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Posted-By: auto-faq 2.4
Archive-name: comics/faq/part3

WELCOME TO REC.ARTS.COMICS (part 3 of 7: the r.a.c FAQ)
written by lots of different people
edited by Paul A. Estin 1990-1993
          Tom Galloway  1993-present

[last update: 10/24/94]

3.	Frequently-Asked Questions (The r.a.c.* FAQ)

Questions answered here (a + before a question indicates a changed answer,
a * indicates a new question).
0.  What other comics FAQs are available?
+1.  Why not split off a new group for Marvel/Sandman/comix/etc?
2.  What's this about Sandman ending?
3.  Who's this Cerebus character people post a lot about?
4.  What was the Crisis on Infinite Earths?
5.  What was Zero Hour?
6.  Where can I find Man of Steel, Women of Kleenex?
7.  What are the different types of Kryptonite?
8.  How do you spell/pronounce the last name of artist Bill Sienkiewicz?
9.  Isn't there a gay Marvel mutant?
10. What are some of the gay characters in comics?
11. How old is Kitty Pryde (of Excalibur)?
12. Where are the "real" locations of Metropolis, Gotham City, Hub City,
    etc., in the DC Universe?
13. Who is Suicide Squid?
14. How can I get a Suicide Squid t-shirt?
15. Who is Paul
16. What is The Cowboy Wally Show?
+17. Are there pros on the net?
18. What's the joke behind John Byrne's Next Men's letter column title?
19. Where can I get GIFs or other scanned comics art?
+20. What are the email addresses of comics companies?
21. What are the Ages of comics?
22. How do I become a pro comics writer or artist?
23. When is the 1995 San Diego Comics Convention?
24. Where can I buy original comics art?
25. What letter columns can I e-mail to?
26. What was the first #0 issue?
*27. Whatever happened to D'arc Tangent, Grimjack, Big Numbers, Miracleman,
     Akira, and 1963?
28. What's this about X-Men being cancelled?

0. What other comics FAQs are available?

In addition to this general FAQ, there are a number of comics FAQs
available about more specific topics or characters.. Information about
how to obtain these can be found in parts 5 and 6 of the Welcome to r.a.c.*
posts. Available FAQs are:

rec.arts.comics.marketplace
rec.arts.comics.xbooks
Batman: The Animated Series
Grendel
Legion of Net.Heroes
Legion of Super-Heroes
Preserving and Protecting Comics
Rogue
Sandman
Superman
Watchmen (annotations)
X-Men characters
X-Men creators
X-Men history

Numerous other information sources are listed in parts 5 and 6, and should
be checked before posting a query to which the answer is already available.

1. Why not split off a new group for Marvel/Sandman/comix/etc?

I'm leaving the current answer up for the next few months, until things
settle down around February. However, here's the current split status:
rec.arts.comics.alternative is going to a vote in late November.
A straw poll in November found strong support for creating DC and Marvel
groups, and majority support for Elfquest, Legion of Super-Heroes, and
Other-Media. Due to various deadline problems that you don't want to know
about unless you're a news.groups wonk, people are currently working to
craft an RFD (Request for Discussion) for all these to be posted in early
January, with the end of the vote on them expected in mid-February. If you're
interested in working on this, send email to tyg@hq.ileaf.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This is a highly flammable topic of debate.  Several dozen splits have been
suggested over the past few years.  Only three (rac.strips, the rac re-org,
and rac.creative) succeeded.  Many readers would still prefer going back to
a single r.a.c with no subgroups.  Here is an incomplete list of previously
rejected ideas:

 rac.superhero      battlin' guys wearing tights.  Failed in the 1992 vote;
                     also ambiguous (define superhero. be aware that we've
                     got *lots* of ambiguous characters by any definition
                     so far).
 rac.marvel/dc      company-based splits have failed several previous
                      votes. In November 1993, a straw poll had both groups
                      fail to achieve a majority, much less the needed
                      2/3rds vote. A general other companies split question
                      got only a 30% positive response.
 rac.vertigo/image  both suggested in late 1992, told to wait a while until
                      they exhibit long term stability.
 rac.indie          basically a company-based split.
 rac.alternative    rejected due to ambiguity of "alternative".
 rac.mature         implies other comics are immature.  ambiguous.
 rac.adult          implies sexually-explicit material.  ambiguous.
 rac.sandman        Sandman is ending as a regular series within two years.
                      Empheral groups like this are very unlikely to pass.
 rac.other-media    Comics characters in non-comics media such as tv, movies,
                    prose, and toys. Failed in February '94 due to lack of
                    a 100 vote margin (generally people thought this was
                    a reasonable split proposal, but it didn't work up enough
                    enthusiasm to pass)

In the November '93 poll, only 38% indicated there was *any* non-company 
based or non-rac.creative split they would support...and since 
rac.other-media was first proposed during the poll period, it's likely the 
percentage is even lower.

alt.comics.alternative was created as the alt hierarcy does not require
a vote before a group is created. Due to the way in which it was created,
propagation is limited and crossposting between it and r.a.c.misc is
strongly encouraged. It's possible that after a year or so, it may be
possible to pass r.a.c.alternative, but suggesting it until 1995 would
be premature given poll results. And considerable work will be needed to
determine an appropriate charter for the group, since unlike a.c.a., 
rac.alternative would have an effect on the allowed contents of rac.misc.

Splits are not impossible, though-- the r.a.c hierarchy *was* created.  But
any further split would have to be very well justified.  Attempt them at
your own risk (buy lots of asbestos).  If you want your proposal to have
a chance, it should meet the following criteria:
 - Is the group easily and clearly defined (i.e. given any post, would it
   go in the new group or an existing one)
 - Is it sufficiently different from existing groups?
 - Will a fair number of people *not* want to read the new group or stop
   reading the old group it's split off from?
   (there's no point in splitting off a new group if most people will
    read both the old group and the new group)
 - Is current group traffic too high?  Will the split reduce it?
 - Will the topic die off in a few years, leaving us a redundant group?
   (Usenet reality is that groups aren't easy to get rid of, so groups
    which are about transitory topics are unlikely to pass)
 - Is there sufficient traffic already about the topic? (Usenet does not
   work on the "Field of Dreams principle" of "If you build it they will
   come". There has to be existing evidence of traffic)
 - Will at least 2/3rds, not a majority, of voters want to create it?
 - Can you convince thousands of people you are not a raving loon?

Please note: r.a.c. has seen a lot of split discussion over the years.
Particularly given the poll results, anyone who proposes a split similar to
the ones listed above other than rac.other-media before around November 1994
will likely get posted and emailed responses on the order of "Not AGAIN!"
While things may change over time, there's strong evidence that of the ones
listed, only other-media has any reasonable chance of succeeding at this time.

2. What's this about Sandman ending?

Neil Gaiman has announced that Sandman will relatively soon end as a
regular, monthly, series. The current storyline is titled The Kindly Ones
and is the last multi-issue major storyline.  This will be followed by a
short storyline titled The Wake, and several one issue stories. The final
issue will be The Tempest, drawn by Charles Vess. He's announced his intent
to continue to do specials and mini-series about the Endless and their
supporting cast, but not as a continuing, regular, series.

3. Who's this Cerebus character people post a lot about?

Cerebus, written and produced by Dave Sim, is longest running and generally
best selling black & white comic on the market.  Cerebus, the main
character, is a 3 foot tall aardvark who has been, among other things, a
barbarian, prime minister, pope, and outlaw.  The series is expected to run
exactly 300 issues, ending in March 2004 (I'm not making this up) with the
death of Cerebus. A long time net.favorite, the comic can be read on 
several levels. Sim keeps just about all regular issues of Cerebus in
print via what are called phonebooks; trade paperbacks collecting 20-25
issues at a stretch, all of which are kept in print. See near the back
of any issue of Cerebus for details on how to order them if your shop
doesn't carry them.

4. What was the Crisis on Infinite Earths?

The _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ was a 12-issue series published by DC in
1985-6.  The "Crisis" effectively revamped the entire DC Universe by
merging several universes (containing the various DC characters) into a
single universe (whose history is still somewhat unclear in parts).  The
Crisis was used as an opportunity to change DC history retroactively (see
"retcon" in the list of definitions), including the remaking of several
main DC characters.  Thus people refer to the "post-Crisis" Superman,
Wonder Woman, etc., as distinct from the "pre-Crisis" versions who existed
on "Earth-1" or "Earth-2".

The confusion *really* begins because the revamping and "retconning" didn't
all take place in the Crisis limited series itself, nor in the comics
immediately after then.  If DC had simply started all their series over
from scratch, thing would have been pretty straightforward.  Instead, they
declared the Pre-Crisis history to be implicitly intact, until and unless
they could explicitly create the new, post-Crisis versions of characters
and histories.

Thus, new changes were still being made in titles up to eight years after
the end of Crisis. So, for example, the "old" Hawkman appeared in the "new"
Justice League.  But then Timothy Truman began writing _Hawkworld_, which
retconned Hawkman's character; among other changes, Hawkman "now" arrived
on Earth much later.  *So*, the Hawkman who appeared in the new Justice
League comic (call him the Silver Age Hawkman, or the pre-Crisis Hawkman)
"now" (in real world time) "no longer exists, and never has" (within
current DC continuity).

But then the creators realized the problem, so they said that most of the
Silver Age Hawkman appearances in JLA were actually by the Golden Age
Hawkman, and a new Hawkman was created whose purpose was to satisfy those
few JLA appearances made after the GA Hawkman was known to have been MIA.

Confused yet?  Suffice it to say, the way DC handled the Crisis and its
aftermath confuses *lots* of readers and provides a perennial topic of
discussion on r.a.c.misc. Zero Hour was said to be an attempt to "fix"
problems caused by Crisis and part of the McGuffin for Zero Hour was that
Crisis actually didn't end, and all continuity problems until ZH were symptoms
of this.  (see next question).

There has been the occasional announcement that Crisis would be reprinted
as a trade paperback, but the latest word from DC is that they feel it 
would be too expensive and don't plan to do so.


5. What was Zero Hour?

Zero Hour was intended to fix problems resulting from inconsistant 
post-Crisis DC continuity. It was a five issue mini-series in summer 1994
which will cause price guides fits since the order of the issues was
#4, #3, #2, #1, #0. The month after Zero Hour, all mainstream DC Universe
books were #0 issues, making it even more fun for indexers.

The #0 issue had a timeline of the DC Universe which is considered 
definitive. The end result of Zero Hour was the killing off and aging to
their proper age several Justice Society members, and a resetting of the
DC Universe such that it's much the same as the post-Crisis but with
"subtle differences". So far, the only specific differences stated are:
# It's no longer true that Batman has caught his parents' killer.
# Bruce Wayne did officially adopt Dick Grayson
# Dick Grayson had a traumatic experience in his early days as Robin 
  relating to failing to prevent someone being killed by Two-Face. This
  seems to have caused a character change to his being much more self
  doubting.
# Catwoman's origin was completed revamped in Catwoman #0. Changes include
  her no longer having been a prostitute (which was itself a post-Crisis
  retcon), her not having a sister, and not having been trained by Ted
  (Wildcat) Grant.
# Legion of Super-Heroes/Legionnaires: both books have started over
  completely from scratch, similar to the post-Crisis reboot of Superman and
  Wonder Woman. Past continuity has some effect on the books, but the
  writers are free to chuck it if they want to.

6. Where can I find "Man of Steel, Women of Kleenex"?

In the late 1960s, Larry Niven wrote a hysterically funny essay in which he
speculated about possible problems that the pre-Crisis Superman would have
in attempting to reproduce or just have sex with a Terran.  The essay
appears in Niven's collections _All the Myriad Ways_ and _N-Space_, and in
the anthology _Alien Sex_. And yes, we know that Niven didn't take the
bottle city of Kandor into account.

7. What are the different types of Kryptonite?

Post-Crisis there have been only three main types, of which only one has
made more than one appearance. This, usually refered to just as 
"kryptonite", is green and has similar effects on Kryptonians as pre-Crisis
Green K. While it has no immediate effect on Terrans or other races,
prolonged exposure has resulted in cancer due to radiation.

Mr. Mxyzptlk created a chunk of Red Kryptonite, which effectively removed
Superman's powers for a time.

In the Pocket Universe storyline, Superman encountered what amounted to
a rainbow of types of pre-Crisis Kryptonite. He was not affected by any
of it, although PU Kryptonians were.

Pre-Crisis, there were numerous types. These were:

Green Kryptonite: weakens and eventually kills super-powered Kryptonians.
  Usually harmless to other races, but one story in Brave and the Bold had
  a device used which resulted in Terrans being affected similar to 
  Kryptonians.

Anti-Kryptonite: similar to Green K, but affects non-super-powered
  Kryptonians. This was a retcon used to explain why the non-powered Argo 
  City residents could be killed by what seemed to be Green K.

X-Kryptonite: Only one chunk, it was created by Supergirl trying to find a
  cure for Green K. It gives Terrans, or at least Terran cats, Kryptonian
  style powers for a limited time.

Red Kryptonite: Causes a specific, odd, effect. Often involved physical
  transformations or mental changes. Each chunk had a different effect, and
  could only affect a given Kryptonian once. Effects usually wore off in
  24-48 hours. Created when Green K passed through a space cloud.

Gold Kryptonite: Removes a Kryptonian's super-powers permanently. Created
  when Green K passed through a different space cloud.

White Kryptonite: Kills any plant life from any world. Yep, another space
  cloud. 

Blue Kryptonite: Has the same effect on Bizarro Kryptonians as Green K does
  on real Kryptonians. Created by the same imperfect duplicator ray that
  created the Bizarros.

Jewel Kryptonite: Remnents of Krypton's Jewel Mountains, it allows Phantom
  Zone residents to focus their mental energy and cause explosions in the
  outside world.

Two notable fake varieties are Silver and Yellow K. Silver was used to keep
Superman from closely investigating what turned out to be a 25th (silver)
anniversary gift for him from his friends, and Yellow was used by Luthor to
fake out what he thought was Superman. It turned out it was a Superman
robot ordered to react to Kryptonite like the real thing. When Luthor found
this out, he returned all the gold from Fort Knox which he'd stolen.

8. How do you spell/pronounce the last name of artist Bill Sienkiewicz?

It's spelled as above, and pronounced "sin-KEV-itch".

9. Isn't there a gay Marvel mutant?

Yes. This is Northstar (Jean-Paul Beaubier) from _Alpha Flight_.  When John
Byrne began the series (issues #1-26), he made the point that Jean-Paul was
gay, using tiny hints that are obvious if you're looking for them.

In issue #7, Northstar visits Raymonde Belmonde, presumably a former lover.
In #8, Aurora apparently knows (and disapproves) of his sexual orientation.
In #11's back-up story, James Hudson comments that Northstar didn't seem
too interested in women.  There were other tiny hints as well-- nothing
that really made sense unless you knew what to look for.

The hints were subtle enough that you might not get the idea independently.
But if you read the stories with the possibility in mind, it was quite clear.
Later in the series, there were strong hints that Jean-Paul had contracted
AIDS.

Unfortunately, the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel, (there is debate on which
one; Jim Shooter or Tom DeFalco), declared "There are no homosexuals in the
Marvel Universe," and decided to "fix things."  After Byrne, Bill Mantlo
was writing Alpha Flight, and he retconned both Northstar and Aurora into
being half-human and half-elf (thus their pointed ears), and decided that
Northstar's sickness was due to being outside of the realm of faerie.

Note that nothing in the faerie storyline indicated that Jean-Paul was
*not* gay, just that he didn't have AIDS.  Also, Mantlo should be given
some credit. He dropped several "hints" as well, including issues #28 and
#45 or 46.  Unlike Byrne's, these had the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

The "faerie" change was later de-retconned, though I am unfamiliar with the
details.  In any case, much later, in issue #106, Northstar held a press
conference is which he came out of the closet (He does *not* have AIDS).  A
Marvel editor explained that (paraphrasing), "Many of our readers suspected
the truth all along, but now we decided to make the issue clear."  Yeah,
right. 

It's also worth noting that the true powers-that-be at Marvel (i.e. way
above the editor-in-chief level and at the corporate level) got very antsy
about this story and the media attention it got. Northstar pretty quickly
effectively went back in the closet in that little if any reference to his
orientation was mentioned during the rest of Alpha Flight's run.

10. What are some of the gay characters in comics?

A short list for DC includes Mindy Meyer's brother (Wonder Woman), Maggie
Sawyer and Toby Gaines (Superman), Extrano (New Guardians), Pied Piper
(Flash), perhaps Jan Arrah, Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet (Legion of
Superheroes).  It has also been suggested that the Amazons in WW are gay to
some extent. Watchmen had Silouette, Hooded Justice, Captain Metropolis, and
possibly others.  Fighting American #6 has about the most unambiguous coming
out scene you're ever likely to see in a code-approved comic.

In the Vertigo line, there are numerous gay characters. Offhand, Hazel,
Foxglove, Judy, Cluracan, and Hal in Sandman, along with Judy. Lenny and
Kathy in Shade, Ray Monde in Hellblazer, Liz Tremayne in Swamp Thing, and
others. 

Marvel has Northstar, perhaps Mystique and Destiny. Mystique has been
revealed to have mothered two children, and it's strongly implied that she
had sex with Wolverine in Wolverine #51, so if she is gay, she's bi-.  Note
that according to Chris Claremont, his planned origin for Nightcrawler had
Mystique, a shape-changer, being Kurt's father and Destiny being the mother.
At the time, Mystique was in male form and sufficiently traumatized from war
incidents to not realize her true gender or past. Hector of the Pantheon in
Hulk is gay; while at first this was somewhat hinted around in the comic and
only stated in Peter David's CBG column, he has now explicitly stated his
orientation in the comic. Justice's father was gay, but in the main Marvel
timeline he closeted himself due to pressure/abuse from his father and
passed to the degree of marrying and having a kid. 

In the Milestone line, Fade in Blood Syndiate is gay, and Masquerade is
what amounts to a self operated transsexual, although it's unclear what
his orientation is beyond that. Donner and Blitzen in Shadow Cabinet
are lesbian partners, and Rick, a supporting character in Static, is gay.

Others include the women warriors in Epic's _Sisterhood of Steel_, Barney
(The Masked Man), the woman from _Detectives, Inc._, Robbie and Frank from
_Omaha_, and Terry, Pam, and George from _Zot!_.  Several characters are
either gay or bi in _Love and Rockets_. _Desert Peach_ has a gay main
character, Erwin Rommel's (fictitious) younger brother.

Many of the above are gays-written-by-straights and are of questionable
merit. Others have been said by gays to have been handled quite well.

11. How old is Kitty Pryde (of Excalibur)?

The short answer: Kitty was 13 1/2 when she joined the X-Men.  She had her
15th birthday in Excalibur #24.  Soren F. Peterson reports that Claremont
spoke at a con the weekend of July 27-28, 1991 and stated without a shadow
of a doubt that Kitty Pryde is only 15.  Now, there's no *way* that only 18
months passed in the interim; too many events have occurred.  But forget
trying to make sense of it.  If Chris Claremont can't keep track of Kitty's
age, why should you?  Until the writers retcon it, 15 it is.

However, as of October, 1993, an issue of Excalibur had Kitty saying:
"Unh-uh, Professor...we've *had* this conversation once too often, 
when I was still a *minor* [her emphasis], living at the mansion.  The 
whole stern-but-benevolent patriarch riff isn't going to *work* anymore.
You have a *case* to make -- make it as an *adult, one-on-one*."  
So she may be 18 now, but it's not completely sure. Particularly since an
issue of X-Men appearing at about the same time stated that only a year had
passed since events which took place before Kitty's 15th birthday party.

12. Where are the "real" locations of Metropolis, Gotham City, Hub City,
etc., in the DC Universe?

Metropolis and Gotham City have been equated to *many* different real-world
cities over the years; there is no one correct answer.  (Even if there
were, the current writers are under no duress to use it.)  Hub City, from
_The Question_, is a bit different; it is based on a combination of two
cities in Illinois, one of which is definitely East St. Louis. Writer Denny
O'Neil admitted this at one point, but no longer does so in order not to
offend residents of the cities.

Metropolis, as originally developed by Siegel and Shuster, was probably
Cleveland, the "big city" with which they were most familiar.  There are
also possible early references to Toronto. Later, Superman's home was moved
to somewhere in the BosWash corridor on the U.S. East Coast.  _Who's Who in
the Legion of Superheroes_ showed a 30th century Metropolis, which
stretched slightly beyond New York and Boston in either direction, and used
those names explicitly in the description of Metropolis.  John Byrne seemed
to think it was back in the midwest.

Gotham is a traditional nickname for New York City, but there is a separate
NYC in the DC universe. It is definitely a port city, probably on the east
coast; too much plot has depended on that fact.  Again, various sources
have placed Gotham City all along the east coast, often near Metropolis.
The distance to Metropolis has also varied; from hundreds of miles to
linked by a bridge.

In DC Comics Presents #87 (Maggin written, Schwartz edited), Superman is
transported to Earth-Prime, which, pre-Crisis, was supposedly our Earth.
His thoughts are:

"The Earth's there all right...but everything's out of place!  New York is
sprawled out all over where Gotham is supposed to be...Boston suburbs cover
Star City...and Metropolis is...Metropolis is nowhere to be seen!"

Frank Miller once claimed that, metaphorically, "Metropolis is New York in
the daytime, while Gotham is New York at night."  Works for me.

Mayfair Games published an Atlas of the DC Universe, written by DC staffer
Paul Kupperberg.  While not completely official, it does jibe with
locations that DC used when its house fanzine of the mid-70s discussed this
same question.  The locations given for the main DC fictional cities are:

  Metropolis: Delaware
  Gotham City: New Jersey
  Star City: far nothern California
  Coast City: on 101 near Sausalito between San Francisco and Oakland
	[Now destroyed, but based on maps shown in the Superman
	titles, seemingly moved to midway between LA and SF.]
  Middleton (where J'onn J'Onzz first operated): suburb of Denver
  Littleville (Robby Reed): Wyoming
  Blue Valley (Kid Flash): northwest Nebraska, near South Dakota
  Central City/Keystone City: a bit north of Kansas City, Central is in
    Missouri while Keystone is in Kansas on the other side of the Mississippi
  Calvin City/Ivy Town (Atoms): both in Connecticut near New Haven
  Dos Rios (El Diablo): 65 miles south of San Antonio
  Fairfax (2nd Dial H for Hero): suburb of Bangor, Maine
  Midway City (Doom Patrol, Hawkman): Michigan, just east of Sault Ste. Marie
  Smallville: Kansas, 50 miles west of the I-70/I-35 interchange on I-70.
    The population is given as 90,000 btw.

Many people have noted errors in the geographical plausibility of the above
entries.  For example, the state borders near the Mississippi and Missouri
Rivers are obviously different in the DC Universe than in our world, and
Coast City can only be "between San Franciso and Oakland" if one intends to
drive from one city to the other without bothering to use the bridge that
directly connects the two.  These are from the Mayfair Games book, which
was obviously not edited as scrupulously as the r.a.c Welcome posting.  :-)

One final note: There's a real small town in southern Illinois named
Metropolis, located about twenty miles north of where the Mississippi and
Ohio Rivers meet.  On their "Welcome to Metropolis" sign they do claim
"Home of Superman", have a Superman statue on display, and every year they
have a Superman festival.  At least at one time, the local paper was called
the Daily Planet.

13. Who is Suicide Squid?

Short answer: Suicide Squid is the de facto r.a.c. mascot.  Squiddy was
accidently created in April, 1991 when a netter wanted to ask the question
"Can someone tell me what's going on in Suicide Squad?" and typed an "i"
for the "a" in Squad.  Many netters responded with what had been going on
in the Suicide Squid comic, which was a pretty good trick since it didn't
really exist.  People then tried to reconcile the different versions of the
comic, and it mushroomed from there.  Suicide Squid is now used in r.a.c.
posts for a generic comic book title when one is needed, or as a way of
commenting satirically on various events in comics. The current 
writer/artist of the book is usually said to be Alonzo Mori, and the SS
fan club is the Black Ink Irregulars. The annual r.a.c. Awards are often
refered to as the Squiddies, and the r.a.c. team in the last three San Diego
Comicon trivia contests has gone by the name of the Black Ink Irregulars
(and won all three years).

A copy of the Squid relevant parts of just about every post mentioning
Squiddy since his creation is kept at theory.lcs.mit.edu in the FTPable
file pub/wald/suicide-squid. As you might expect, it's quite large but
fun to read.

There are Suicide Squid t-shirts, and wearing them is a good way to be
recognized by other r.a.c.ers at cons, signings, and other events.

14. How can I get a Suicide Squid t-shirt?

There have been three runs of these shirts, sold only to r.a.c.ers and a
few comics professionals. The art was done by pro artist Ty Templeton, and
the shirts have appeared on an episode of Parker Lewis Can't Lose (then on
Fox, now being rerun on USA Cable in the U.S.) and on Prisoners of Gravity,
an Ontario public TV show about science fiction and comics which is also
shown on some PBS stations in the U.S.. A Squid shirt will appear regularly
on the '93-4 season of Prisoners of Gravity.

The third run has been mailed out. There may be extras. Send email to
tyg@hq.ileaf.com to be put on a waiting list or to be put on a mailing list
for a fourth run should the third run be sold out (fourth run probably
won't happen until Fall '94, but could go earlier if a lot of interest).

15. Who is Paul?

Paul is essentially Suicide Squid mark 2. Someone posted about a rumor that
Marvel was going to kill off one of their characters and concluded the post
with a list of possibilities, one per line. Underneath the last, they had
their name, "Paul". People promptly jumped on this, and started
constructing a comics continuity for a character named Paul. The continuity
frequently made reference to the christian disciple Paul and his history.
There is no relation between this Paul and the New England Comics character
and comic book Paul the Samurai.

16. What is "The Cowboy Wally Show"?

TCWS is a graphic novel written and drawn by Kyle Baker around 1988. It was
done for Doubleday, not a regular comics publisher, and thus showed up in
bookstores rather than comics stores. In a strip in Spy Magazine in 1993,
Baker comments that more copies were returned than were published; it's
hard to tell how much he was exaggerating. 

At any rate, this book is now out of print and very hard to find. To give you
an idea, Jim Cowling bought a copy via an ad on the net for $100. As for why
it's in such demand, Jim later stated it was worth every penny to him. It's a
very funny book, and has contributed numerous .sig quotes to those of us who
have a copy. It's become something of an icon on r.a.c.m., and in the 1993
Alternative Squiddies, one category (inspired by a thread the previous year on
r.a.c.m.) was "Body Part You'd Give Up For A Copy Of The Cowboy Wally Show".
As of August 1994, Baker stated that he only has one copy of it, and had
thought about reprinting it when he does a new book.

17. Are there pros on the net?

Yes.

Oh, you want details? OK, first let's get the three people who sometimes post
here who are likely to be mistaken for comics pros out of the way. If you see
a post by Art Adams, Kevin Maguire, or Michael Collins, as of the latest
update of this FAQ it is *not* by the comics creator of that same name, but
rather by people who happen to share the name in real life (i.e. they are not
trying to be confusing by assuming an alias).

The first pro on the net was probably Henry Vogel of the late, lamented,
Southern Knights. He's not been on for a few years, but one scene in the
Knights involving breaking into a computer used an r.a.c.er's name and site as
username and password.

For a number of years, the only pro on was Peter David. He's worked a number
of net references into his work, including a reference to Suicide Squid in the
dialogue of Spider-Man 2099 #20, page 3 and the following from one of his
Psi-Man books, written under the pen name of David Peters:

"Chuck was impressed to see the latest hardware rolling his way--the
computer aided RAC 3000, Ultraflame Model.....'What does RAC stand for?' he
asked."
"Really Awesome Car."
"'Oh.' He shrugged. Obviously a name developed by people in marketing."

Not to mention individual netters who have shown up as characters in his
comics and novel work (Star Trek #4 in the current DC run includes the FAQ
maintainer as an Admiral in charge of Starbase 24, for example, and Jeff
Meyer and Jerry Boyajian have shown up as security guards in Classic Trek,
ST:TNG, ST:DS9, and the Hulk). It's considered bad form to ask for him to do
this for you. 

Starting in late '93, a lot of other pros started coming onto the net, in
addition to a few others who came on after Peter but before then. A probably
incomplete list includes, in alphabetical order: Steve Addlesee, Bill Amend,
Kyle Baker, Steve Blevins, Tom Brevoort, Fred Burke, Louis Bright-Raven, Steve
Campbell, Dan Chichester, Steve Conley, Dwight Decker, Diane Duane, Mark
Evanier, Steve Gerber, Mike Heisler, Matt High, Jay Hosler, Marie Javins, Rich
Johnston, Jeff Lang, Jim Lee, Christian Lichtner, Steve Lieber, Roland Mann,
Tom Peyer, Richard Pini, Dave Rawson, Scott Saavedra, Walt Simonson, Garry
Trudeau, Gary Upshaw, Dan Vado, Martin Wagner, Mark Waid, Lawrence Watt-Evans,
Bob Wayne, Paul Witcover, and Wayne Wong.  Neil Gaiman is occasionally
forwarded posts about Sandman, but is not directly on the net.

The following etiquette has developed around the presence of pros. First off,
they are under no more obligation to read or answer posts than any other
r.a.c.er. It's nice if they do, but they're not paid to do so any more than
anyone else here. It's also considered bad form to ask a question specifically
of a pro about a book or topic with which they have no special association.
For example, it's fine to ask Peter David a question about the Hulk since he
writes it, but not about the Superman books since he doesn't and hasn't
written them and has no special knowledge of them. 

There are, unfortunately, fairly common debates about whether r.a.c.ers either
suck up to or gratuitously flame pros. Probably both are true to an extent. In
general, most r.a.c.ers feel that efforts should be made to treat pros the
same as other r.a.c.ers. Just as you wouldn't gush at or insult a non-pro
poster, you shouldn't do it just because the poster has had work published.

For pros who are both particularly active on r.a.c. and who generate a high
volume of queries or comments about their work, a convention has developed to
call their attention to such posts. Prefix the Subject: of such posts with
their initials or logins in all capital letters, followed by a colon. For
example, if you wanted to address a query to Peter David, you'd have:
Subject: PAD: When will Aquaman encounter Suicide Squid?

The ones this seems to happen with are:
Dan Chichester: DGCHI:
Peter David: PAD:
Mark Evanier: ME:
Steve Gerber: SG:
Steve Lieber: SL:
Mark Waid: MWAID: or WAID:
Dan Vado: DV: or DANSLAVE:

Finally, general compliments/fan mail should be sent to creators via email
rather than posted. Unless the post will be of interest to someone other than
you and the creator, it's bad netiquette to post rather than email.

18. What's the joke behind John Byrne's Next Men's letter column title?

The title is "A Flame About This High". The joke to which this is the
punchline is "You know what really burns my ass?"

19. Where can I get JPEG/GIFs or other scanned comics art?

With a few exceptions (Generation X #1, Cerebus: Operation Crazed
Ferret, and Tom Tomorrow all described in Part 5 of these Welcome messages),
you won't find that information here. It is illegal to post or make
available for FTP scanned in copyrighted art (the by far most common
requests being for same). Yes, it's against copyright even if no one makes
money off of it. Yes, it's against copyright even if you *really* want it
and don't have a scanner to make your own fair use copy. Before posting
about this or other copyright related issues, you are urged to read the
misc.legal copyright FAQ as past evidence has shown that most people do
*not* understand even the basics of copyright law, let alone the nuances.
Hint: If the words "Berne Convention" have no meaning to you and you're
not aware that under it any work is automatically copyrighted as soon as
it is in a fixed form, go read the FAQ first.

Note: there are people watching for this. An r.a.c.er got a cease and desist
email, with a cc: to Marvel, from a Berkeley Systems representative when he
posted images taken from Berkeley's Marvel Screen Saver.

Only images for which the copyright holder provided permission for posting
will be listed in the Welcome messages.

20. What are the email addresses of comics companies?

The following is an alphabetical list of either official company addresses or
addresses of someone who works at the company who's willing to accept email.

Antarctic Press can be reached at:
  antarctic@delphi.com

Dark Horse Comics can be reached at:
  dhc@teleport.com

DC Comics can be reached at:
  dcconline@aol.com

Double Diamond Press can be reached at: 
  hepcats@eden.com

Harris Comics can be reached at:
  smb25@columbia.edu

Image Comics can be reached at:
  kellyimage@aol.com

Malibu Comics can be reached at:
  rolandmann@aol.com

Marvel Comics can be reached at:
  marvelcomics@genie.geis.com

Sky Comics can be reached at:
  souder@rs4.tcs.tulane.edu

Slave Labor Graphics can be reached at:
  danslave@aol.com

WaRP Graphics can be reached at:
  rpini@delphi.com

Westfield Comics (subscription service) can be reached at:
  JWEGERT@DELPHI.COM  
  will send a free catalog if you send name and address.

World Comics can be reached at:
  megalon@teleport.com

To the best of my knowledge, no other companies are formally on the net,
as opposed to people who happen to work for companies.

23. What are the Ages of comics?

If you read comics for any length of time, you'll encounter references to
Golden Age and Silver Age comics. While I'm personally fond of the science
fiction definition of Golden Age ("The Golden Age of science fiction is
twelve" i.e. whatever you read at that age was your Golden Age), in comics
it's generally used to refer to comics from the 30s and 40s and those
superhero comics that continued into the 50s. There is then a gap of a few
years with no real name for the comics published in that period. The Silver
Age is generally considered to have begun with either the first appearance
of the Martian Manhunter in Detective Comics, or the Barry Allen Flash in
Showcase, both around 1955. However, Marvel's Silver Age is considered to
start with the publication of Fantastic Four #1.

As for the ending date of the Silver Age, it gets fuzzy. Pretty much all of
the 60s and little of the 70s are included. Two events suggested for the
end of the Silver Age are Jack Kirby's move from Marvel to DC and Mort
Weisinger's retirement as editor of the Superman line.

There is no clearly defined Age after the Silver Age, although a number of
possibilities such as Platinum, Bronze, Independent, and (in more depressed
moments) Mylar have been suggested. A number of different events signifying
the start of new ages have also been suggested, such as Giant-Size X-Men #1
(new X-Men introduction), Cerebus and Elfquest #1 (start of major
groundlevel/self-publishing), Pacific Comics startup (first major independent
line), DC's Crisis, and even as late as Image Comics startup (first creator
owned books to fight it out with Marvel and DC for the top of the sales
charts). It can be amusing to chat about it, but it's doubtful that any real
conclusions will be reached; they haven't been so far, and there've been a
*lot* of iterations of this discussion over the years.

24. How can I become a pro comics writer or artist?

Let's start with the bad news. Right now, there are basically four ways
to become a pro comics writer.

1) Get a job with a comics company. This way, you'll know of needed stories
the day they're needed, the editors will know you, etc. Notice how many new
Marvel writers are Marvel assistant editors or have other jobs at Marvel?

2) Get a reputation for writing outside the comics field. DC seems more 
open to this than other companies (Nancy Collins, Rachel Pollack, Lewis
Shiner, Paul Dini, Sam Hamm, etc.), but if Stephen King walked into Marvel
and said he wanted to write a comic, they'd fall over themselves getting
him one.

3) Learn to draw. Sort of like one, but wartists are becoming more and
more common these days. But see below for artists.	

4) Start your own comic or comic company. Expect to lose money. But you'll
get to write your own comic without company constraints, and you'll have
a portfolio if you decide to go for the big time. And who knows; it might
even take off and make money. But don't count on it or quit your day job
until you're sure based on several issues worth of sales.

Notice that none of these say "Write up one page story submissions and
mail them to a company". To be blunt, in the current market, your odds of
getting in doing that are incredibly low. You might, and I'll be the first
to congratulate you if you can pull it off, but frankly the four ways 
mentioned here are *much* more likely to succeed. And note that none of
them offer great odds either.

Becoming a pro comics artist is a lot easier, but still tough. As the old
joke about making chicken soup goes, first catch a chicken. Or in this case,
actually be able to draw at a professional level of quality.  What you need
to do is make up a portfolio showing that you can draw comics, and not just
pin-ups. Do about 4-6 pages of storytelling, with multiple panels on the
pages showing that you can work with the flow of a story. Don't skimp on
backgrounds; show you can draw buildings, cars, trees, civilians not in skin
tight suits, etc. Also, when you do this, note your speed. If you can't draw
one professionally ready page per working day, you're too slow for a monthly
book. Keep this in mind when looking for work; you can kill your rep by
claiming to be much faster than you are and then blowing deadlines due to
the lie catching up with you.

Then you can either mail (photocopies) of your art to companies, or, if you
can, go to any major comics conventions in your area and show your work to
editors and possibly artists at the company tables. At the very least,
you'll get some useful criticism of your work. At the best, you may end up
getting an assignment.

There's also the Joe Kubert School in New Jersey, founded by long time 
comics artist Joe Kubert. It's oriented towards producing comics artists,
and a number of alumni have gotten jobs in the industry. Doesn't hurt in
making contacts either.

* 25. When is the 1995 San Diego Comics Convention

The 1995 convention takes place July 27-30, and is the 26th anniversary
show.  This is the largest comics convention in North America, with 
literally thousands of pros, a huge dealer's room, and interesting 
programming. Not to mention that the r.a.c. trivia team, the Black Ink 
Irregulars, has won the trivia bowl the last three years, resulting in
two members being banned from the '95 competition (but it looks like we'll
be going up against a pro team as a special event)

	San Diego Comic Convention
	P.O. Box 128458
	San Diego, CA 92112-8458
	Tel: (619) 491-2475
	Fax: (619) 544-0743

There is a World Wide Web page with up to the minute information at
 http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/jtait/sdcc.html
 (currently about the '94 con, but you can see the programming and
 get a feel for the scope of the con)
(see part 5 of the Welcome messages for information about WWW)

26. Where can I buy original comics art?

OK, so strictly speaking, this isn't a FAQ. However, the following
strikes me as useful enough info to include here.

Four Color Images, the comic art gallery, sells original art by a large
number of comics artists. You can get a catalogue from them for $3
by writing: F.C.I., 524 Broadway, Suite 602, NYC, NY, 10012. Phone:
212-431-4234 (Prices range from $50 to $5,000)

27. What letter columns can I e-mail to?

DAREDEVIL: send to the writer, Dan Chichester, at dgchi@aol.com
  Include "Red Lines" or "DD Letter Column" in the subject header.
  Include real name and snail address.

DON SIMPSON'S BIZARRE HEROES:  73613.1376@compuserve.com 
  Note: the letters can be inserted directly from CIS into his publishing
  program, so he requests that you include a greeting (Dear Don, etc.)
  and use paragraphs and tabs, followed by your name and email address.
  In other words, send email exactly as you'd like it to appear in the
  letter column.

HAWKMAN: send to the artist, Steven Lieber, at 72674.2012@compuserve.com
  Note: This costs Steve $.15 per message, which he's paying for himself,
  so only send him publishable letters at this address.

HEPCATS: hepcats@eden.com

26. What was the first #0 issue?

Zap Comix #0 came out in the late 60s/early 70s. Apparently the art to what
would have been Zap #1 was stolen, and Robert Crumb did new art that became
the published Zap #1. The art was later recovered, and printed as Zap #0.

27. Whatever happened to D'arc Tangent, Grimjack, Big Numbers, Miracleman,
    Akira, and 1963?

These are all series at least seemingly vanished without having actually
been cancelled, and in the midst of an active storyline. There are different
reasons for each.

D'ARC TANGENT: One issue of this came out back around 1982 from the team of
Phil Foglio, Connor Freff Cochran (who at the time went only by Freff), and
Melissa Singer. It was good and is missed. Foglio and Freff had a serious
falling out by the time of issue two, leading to lawyers. I won't try to
explain that, as both sides still have very different explanations. Instead,
here's the current, legally determined, status. Foglio has rights to do a DT
comic as of April 20, 1995. DT ideas from Freff and Singer are not to be
used. Should there be a movie, Freff and Singer control any comic book
adaptation of it. Freff has original novel rights, and Singer has all
secondary rights. As of 1993, Freff was working on DT screenplays, but I've
no further knowledge of this. As of late 1994, Foglio stated not to expect
any D'arc Tangent work from him until at least after the current 8 issue
Buck Godot series wraps up, as he's busy with that, Xxxenophile, and doing
work for the Magic:The Addiction people.

GRIMJACK: Creator John Ostrander would like to start up Grimjack again, but
the rights are held by what's left of First Comics after various corporate
buyouts and mergers. He's said that he gets the rights back after five years
without publication though. There may also be a question about the ownership
of Cynosure, since it was both created by someone else, and used extensively
within the First "universe". Cynosure is also the name of a new comic by
completely separate people, so it's not even clear what the trademark status
is. On the other hand, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski is currently
working on a script for a Grimjack feature film. It'll be an adaptation of
the Demon Wars/Dancer storyline, and JMS plans to be as true to the source
as possible. He's a long time comics fan and should do a good job.

BIG NUMBERS: Two issues of the twelve issue series came out, written by Alan
Moore and drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz. It's unclear whether #3 with art by
Sienkiewicz was completed or not. At any rate, the book went on hiatus in
order to build up inventory. Sienkiewicz left the project, and was replaced
by his former assistant Al Columbia. Columbia apparently finished the art
for one issue, and then destroyed it (the two most common stories are either
he burned it or tore it up and make a collage out of it). Moore would like
to see it finished, but hasn't found an artist for it.

MIRACLEMAN: Was published by Eclipse Comics, which basically disentegrated
for both market and personal reasons. The problem is that Miracleman is
owned by a combination of Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham (most recent
creators, and owners of Alan Moore's original share), Eclipse (which is
apparently about to go bottom up as a company), and possibly by the original
British publisher although the last is less certain. At any rate, in order
for it to be published again, all owners would have to agree as to where,
when, and under what terms. This is unlikely to happen any time soon.

AKIRA: According to its US editor, Marie Javins, Akira #34-38 will be
monthly and finish in mid-'95. #38 is half story and half pinups. #39 #39 is
a tribute issue by Western artists and writers, including Moebius, Mark
Texeira, Alex Toth, Kent Williams.

1963: The mini-series finished, and was supposed to be wrapped up in an
80-page Giant with artwork by the Image founders as the 1963 characters
crossed over with the present day Imageverse. This hasn't happened, and it
is rumored that the delays lie with the artwork. It's not on the schedule,
and no one seems to know when or if it'll be coming out.  Meanwhile, the
1963 characters were used in an issue of Shadowhawk.

27. What's this about X-Men being cancelled?

Marvel has announced that it's "discontinuing" all the current X-Men family
titles in January and replacing them with new ones set in an alternative
world based on a changed event of 20 years ago. Rumor has it that the books
will revert back to normal after four months, possibly with spun-off new
series set in the alternative world, and possibly taking advantage to make
some changes/patches/retcons to X-continuity. Peter David has called this
"Xerox Hour" after DC's recently completed Zero Hour, along with an X pun.

The books affected and their "replacement" titles are:

X-Men => Mutants
Uncanny X-Men => Uncanny Mutants
Wolverine => Weapon X
X-Factor => Factor-X
Excalibur => X-Calibre
X-Force => Gambit and the X-Ternals
Generation X => Generation Next
X-Men Unlimited => X-Men Chronicles
Cable => X-Man

All of the replacements start at #1. X-Force's replacement was originally
called X-Posse, but due to everyone's reaction being "You're kidding,
right?" it will have a different title of Gambit And The X-Ternals.
Generation Next was originally New Mutants #101, but was changed for 
unknown reasons.

Discussion of this event should take place on rec.arts.comics.xbooks only.
For at least the time being, its name will *not* be changed to 
rec.arts.comics.mbooks. :-)

[end of part 3]

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