rec.arts.comics.misc

RAC/RACM FAQ

Part 2: Comics News and Commentary on the Net

by Carl Henderson
carl.henderson@airmail.net
Based on original FAQs by Francis Uy, Tom Galloway, Paul Estin, et al. 


2-1: WHERE CAN I GET NEWS ABOUT COMICS AND THE COMICS INDUSTRY ONLINE?

Beau Yarbrough's "Comic Wire"
     http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=8
Michead Doran and Matt Brady's "Newsarama"
     http://www.fandom.com/comics/
Comicon.Com's "Splash"
     http://www.comicon.com/splash/splash.shtml
Silver Bullet Comic's "Silver Bulletins"
     http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/news/index.htm
The Comic Shop News's "CSN Insider"
     http://www.csnsider.com/
Indy Magazine
     http://www.indymagazine.com/
Comics Continuum
     http://comicscontinuum.com/
iComics
     http://www.icomics.com/
Wizard World Online
     http://www.wizardworld.com/


2-2: FORGET THE NEWS; I WANT RUMORS, GOSSIP, AND DIRT!

Then check out Rich Johnston's Gutter Press Column at:
     http://www.nextplanetover.com/pulse/

But be careful. For every time Rich Johnston is first with a major story,
there's a time when he's dead wrong about something. Read his "Rumour
Barrier" warning. He means it.


2-3: WHERE ON THE NET CAN I FIND OUT WHAT COMICS ARE COMING OUT?

Diamond Comics has both plain text and PDF format PREVIEWS order forms 
available online at:
     http://www.diamondcomics.com/previews/orderform/orderform.html

Charles S. LePage's NCRL (New Comics Release List) lists the new comics
(and related items) that should be hitting the shops each week. It is
to rec.arts.comics.info and is available on the web at:
     http://www.comiclist.com/new.html


2-4: HOW CAN I FIND OUT IF A COMIC BOOK IS CANCELLED OR IS LATE?

Andrew S. Troth's posts a Late Comics Report to rec.arts.comics.misc and 
rec.arts.comics.info every week. The Late Comics Report is also avalible on 
the web at the NCRL site at:
     http://www.comiclist.com/late.html

Diamond has both plain text and PDF format PREVIEWS cancellation list
available online at:
     http://www.diamondcomics.com/previews/orderform/orderform.html


2-5: WHAT ARE SOME GOOD STARTING-POINT WEB SITES ABOUT COMIC BOOKS?

Jonah Weiland's Comic Book Resources
     http://www.comicbookresources.com/
        or
     http://www.cbr.cc/

Rick Veitch's and Steve Conley's Comiccon.Com
     http://www.comicon.com/

Stewart Brower's About.com Comic Book Collecting Site
     http://comicbooks.about.com/hobbies/comicbooks/


2-6: WHAT ARE SOME GOOD COMIC BOOK WEB MAGAZINES/FANZINES?

WEB MAGAZINES:

Newsarama--Published by fandom.com, Newsarama provides excellent,
up-to-the-minute coverage of the comics industry. Edited by Michael Doran
and Matt Brady, Newsarama combines daily news, reviews (Randy Lander's
"Snap Judgements" and Don MacPherson's "Critiques on Infinite Earths") with
interviews and longer feature articles. Newsarama downsides include long
load times and occasionally offensive banner ads from parent company
Fandom.com. Updated daily.
     http://www.fandom.com/comics/

Comic Book Resources--As if hosting the best and most complete collection
of comic book links on the web weren't enough, Jonah Weiland's Comic Book
Resources (CBR) features one of the best line-ups of original features in
the business. CBR includes regular columns by Steven Grant (Master of the
Obvious), Beau Yarbrough (Comic Wire), Rob Worley (Comics 2 Filmn), Augie
De Blieck (Pipeline 2) Gail (You'll All Be Sorry), and Warren Ellis (Come
In Alone). Updated daily.
     http://www.comicbookresources.com/
        or
     http://www.cbr.cc/

Comicon.com--As their masthead quote from WIRED says, "Comicon.com doesn't
have Sailor Moon-costumed babes, free tchotchkes, or all-nighters, but
those who appreciate the finer aspects of comics will find all they need."
Created and edited by Rick Veitch and Steve Conley, Comicon.com offers
daily comic strips (by Vietch, Conley, Simpson, and others), a first-rate
discussion board, up-to-date and wide-ranging comic industry news (Splash),
and provides/hosts web space for a number of comic book artists, writers,
and retailers. Updated daily.
     http://www.comicon.com/

X-Fan--X-Fan is a very comprehensive site devoted to Marvel's line of
X-books. X-Fan features comics news and interviews, TV and movie news,
reviews, art, message boards, chat rooms, a character database--all focused
on Marvel's various mutant books. Edited by Eric J. Moreels and Sarah
Glaetzer.
     http://www.fandom.com/x-men/


FANZINES:

Sequential Tart--The best comics zine around--bar none. According to the
Sequential Tart web site, "Sequential Tart is a Web Zine about the comics
industry. While its focus is women oriented issues, it features exclusive
interviews, in-depth articles, up to the minute news and information, and
an eclectic band of women writers, designers, and artists."  Published
monthly.
     http://www.sequentialtart.com/

PopImage--Another very good fan-produced webzine. Features news, reviews,
commentary, interviews, and a web-based discussion board.
     http://www.PopImage.com/

Fanzing--Edited by Michael Hutchison, Fanzing describes itself as the "the
Independent Online DC Comics Fan Magazine." With its mix of interviews,
analysis, criticism, and fan fiction, Fanzing provides an entertaining and
engrossing read every month.
     http://www.fanzing.com/


2-7: WHAT ARE SOME GOOD WEB COLUMNS ABOUT COMIC BOOKS?

Tony's Online Tips--A (almost) daily column by Tony Isabella about comics
books, real life, and other things. Featuring TonyPolls, reader mail, the
latest on the Medina library, and lots of other neat things. Go read it
every day at the World's Finest Comics web site at:
      http://www.wfcomics.com/tony/

Captain Comics--A web reprint of a weekly syndicated newspaper column on
"comic books, science fiction, animation, action figures, video games, Star
Trek, Star Wars and other topics guaranteed to annoy your parents" by
Andrew A. Smith:
     http://www.captaincomics.net/

Master of the Obvious--Steven Grant knows how to save comics. I'm serious.
And if anyone wants to listen, they should read his column, "Master of the
Obvious," published every Wednesday on the "Comic Book Resources" web site.
For my money, MOTO is the best column about comics published on--or
off--the web:
     http://www.comicbookresources.com/moto/

Come In Alone--Warren Ellis takes on fans, publishers, and the whole  damn
comic book industry every week at Comic Book Resources. CIA is also the new
home of the "Instructions" section from the now-dead letters page of
TRANSMETROPOLITAN. 
     http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=1

And if that's not enough Warren Ellis to thoroughly disrupt your bowels, he
also writes an "From the Desk Of" an irregular--usually
comics-related--column distributed by mailing list. You can subscribe to
"FTDO" at Ellis' website:
     http://www.warrenellis.com/

Pipeline--Twice a week veteran Usenet comics columnist and reviewer Augie
De Blieck Jr. critiques comics and the comics industry at yet another Comic
Book Resources site. 
     http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=6

Crash Comments--Writer Joe Casey's "Crash Comments" is the newest
comics-related web-column. I'd say something witty, but I really haven't
had a change to read it yet. Part of Newsarama. On the web at:
     http://www.fandom.com/comics/ (and a few clicks)

Rich's Rumblings--Besides being the net's comic gossip czar (it's a niche),
and writer artist on a number of small press and web comics (X-FLIES,
DIRTBAG), Rich Johnston also writes a weekly column about comics and stuff
for the Silver Bullet Comics site. Rich's Rumblings (the opinion
column--not to be confused with Ramblings 2000) is on the web at:
     http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/rich/index.htm


2-8: WHERE ARE SOME OTHER--NON-USENET--ONLINE COMICS DISCUSSION FORUMS?

[First four entries contributed by Johanna Draper Carlson]

http://www.comicon.com/ --The all-round best discussion forum on the web due to the
high level of professional participation (including both creators and
retailers), and the coverage of a broad range of topics all in one place.
There's a lot of concentration on the mechanics of the direct market and
what that means to new creators, established pros, retailers, etc. Uses UBB
software.

http://www.tcj.com/ --The Comics Journal message boards, as you might expect,
concentrate more on alternative and independent comics, and provide a lot
of information on the artistic side of the field. Uses UBB software.

http://www.delphi.com/ --Hosts a number of comic-related message boards. Sequential
Tart and PopImage have their boards here (although they're very lightly
trafficked) but the real draw is Warren Ellis' forum. Warning: some of the
participants take his work a little too seriously, so you'll see some rough
language and looking-for-a-fight attitudes at times. Uses Delphi's
proprietary software.

http://www.dccomics.com/ --DC's web boards. Should be mentioned for completeness,
but tends to be overly subdivided and full of youngsters. Not the place for
serious discussion, although if you're looking for pro participation,
sometimes a good place to start. Uses UBB software.

http://www.dixonverse.com/ --Message boards at Chuck Dixon's website. Discussion
covers not only Dixon's books, but related DC and Marvel books, TV, movies,
politics, etc. Chuck Dixon, Peter David, Butch Guice, and Drew Geraci are
among the regular comics creator participants.


2-9: WHERE CAN I FIND REVIEWS OF CURRENT COMICS?

On Usenet, of course. A number of RACer's regularly write and post review
columns that cover a range of recent comics. Keep an eye out for:

Dave Van Domelen, "Dave's Rants" -- Dave Van Domelen is the dean of RAC
reviews. He's been doing it longer and better than anyone. His weekly
"Dave's Rants" column is generally broken into several smaller columns and
posted to the appropriate RAC sub-groups. Along with "Dave's Rants," Dave
also posts "Dave's Unspoilt Capsules and Awards" containing--you guessed
it--spoiler-free capsule reviews of the books he covered in that week's
"Rants." Archived at:
     http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~dvandom/

Johanna Draper Carlson, "Comics Worth Reading" -- A long-time RAC regular
(and now COMICOLOGY writer, as well), Johanna Carlson-Draper also writes
the "Comics Worth Reading" reviews as well as a monthly review/overview of
PREVIEWS. While Johanna reviews a fair number of "mainstream" comics, the
real strength of "Comics Worth Reading" is her reviews of comics you've
never heard of before. Her reviews routinely turn me on to comics I'd never
even thought to look for. Archived at:
     http://www.comicsworthreading.com/

Jim Henry, "Spooon-Fed Reviews" -- Another set of well-written reviews. Each
"Spooon-Fed Review" generally starts with a brief plot summary followed by
an in-depth review. One very useful thing Henry does is to list the full
creative team for the comic reviewed at the beginning of each review.
"Spooon-Fed Reviews" uses a 1 to 4 scale for rating comics. Archived at:
     http://gnc.net/~kds/review.htm

Paul O'Brien, "The X-Axis" -- Despite the "X" in its name, Paul O'Brien's
column covers a lot more than Marvel's X-books. "The X-Axis" generally
combines three or four in-depth reviews with capsule reviews of a number of
that week's other new books. His column is always very well written--often
better than the books he's reviewing. O'Brien grades on the familiar A, B,
C, D, and F scale. Archived at: 
     http://www.esoterica.demon.co.uk/

Khari J. Sampson "This Ain't A Library, Kid" -- Khari J. Sampson's column
(often abbreviated as "TAALK") is posted every week or so. Sampson tends to
review mostly mainstream superhero titles, but also covers a few
non-superhero independents as well. TAALK's effective format of "The
Skinny," "The Writing and Art," and "The Verdict" quickly gets to the point
of each review, making them very reader-friendly. Grades on a four-point
scale. Not archived.  

If that's not enough reviews for you, head to the web and check out these
columns by several former RAC reviews who have sold their souls for .003
pieces of silver per hit:

Augie DeBliek, Jr., "Pipeline" -- Augie DeBliek's "Pipeline" mixes comic
reviews with industry commentary. "Pipeline" is published twice weekly (on
Tuesdays and Thursdays) at Comic Book Resources:
     http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=6

Alan David Doane, "Ministry Reviews" -- More than just a review site, Alan
David Doane's "Ministry of Popular Enlightenment" page at the Silver Bullet
Comics site also features capsule reviews, feature articles, creator
interviews and opinion pieces. On the web at:
     http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/ministry/ministry.htm

Randy Lander, "Snap Judgements" -- Not even the infamous "Psycomic Girl"
could kill "Snap Judgements." Lander is back--once again paired with Don
MacPherson--at the Newsarama site on Fandom.com. Lander's reviews use his
very accessible "What it's about/What I liked/What I didn't like" format.
"Snap Judgements" features both previews of coming comics and reviews of
current titles:
     http://www.fandom.com/comics/reviews.asp

Don MacPherson, "Critiques on Infinite Earths" -- Another veteran of both
RAC and Psycomic, MacPhereson's reviews have also landed at Fandom.com.
MacPhereson grades comics on the Van Domelen "Not Recommended--Mildly
Recommended--Recommended--Strongly Recommended" scale. His reviews are
"strongly recommended" and are on the web at:
     http://www.fandom.com/comics/reviews.asp


----------------------------------------------------------------------
J. Carl Henderson
carl.henderson@airmail.net

Intro: Introduction / Revision History
Contents: Table of Contents/Acknowledgements
Part 1: The RAC Newsgroups and Posting to Them
Part 2: Comics News and Commentary on the Net
Part 3: Inside the Comic Book Industry
Part 4: Comics Industry Contact Information
Part 5: Comic Book Professionals--And How to Become One
Part 6: Misc. Comic Book Questions
Part 7: Whatever Happened to ___________?
Part 8: RAC Newsgroup Charters

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Last updated: 2000-09-03