From: ZMUDZINSKIT@uvax6.disa.mil (zmudzinski, thomas)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Re: The Hacker Files (Vol 5 #156)
Date: 30 Sep 92 04:27:51 GMT

Padgett (A. Padgett Peterson) said ...
 
>           As a result, I was able to examine the first four issues of
> what is billed to be a 12 copy series. They would appear to be being
> successful since after the first two issues, the price went up from
> US1.95 to US2.20.
 
  I don't know who's ripping you off, but the cover price on all four
issues to date reads: [US implied] 1.95 CAN 2.50
 
>              As the plot progresses, no hesitation is shown in making
> structural changes to NORAD and Pentagon systems.
 
  Hey, the artists had no hesitation showing a helicopter [that couldn't
hope to fly from DC to Colorado Springs -- but it does] taking off and
landing on grass at the Pentagon -- the tarmac helipad should be obvious
to anyone driving by on the West side of the Five-Sided Fun Factory.
What's a little artistic license ??? [answer: I wouldn't know -- every
one I've ever seen has been HUGE !!!]
 
>           In short, while entertaining in its fashion, hardly a good
> role model for fourteen-year-olds.
 
  Item: Issue #4, the letter signed "T." says, in part:
 
>> ...  My  ultimate  goal?   Hackerdom.   As  a result  I'm eating
>> up  anything  that's  connected  with  computer  science-fiction
>> and HACKER FILES is exactly what I'm looking for.
>>   Do you have the specifics right?  Hell, I don't know, but I'll
>> tell you this:  I bet  there are  more kids  like me  hanging on
>> every word, trying to learn from your examples.
   ...
>>   Watch out for Austin, Texas secret service [sic]!
 
   "T." makes your point most eliquently. Some role model!
 
>           In other words "The Hacker Files" make a graphic statement
> about the worldview of the writer, a statement that is aimed at
> impressionable minds and reminds me of the title of a novel by the
> late Robert Anson Heinlein: "If This Goes On".
 
  RAH's "If This Goes On" [published in 1953!] showed the logical
conclusion of televangelism: a theocratic dictatorship -- something I
consider FAR more dangerous than hacking, but your heart's in the right
place, Padgett.
 
> ps would send a copy of this to DC Comics but no E-Mail address was given.
 
  In issue #1 on the second page of "usr/hacker/mail" (what becomes
the letters section in later issues), in the upper right-hand corner,
Lewis Shiner (the creator of "THE HACKER FILES") says:
 
                     "These are  examples of the  intersec-
                   tion I'm  trying to  get between  comics
                   and  real   programming.   Now   I  want
                   feedback  from  you.    One  way  is  to
                   simply sit  down and  write a  letter to
                   us   at   the   address   shown   above.
                   Because   THE  HACKER  FILES   is   spe-
                   cial,  you have an alternative.  I am in
                   the process of setting up on-line letter
                   columns   on   both    the   GEnie   and
                   CompuServe    bulletin    boards.    The
                   best  of  the  mail we  receive  on-line
                   will be  reprinted  here,  alongside the
                   traditional   letters   that   come   in
                   envelopes."
 
Mr. Shiner must have been at least half-way successful as three of the
letters in issue #4 were posted through GEnie.  Try there.
 
Tom Zmudzinski                       ZmudzinskiT @ UVAX.DISA.MIL 

"Reality is for people who can't handle science fiction."           
            - variously attributed to Heinlein, Bradbury, or Asimov 
"Trouble is, we're LIVING science fiction!" - me