part from Bill Amend's Foxtrot, few syndicated
comics acknowledge, let alone cater to, the science fiction community.
Fortunately, wherever traditional channels leave a gap in niche
entertainment these days, the Internet steps in. Hence Sluggy
Freelance, an unabashedly geeky adventure that's long been one of the
best of the growing crop of online comic strips.
New Jersey writer/artist Pete Abrams, who started the strip as a hobby
but has watched it grow into a full-time job, follows a newspaper format: a
new black-and-white comic every day, a longer color strip on Sundays, a
horizontal panel format, a punchline in each strip. But Sluggy
Freelance is way too much fun for the increasingly stodgy mainstream
newspaper comics pages. The strip centers around two longtime friends--budding mad scientist Riff and his dorky friend Torg--and their assorted
hangers-on, including a homicidal lop-eared bunny, a Giger-style alien who
works as a secretary, a blowhard vampire and a normal college student who
gets involved in their time-traveling, dimension-hopping, TV-parodying
adventures more often than she'd like. Over the course of the past four
years, Abrams has woven some surprisingly intricate and serious plotlines,
while parodying everything from Santa Claus to Dr. Laura's radio talk show
to movies (The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix) to television
(Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pokemon, The X-Files, and
many, many more).
Longtime readers can access the main page for a new strip every day, but
new readers will be lost unless they head for the Sluggy Viewer Guide. There, four years' worth of daily
strips are archived by plotline, with two of the all-time silliest story
arcs highlighted: "The Sci-Fi Adventure," in which the dimension-traveling
characters make cameo appearances on Star Trek, Star Wars
and Alien, and "Torg Goes To Hell," which introduces the
fan-favorite nebbish netherworld, the Dimension of Pain. The Guide lets
readers access strips by the day or by the week, so it's easy to catch up
on all the complex backstory, which is necessary to really appreciate the
later strips' humor and to feed the addiction that often hits newcomers
after their first taste of Abrams' twisted, fan-friendly wit.
--Tasha Robinson
Site of the Week -- January 8, 2000
here are plenty of Web sites out in the ether of the Internet that pay homage to J. Michael Straczynski’s five-year novel on television. And while many of these do a supreme job of keeping fans up to date on when and where Babylon 5 is currently airing, as well as providing detailed episode descriptions, they generally fall flat when it comes to timely information regarding the B5 cast and crew.
Where are they now? Where can a fan read about the current projects that Capt. Sheridan, er, Bruce Boxleitner will be doing? What about Jerry Doyle, Claudia Christian, Richard Biggs, Mira Furlan, Peter Jurasik and all the others?
The Galactic Gateway is your one-stop site, a cyber-community of sorts, for all your B5-related needs. Like the five-mile station itself, it could be considered a port of call, in that it contains links to most of the starring actors’ official web pages. But it is much more than just a Web portal. Here you will find details on Pat Tallman’s (telepath Lyta Alexander) efforts with the Penny Lane charity, the results of Jerry Doyle’s (Garibaldi) unsuccessful run for Congress, B5’s latest Nielsen ratings on the SCI FI Channel, Jeffery Willerth’s (Ambassador Kosh) latest production endeavors for The History Channel and Peter Jurasik's (Londo) recent step onto the set of Dawson’s Creek for a guest appearance.
There is also a section which is devoted to episode spoilers. The Galactic Gateway offers more than just a synopsis. The site ties together the story arc of the show bit by bit, and offers the text of never-before-seen footage that was deleted from the final cuts of some episodes. A message board and chat list allow fans to keep in touch with others in B5 fandom, and the online store offers autographed memorabilia that can be personalized. A conventions listing round out the periphery features of The Galactic Gateway.
-- Brian Murphy
Site of the Week -- Jan. 2, 2000
vailable in both Polish and English, Solaris is the hot source of
official data on SF writer Stanislaw Lem. Published by Lem's secretary and
son, the site provides--among other offerings--pictures, commentaries,
reviews, autobiographical essays by Lem himself and an extensive index of
Lem's books and stories. There is even an index that details which works
can be found in each of the 36 languages into which they have been
translated! Surfers can read excerpts from Lem's books and much of his
short fiction directly from this page.
The content of the site provides a layered view of a complex artist.
Especially delightful is the autobiographical section, "Lem about Himself,"
which is a fusion of an interview and a more conventionally styled article.
Short--often hilarious--paragraphs by Lem are alternated with third-person
statistics and dates of interest. The result is something that is packed
with facts while retaining a charming, anecdotal tone. In addition to
maintaining a strong focus on Lem's fiction, visitors to this site may also
look at many of his drawings--a witty gallery of black-and-white sketches
with SF themes.
Covering its subject matter thoroughly, Solaris is attractively laid out
and easy to navigate. Its simple but elegant design allows users to find
what they are looking for--whether it is a link to a book vendor, a look at
the various covers of a novel such as Memoirs of a Space Traveller
or the Lem FAQ--with just a couple of fast clicks. Though it is not
searchable in the generally accepted sense, the care taken to make the web
page straightforward and accessible is top-notch.
Solaris has the insider track on information about Stanislaw Lem,
combining personal details with images and essays that are not available
anywhere else. These elements make up a page that will inform and delight
anyone, whether it is a hard-core Lem fan or someone who is new to the work
of this fascinating and multitalented artist.
-- A.M. Dellamonica
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