HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Batman cartoon info
Date: 28 Aug 92 18:28:40 GMT
Article-I.D.: cancun.rdippold.715026520
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA

jogle@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim)) writes:
>>"Downtown" Julie Brown   Zatanna

>Huh???  While I don't mind the inclusion of other non-Batman related

>Even if its a typo and its the other Julie Brown it still doesn't fit!

"Oh my gawwwd, this whole Joker business is just rilly, rilly, warped,
you know?"
-- 
An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
From: mlj44080@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Michael Lee Jacobs)
Subject: Re: Deathstroke Dies in #16 ?
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 13:16:54 GMT

*SPOILER*   :)

Deathstroke will be killed in the Total Chaos storyline....but will be
resurrected with a new non-bellbottom costume for issue #17 by no less
than Cheshire and the new Brotherhood of Evil (she is the She that the
clone type guys that are after Slade keep mentioning)  Also Cheshire's
reintroduction will herald the 'new' Speedy joining Titans in his now more
defined role :)

-- 
  "If the best things in life are free, then my current price is
   $37k with a 10% downpayment."
From: jcowling@ophelia.UVic.CA (Scowling Jim Cowling)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Sandspawn and Watchspawns
Date: 4 Sep 92 03:50:22 GMT
Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

In article <Bu0pxs.8s3@news.cso.uiuc.edu> dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly) writes:
>conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Conty III) writes:
>
>>Today I'm picking up an issue of SPAWN.  Yes, I know, I'm falling for it.
>>But I'm curious to see what impelled Gaiman and Moore to write for SPAWN,
>>other than explicit photograps with an inflatable Kitty Pride doll.
>
>It could be that Spawn currently has some of the best art in comics.

It could be that Spawn currently has some of the WORST art in comics.

-------
Scowling Jim Cowling
Creative Writing Department, University of Victoria (opinions disassociated)
September 8:  Hell makes a return visit.
-------
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc,rec.arts.comics
From: jcowling@ophelia.UVic.CA (Scowling Jim Cowling)
Subject: Re: DC is now #3
Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 05:47:29 GMT

In article <visser.715187698@convex.convex.com> visser@convex.com (Lance Visser) writes:
>In <1992Aug30.031320.17157@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> bz978@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Charles E Gibbs) writes:
>
>
>+>I have heard that Malibu comics now has the second largest comic market share,
>+>passing DC.  Can anyone confirm or deny this?
>
>	Its not true by any calculation.  Malibu is out touting market share
>numbers for the period in which the first issues of the image books were
>put out.  Remove image from the totals and the numbers are not that 
>impressive.

It's true by every calculation.  The numbers are not being quoted by Malibu,
but by the two biggest distributors in North America (who, combined, have
85% of the distribution market share).  Of course Malibu's share stinks
when you remove the Image titles -- but Image is an imprint, and still counts.

>	While on the subject of market share, there is more than one way
>to calculate what "market share" really is.  Raw issues sold per month
>is one, total revinue on the books sold, percent of theoretical shelf
>space taken by the companies books.

Market share, in the above, is measured on percentage of dollars sold to
retailers of each company.  Based on raw issue count, DC is (barely) #2
still.  Percent of shelf space is impossible to calculate.

>	Its also worth remembering that indies can grow big and then fade
>out gradually (i.e. first and eclipse).  

But that's not germane to the issue.

-------
Scowling Jim Cowling
Creative Writing Department, University of Victoria (opinions disassociated)
Just got my student loan.  Never been happier, thanks.
-------
From: lsmith@milli.cs.umn.edu (Lance "Squiddie" Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Sandspawn and Watchspawns
Date: 2 Sep 92 19:26:40 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: The Little Squids of the Poor

Hmmmm.

There was a rumor out of San Diego Con that Moore was going to do a comic. 
for Image. We laughed. We snickered. "Yeah. Right." we said.

Informed sources now say that this rumor is true. Alan Moore will write
one issue of Spawn. ("But he compared Image comics to crack cocaine!" I cry.)

Further, Neil Gaiman will also write one issue of Spawn.

Supposedly this is all beyond the negotiation phase and into the it will
happen phase.

If I didn't know better I'd say this was a bad Squiddie joke.

Anyone know if this is one of the signs of the apocalypse?   
--
 Lance "Billy-Fish" Smith  | "Let me have players about me that are fat;
    (lsmith@cs.umn.edu)    |  Slow-footed men and such as sleep o' nights;
   "A dead mouse has no    |  Yond' Henderson has a lean and speedy look; 
    entertainment value"   |  He steals too much: such players are dangerous." 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
From: wesselak@suna0.cs.uiuc.edu (Erik Wesselak)
Subject: Re: Miracleman #23
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 18:59:49 GMT

When you have to wait a full year for a single issue, you tend to get a little
picky when it actually comes out.  Rather than dive into the implications of
the story, which I should digest for a while before I can come up with some
serious speculations, let me just mention a few technical points at this time:

Yes, the alignment on the printing was bad.  Most of the pages have the number
at the bottom cut off, and one of the last pages has half of the top dialogue
line cut off.  Come on, Eclipse, didn't you have enough time to check on these
things?

Eclipse went back to the thin paper cover.  I much preferred the harder paper
cover they had been using since the 3rd issue of the Golden Age.  Why the
change?

wogg0743@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (William Shakespeare) writes:

>ps.  Oh, yeah, YM should want to right wrongs, not write them.  Bah.

I found this to be a very interesting (possible) typo.  In actuality, all of
YM's "wrongs" had been "written" for him in the past by Gargunza.  Given that
no more human evil exists in the Golden/Silver Ages, any wrong that YM would
like to right would have to be fabricated (unless, of course, he sees Miracle-
man as the greatest wrong...but I stray from the point).  Assuming that the
editors had ample time to review this issue before publication and that they
are competent with thier english, you have to wonder whether this was put in on
purpose.

Oh, another thing:  I own the single issues of Book IV; when the paperback of
this arrived, I browsed through it and noticed that painfully absent was the
"Retrieval" storyline so important to Book V.  How could this have slipped out?
I urge all Miracle-readers out there, if you don't own #17-22, to hunt them
down.  (Were the McKean covers included in the paperback?  They are must-haves
as well.)

Let's hope it's still 1992 (11 EM --I always wondered why MM didn't reset the
calendar) when #24 arrives.

Erik

PS Check out the second letter and it's response in the editorial page.  It
perfectly manifests the dichotomy of attitudes towards Gaiman's Miracleman.  I
love the editor's response--"I don't know what to say except that I disagree
with virtually everything you've said." --well put.

PPS Miracleman will have a fight in Book V?  I wouldn't have guessed it, and
I'm not so sure I'd want it.  I just hope it's not with YM.  That would be too
typical.  KM would be even more.  Ah, well, I put my trust in Gaiman.
-- 
"'Yup' was a word that that skirted confusion and bared its      __| /  |__
friendly soul without the slightest hint of foul play.  'You     __|<  /|__
want another beer?' asked Krut.  'Yup,' Mojo replied without       | \/ |
hesitation."--Krut & Mojo the aliens, BSFUC.   Erik: wesselak@suna0.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
From: mcollins@nyx.cs.du.edu (Killans - First And Last And Always)
Subject: Re: D.R. & Quinch, man.
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 12:36:46 GMT

In article <1992Aug21.130225.11731@unisup1.uucp> aris@unisup1.uucp (Aris Stathakis) writes:
>Hey man.
>
>Are there, like, any D.R. (for Deeply Religious of course, man) out there?
>
>Anyone know if there are, any other brain-stompingly good books like the
>"Totally Awesome Guide to Life?" available?  And like, i'd give up
>thermo-nuclear warfare for a week if I could get a D.R. & Quinch T-shirt!
>
Well, man, I *think* that all the totally excellent Moore/Davis strips from
2000AD were, like, reprinted in 'TTAGTL'. But there were these, y'know, 'DR
and Quinch Problem Pages' by those awesome dudes Jamie Delano and Alan Davis,
which were, like, also in 2000AD but I don't think they've been, like, 
reprinted, man.

Mike

'Real men don't use blanks'
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc,rec.arts.comics
From: jimdean@bnr.ca (Jim Dean)
Subject: Re: Femforce
Originator: jimdean@bcrks81
Reply-To: jimdean@bnr.ca
Organization: Bell-Northern Research
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 12:23:50 GMT


In article <1992Sep1.034138.3248@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>, bz978@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Charles E Gibbs) writes:
> 
> THis may sound bad, but does anyone in this world besides me like Femforce?

Yeah, I do.

> Believe or not, I actually like some of the STORIES they provide.

Wierdo. :-)

Actually, I have to agree with you. *Some* of the stories aren't too
bad. Unfortunately they have been falling into the mega-crossover trap
that I hate so much.

The other problem is that some issues don't make it up here. Twice
I've had to order back issues to fill my collection, and a third time
is coming up soon, as I am missing FemForce #50 and RedDevil #1.

-- 
Jim Dean (Internet: jimdean@bnr.ca) +-----+    National Capital Baseball League
mild-mannered computer scientist -->|Phone|--> President. Pitcher. My knuckler?
Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa,Ont. |Booth|    Not too legit to hit!  6-0, 1.99
Phone: (613) 763-2135 Fax: 763-7241 +-----+    Phone: (613) 723-1580
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
From: wesselak@suna0.cs.uiuc.edu (Erik Wesselak)
Subject: Re: Miracleman #23
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 21:32:02 GMT

mkelly@lazy.helios.nd.edu (michael kelly) writes:

>	Some of my comments on this issue: We get the first real glimpse of
>Miracleman's dialogue as written by Gaiman (with the exception of his one
>or two lines in the previous issue). Having just re-read Olympus, I'm not sure
>that it fit *exactly*. (No ObFlames about this, I just thought MM was slipping
>out of God mode.)

MM is very sympathetic towards YM.  I suppose his manner to YM is different
than to the average human.

>	MM's logo was missing! We know that the Miraclebeings' uniforms change
>acording to their persona, but what can this mean?

Good question.

>	Why give YM the same "miracleman" code word? Does he still have an
>"abraxis" -I'm sure Gargunza gave him one originally. If there is a YM-MM
>fight, will we hear "abraxis?"

For that matter, I always wondered why MM gave YM his human body back at all.
MM has sworn never to use his again; why would he assume that YM would want
his?  Perhaps he feels that taking it away would worsen the shock of the new
world on YM; his human body is his psychological escape device.

As far as we know, Gargunza is the only one who knows the 'abraxis' word(s).
That is why the Gargunzas are restricted to Mors' underworld, and why none of
the Miraclefamily visit there.  This brings up the question:  Has/will MM
ask Mors to remove his vulnerability to 'abraxis', or even 'kimota'?  It's
something I'd expect MM to do.  (But that would take a lot of fun away from the
book, now wouldn't it?)

Oh, now that I've thought about it, I'd bet that Dennis Archer is aware of the
'abraxis' words.  But why was he not allowed to be restored when Gargunza was?
Too much of a risk having both of them alive again?  Or perhaps MM has devel-
oped some amount of affection or respect for Gargunza?

>	Given MM's penchant for retrieving lost characters, do you suppose 
>he has tried to regrow/revive Young Nastyman from his skeleton? 

Perhaps, although MM has no apparent motive for restoring YN.  He obviously
restored YM because he desired an aide or an apprentice: a 'prince' if you
will.  So why restore YN?  A tangible devil to complement the tangible god?
No, Bates already filled that role, and MM established his supremacy in the
eyes of the people by slaying the devil.

I want more Miracledog!  Where's he been all the time, the Miracledoghouse?

Erik
-- 
"'Yup' was a word that that skirted confusion and bared its      __| /  |__
friendly soul without the slightest hint of foul play.  'You     __|<  /|__
want another beer?' asked Krut.  'Yup,' Mojo replied without       | \/ |
hesitation."--Krut & Mojo the aliens, BSFUC.   Erik: wesselak@suna0.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc,rec.arts.comics
From: jogle@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim))
Subject: Re: DC is now #3
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro NM
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 92 13:18:19 GMT

In article <mumble> bz978@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Charles E Gibbs) writes:

>I have heard that Malibu comics now has the second largest comic market share,
>passing DC.  Can anyone confirm or deny this?

What I heard was that advance orders for Image stuff pushed Malibu
(Image's distributor) over DC in number of issues sold to dealers last
month (may have been the month before that) but that is mostly due to
the hype and hoopla surrounding Image right now (and things like
investors ordering/buying 10 copies of each Image #1 foolishly hoping
that they can sell them in 5 years and retire on the profits).

I expect that this trend won't last more than another month, assuming
that Image doesn't keep coming out with first issues or other gimmicky
ways of artifically boosting their sales.  I mean, they've got what,
six titles or so?  There can't be so many fanboys willing to buy
umpteen copies of each Image title that six books will outsell DC's
dozens (Lord, I hope not) once the initial hype settles down.

-- 
Kansas Jim (Jim Ogle, TORG guru)
jogle@aoc.nrao.edu (NRAO-VLBA, Socorro New Mexico)
"I'd be apathetic if I cared."
From: albert@chain.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu (Rick Jones)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Terra (was Re: Team Titans #1's)
Date: 31 Aug 1992 14:33:08 GMT
Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tx

In article <78723@ut-emx.uucp> cwagner@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Christian Wagner) writes:
>WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING HEADING UP THIS NEW TITANS GROUP?
>
>1) She's -very- dead, and
>2) She was crazy when she died, and hated the titans with a passion.
>
>Now -how- did they manage to bring her back? And does anyone else think that 
>this move really screws up the nice, tight storyline of the Judas Contract?

	Simple, actually, (if a bit of a kludge)  Terra II isn't Tara 
Markov.  In this nasty, evil future, ruled by Donna Troy's demigod son,
Lord Chaos, the "Team Titans" are the resistance group fighting his 
oppressive rule.  (How'd LC rule the world, when Dr Fate, the Spectre, 
Superman, the Green Lantern corps, and Tim Hunter are there to stop him?
Stop asking dumb questions, it's a comic boy, boy!)
	LC figures since the rebels obviously love the Titans so gosh-darn
much, then he'll beat them the with a mole deisgned to appeal to them.  He
uses comic  book science to transform a girl into a physical duplicate 
of Tara, and inject her with Tara's meta-gene.  It gives her a limited
version of Tara's powers.  
	The Team Titans leader knows that the story she gave is full of
holes, so they de-brainwash her and she joins up.  Yay.
	The ish had good art (Perez inks), and of the two I bought (Terra
and Nightrider) was the best written.
-- 
Rick Jones				Systems Support Center
albert@bcm.tmc.edu			Baylor College of Medicine
Voice: 713-798-7352			standard disclaimers apply
    Wanted:Scrodinger's Cat.  Dead or Alive.  $10,000 Reward.
From: leo@remarque.berkeley.edu (Leo Pereira)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Head for the bunkers! (was: Comics as entertainmet)
Date: 3 Sep 1992 08:08:45 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu

In article moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (The Napoleon of Crime) writes:
>Oh, God -- not the art vs. entertainment debate!  I thought Bush promised
>those were a thing of the past when the Wall came down!  (The dirty liar!)
>Please, for future generations -- don't escalate!
>                                        Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer

But life here is just like the ever spinning wheel.
It keeps returning to that, that came before.

The trick is in forgetting.
Forget, and you can passionately fall in love.
Forget, and you can be held enthralled by a quail's imbecility.
Forget, and you can laugh at Gilligan all over again.

And most importantly, forget, and you can gird your loins and do
battle in defense of comics as entertainment as it is most cravenly 
attacked by art.

Or.

vice versa.

-L


-- 
The most exquisite pain is self inflicted.
From: conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Conty III)
Subject: Re: The Trouble with SANDMAN (Unrepentant Heresy About To Be...)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 19:27:43 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.174514.20220@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, tweaver@nyx.cs.du.edu (T.C.Weaver) writes:
> 
>  conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Conty III) writes:
> 
> >Jason Lee Smith <js06+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>  
> >> and the fact that he doesn't always has a concrete plotline in mind
> >> when he writes has not added to my respect of Gaiman as a writer.
> >
> >That, IMO, is one of the (if not THE) biggest weaknesses of Gaiman.  He
> >seems unable to maintain a reasonably coherent plot for a multi-issue series.
> 
> <laugh> What do you think of Dickens?

Not much.  Send flames to rec.arts.books, which I don't read nowadays.

> In answer to Jason, I find that having the characters determine a plotline is
> much more interesting than writing rigidly to a plan

I also prefer character-driven stories to plot-driven stories.  Maybe that's
why we like Gaiman so much; he's an excellent writer of characters.

> and in answer to Conty, I think the plots *are*
> coherent - where are the inconsistencies? Or even irrelevant issues?

Nothing so extreme.  But the whole business of the Key to Hell in "Season
of Mists" was rather lacking.  After a couple of issues with Gaiman trying
to generate some intrigue as to who will get it, he ends up writing a
"deus ex machina" anti-climax, and in the literal sense at that!  Now, this
is not INHERENTLY wrong (there are some good ways to do it), but the way
it was handled leaves us with a story with exposition, build-up, and
conclusion, but no climax.  It's like sex without orgasm.

> Tanaqui (who, alas, also thinks Death is cute. [...]

Same here.  (I didn't say I agreed with him, I said I understood how he
felt... ^_^)
-- 
			    E n r i q u e  C o n t y
			The Incredible Man-with-no-Life
			      jester@ihlpl.att.com
		    Disclaimer: You're not dealing with AT&T
From: cwagner@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Christian Wagner)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Crying Freeman:Part Four #6
Date: 2 Sep 92 03:42:18 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <1992Aug31.202731.3432@cbnewsl.cb.att.com> conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Conty III) writes:
>It's a translated manga about a trained assasin who rebels against the
>organization who trained him, I think.  Never read it myself.

Nope. He ends up disobeying orders, and saving the life of a young artist woman
who he was supposed to kill after she witnessed one of his "hits". They fall in
love (and have a -lot- of sex over the course of the books), and she ends up 
becoming part of the organization. As far as I can tell, Freeman's marrige is
what set him up to become the next leader of the organization.

It's been a while since I've read any of it, tho, so I may be slightly off....

(But hey, how often does one get a chance to correct St. Conty himself? :> )

-- 
    "Well, do you ever get the feeling that the Story's too damn real
                        and in the present tense?"
               Christian Wagner - cwagner@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
From: wesselak@suna0.cs.uiuc.edu (Erik Wesselak)
Subject: Re: Quotes from reviews
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 00:28:28 GMT

jed@matilda.vut.edu.au (Jed Bowtell) writes:

>I am doing an essay on comics and would like it if somebody 
>could supply me with some quotes from `respected' sources
>such as the Washington Post. Preferably in relation to a
>specific comic but anything will do really.

Didn't Rolling Stone do a piece on Sandman a while back?  (Or is RS not
"respectable")
-- 
"'Yup' was a word that that skirted confusion and bared its      __| /  |__
friendly soul without the slightest hint of foul play.  'You     __|<  /|__
want another beer?' asked Krut.  'Yup,' Mojo replied without       | \/ |
hesitation."--Krut & Mojo the aliens, BSFUC.   Erik: wesselak@suna0.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc,rec.arts.comics
From: cwagner@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Christian Wagner)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Quotes from reviews
Date: 27 Aug 92 13:54:25 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <1992Aug26.044858.19038@cbnewsl.cb.att.com> conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Vampire Hunter C) writes:
>In article <1992Aug26.002828.8390@sunb10.cs.uiuc.edu>, wesselak@suna0.cs.uiuc.edu (Erik Wesselak) writes:
>> Didn't Rolling Stone do a piece on Sandman a while back?  (Or is RS not
>> "respectable")
>No, it isn't.

Yeah, but the article might just get the Legions of Mall Rats involved in a 
title that doesn't have people in spandex longjohns pummeling each other (and
the reader) into oblivion. 

Every little bit helps...

>Aside:  am I the only one who gets pi**ed off at the fact that every time
>a magazine decided to print an article on comics, it has to have a title
>like "BANG! POW!  COMICS AREN'T FOR KIDS ANYMORE!" or some such crap?

No, you're not. Actually, I've seen some decent pieces occasionally on various
"mature" comics titles in non-comics magazines. 

>[Please, no mentions about Ellison's PLAYBOY article.  That's the exception
>that proves the rule.]

This is one I have missed. Since Ellison is my all-time favorite author, 
(Anyone else ever read "A Love Song For Jerry Falwell"?), can you tell me
what issue it was in? And the general gist of the piece?

Better yet, anyone got it on a computer? <hopehopehope>

-- 
    "Well, do you ever get the feeling that the Story's too damn real
                        and in the present tense?"
               Christian Wagner - cwagner@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu