Date:     Thu, 3 Aug 1995 07:00:00 -0500
Reply-To: COMICS Discussion List <[COMICS L] at [UNLVM.UNL.EDU]>
From: Automatic digest processor <[L--TS--V] at [UNLVM.UNL.EDU]>
Subject:  COMICS-L Digest - 2 Aug 1995 to 3 Aug 1995

There is one message totalling 74 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. Administrivia - Last Words

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Date:    Wed, 2 Aug 1995 23:55:33 CDT
From:    Bill Hayes <[IANR 012] at [UNLVM.BITNET]>
Subject: Administrivia - Last Words

After nearly five years, COMICS-L will cease operation, not because of
a lack of interest on my part, I assure you. Work and family pressures
have finally taken their toll on me, and I now find myself with too little
time for "fun" stuff, especially since my non-fiction freelance writing
has taken off with a vengance.

Thank you for your enthusiastic support.  I wish each of you the best
of luck in your careers.

All COMICS-L traffic will formally end by Thursday, August 3rd.

Some Final thoughts...

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those of you, pros and fans,
who actively posted thought-provoking material over the years. It's been
a real joy to moderate this list of full of unique personalities.  I hope
we challenged your thinking from time to time and called attention to comics
which are worthy of your support.

Above all, Comics-L was dedicated to story-telling.  With the acendancy of
style over substance, it's not been too surprising to see the emphasis
placed on the trappings of excellence, namely better papers and "collectable"
covers.

Comic book publishers are reluctant to look at new material unless it is
tied to a mass media product like the Power Rangers.  Those small companies
which are willing to take the chance lack the artistic horsepower to explore
genres which demand technical skill and a good knowledge of the subject.

Yet all is not lost.   Good story telling is still going on. I am heartened
by efforts like the much improved Babylon 5 comic book used by J. Michael
Straczynski to amplify his epic TV series.  I believe the B5 comic is now
good for at least 24 issues, in spite of earlier rumors of its demise with
issue 10.

The rising cost of comics and sequential art in book form may signal a
migration from the printed page to electronic media.  I am disheartened
by this trend, because I believe it will deprive those who can't afford the
technology.  I've always viewed comic books as being penny morality plays
where young and old can wrestle with legends and stir ancient memories of
cave pantings and a shaman's torchlit stories.  To me sequential art is a
continuation of the council fire, a reaffirmation of what is good and what
is evil, echoing our diminished memories of Eden and a desire to set things
right in a world fallen from grace.

Print media is being stretched, nearly deformed by the challenges presented
to it by the electronic media, which to me includes TV, computer games and
video games, plus the heady lure of the Internet.  Are we becoming so numbed
by what we can now see that we've lost our sense of wonder and can no longer
appreciate the power of sequential art?  Books and magazines are feeling the
crunch.  Though we sell more and more non-fiction magazines and books, the
outlets for fiction are steadily declining.  Are we losing our ability to
dream or must we now find our dreams inside a black box?

As long as someone is compelled to create good comics, I'll read them, to
challenge and affirm my world view, to touch primitive parts of my brain
which can only be stirred through the merging of word and art.  To the
pros, I challenge you to keep yourself at your best by critically examining
your work and always finding room for personal growth. To the fans, I
challenge you to search out the "good stuff," read it and share it with
your friends.  In the end, the only "value" comics can really collect
are stored in our hearts, from  their successes to stir us, make us think,
and touch something magic and half-forgotten within ourselves.

Goodbye friends, Selah!

Bill Hayes, Once and Future COMICS-L Moderator, [b--ay--s] at [unl.edu]

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End of COMICS-L Digest - 2 Aug 1995 to 3 Aug 1995
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