The Legion of Net. Heroes also called LNH is a "shared universe" setting in which many writers use the same characters, ideas, and places in their stories, often working together. It is also the name of the most important group in the setting.
On April 27, 1992, a member of the USENET newsgroup rec.arts.comics said that his name was Spelling Boy. Two days later, another member, named Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, took the name California Kid and said he was a member of the "Legion of Net.Heroes". Soon others were choosing colourful names for themselves, such as Cheesecake-Eater Lad and CAPTAIN CAPITALIZE.
On May 5, Steven Librande got fed up with the silly "net.hero" names and chose the name Doctor Killfile a "net.villain".
Benjamin Pierce or Marvel_Zombie Lad sent out a call for all net.heroes to fight back. Forty-four different writers worked together on the first LNH story, later called "The Cosmic Plot Device Caper". The story was never finished, and that summer most people forgot about the LNH.
In the fall, Todd "Scavenger" Kogutt brought the LNH back. Many new writers and stories appeared. Some writers published their stories in multiple parts or "serials" much like American comic books.
The LNH moved to its own newsgroup, alt.comics.lnh, before finding their permanent home on rec.arts.comics.creative , or RACC. RACC is home to other shared universes, like ASH , OMEGA and 8FOLD . Russ "Eagle" Allbery is RACC's moderator—a person who makes sure ads and pornography do not appear on the group—and archivist—which means he keeps copies of all stories.
The world of the LNH is called the Looniverse. In many ways it is like our own universe and Earth. But there are some differences. For example, net.heroes, net.villains, and super-powers exist.
Many of the cities in the Looniverse have silly names. The real city of Chicago is called "Sig.ago" in the Looniverse. The LNH itself is based in "Net.ropolis", and many stories take place there.
Many people in the Looniverse know that they are fictional characters—something which is called "breaking the fourth wall". For example, in one story, "The Case of the Clueless Mystery" by Gary St. Lawrence, the heroes read the script for the story they are in to find out how to beat the villain.
The Looniverse contains many "mutually-exclusive ideas"—things that can not exist at the same time. Sometimes, characters falling off a cliff are in real danger. Other times, they pop back into shape like cartoon characters. Some characters age in real time. Other characters never seem to age at all. Yet all these characters exist side-by-side.
Many of the cities in the Looniverse have net-based names: Net.ropolis and Sig.ago, for example.
The headquarters of the LNH (called LNHHQ or LNHQ) is based in Net.ropolis. The team has hundreds of members. Some of them form "sub-groups". For example, one sub-group, the "TSK Force" , deals with small things like bad manners.
Legionnaires (also known as LNHers or LNH'rs) can stay at LNHQ for free. The building is very strange. The size of a room changes to fit the number of people in the room.
It has been hinted in some stories that LNHQ is alive.
Because the LNH is so large, we can not list all its members in this article. Here are a few.
The LNH began in 1992 in our world. However, in the Looniverse, the LNH has been around a lot longer than that.
In the 19th Century, Net.ropolis was called Babbagetown. After the name of the city changed, there was a building called the Net.ropolis Hotel Grand. It later became the Legion of Net.Heroes Headquarters, or LNHHQ.
The first LNH was formed in the 1920s by Boy Lad. He was the only member. His sidekick, Boy Lad Jr., was not allowed to join. Boy Lad disappeared.
Other heroes protected Net.ropolis:
1940s and 1950s:
Some members of the Classic Squad later became members of the LNH: Old Comics Man, Golden Man, and Kid Yesterdaze.
1960s and 1970s:
Sig.Lad, a member of the Net.astic Nine, later joined the LNH. Some members of the Legion of Net.Hippies also joined the Legion of Net.Heroes—Nudist Man, Super Apathy Lad, and Procrastination Boy.
1980s:
Some stories say that today's LNH started in April of 1992, others say it started in the 1980s.
After the "Cosmic Plot Device Caper", Rebel Yell became leader of the LNH. The entire LNH disappeared. In "501 Blues: The Long Road to Nowhere", Rebel Yell tried to find them all.
The "Cry.sig on Infinite Net.Earths" was a parody of the DC Comics story Crisis on Infinite Earths. Like that story, it allowed LNH writers to change things about their characters. For example, before "Cry.sig", Cheesecake-Eater Lad was married and farted a lot. After "Cry.sig", he was single and made cheesecakes. It was like the earlier Cheesecake-Eater Lad never existed. In American comic books, this is called a retcon.
After "Cry.sig", the Ultimate Ninja joined the LNH. Rebel Yell shared the leadership with Ultimate Ninja and Continuity Champ. Later, Rebel Yell left the LNH . Ultimate Ninja became leader of the LNH.
The Ultimate Ninja thought an LNH member named Myk-El was a traitor and killed him. In the story "Retcon Hour", Myk-El came back to life and it was proved that he was not a traitor. "Retcon Hour" was one of the biggest LNH stories, and was written by fourteen people.
In "Looniverse Adrift", the first net.villain, Dr. Killfile, was destroyed. Another villain, Tsar Chasm (a pun on sarcasm), also died. Both later returned from the dead. . .
Pocket Man married Organic Lass in the first LNH wedding .
In 1999, one of the most popular characters, Panta, was retconned out of existence .
In 2000, Hexadecimal Luthor—a parody of Superman villain Lex Luthor—became President of the United States. He won a second term in 2004.
In March of 2001, the city of Sig.ago was destroyed. It was later rebuilt.
In July of 2001, many characters were married :
Here are some of the best-liked LNH stories. As you can see, not all the stories are silly. There are many different types of stories and characters.
Other groups took ideas from the LNH and made their own groups, or "imprints".
There have been thousands of LNH stories by many writers. Writers work together on stories from all over the world: the LNH has writers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, the Philippines, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. It is an "open universe", which means that anyone can join. This is probably why it is still active.
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. It was first performed on 1 November 1604 at Whitehall Palace in London. More recently, Othello was shown on Masterpiece Theater on PBS. The opera "Otello" of Giuseppe Verdi is based on this play.
At the start of the play Othello, a Moorish general in the army, promotes Cassio to lieutenant. Iago, his ensign, is angry and jealous, so he plots against Cassio by making him look bad and making Othello uncertain about keeping him as his lieutenant. Some of the things he does are to get him drunk and to start a fight with someone else from the army. Iago also tells Othello that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him with Cassio. Cassio is demoted and Iago is promoted to lieutenant. Othello kills Desdemona and is then told by Iago's wife, Emilia, that Iago plotted against him. He goes after Iago, and injures him but does not kill him. He then kills himself next to his wife after telling Emilia to say sorry to Cassio for what he has done.
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is a multinational, multi-sport event. Held every four years, it involves the elite athletes of the Commonwealth of Nations. Attendance at the Commonwealth Games is typically around 5,000 athletes.