From dhenry@plains.NoDak.edu Fri Aug 18 08:00:48 EDT 1995 Article: 1901 of rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks Path: prism!gt-news!gatech!stallion.jsums.edu!news.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!netnews1.nwnet.net!netnews.nwnet.net!ns1.nodak.edu!plains!dhenry From: dhenry@plains.NoDak.edu (David R. Henry) Subject: The Moron Game II Sender: usenet@ns1.nodak.edu (Usenet login) Message-ID: Date: Fri, 18 Aug 1995 01:19:30 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: plains.nodak.edu Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computer Network Lines: 83 What, you thought I wasn't going to post this? Well, I'm not. Not in the way it should be. I will, however, give you this excerpt. The ending song, to be used in reference to all Mackie writings in the future. It's sung to the tune of "Mack the Knife," preferably the Bobby Darin version (although it's not my favorite, it's the one most people know), and it really doesn't have a name. Call it the Mackie Song. That should do. Oh, a review of the Rogue LS? Sure. Hold on. Let me climb, for the last time, to my seat near the Toddering Wall and wind up the clicking clock that keeps me company during the trip. Ahem. Except for the fact that the characters who appear in it bear no resemblance to the characters that have been using the same names in Marvel comic books for years, the Rogue limited series is useful mainly because you can swat flies with it. In short: Pffft. And now, we break into song and dance: Oh the hack has Lots of cheek, dear When he thinks he Knows how to write Pretty plots, though, has old Mackie, dear Though he keeps them out of sight. You know when that hack writes Pretty scenes, there Scarlet edits Start to spread Fancy gloves, though, wears old Mackie, dear So there's never, never a trace of red. On the sidewalk Every morning or so Lies an Assassin Just oozing life And now you see them 'round every corner -- Could it be that someone let Mackie write? There's a mutant In every issue don't you know When the plot drags And is drooping on down That Candra's just, she's there as a weight, there Five will get ya ten old Mackie's back in town. Now, did you hear about Cody Robbins? He disappeared, babe After drawing out All his unearned angst And now Mackie says he's like a savior Could it be our boy's done something rash? Whoa, Tithe Collector Your suit's so tawdry Look out, Mr. Remy Lebeau And New Orleans town Yes, the town is just not quite right, babe Now that Mackie's... Back in town! Look out old Mackie's back!!! [Close with general horns, fanfare, applause] Thank you, thank you, and, please, remember, friends don't let friends drive steamrollers drunk. "If you weren't so pathetic, you'd be pathetic." --Richard Darwin -- David R. Henry -- Rogue Fan Club -- "Green Scales Fell Like Rain" "They say he parted well, and paid his score; And so, God be with him!" All you of Earth are STILL idiots! / What was the question? -- Kate Bush From dhenry@plains.NoDak.edu Fri Aug 18 08:04:57 EDT 1995 Article: 1905 of rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks Path: prism!gt-news!gatech!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!col.hp.com!simtel!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!news.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!netnews1.nwnet.net!netnews.nwnet.net!ns1.nodak.edu!plains!dhenry From: dhenry@plains.NoDak.edu (David R. Henry) Subject: Endgame Sender: usenet@ns1.nodak.edu (Usenet login) Message-ID: Date: Fri, 18 Aug 1995 04:29:03 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: plains.nodak.edu Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computer Network Lines: 193 "Old endgame lost of old, play and lose and have done with losing." --Samuel Beckett This is my last post to xbooks, my last post to the rac.* newsgroups, and my last post to Usenet. As perhaps is fitting, I'm puttting it here, in xbooks (or the modern incorporation of it). After eight years of reading news, and around four or so of writing it, I'm finally graduated and out of here. I've gone through my newsgroups one last time, I've answered my last questions, I've posted my last quips. I would be lying to say that it isn't a sad feeling. For a long time, xbooks has been a part of my life. But, as always, there is always time for a change. The Toddering Wall has crumbled to stone, and the polyps are restless, reminding me that it is time to move. There's a dark musician near the horizon who is beckoning me to other arenas, other fortunes. So I'll be following them out of here; I would not dare to leave them where someone else could get hurt. Parting is all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell, but there are a few thoughts I'd like to share here before my account mysteriously vanishes from underneath me. So pardon your second-oldest member as he sits in Swamp Dino and reflects on a few things, in the industry and the Internet, on friends and reputations, on the beginning of endings... Xbooks, for a brief shining year or so, was the true heir to the incorporative, multi-faceted society that was once rec.arts.comics (way back before rac split up into even the first generation rac-clones). My oft-quoted comment, that Xbooks is the friendliest newsgroup on the net, was meant in ironic tones, though, since in its early days xbooks was anything but friendly. In a direct application of Orwellian Big Lie tactics, though, I decided, in private, to see if it could be done. So I repeated that phrase, hoping others would see it, and adapt it to their actions. Did it work? I don't know. I don't believe that just using that phrase made the change of personality on the group that made xbooks the fun place it was, and still can be. I do believe that it was the cooperative effort of the active posters that made xbooks into an accepting, friendly society, however. While my "friendliest" comment was made in jest, my Welcomes to Xbooks! were done in full honesty. I still remember how empty and cold a newsgroup can seem when all these fun, fascinating _people_ are talking about things that you love and want to talk about, but nobody is answering you! I had no hidden agenda in welcoming people to xbooks, I just wanted to try to make them feel at home, let them know that somebody is reading their posts. The email I have received over the years, from those who were first welcomed aboard the xbooks community by my posts, or by posts in the spirit of the Welcome to Xbooks! posts, are still some of my most treasured possessions, and I greet again the friends I have met in this way through the net. My only request of those who know me and those who have just heard of me? Be supportive of your new posters. They're the ones who are going to be the xbookers of the future. Every issue of the X-Men is the first issue for someone. Every day someone is going to get a Usenet account and have to know your opinions on who is the greatest X-villain of all time. To welcome them, again and again, is the sign of a healthy group. Include if at all possible; exclude only as a last resort. I had other things I was going to talk about, other things I could warn or omninously mutter, but my age here is done. My mutterings are now just that, random scatterings of electronic wind. 'Tis far better to leave on a whim and a smile than a frown and list of commandments, and I've never been the sort to actively try to lead by force, instead of example. But then, that is my philosophy, and since I am now gone, you are free to pass it by. I belong to an earlier stage of xbooks; perhaps the xbooks society is moving beyond needing me and my antics to keep the court amused. Perhaps not. In either case, the group that is warmly welcoming newcomers is always stronger than those that are exclusionary. Enough of the prophecy. On with the celebration. New Orleans has the right idea for a funeral, and it is to the strains of classic Dixieland that I'm writing this final post. The X-titles are in a dangerous state right now. While the comic book industry will survive (nothing can destroy an art form, not that easily), the mass marketing of the X-Men is the foe they will not be able to beat. Forget complaints about specific writers or artists -- the biggest threat to a good storyline and decent comics right now in Marvel is the need to tie them in promotionally with everything under the sun. In many ways the comic book industry is going through a phase much like Hollywood did after Star Wars was first released (the One-Eared God now mutters in my memory's ear, how he is dismayed that kids now entering high school were not yet born when Star Wars first hit the screen); like Hollywood, the comic book industry will get over this mass-marketing craze. Things will adapt, stabalize. But it will take time, and it will take courage. I wish to you, my friends on xbooks and across the world, that courage and the energy to survive the lean times ahead. Xbooks is a great place to find that courage. I have met some true and dear friends here, and my greatest regret is that in leaving I will lose such an easy access to meeting more friends in the future who are interested in the same things I am -- and _more_, since every friend introduces me to new things to think about, new things to learn and experience, and that is the true fun of life. The most important thing here isn't learning how many mutants can dance atop a pin; it is in meeting and learning how to greet and handle people >from all walks of life, in making friends, and gaining strength, and knowledge, and courage from them. On that matter, I'd like to thank the xbooks community for actually letting me get away with creating that sprawling mess I called Our FAQ. It's a nice start; I hope you improve upon it in the future. Never be ashamed of what you like. I'm almost 27 years old, and I still read the X-Men. Why? My reason is that, as a student of English, I spend my entire day surrounded by the classics and Great Writing. I read the X-Men for the same reason most people watch tv, to unwind. Don't let anyone tell you you're juvenile for liking the X-Men, because your reasons are your own, and are special and true. On the other hand, never be content with what you get. Demand the best writing, the best art, the best comics Marvel can give you. Don't be content with second best; if you care about these characters, dammit, do something to keep them _worth_ caring about. It's not possible for all of us to work for Marvel. So be it. But form fanclubs. Make mailing lists. Make buttons, pass around ideas, share stories, share jokes, mingle! In the community of xbooks you can find the strength you need to survive even the dreariest creative team Marvel can throw at you. And never be content with just the titles you are currently reading. Expand out. Look. Search. Discover. The joy of discovering something that speaks to you that you never knew of before because you limited your horizons is truly a great one. As for my future plans, I really do not know. I have a job opportunity in Minneapolis, in Seattle, in Chicago. I'm far more partial to the East Coast than to the West, and I also have an unhealthy fascination with England, Scotland, and even Australia. On the other hand, I usually live my life as an exercize in free association. I may just move to Tibet. And I've had a hankering for trying my hand at producing public television lately, strangely enough. Who knows what will come of that? If anyone who knows me >from my posts meets me, wherever I turn up, please say hi and introduce yourself. I'd love to meet you. For those who persist in enjoying my writing, I'm still doing freelance work, but mainly around North Dakota. Those of you who are roleplayers can find some of my work in upcoming FASA products and tie-ins, mainly for Shadowrun and Earthdawn. I have a comic book offer (the script of which I really must finish). I still have Darwin stories left to tell. I'll still be around, I just won't be here, see? I'm even going to continue to contribute to Untold-l, at least, by mailing my stories to a willing friend who has net access and who is willing to upload them for me. So, if you look around, I can be found (much like a cockroach, I imagine). Oh, I'll be on the net here at plains.nodak.edu until this account vanishes from me, or I move from Grand Forks. Feel free -- and please do! -- to email me. Until I finally vanish, I'll be happy to reply. I just felt that here, on Usenet, it was best to close up my career in a manner I can control, rather than just abruptly vanishing. Forgive me in this last egoism. Those of you who still must get in touch with me either know my real address or know people who probably do know it; I trust my friends on the net to distribute my address wisely and appropriately. I will most likely be back on the net in a year. Then again, it might be six months, or it might be never. I don't know. I'll find out when I get there. I wish I could list every poster I could remember that I have loved and enjoyed, but such a list would offend by ommission, due to my poor memory. You know those old claims that I don't do issue numbers? 'Tis true. I do not wish to offend old friends by forgetting their names, so I will instead address you all: thank you. Thank you for being here, thank you for arguing with me, thank you for being with me, thank you for friendship and laughs and sorrows and life. Above all else, thank you for forgiving my mistakes, for I can assure you, I never do. And, as a writer, thank you for enjoying my stuff. That my posts have brought some small measure of laughter or happiness to one poster is all I ever wished for; in the friendships I have gained I have made far more than I have sowed. To the newcomers: if you want to be popular here, if you want to have friends, just be yourself. It sounds simple, but it's not. Be yourself, be polite, and have fun. I can tell by the length of this thing that I'm trying to avoid the issue, stay around longer. Hold on... 172 lines! Sheesh. OK, enough of this; you've had to put up with me long enough. It's time I finally shut up and free up bandwidth for someone else's use. I invite all my friends, acquaintances, enemies, and lurkers to visit my email account before it expires. I'd love to talk to each of you, and I'm not trying to avoid saying goodbye by not sending out individualized farewells to all. Sheesh. I've just gone over this whole farewell. If maudlin was fattening, I'd be Orson Welles. Ah, well. So be it. I'm out of here with a paraphrase from one of my favorite authors, Voltaire. I leave here loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and despising superstition of all sorts. Take care, y'all. I hope you have enjoyed the show. -- drh