FOLLOWING UP

Well, whaddya know? It's time for another anniversary. But I have nothing special for you today. Check back later this week for a minor update and revision of the web site, though. I just spent three hours tonight reformatting all of these columns to fit into the new scheme. I hope it's worth it. I think it makes the site look spiffier and more consistent.

But for now, I have a few follow-ups to recent columns.

Response to the recent "Why Superman Sucks" special has been running 8 to 1 in my favor. (That's not a ratio, by the way, but the actual number.)

I still get an e-mail or two regarding the "Peter David's Final Hulk" special edition, too, trickling in. My apologies to those who never got a response. I just found a couple of such e-mails from about a month ago I didn't respond to. Your comments - remarkably positive, by the way - are appreciated.

Response to the recent "Why Buffy The Vampire Slayer Comic Sucks" column has been running in my favor, too. I obviously have an enlightened group of readers.

Stephanie Sanderson wrote in on the Buffy issue to point out a whole bunch of other flaws with the issue. With her permission, here are the relevant portions of her e-mail:

Five "vampires" kidnap one girl (Willow) and keep her for ...let's see... close to two days before eating her? Uh yeah, riight. On the show, we would have seen some sort of action or a subplot (ie, vamps know that Willow is a friend of the Slayer, and use her as bait for trap) Instead, we get a long boring interlude followed by figh scene-yawn. No wit here folks.

Characterization is off too. Buffy complaining about Angel being distant. Before his "demonization", it was more the other way around in the show, and she hasn't told the others he's back now (except vaguely).

Would have worked better not having mentioned him at all. Oz would have been moping and berating himself more for not being with Willow, rather than yelling about killing people.

What's up with the "vampires", anyway? Dark Horse doesn't have the rights to portray them either, or what? Let's see... they have pointy ears, glowing red eyes and can morph into green lizards. Oooh right, like I've seen THAT on the show before. If they were something different, wouldn't that have been mentioned?

Speaking of which, going by the dialogue, they don't seem to be demonically possessed like any of the vampires (except occasionally Angel) in Buffy continuity. Would it have just killed them to stay consistent with the show?

For what it's worth, Steph also agreed with my recent Superman

column. =) Thanks for everything, Steph!

MONSTERS RUN AMOK

J. Torres, co-creator and writing genius behind THE COPYBOOK TALES and Image's current SIREN series, has a new project in the works called THE MONSTER FIGHTERS INC. His press release has shown up a lot this weekend, but I'm always more than happy to help promote his great work, especially on a weekend I'm strapped for time.

THE MONSTER FIGHTERS INC. WEBSITE IS UP AND RUNNING!

Although the MONSTER FIGHTERS INC. (MFI) comic book doesn't debut from Image Comics until April 1999, comic fans can get a sneak peak of the exciting new project at:

http://mfi.home.ml.org

or its mirror site:

http://www.sentex.net/~dvanhorn/MFI/index.html

The website has character profiles, story blurbs, galleries with lots of cool artwork and other fun stuff pertaining to the forthcoming Image Comics series.

MFI is written by J.Torres, co-creator of the critically acclaimed SIREN for Image Comics and COPYBOOK TALES for Slave Labor Graphics. Collaborating with Torres on MFI is former Extreme Studios artist Logan Lubera who has done work for Image Comics and Games Workshop.

Who are Firestarter, Porte, Rapunzel, Adam Bomb and Kid Gloves? Visit the MFI website and find out!

I took a look at the web site Friday night and must say I was impressed. It looks like a lot of fun. The sketches are nice.

WORKING LIKE A BEE

In response to my recent review, CLAN APIS creator JAY HOSLER wrote in with word on the book's schedule:

The next issue will be out in December and issue three (which I recently completed) will be out in February. The last two issues will be out in April and June. That's my plan anyway.

I know I'm looking forward to them.

SWEATING TO THE OLDIES

This coming weekend is the next Big Apple Con in the church basement in New York City. Bring your deodorant! Hell, share your deodorant for the good of everyone! The place tends to get hot and sweaty really fast. It ought to be interesting to see how it is in this cold weather.

I'll be there shopping through the 50 cent bins. You can find me in front of one of those. =) I'm sure there will be a story or two in that for next time.

FAUX DC

On a completely unrelated note, I received an e-mail from Joshua Corum last week. His e-mail addy is jjjccc@onslowonline.net

He is one of the leaders of an interesting fan-fiction concept called Faux-DC which is looking for additional

writers. If you're interested in some heavy fan-fic writing, send him an e-mail.

If you're just interested in fan-fic, stop by the Faux-DC web site:

http://members.xoom.com/bantor