From: maguire@zappa.jpl.nasa.gov (Kevin Maguire)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Rec.arts.comics.vertigo
Date: 26 Jan 93 18:59:58 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.comics.misc
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.149.100.151

In article <1993Jan26.164648.17842@psych.toronto.edu>,
michael@psych.toronto.edu (Michael Gemar) wrote:
> 
>In article <1993Jan25.210941.5671@BofA.com> ross@BofA.com (Ross Lefstin) writes:
>>I think that creating r.a.c.vertigo would answer the complaints of netters who
>>are fed up with the volume of Sandman posts as well as benefitting those of
>>us who follow the vertigo threads.  It seems that most of the people interested
> >in Sandman are also interested in Hellblazer, Death, etc.
> 
> ...and in Cerebus, and graphic novels, and other non-mainstream expressions 
> of the comics medium.  I think that a new group is needed, but to call
> it "rac.vertigo" is too limiting.

This again raises the spectre of "rac.stuff-I-like" and 
"rac.not-stuff-I-like."  

The objective when creating subgroups should NOT be to move all the 
discussion of a wide range of topics of interest to a broad range of
the newsgroup readership (such as "mature" or "non-mainstream" comics
in general) off the parent group, leaving only odds and ends "misc"
topics, but rather to remove a high-volume discussion on an easily defined,

limited, topic OFF the main group so that those who aren't interested in 
that particular subject can avoid it.  Especially when discussion on said
subtopic tends to dominate the parent group.

Most, if not all, of the arguments presented for rac.xbooks can also be
applied to the creation of rac.vertigo.  Like the x-books, the majority
of the posts about Sandman, Shade, Swamp Thing, Animal Man and Hellblazer
are speculations about the plot, essays about the characters in those
books and their backgrounds or discussions of the background universe of 
the books in question.  

In fact, the only argument which was presented for rac.xbooks which isn't
applicable to rac.vertigo is longevity of heavy interest in the subject 
in question.  I think the heavy Sandman and Hellblazer volume for at least 
the last two years are sufficient to move these discussions out to their
own newsgroup, but there are probably those who will argue that they 
haven't yet shown enough staying power to justify their own group yet
(especially since Sandman will end).

The only other argument I can see against the creation of rac.vertigo is
that creating rac.vertigo will be seen as a"ghettoization" of those
books the way some people clearly saw the creation of rac.xbooks as a
way to lock those "nasty, juvenile mutant rags" out of our "mature, 
enlightened" discussion area.  But the creation of rac.xbooks was not a
judgement of the X-books as "worse" than everything else, it was just a
great way to enable people who aren't interested in them to avoid the
traffic about them.  Similaryly, rac.vertigo would be a good way to 
let those who couldn't give a rat's ass about Sandman or Hellblazer
avoid all that volume in an easy way.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Maguire                       No, not THAT Kevin Maguire
maguire@zappa.jpl.nasa.gov          I'm a rocket scientist, not an artist
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc