirl/otaku = a rabidly devoted fan, often said to be "drooling". 
        This can be used in a general sense, or a specific sense, such as 
        X-Men fanboy, Sandgirl, Image fanboy, etc.
fourth wall = originally used with reference to stage sets, this
	term refers to the imaginary wall between the characters and
	the audience.  "Breaking the fourth wall" refers to comics
	in which the characters are aware that they exist in a comic
	book, sometimes for the purpose of humor.
furry = an anthropomorphic animal, such as Mickey Mouse, Cerebus, or Omaha
JLA, JLE, JLI = the popular DC super-hero groups "Justice League
	America", "Justice League Europe", "Justice League International"
L* = Shorthand for the DC comic title Legionnaires, to distinguish it from
     the title LSH.
LNH = Legion of Net Heroes, a parody of sorts of...
LSH = Legion of Super-heroes (a DC comic book)
PAD = Peter A. David, a comics writer known to read r.a.c
patch = see retcon
phonebook = name for the collections of 20-25 issues of Cerebus, so called
        because they're the thickness of the phonebook for a large city.
        Sometimes applied to other hefty collections, but most often to
        Cerebus. 
pod person/pod = a character who has been taken over by a
	new writer and/or editor and immediately acts very inconsistently
        with previous characterization, with no explanation given for the
        change, and no change noticed by other characters in the book. The
        term is from the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where aliens
        grew duplicates of people in giant pods. First use of 'pod' was in
	reference to the changeover after Keith Giffen left the JLI titles,
	concerning the characters Fire, Ice, Max, and Oberon.
pogs/milk caps =  Round, approximately 1-2.5 inches in diameter, and
        cardboard, pogs are the element of a game from Hawaii.  While the
        game involves stacking the pogs and flipping another to knock them 
        over, on the continent in recent months, they have simply become 
        another alternative to trading cards, bearing art and/or text 
        concerning super-heroes. Many here consider pogs on the mainland an
        example of a manufactured fad.
post-Crisis = events/history/characters in the DC Universe as they existed
	*after* the Crisis on Infinite Earths.  (See the "Frequently-Asked
	Questions" section in part 3.)
pre-Crisis = events/history/characters in the DC Universe as they existed
	*prior* to the Crisis on Infinite Earths.  (See the "Frequently-
	Asked Questions" section in part 3.)
retcon = to retroactively change the continuity of a character or title.
	(This term, a r.a.c favorite, was coined by Damian Cugley. It is
        a shortening and, at times, a verbification of the Roy Thomas
        popularized term "retroactive continuity". That term appears to
        have first been used in a letter column in All-Star Squardron #18,
        where Thomas writes that he heard it at a convention)
	Originally, the term "retcon" was used only in cases where the
	interpretation of "facts" from earlier stories is changed, but the
	facts themselves are preserved.  For example, Alan Moore took took
        Swamp Thing, previously considered to be a man transformed into a
	plant creature, and with minimal changes to facts presented in 
	previous stories, wrote Swamp Thing to be a "plant elemental", one
        of a long line of such beings.
		A "patch" was the term used (taken from programmer's
        jargon) to mean an actual change, rather than merely filling in
        details. 
		These days, however, "retcon" is used increasingly to mean
	changes to history as well as to retroactive continuity.  So, to
	"retcon" is to change history, so that something that had existed
        in the continuity of the fictional universe, not ONLY doesn't exist
        now, but in the fictional history, NEVER HAS existed.  This can be
        true of an event, of a character, or whatever.  For example, if
        Hawkman appears in the Justice League, and then	years later a
        writer decides that "No, Hawkman just came to Earth, he was *never*
        in the Justice League," that's a retcon. 
                Retcon is also listed in the New Hacker's Dictionary, with
        credit given to r.a.c.. In the second edition, this is disputed.
        In the third edition, should there be one, there will likely be a
        dispute of the dispute...
spoiler = any item which "gives away" information about a comic.  Proper
        netiquette is to give a "Spolier Warning" first, to allow people to
	avoid the spoiler if they wish to not have their surprise ruined.
Squiddy = what some people call the annual r.a.c. Awards. See section 3
        for why this is the case. These are the more formal and serious
        categories. 
Suicide Squid = See the FAQ in part 3.
TMNT = Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
xbooks = comics in the X-Men family line
Zero Hour = DC Universe redefining mini-series. See the FAQ in part 3.
ZH = Zero Hour

[end of part 2]

"There are no net.gods, just some people with bigger mouths than others."
  -- Dan'l DanehyOakes, net.roach
tyg   tyg@hq.ileaf.com
