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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #21
26 October 1997
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
"Welcome to the Web"
I've decided I've spent too much time recently on the review portion of this
column and not enough on the commentary. And that's not changing this week,
sadly. However, I'm not going to review a single comic book this week.
Instead, I'm going to review some web sites. These are the comic
book-related web sites in my bookmark folder. This list isn't complete,
although I hope to add it to it as time permits.
MANIA
http://www.mania.com
This is a site which gets my attention daily. Yes, American
Entertainment (i.e. a mail order comic book company) runs it. If you don't
like them, then I suggest you just don't order anything from them. It doesn't
cost you a blessed penny to look up their web site. They don't make any
money if you just read the articles. They don't have any outside advertising
they're selling that giving them any extra hits would make them more money.
To boycott this site for the reason that AE runs it is to cut off your nose
to spite your face. You'd be a fool.
The site is updated every weekday, with a major update every Friday. It
has some of the best weekly columns of any place on the web. You get Michael
Doran's Newsarama, the single best place to get your comics news from every
week. You get Jeff ("Desperadoes") Mariotte's "Between the Lines" column in
which he spouts off about anything he feels like from week to week. It's
always interesting, and doesn't ever repeat itself. You also get some short
interviews (with the rare longer one) with professionals. Recent weeks have
included Dan Jurgens, Larry Marder, Christopher Priest, and more. And every
month they've got the contents of the major publisher's portion of the new
PREVIEWS. (Typos abound there, but you get what you pay for. ;-)
The site is also updated daily with "The Daily Buzz" covering news bits
from all over genre entertainment. This might include newsclips from AP or
pressing news from Michael Doran. It's worth a check at the end of the day.
(You see, they keep adding as the day goes on, so by the end of the day, you
might get more stories than you would if you just checked in at 10 a.m. or
something.)
And there's also some contests and polls and animation and television
news, including weekly X-Files and Babylon 5 episode summaries and
commentary.
They're Character Guides aren't worth much, so you can just skip over
them, but the rest of the site is well worth a visit.
And if you'd like to support the site some more, you can order comics
on-line from the sponsor, American Entertainment.
TONY'S ONLINE TIPS
http://www.wfcomics.com/tony
One of the more ambitious (or just plain loony) columnists on the net is
the lovable Tony Isabella. 7 days a week you get a new "Tony's Online Tips"
column, with a whole range of topics. And he might even review a comic or
two. He's been doing it now for close to four months, and hasn't missed a
column yet. If you like his CBG column, you'll like this. It's more casual,
more often off-topic (sorry, I'm not a Sailor Moon fan, although I'm fast
discovering this running gag to be funny), and more interactive. And if you
can't stand the occasional political rant like me, you can just click back
tomorrow. And all the previous columns are available on-line, too, so if you
have a weekend to kill, go nuts.
And if you'd like to support the column some more, you can order comics
on-line from the sponsor, World's Famous Comics.
SWIPE OF THE WEEK
http://www.flash.net/~genecom
Here's a site I've been telling all my friends about for a few months
now, and am happy to say it's finally getting some of the attention it so
richly deserves. Every Sunday the guys at Genesis Comics post a panel of
swiped art side-by-side with the original art being swiped. About 90% or
better of the time, it's a clear swipe. Who's swiping from whom? Well,
Fabio Laguna seems to be the biggest thief. Other thieves include big-wigs
like Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld, as well as a myriad of others. You can
also vote on whether you think it's a "swipe or a coincidence" and add your
comments. It's a lot of fun to visit.
And if you'd like to support the Swipe Finders some more, you can order
comics on-line from the sponsor, Genesis Comics.
SMOKE DAMAGE
http://www.warrenellis.com
"Smoke Damage" is British author Warren Ellis' home on the web. Updated
monthly, you can find some sample scripts from him there, as well as some of
his reviews, a bibliography of his works, and some links to the strangest
sites on the web that you would never think to ask for. He also keeps
current a list of books expected to be out that month and news clippings of
what he's working on.
And if you'd like to support the column some more, you can order -- No,
wait. You can't. Nevermind.
-Augie
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