
                   " C O M I C   B O O K   E - M A G "
__________________________________________________________________________
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                   Issue 2 - Volume 1 - March 13, 1995

     "Brought to you from the fine folks at the COMIC BOOK Network!"

                   Editors: Ed Dukeshire & Mike Imboden
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                    T A B L E   O F   C O N T E N T S
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

       [-1-] The Bullpen ........................ Ed Dukeshire
       [-2-] The 25th Hour ...................... Mike Imboden
       [-3-] Reviews
              Vampirella Cards .................. Jeff Watts
              Tick Toys ......................... Mike Imboden
       [-4-] Change In The Air .................. William Hughes
       [-5-] CSNsider ........................... David Leblanc
       [-6-] Comicunications .................... Ryan Brewster
       [-7-] Feedback ........................... Readers
       [-8-] BBSes Linked into CBN .............. CBN Staff
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/--[-1-]--/  THE BULLPEN  /----------------------------------------------/

 Happenings in the Comic Book Network!
 by Ed Dukeshire

 I can never think of what to write in this column.  Soooo, I'm going to
 take this opportunity to run through some of the current message chains
 happening within the Comic Book Network echos.  In no particular order.

 1. MOVIES AND TV

    Major talk about the rumors pertaining to Jon Bon Jovi being cast
    as the star of the planned CROW 2 movie.  Seems everyone believes
    this is going to be a major mistake.  But, then again, didn't every-
    one say that about Keaton being cast as Wayne/Batman?  <g>

 2. WRITERS & ARTISTS

    It's been pretty quiet in this area lately, but I was happy to see
    the echo start picking up once again.  Jesse Willey just uploaded
    his latest chapters of "Bunch'D'Up Society" (a fanfic about super
    heroes in the future. "Bunch'D'Up League" (fanfic monotonous
    multiverse epic <-- Jesse's words, not mine! <g>).  And something
    UnBunch'd - "CYBERNET WARRIOR".  Check them out if you get a
    chance!

 3. MARVEL COMICS

    Much talk of Marvel and Malibu tossing their characters into each
    others comics.  Will this eventually lead to Marvel just eliminating
    the Ultraverse altogether?  Time will tell on this one.

 4. DC COMICS

    Mike Grell's WARLORD is the topic of discussion in this echo.  Also,
    John Keady drops us his DC reviews for the week.  Maybe I can get
    John to allow us to post his reviews in this e-mag?  How about it
    John?

 5. IMAGE COMICS

    GROO news and rumors!  The news is that WILDSTORM will be releasing
    a card set, rumor is the possibility of a GROO animation series!
    Also a happy birthday to Mark Evanier!

 6. COMIC ISSUES

    Wow!  Marvel, Heroes World, DC, Diamond, Capital ... what else is
    there to say?  Oh!  There are a few message postings of the recent
    John Byrne AOL conference about him taking over the WONDER WOMAN run.
    This, I'm looking forward to!

 7. SMALL PRESS / INDEPENDENTS

    Reminicing over the old NEXUS black and white issues, as well as
    mention of the upcoming card set.  William Hughes posts some great
    "Upcoming Titles to Try", hand picked by the man from this month's
    PREVIEWS.

 8. ACCLAIM COMICS

    BirthQuake is happening!!  Now's the time to check out what's
    going on with the Valiant universe.

 There you have it!  That pretty much sums up current message topics
 the past week.  I actually enjoyed giving you the run down and may
 do so again in the future. <g>

 Catch ya next iss!

  -- ed

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/--[-2-]--/  THE 25TH HOUR  /--------------------------------------------/

 The 25th Hour
 by Mike Imboden
 
 
 I know it's only March, so this is kinda early, but I figured I'd
 forget about this when it was time, so here now is what I'm dressing up
 as on Halloween.
 
 My three year old son has decided he wants a Spider-Man costume. Ok,
 that's easy. I've seen 'em for $25. So he'll get one. (wish I had one).
 So since his costume is easy I needed to think of something to tie in
 with it, but what? The proportions would be off if I was Venom or some
 other evil doer, and although I'm not TOO particular on the look of the
 costume, it needs to look close. So I started thinking of some large
 people Spidey has squared off against and quickly thought of one very
 simple person to do; Wilson "Kingpin" Fisk. A pair of slacks, a white
 sports coat, a cane, some dress shoes, a flouncy scarf and one of those
 nifty "bald head" wigs. It's a snap. Remind me in November and I'll get
 some pictures scanned and turned into GIFs of JPGs or something.
 
 Last year the wife and I went out as Gilligan and the Skipper. This was
 also easy - tan slacks, a blue polo shirt and a captain's hat for me
 (plus some white hair spray) and a red and white rugby shirt, white
 pants and a "Gilligan hat" for the Wife. I gotta admit, it was fun to
 have an excuse to whack her over the head with something.  :)
 
 Three years ago we tried the comic-themed thing. The Wife made up a
 real neat Flash costume for me which was quite nice looking considering
 it was made from red sweat pants, a red sweatshirt and a few squares of
 yellow felt and a couple pipe cleaners. It made me run faster too, I
 think. The Wife was a bit harder. While more than a couple shades
 on the plus side of good looking, she's a bit tall. Taller than me by
 about four inches. Plus, to be nice, she doesn't exactly have the
 figure to flounce around in say a Wonder Woman outfit or a skin-tight
 Catwoman get up. That left a bunch of evil doers and She Hulk. The Wife
 didn't want to be a bad guy, so we got a couple tubes of green make up,
 some green hair spray and went to town. The Wife also fashioned an
 outfit that looked somewhat like the costume Jennifer Walters wore as
 an Avenger. I only wish we had some decent pictures of that year.
 
 So how about you? Do you have any relatively quick and easy costumes to
 share with everyone else? Let's hear 'em! I have a nifty prize for the
 best one as judged by myself waiting for your efforts. Send in your
 ideas to me at ComicBook Net node number 23:403/0 or 23:403/2 or Fido
 node 1:109/748. I can be reached via the Internet at
 mike.imboden@f48.n109.z1.fidonet.org but I'm not sure how reliable that
 is as I've yet to recieve mail that way. And if you'd prefer to snail
 mail me you can do so by dropping a line to Mike Imboden c/o Hikeeba
 Comics, PO BOX 1423, Frederick, MD 21702-0423.
 
 Oh, and for those of you who've always wondered what She-Hulk would
 have looked like had Byrne NOT been doing a code approved book all I
 can say is "Weird. Naked, green women look weird."
 
 
 Foam packing peanuts!
 -M!ke
-= /\/\!ke =-
mike.imboden@f748.n109.z1.fidonet.org
Fido -> 1:109/748     CBN -> 23:403/2

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/--[-3-]--/  REVIEWS  /--------------------------------------------------/

 Vampirella Cards
 by Jeff Watts

Just bought a box of the new Vampirella Cards from Topps and thought I
would give you guys the lowdown on the set......

This card set is Harris Comic's mealticket Vampirella's very first issue.
It consists of 90 "common" cards, 6 "Horror Glow" chase cards, and 6
oversized B/W "Vampirella Pin-Up Gallery" cards inserted one per box.  As
an added incentive to spend your hard earned cash there is also a 90 card
"Gold" set which mirrors the common set except for the addition of gold
colored foil stamping instead of the normal red foil.  The box contains 24
packs of 11 cards each, and each pack is supposed to contain either a gold
card or chase card in addition to 10 "commons".  I found this ratio to be
right on the mark as I found 22 gold cards and 2 of the "Horror Glow"
cards in my box.  Collation of my box was excellent as I was able to
collate 2 complete sets of commons.  The complete breakdown appears
below......

264 total cards

90 cards for set 1
90 cards for set 2
22 "Gold" cards
 2 "Horror Glow" cards
58 triples
 2 quadruples

My dealer also opened a box and got similar results.  Your results of
course may vary since we are dealing with Topps here......

The artwork of the cards contains a mix of classic Warren artwork by such
luminaries as Frazetta, Sanjulian, Trina Robbins and Jose Gonzales.  There
is also a 9 card subset of photos of the "official" Vampirella model, the
backs of which form a large pinup when assembled in a 9 pocket card
holder.  There is a set devoted to reprints of some of the best of the
current Harris comics artists.  And there is also a set titled "New
Visions" produced by such heavy hitters as Boris, Julie Bell, George
Perez, and Simon Bisley among others.  The six card "Horror Glow" set is
produced by artists with Image comics.  My two cards were done by Jae Lee
and by Jason Pearson.

All in all I think this set is a good buy for anyone who likes Vampirella
and at $35.00 is priced right.  I was very happy with both the collation
and the quality of the cards.

-Jeff-


-------------------------------------------------------------------------/

 The Tick Toys
 by Mike Imboden


   I finally got my hands on a couple of the The Tick toys. The store I
   found them at only had The Tick and Arthur so I quickly grabbed up
   two of each, one for me, one for the heir to the throne, and rushed
   home.
 
   We opened our toys and started playing with them and right away I
   found a problem. More on that in a second..
 
   The toys LOOK nice. They are bigger than your average action figure,
   standing about six inches tall (my Spidey guys average about 4 3/4).
   The detail is good, but that's easy considering they are simple
   characters to draw in the first place.
 
   So far, so good. If I was to just open them and display them I'd be
   fine, (which is what I'll do for the most part).
 
   However, they aren't too playable. The Tick only moves in a few
   places; The arms swing up and down, the head turns and he turns at
   the waist. NO leg action at all.  :(
   Arthur's legs and arms move, no head or waist action.
 
   Each has a special action and the toys are packaged with the
   "feature" as pasrt of it's name. The Tick is "Bounding Tick" and
   Arthur is "Fluttering Arthur". The names are pretty indicative of the
   action - Arthur's is neat - his wings flap back and forth when you
   press the button on his back. The only problem, (which I mentioned
   earlier), is that the wings pop off easily. Dave dropped his and the
   right wing popped right out. I guess that's partially good, I'd
   rather see the wing pop off than break.
   The Tick bounds. Actually, it's more like he springs forward.What you
   do is stick your thumb on this little tab on Tick's back and push
   down. The Tick's torso sinks down to his waist and then you sorta
   pull your thumb down and off the tab - The Tick then "bounds" forward
   about a foot and lands squarely on his belly. Good for a laugh but
   not practical for crime fighting.
 
   The toys are sturdy, (except for Arthur's "breakaway" wings) and have
   help up to the play testing of the master.
 
   Other figures include;
 
   Sewar Spray Sewar Urchin. (UGH!)
   Pose Striking Die Fledermaus  (this I GOTTA have)
   Projectile Human Bullet  (probably like the Tick's "power")
   Man Eating Cow  (this I GOTTA see)
   Death Hug Dean
   Growing Dinosaur Neil  (hmmmmmm)
   Grasping El Seed
   Exploding Dyna-Mole.
 
   (I'm kinda miffed that there's no American Maid (hubba hubba) or a
   Chairface Chippendale)....
 
   My bottom line? If you like The Tick, grab these guys and rip open
   the package and play til you drop. If you don't like The Tick, well,
   why would buy them? (if you just collect the things they will look
   very nice left in the packaging).
 
 
M!ke
***
  Apex v4  I...AM...NOT...A...ROACH.  I_AM_A_TICK.
***

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/--[-4-]--/  Change In The Air  /----------------------------------------/

 Change In The Air
 by William Hughes


By now I'm sure everyone has heard about Marvel's shake-up of the Direct
Market. Opinions are varied as to how this will effect the retailers and
fanbase, but it's a certainty that the Direct Market as we've known it
is over.
 
While no word has been released as of yet concerning discount levels and
terms to retailers, I think it's a safe bet that Marvel is firmly in the
driver's seat in the comic book industry at the moment. Whether or not
this effects the price you pay for comics immediately or not, rest
assured it will in the long run. Even if Marvel leaves the discount
levels to retailers exactly the same for the time being, sooner or later
they are going to get greedy(er) and demand more money for their
product, effectively cutting the throats of hundreds of retailers, and
noone can stop them. Noone but you. That's right, you the consumer can
send a message to Marvel Comics and the comic industry as a whole, by
saying enough is enough. I know alot of you are thinking, "yeah, this
sucks, but I gotta have my X-Men!" Well, what if I were to tell you that
by buying the X-Men, you were helping to put your retailer out of
business, and helping Marvel kill the hobby? In the long run, that's
exactly what you'd be doing by supporting Marvel's move into the direct
market. As long as the demand for their product is there, Marvel will
continue to make these types of business decisions, and these kinds of
decisions are damaging the hobby. It's killing off diversity because
without the distributors, retailers will have to order direct from the
smaller publishers. How many small publishers do you think a retailer
can order from individually in a month? That means you may miss out on
the next STRANGERS IN PARADISE, or BONE because of Marvel Comics. And do
you think they care? Of course not. They don't care about the comic book
industry, all they care about is there own market share, no matter how
small that market may be.
 
Marvel won't stop there, the next stage is cutting out the retailer all
together. What sort of quality comics do you think you'll find if the
only game in town is a Marvel store?
 
The only thing to do is to boycott Marvel Comics entirely. Replace every
Marvel book you buy with another companies, to send a message to Marvel
while still supporting your retailer. Believe me, he'll be tickled pink
to discover he no longer has to bow down to the blackmail of Marvel
Comics.
 
And what Marvel books are worth a crap anyway? The only titles I can
think of are HULK, X-MEN and the perhaps the SPIDERMAN titles.  Heck,
if it'll help you kick the Marvel habit, I'll offer you some choices to
pick in place of the Marvel Comics, that you'll be sure to enjoy , and
it'll help you sleep better at night knowing your not helping to kill an
industry.
 
THE HULK: Seems that Peter David has quite a following for this title.
Well, David doesn't just write one book, or for one company. Check out
his work on AQUAMAN from DC, maybe that'll quench your thirst. Maybe THE
PITT from IMAGE will take the place of this book for you. It's certainly
alot easier to become a completist on that title than on The Hulk!
 
X-MEN: Good news on this front. The man who originally made the X-Men
great is returning to a regular series, one that he created. Chris
Claremont is starting a brand new title called SOVEREIGN SEVEN from DC
COMICS. You can be there from the ground floor. Jim Lee's WILDCATS from
IMAGE would certainly remind you of some of the better artwork seen on
the book. And JOHN BYRNE'S NEXT MEN from DARK HORSE is better than the
X-Men anyway, even though it's currently on hiatus, you could probably
find the entire run really cheap.
 
SPIDER-MAN: No question here, Peter Parker fans will love MILESTONE'S
STATIC. Incredibly remeniscent of the high school aged Parker, and best
yet, it's early enough in the run for you to catch history in the
making!
 
Please consider what I'm saying. If you have a Marvel favorite title
that you need help finding a suitable replacement for, drop a note in
here, I'll do my best to steer you towards a suitable replacement!
 
MARVEL COMICS MUST BE STOPPED!!
 
 
Bill Hughes!!
Email Address: william.hughes@p3.f744.n109.z1.fidonet.org.
 
Message written at 4:24pm, on Friday, March 10, 1995.
***
  Apex v4  With great power comes great babes.
  This space for Rent...

__________________________________________________________________________
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/--[-5-]--/  CSNsider  /-------------------------------------------------/

 CSNsider 404
 by David Leblanc


This is the CSNsider from CSN #404, which will be in shops on 3/22/95.
It is reproduced in its entirety with the expressed permission of
Comic Shop News.
 
Original Marvel bullpen vet Don Heck, whose work on Tales of Suspense/
Iron Man and Avengers in the early years of the Marvel Age of Comics
defined those features, died in late February...
 
DC has confirmed that John Byrne will be taking over Wonder Woman with
the 101st issue, shipping July 13th and yes, it will be the original Diana
Prince in the classic Wonder Woman costume!...
 
Barry Windsor-Smith is readying three titles for his own imprint; he is
still negotiating with various publishers to determine who will distribute
his books, which should appear before the end of the year...
 
Jeremiah Chechik has been named as producer for the animated Elfquest
film from Edward R Pressman Film Corporation; look for the film in '96
or '97...
 
Malibu Comics has signed a deal with Pressman Toys to create an UltraForce
board game in 1996; this game will appear after the unveiling of the
UltraForce action figure toy line in January '96...
 
Extreme Studios has signed X-Men Alpha & Omega artist Roger Cruz to handle
the art for the revamping of Youngblood later this year...
 
Bowing to fan requests, Wizards of the Coast has modified plans for its
summer-release Magic: The Gathering Chronicles "best of" card series
featuring highlights from various Magic expansion sets; while they will
feature cards from Legends, Antiquities, Arabian Nights, and The Dark,
they will not include cards from the recently-released Fallen Empires in
the initial Chronicles packs...
 
This fall, The Animated Adventures of Batman & Robin returns to the
Monday-Friday afternoon slot that Batman: The Animated Series originally
occupied...
 
Frank Miller's Sin City: The Big Fat Kill #5, the last issue of the
miniseries, has grown from 32 to 48 pages, offering fans 50% more story
for only $.55 more money; look for it on March 23rd...
 
Antarctic Press had such an overwhelmingly positive response to Ben Dunn's
full-color Warrior Nun Areala that they're offering a 10,000 copy reprinting
(with an all-new front cover) the book to satisfy the incredible demand;
the reprint should be on the comic shop racks by the time you read this...
 
Marvel and Mongolia join forces?  Sort of!  Comic Images has acquired
American distribution rights to the Official X-Men Postage Stamp Collection,
a packaging of the X-Men stamps (featuring art by top X-Men illustrators)
that were issued by Mongolia; look for 'em this summer...
 
Extreme Studios' new Image title Mark 5 is the subject of a dispute between
Image and Dark Horse, which is concerned that the title might be confused
with their own The Mark (Mark 5 is an adaptation of a property optioned
by Tom Cruise for his film production company); no word yet on whether this
will delay the book's release...
 
CSN #404 features a cover feature on Flash Gordon from Marvel, as well as
news and more reviews (we couldn't fit 'em all in last week).
 
The only way to get Comic Shop News is to visit a shop that carries CSN.
The publication costs the shops just $.10 each and is generally free to
customers. If you shop doesn't carry CSN, nag 'em until they do.
After all, isn't your business and satisfaction worth a dime a week?
 
Visit our WWW site!
http://www.actwin.com/csn
 
Ward Batty   wardo@jupiter.netdepot.com
Cliff Biggers   cliffbig@jupiter.netdepot.com
 
(c)1995 CSN, Inc.
 
 *David LeBlanc>              DAVIDL129@AOL.COM
 david.leblanc@gaquatic.iii.net  RIME->5179  FIDO 1:322/518
 
... "Oh god, not Troi's mother again!"          - Entire Crew


__________________________________________________________________________
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/--[-6-]--/  COMICUNICATIONS  /------------------------------------------/

 Comicunications 1.9
 by Ryan Brewster

                                               
                    
                        
                                           
                               
  ------------Your Not-Quite-So-Weekly Comics Journal---------- 
                       

 Volume 1, issue 9                                 Sunday, March 12th, 1995  
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Dark Horse & Frank Miller Respond to Marvel's "tactics":
 
(an official press release from Dark Horse:)
 
On March 2, 1995, a letter was released from Marvel announcing its
intention to distribute its products exclusively through Heroes World
Distribution, the Direct Market distributor it purchased some nine weeks
prior. On that same day, a press release from Marvel announced that Heroes
World would no longer carry non-Marvel product; that release was not sent
to Dark Horse, and so Dark Horse was only notified of this development
when a representative phoned Heroes World to substantiate the rumor. Dark
Horse president and founder Mike Richardson comments on the situation:
 
"Marvel Comics is not an individual. It is a corporate entity required to
justify assorted decisions to its stockholders. It is the mandate of
Marvel's management team to make decisions that affect those stockholders
in a positive way. This is pertinent to discussions of Marvel's latest
moves within the Direct Market because it will help us understand the
motivations behind their recent actions.
 
"When Marvel launched Marvel Mart (a Marvel-run mail-order operation
offering a mix of exclusive and standard Marvel product), there was no
malice intended toward the Direct Market. It was an attempt to increase
profits. Similarly, when it began selling to Wal-Mart through ANCO at a
greater discount than it sold to the direct market, it was not done to
undermine the comic specialty stores; it was done to increase the
company's profit base. 
 
"The exclusive line of Marvel T-shirts which were available only through
mail order; the delivery schedule of the Marvel-owned Toy Biz toys which
favors Toys 'R' Us over the Direct Market; and the recent American
Entertainment exclusive Prime vs. Hulk comic are simply three more cases
of Marvel trying to make profits grow. 
 
"It's important to understand that Marvel bears no ill will toward the
comics specialty market. It has simply shown its desire to invest its
money outside the specialty store market, and its willingness to pursue an
agenda that often conflicts with the overall long-term health of our
market.
 
"Every retailer must now question Marvel's intentions in purchasing Heroes
World. Is this the beginning of a new chapter, a re-focusing on the direct
market stores which have made Marvel an entertainment giant? Or is this an
attempt to gain control of the distribution and retail processes of our
industry? If the former is correct, then this could be a great turning
point for the market. If it's the latter, however, each retailer should
ask himself if a scenario in which an individual has fewer choices and
less control of his own business is a good one.
 
"Last week, Marvel ended relationships with the Direct Market
distributors, the customers who helped 'grow' and finance its business.
The late Carol Kalish, who spearheaded Marvel's movement into the
specialty market for many years, once told me an interesting bit of
information: when she began selling to the direct market in 1982, Marvel
billed $2 million for the entire year. When X-Men #1 was released, in
August 1992, Marvel billed better than $12 million for that single month.
That's staggering growth! Does Marvel plan to re-invest this money into
our market or is Marvel moving away from the trade partners that helped
bring it to its current state of success? Once again, the latter has
serious implications for the consumers, retailers, publishers, and
distributors that make up our industry.
 
"As before, this move is one that the company believes to be good for
Marvel. In its company catalogue, Marvel points to dissatisfaction with
current performance levels as the reason for the dramatic change. It leads
one to believe that further changes will be made if performance doesn't
improve. One can only hope that these changes will not devastate a market
that has served our industry well.
 
"Dark Horse will respond to any changes in the marketplace in a manner
that we believe is in the best interests of Dark Horse, its customers, and
creators. Dark Horse has grown by re-investing profits back into the
direct sales market and intends to do so in the future. For Dark Horse,
this is the correct way to conduct business."
 
Dark Horse Comics began in the back room of a comic-book specialty store
in 1986. Today, they are the fourth largest publisher in their chosen
market. Dark Horse is proud to do its part in growing the direct sales
market by publishing the most diverse line of quality comics in the
industry.
 
###
 
And Frank's response:
 
In light of current events as regards Marvel Comics and Heroes World, Dark
Horse asked one of its favorite authors, Frank Miller, to comment on the
situation:
 
"Can everybody stop apologizing for them now? For decades, Marvel Comics
has denied who created their characters, who made their comics worth
reading.  Now, having driven the best talent away, they face plummeting
sales.  Desperate, and terminably unable to admit that it is their own
historic mistake that has made their comics so lousy, they turn on the
distributors and merchants themselves, applying the same grab-it-all,
control-it-all mentality that drove the writers and artists and readers
away.  You folks who distribute the comics, now you know exactly what they
did to the artists who gave loyal service to Marvel, who showed Marvel
goodwill.
   
"Can everybody stop apologizing for them now?  No, it ain't just
business.  It's the livelihoods of a lot of people who have done their
best to sell Marvel Comics.  It's the future of a vital industry and a
unique story form.  It's the future of comics.  With their latest, crude,
clumsy attempt to reverse the course of comics history, Marvel Comics
resembles nothing more than the last, and final, Soviet Parliament.  The
old, corrupt order has broken down.  So they've seized the building and
ordered everybody to obey them.  Then, as now, the only question is whose
side the army will take.  The army, in our case, is the retailers, and the
readers.
   
"Marvel Comics is out of steam.  They aren't even trying to compete on a
creative level.  They've declared war on the free market.  They've made it
clear that they want to exercise dictatorial power over the comics market,
and, from all appearances, they're willing to destroy the market before
they are willing to change their stupid policies or to take their proper
place in the market as a fading giant.
 
"Those drunken old Soviets couldn't reverse history.  Neither will Marvel
Comics.  We are headed for better times and better comics, with or without
Marvel Comics.  They'll spill a lot of blood and cause a lot of harm on
their way down.  They may even destroy what Phil Seuling began and so many
others have busted their butts to build.  But, ultimately, they're just
one publisher among many, one bloated, old symbol of an order best left in
our past.
   
"My very best wishes to all of you who run or are employed in comic book
shops.  Marvel's just made a tough year a whole lot tougher.  Good luck!"
 
Frank Miller is the author of Sin City, the Martha Washington epic, and
The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot. He is one of the seven founding
members of Legend.
 
###
 
Other Rumors abound:
 
   Other Rumors suggest that Marvel Comics has also purchased Capital City 
Distribution, (One that I find hard to believe, since they have filed a 
lawsuit against Marvel...) and that DC and Image are going exclusive with 
Diamond.  Some even claim that Marvel has bought Diamond!  
 
 
Marvel DOES Buy Another Business:
 
   It has been confirmed, however, that Marvel Comics has indeed purchased
Skybox. I don't have the terms of the deal yet, but I believe they paid 
upwards of $150 million for the trading card company.
 
 
Gen13 comes with multiple covers:
 
   Rumors imply that Image's Gen13 Vol. 2 #1 will be released with 13 
variant covers.  I wouldn't be too surprised..... >:(
 
 
Valiant's own Earth2?:
 
   Word has it that Acclaim Comics is in the development stages of a new
sub-universe imprint within the Valiant Universe; one created by the Valiant 
superhero Solar. Acclaim is also attempting to develop more Vertigo-like 
books with their Windjammer imprint.
 
 
              C O M I C U N I C A T I O N S   F E A T U R E :
 
 
                      A Good, Hard Look At Marvel
 
   Marvel has been doing some mighty fishy things lately.
 
   They have been "devouring companies like popcorn", having purchased 
Fleer Trading Cards, Welsh Publishing, Heroes' World Distribution, Skybox
Trading Cards and Malibu Comics all within the last year or so, as well as 
reaching an agreement with Disney to publish comics created on their 
characters. I apologize in advance for anything I missed... it's a lot to 
keep track of.
 
   And now this huge behemoth is available ONLY through Heroes' World.  
Diamond can't carry Marvel, nor can Capitol, those two being the largest 
comic distribution companies in the country (and possibly the world?).
 
   We now have to decide whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.  
This is very difficult for us to do.
 
   First of all, we all tend to feel an impending sense of doom when taking
this all in. We look at what Marvel's doing and go "Ugh. This is terrible. 
Those guys are out to make a quick buck and, in the process, are going to 
compLETEly destroy the comics industry." That is the general, emotional 
way to assess the situation.
 
   However, there are many different possibilities that open up as a result
of Marvel's Actions:
 
THEORY #1: The Apocalypse Theory
 
   This theory claims that Marvel's actions with bring upon the complete
and utter ruination of the comics industry. While I do not believe for one 
moment that the comics MEDIUM will ever be destroyed, the industry as we 
know it very well may be.
 
   As a result of Marvel going exclusive with Heroes' World, retailers
are forced to deal with multiple distributors to fill their readers' 
requests. Because Marvel made up such a large amount of their former 
clients' earnings, these clients (Capital, Diamond, etc) are forced to 
lower dealer discounts to compensate for losses. Heroes' World's discounts 
weren't very high to begin with. The retailers begin to dwindle in number 
as one store after another goes under because of diving profits.
 
   Because the retailers are so few in number, the aforementioned 
distributors go belly-up, and the few remaining either go under, or join 
Marvel's upcoming store franchise...
 
   The Direct Market is Destroyed.
 
   The loss of the direct market proves fatal to such publishers as Dark
Horse, Viz and Antarctic, but Acclaim, DC and Image manage to stay afloat 
through newsstand distribution. Acclaim and Warner agree to sell their 
properties to Marvel because of their staggering losses. Image remains 
defiant. Self-publishers rely on word-of-mouth and trade journals 
distributed through newsstands. These strategies fail when the journals go 
under, and the self-publishers eventually die out.
 
   Only Marvel and Image remain.
 
   Marvel discontinues its comics department to concentrate on development
of superhero movies, computer games and other such nonsense based on their
properties. Image dies a slow, painful death, and the comics industry is 
destroyed.
 
   Only Marvel smiles.
 
Theory #2: The "If it's broke, Fix it" theory:
 
   This theory claims that the industry is in such decline that this 
will actually provide a much-needed rejuvination. The industry is right now 
CONSIDERABLY below where it was just a few years ago.
 
   Because of Marvel's aggressive efforts to expand, investors are 
attracted. Readers follow Marvels' superheroes from the movie and TV 
screens to the comic books to follow their continuing adventures. Through 
these comic books, they are exposed to other sources of comics, and begin 
to find themselves poking around in comics stores.  
 
   In the comics stores, these readers find a wealth of new characters
to read about. Intrigued, they begin sampling other comics while they 
continue to read their current favorite Marvel comics.  
 
   Other comics companies enjoy increased readership and begin to expand 
themselves while new comics companies begin to surface. Because the growth 
is gradual and caused by readers rather than speculators, the industry's 
growth is more secure.  
 
   Eventually, larger companies like DC, Acclaim, Dark Horse and Image 
create (or buy out..) their own distribution systems. The Direct Market 
becomes TRULY DIRECT, with no middle-man distributor. The competing 
companies begin to offer retailers better discounts. The retailers take 
more risks, and the results are reflected by the fans picking up more and 
more books. The industry becomes about as big as the paperback book 
industry or the video industry.  
 
   Everyone smiles.
 
Theory #3: The Pebble-in-a-stream Theory:
 
   This theory claims that Marvel's actions will backfire on them and 
they will come crawling back to Diamond and Capital. The industry goes 
back to business as usual...
      
   The Marvel/Capital lawsuit remains in court as neither side gains the
upper hand.
 
   Retailers fail to respond positively to Marvel's exclusive distribution
and Marvel suffers a huge loss of sales. Marvel is forced to sell some of 
their departments to other interests.
   
   Heroes' World goes belly-up, and Marvel comes back to Diamond and 
Capital with their tail between their legs.

   The rest of the industry smiles.
 
 
   Regardless of which theory pans out, I do not believe that the comic
MEDIUM will in any way be diminished. The "Comic Industry" to which I 
refer, is more accurately, the "Direct Comic Industry".
 
   I firmly believe that nothing Marvel does or tries to do can destroy
an entire medium.
 
   Comics are here to stay, in ONE form or another. :)
 
________________________________________________________________________
Legal Mumbo-Jumbo: Copyright (c) Ryan Brewster, 1994. Feel free to 
distribute in its entirety.
---
  RM 1.3 02322  You always swat where he's not, or if he is aha! a spot.

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/--[-8-]--/  BULLETIN BOARDS LINKED INTO THE COMICBOOK NETWORK  /--------/

 +----------------------------+
 |  The ComicBook Network !!  |  A message network devoted to Comic
 +----------------------------+  Fans, Collectors, and Professionals!
                                 ----  ----------      -------------

  Here the most up-to-date node listing for the COMICBOOK NETWORK

 - 2 new systems have linked in since the last issue!

           F=FIDO    Q=QWK    B=Both     *=Major HUB

 B  Asgard.TW BBS          West Islip    NY  516-422-4225  Tom Pemberton
 F  Snart's Dreamland      Collinsville  OK  918-371-0980  Jeff Bennett

 F* Longview On-Line!      Longview      WA  206-577-7358  Jeanne Lejon
 B  The Gamma Quadrant     Harlingen     TX  210-421-2277  Greg Imel
 B  The Chess Board        Grand Prairie TX  214-641-1136  Ken Givens
 B* FIAWOL/MSConnections   Irving        TX  214-790-6472  Bobb Waller
 F  Star Streams           Waxahachie    TX  214-938-7115  Michael Rudolf
 B  The Dog's House        Gaithersburg  MD  301-216-0637  Andrew Ohnstad
 Q  Highlander's Inn       Brandywine    MD  301-579-2776  Eric Moon
 B  Zoneland BBS           Gaithersburg  MD  301-601-9731  Bob Hair
 B* The Daily Planet BBS   Frederick     MD  301-831-8057  Mike Imboden
 Q  Megabyte BBS           Gaithersburg  MD  301-977-0791  Matt Abrams
 F  Intl. Comic Network    Dearborn Hgts MI  313-565-8464  Anthony Palacio
 F  LetsPC BBS             Oklahoma City OK  405-672-0615  Hyun Nam
 F* The Black Hole BBS     Oklahoma City OK  405-728-7960  Craig Smith
 F  Flamingo               Melbourne     FL  407-253-0782  Genie Bohn
 Q* DJ Dave's Domain       Agawam        MA  413-789-6533  David Scarpa
 F  3D Art Forum Canada    Etobicoke     ON  416-778-6652  Gord Davis
 F* Karate & Comics & ...  Russelville   AR  501-968-3910  Robert Wood
 F  New Order              Radcliff      KY  502-351-3084  Daniel Owens
 F* Arkham Asylum          Haverhill     MA  508-372-2258  Ed Dukeshire
 F  Performance Plus       Methuen       MA  508-688-5209  Brian Morison
 B  Keystone BBS           Shrewsbury    MA  508-753-3767  John Harris
 B  Call Again Soon        Worcester     MA  508-791-1281  Joe Johnson
 F  Global Aquatics BBS    Worcester     MA  508-798-5647  John Murphy
 F  HellFire BBS           S. Dartmouth  MA  508-979-8930  Brock Cordeiro
 F  Muskrat & Heatwave     New Bedford   MA  508-984-5321  Dennis Racine
 F  Metropolis BBS         New Bedford   MA  508-994-4687  Bob Racine
 F  Archives BBS           Acushnet      MA  508-995-0085  John Viera
 Q  Medics Meeting House   Hinsdale      NH  603-256-6931  Doug Munson
 F  Venom's World          Rollinsford   NH  603-743-4188  Ira Locke
 F  Gananoque System's     Gananoque     ON  613-382-1788  Mike Serson
 F* The Menagerie          Kalamazoo     MI  616-349-9438  Rick O'Dell
 B  Crystal Aerie          Arlington     VA  703-415-0134  Spencer Greenwald
 F* The RASTER Line        Houston       TX  713-568-0825  Jeff Watts
 Q  Modem Connection       Bronx         NY  718-893-7553  Sixto Saez
 F  Nature Coast BBS       Weeki Watchee FL  904-596-6234  Kim Breckenridge
 F  The Congressional      Warner Robins GA  912-929-3762  Jeff Floyd
 F  Starbase : Red Dwarf   Saugerties    NY  914-247-9601  John Dragun
 B  Gotham City BBS        Spring Valley NY  914-426-3029  Gerald Schranz
 F  Orion BBS              Odessa        TX  915-530-2712  Dennis Brown
 F  Diamond Hobbies        Broken Arrow  OK  918-258-7022  Daniel Pickel
 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 Tietjan
 F  Crystal Winds          Raliegh       NC  919-870-9785  Mike Gurkin
 F* Allied Group           Kresgeville   PA  *MAIL ONLY!*  Robert Zellers

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-EOF- See ya in TWO weeks!!

