META: The Greats

[Tom Russell]

Arthur Spitzer wrote:
> Arthur Spitzer's Top Ten Favorite LNH Stories

> Picking number ten was really tough.  And if I had it to do all over again I
> might possibly pick a different issue.  But here it goes:
>
>
> 10. Misfits #5

I sympathize with your difficulty, Arthur.  If I had been asked to
single out just one issue of the superb Misfits, I'd have no idea how
to answer.  Every issue of the series was just so god-damn good!  It's
been a few years since I read any of them, but two moments still stick
with me after all this time.

One is the time Kismet sang, her voice becoming like some beautiful
instrument; she had referred to human singing as "tuneplay".  It was a
really beautiful moment, exquisitely captured in Jennifer's prose,
almost transformative, transcendental.  Transcendence is hard enough to
pull off in the cinema, hell, in any art form period: to do it with
words is quite a feat.

In the other moment, much later on in the series, Savannah contemplates
using a paperclip to slit her wrists.  It was such a strange, downbeat
moment: weird in the best sense of the word, weird in a way that was
truly unnerving.

> 9.  Writer's Block Woman #7

This was a great story, one of my favourites, too.  I hope we'll see
more from WBW (and Mouse) in the future.  Jaelle is a very funny
writer, and a very generous one, too: just look at the way she let me
massacre her characters in one of my Teenfactor stories. :-)

> 8.  Saviors of the Net #8

Whatever happened to Steven Howard?  TSK FORCE was a terrific series,
and even if the last story-- the CABLE BILL three-parter-- wasn't his
best work, it still had some great moments.  His writing of Mainstream
Man, both in TSK FORCE and SAVIOURS, was one of the main reasons why I
started WEB OF MAINSTREAM MAN.


> 7.  Continuity Champ #19

I read CC once when I did my first sweep of the archives.  Truth be
told, it left me kind of cold.  I remember exchanging a few email with
Drizzt, though, and I found him, like all the old-timers, to be a
really nice guy, very helpful.  And I really enjoyed his work in one of
the FLAME WARS crossover-- the one where the villain was named
Flashback.

  That crossover always stuck in my head (even if I forget the
numeral), because right in the middle of reading it, I had to go visit
my uncle Jerry halfway across the state.  It was a particularly
thrilling, downbeat sort of moment when I stopped reading, and all
through out the long car ride, I was eagerly awaiting the return trip,
so I could find out what happened.

On the trip over, the song "We Were Only Freshmen" was playing on the
radio.  I'm really bad with song lyrics, and it sounded to me like they
were saying, "We were stuck with Flashback".  It creeped the hell out
of me, and now, whenever I hear that song, I remember that story-- one
of my favourites.

> 6.  Dvandom Force Annual #1

> and to be fair there are quite a bit of issues that Dave
> wrote that were better than this one, but unfortunately a lot of the good
> stuff that Dave wrote happened to be part of various arcs or crossovers.

Very true.  Again, an unenviable task on your part, having to choose
just one.

When I joined RACC, Dave was just wrapping up Century Pact, which
probably stands as my favourite Dvandom Force story.  It's a very good
story, a very thrilling, intriguing serial-- but I think my preference
for it might stem from it being my first exposure.  Like the Flashback
Flame Wars crossover, it occupies a fond place in my memories, probably
more for sentimental reasons than for its own merits.  (Lucky for me,
the things I have sentimental attachments to are excellent in the first
place!)

> 5.  Easily-Discovered Man #25

A very good issue of a very good series-- see my comments earlier in
the thread.

> 4.  Legion of Occult Heroes #4

I read the series once through the archive, and have always been
meaning to do so again.  The first time I read it, I didn't really take
my time and so a lot of it didn't gel.  Maybe I'll make my second go
sometime soon.

> 3.  LNH Triple Play #3

Is it just me, or do we need to have a second Valentine's Ball?  I
mean, the first one was so much fun.

... but on the other hand, compared to the LNHTP Valentine's Ball,
anything we come up with would be superfluous.  So never mind.

That's how you know you've got a good story: when you want to have more
of it, but know that it can't possibly measure up.

> 2.  Refugees of Net.ropolis #5

I remember reading through a few issues of REFUGEES sometime in '97 or
'98.  I sure wish I had read it again, though. :-(

> 1.  Particle Man Annual #1

And, actually, I don't think I ever got to this one.  I think I'll read
it tonight.  Thanks, Arthur! :-)

> Arthur "You could do worse than reading these" Spitzer

I'm glad that you chose to concentrate on the early period of the LNH;
it helps remind us of stories that we may have forgotten, never read,
or never heard of.  There are a lot of great stories from the first few
years of the LNH, including some that are a little rougher around the
edges, like Kyle Lucke's CHEEEZ Corps or wReam's work.  All worth
seeking out, all just as good in their own way as the best of Ahbay and
Rogers and Dvandom and Mistlock.

--Tom