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Reboot (continuity)

Reboot (continuity)

Reboot, in series fiction, means to discard all previous continuity in the series and start anew. Effectively, all previously-known history is declared by the writer to be null and void and the series starts over from the beginning. It is analogous to the process of rebooting a computer, clearing out all working memory and reloading the operating system from scratch; neglecting offline storage, none of the previous session's activities have any bearing on the product of the current session, except in the memory of the operator (writer). This differs from a creator producing a separate interpretation of another creator's work; rather, the owner of the creation declares that the rebooted continuity is now the official version. This term is often applied to comic books, where the prevailing continuity can be very important to the progress of future installments, acting (depending on circumstances and one's point of view) as a rich foundation from which to develop characters and storylines, or as a box limiting the story options available to tell and an irreconcilable mess of contradictory history.

Examples


- Arguably this is what DC Comics did in the late 1950s when it reintroduced several characters that had been staples of their superhero comics in the 1940s, but had since disappeared from the public eye. The Flash was relaunched with a different name and costume, and other characters, including Green Lantern, Hawkman, and The Atom, were re-introduced (mostly with more science fiction-influenced attributes rather than the often mystically-tinged earlier characters).
- DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986 had far-reaching effects on many DC titles. One of the goals of the event was to make DC continuity less complicated and more modern, and this involved complete reboots of Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and others. (The histories of some other characters were merely retconned.) This may be the earliest use of the term "reboot" in this way, though it is unlikely that the term was widely used at the time, when most readers were still unfamiliar with the operation of computers.
- DC's Legion of Super-Heroes comic book had its continuity rebooted in the events surrounding Zero Hour in 1994. The characters' stories came to a decisive close, the previous 36 years of continuity were discarded, and a new Legion made up of similar characters based on the earlier versions began their careers without any mention of the previous continuity (except for tacit allusions). The series was rebooted again in 2004.
- Marvel Comics, in the mid-1990s, turned several of their titles over to studios affiliated with Image Comics, and these titles (Fantastic Four, Captain America, The Avengers, and Iron Man — the Hulk would be included in this trend only as a character, but without his own title) were rebooted in their own separate universe, while the rest of Marvel's line maintained the original continuity in which the affected characters were presumed to have died in a cataclysmic battle. The rebooted titles lasted only a year, at which point the heroes involved returned to the original universe. See Heroes Reborn.
- In 2000, Marvel launched the Ultimate Marvel line of comic books that rebooted the Marvel Universe. The Ultimate series was intended to modernize the characters, to rewrite the individual characters into a more cohesive universe, and to make the series more appealing to non-Marvel fans; the huge back-story of the Marvel Universe, made it very difficult for newcomers to understand the characters and storylines.
- In 2002 the He-Man story was rebooted.
- In 2003, the Robotech universe was rebooted with the launch of Wildstorm's new comic book series. While it does occasionally borrow characters and situations introduced in lore that existed prior (most notably Robotech II: The Sentinels), Harmony Gold USA now considers only the original 85 episode animated series (and possibly the current Wildstorm comic) as canon.
- In 2003, Battlestar Galactica was rebooted by the SciFi channel's miniseries of the same name. Two previously male characters (Starbuck & Boomer) were re-imagined as female. Baltar, the traitor to humanity, is depicted in the miniseries as merely a pawn being taken advantage of by the Cylons, as opposed to the power-mad character of the original series. The ruling Council of Twelve was replaced by a president, with a line of succession similar to that of the presidency of the United States. The Cylons, who were originally an android race created by aliens and later at war with humanity, was re-imagined as a race of computers originally created by humanity that evolved into an enemy of humankind. The Cylons come in many designs, such as the older classic design, more modern fighting machines (both humanoid and vehicular), and stealth units designed to impersonate humans for the purpose of infiltration.
- Batman Begins, released in 2005, is a reboot of the Batman film series. It was done to not only start a new continuity that was more faithful to the tone of the comics, but also to distance itself from the last installment of the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher series of films, the much maligned Batman and Robin.
- Due to comments made by director Martin Campbell, it is suspected that the 21st James Bond movie, Casino Royale, will be a reboot of the Bond movie series. This, however, has not been confirmed.
- Based on verious pieces of infomation concerning Shadow the Hedgehog and 2006's next-gen Sonic game, it's heavily suggested that the video game Sonic storyline will be rebooted for the next generation of video gaming. Whether this will affect the Archie Comic book (and its sister publication, Sonic X) has not been confirmed.

See also


- Canon (fiction)
- Retcon
- Reset button technique Category:Continuity (fiction)

Fiction

, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology.]] Fiction is storytelling of imagined events and stands in contrast to non-fiction, which makes factual claims about reality. A large part of the appeal of fiction is its ability to evoke the entire spectrum of human emotions: to distract our minds, to give us hope in times of despair, to make us laugh, or to let us experience empathy without attachment. Fictional works—novels, stories, fairy tales, fables, films, comics, interactive fiction—may be partly based on factual occurrences but always contain some imaginary content. The term is also often used synonymously with fictional prose. In this sense, fiction refers only to novels or short stories and is often divided into two categories, popular fiction (e.g., science fiction or mystery fiction) and literary fiction (e.g., Victor Hugo or William Faulkner). Fiction is largely perceived as a form of art and/or entertainment, although not all fiction is necessarily artistic. Fiction may be created for the purpose of educating, such as fictional examples used in school textbooks. Fiction is also frequently instrumentalized by propaganda and advertising. Fiction may be propagated by parents to their children out of tradition (e.g. Santa Claus) or in order to instill certain beliefs and values. Fables with an explicit moral goal are not necessarily targeted at children, however. Fiction may over time blend with factual accounts and develop into mythology. Many atheists perceive religion as no different from any fictional tale, whereas members of religious groups typically explain their beliefs with faith and claim they are fundamentally different from fictional tales (although they may call other religious views fictional). The sociological school of constructivism argues that every view of reality is fundamentally a construction of the self and that a safe distinction between fact and fiction is impossible, whereas the philosophy of naturalism holds that reality can be approximated and truth can be demonstrated through usefulness, allowing the distinction from fiction. Fiction has often been the target of censorship or boycotts, escalating into book burnings or bans. Extremist regimes like the Taliban have been even more prohibitive, restricting all reading to religious texts. There is an ongoing debate regarding sexual content in fiction and whether or not juveniles can be safely exposed to it; opponents of fiction with sexual content typically label it pornography. The Internet has had a massive impact on the distribution of fiction, calling into question the feasibility of copyright as a means to ensure royalties are payed to copyright holders. Also digital libraries such as Project_Gutenberg have come into being which make public domain texts more readily available. The combination of inexpensive home computers, the Internet and the creativity of its users has also led to new forms of fiction, such as interactive computer games or computer-generated comics. Countless forums for fan fiction can be found online, where loyal followers of specific fictional realms create and distribute derivative stories. Through open writing systems like wikis, collaboratively written fiction is also becoming possible (see the [http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikifiction Wikifiction] initiative). Fiction is a fundamental part of human culture, and the ability to create fiction and other artistic works is frequently cited as one of the defining characteristics of humanity.

Categories of fiction


- Children's fiction
- Crime fiction
  - Detective fiction
  - Mystery fiction
- Fan fiction
- Interactive fiction
- Literary fiction
- Romantic fiction
- Speculative fiction
  - Fantasy fiction
  - Horror fiction
    - Vampire fiction
  - Science fiction
- Spy fiction
- Inspirational fiction

Elements of fiction


- antagonists
- conflicts
- climax
- characters
- plots
- protagonists
- resolution
- structures
- subplots
- themes
- fictional character
- suspension of disbelief

See also


- Archive of fictional things

External links


- [http://book.awardannals.com/genre/fiction/ Most Honored Fiction] at the Book Award Annals
-
- ja:フィクション

Analogy

Analogy is either the cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), or a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. In a narrower sense, analogy is an inference or an argument from a particular to another particular, as opposed to deduction, induction and abduction, where at least one of the premises or the conclusion is general. The word analogy can also refer to the relation between the source and the target themselves, which is often, though not necessarily, a similarity, as in the biological notion of analogy. Analogy plays a significant role in problem solving, decision making, perception, memory, creativity, emotion, explanation and communication. It lies behind basic tasks such as the identification of places, objects and people, e.g. in face perception and facial recognition systems. It has been argued that analogy is "the core of cognition" (see Hofstadter in Gentner et. al. 2001). Specifically analogical language comprises exemplification, comparisons, metaphors, similes, allegories, and parables, but not metonymy. Phrases like and so on, and the like, as if and the very word like also rely on an analogical understanding by the receiver of a message including them. Analogy is important not only in ordinary language and common sense, where proverbs and idioms give many examples of its application, but also in science, philosophy and the humanities. The concepts of similarity, resemblance, homology, comparison, association, correspondence and isomorphism are closely related to analogy. In cognitive linguistics, the notion of conceptual metaphor may be equivalent to that of analogy. Analogy has been studied and discussed since classical antiquity by philosophers, scientists and lawyers. The last few decades have shown a renewed interest in analogy, most notable in cognitive science.

Models and theories of analogy

Identity of relation

In ancient Greek the word αναλογια (analogia) originally meant proportionality, in the mathematical sense, and it was indeed sometimes translated to Latin as proportio. From there analogy was understood as identity of relation between any two ordered pairs, whether of mathematical nature or not. Kant's Critique of Judgment held to this notion. Kant argued that there can be exactly the same relation between two completely different objects. The same notion of analogy was used in the US-based SAT tests, that included "analogy questions" in the form "A is to B as C is to what?" For example, "Hand is to palm as foot is to ____?" These questions were usually given in the Aristotelian format: :HAND : PALM : : FOOT : ____ It is worth noting that while most competent English speakers will immediately give the right answer to the analogy question (sole), it is quite more difficult to identify and describe the exact relation that holds both between hand and palm, and between foot and sole. This relation is not apparent in some lexical definitions of palm and sole, where the former is defined as the inner surface of the hand, and the latter as the underside of the foot. Analogy and abstraction are different cognitive processes, and analogy is often an easier one.

Shared abstraction

Greek philosophers as Plato and Aristotle actually used a wider notion of analogy. They saw analogy as a shared abstraction (Shelley 2003). Analogous objects shared an idea, a pattern, a regularity, an attribute, an effect or a function. They also accepted that comparisons, metaphors and "images" (allegories) could be used as valid arguments, and sometimes they called them analogies. Analogies should also make those abstractions easier to understand and give confidence to the ones using them. The Middle Ages saw an increased use and theorization of analogy. Roman lawyers had already used analogical reasoning and the Greek word analogia. Mediaeval lawyers distinguished analogia legis and analogia iuris (see below). In theology, analogical arguments were accepted in order to explain the attributes of God. Aquinas made a distinction between equivocal, univocal and analogical terms, the latter being those like healthy that have different but related meanings. Not only a person can be "healthy", but also the food that is good for health (see the contemporary distinction between polysemy and homonymy). Thomas Cajetan wrote an influent treatise on analogy. In all of these cases, the wide Platonic and Aristotelian notion of analogy was preserved.

Special case of induction

On the contrary, Bacon and later Mill argued that analogy be simply a special case of induction (see Shelley 2003). In their view analogy is an inductive inference from common known attributes to another probable common attribute, which is known only about the source of the analogy, in the following form: :Premise: a is C, D, E, F and G. :Premise: b is C, D, E and F. :Conclusion: b is probably G. :Alternative conclusion: every C, D, E and F is probably G. This view does not accept analogy as an autonomous mode of thought or inference, reducing it to induction. However, autonomous analogical arguments are still useful in science, philosophy and the humanities (see below), which makes this reduction philosophically uninteresting. Moreover, induction tries to achieve general conclusions, while analogy looks for particular ones.

Hidden deduction

The opposite move could also be tried, reducing analogy to deduction. It is argued that every analogical argument is partially superfluous and can be rendered as a deduction stating as a premise a (previously hidden) universal proposition which applied both to the source and the target. In this view, instead of an argument with the form: :Premise: a is analogous to b. :Premise: b is F. :Conclusion: a is plausibly F. We should have: :Hidden universal premise: all Gs are Fs. :Hidden singular premise: a is G. :Conclusion: a is F. This would mean that premises referring the source and the analogical relation are themselves superfluous. However, it is not always possible to find a true universal premise to replace the analogical premises (see Juthe 2005). And analogy is not only an argument, but also a distinct cognitive process.

Shared structure

Contemporary cognitive scientists use a wide notion of analogy, extensionally close to that of Plato and Aristotle, but framed by the structure mapping theory (See Gentner et. al. 2001). The same idea of mapping between source and target is used by conceptual metaphor theorists. Structure mapping theory concerns both psychology and computer science. According to this view, analogy depends on the mapping or alignment of the elements of source and target. The mapping takes place not only between objects, but also between relations of objects and between relations of relations. The whole mapping yields the assignment of a predicate or a relation to the target. Structure mapping theory has been applied and has found enough confirmation in psychology. It has had reasonable success in computer science and artificial intelligence (see below). Some studies extended the approach to specific subjects, such as metaphor and similarity (see Gentner et. al. 2001 and Gentner's publication page). Holyoak and Thagard (1997) developed their multiconstraint theory within structure mapping theory. They defend that the "coherence" of an analogy depends on structural consistency, semantic similarity and purpose. Structural consistency is maximal when the analogy is an isomorphism, although lower levels are admitted. Similarity demands that the mapping connects similar elements and relations of source and target, at any level of abstraction. It is maximal when there are identical relations and when connected elements have many identical attributes. An analogy achieves its purpose as much as it is fit for the problem at hand. The multiconstraint theory faces some difficulties when there are multiple sources, but these can be overcome (Shelley 2003). A problem for the multiconstraint theory arises from its concept of similarity, which, in this respect, is not obviously different from analogy itself. Computer applications demand that there are some identical attributes or relations at some level of abstraction. Human analogy does not, or at least not apparently.

High-level perception

Douglas Hofstadter and his team (see Chalmers et. al 1991) challenged the shared structure theory and mostly its applications in computer science. They argue that there is no line between perception, including high-level perception, and analogical thought. In fact, analogy occurs not only after, but also before and at the same time as high-level perception. In high-level perception, humans make representations selecting relevant information from low-level stimuli. Perception is necessary for analogy, but analogy is also necessary for high-level perception. Chalmers et. al. conclude that analogy is high-level perception. Forbus et. al. (1998) claim that this is only a metaphor. It has been argued (Morrison and Dietrich 1995) that Hofstadter's and Gentner's groups do not defend opposite views, but are instead dealing with different aspects of analogy.

Applications and types of analogy

Linguistics


- In linguistics, an analogy can be a spoken or textual comparison between two words (or sets of words) to highlight some form of semantic similarity between them. Linguistic analogies can be used to strengthen political and philosophical arguments, even when the semantic similarity is weak or non-existent (if crafted carefully for the audience).
- An analogy can also be the linguistic process that reduces word forms perceived as irregular by remaking them in the shape of more common forms that are governed by rules. For example, the English verb help once had the preterite holp and the past participle holpen. These obsolete forms have been discarded and replaced by helped by the power of analogy. However, irregular forms can sometimes be created by analogy; one example is the American English past tense form of "dive": "dove", formed on analogy with words such as drive-drove.
- Neologisms can be formed by analogy with existing words. A common example is software, formed by analogy with hardware. Another example is the humorous term underwhelm, formed by analogy with overwhelm.

Mathematics

Some types of analogies can have a precise mathematical formulation through the concept of isomorphism.

Artificial intelligence

See case-based reasoning

Anatomy

:See also: Analogy (biology) In anatomy, two anatomical structures are considered to be analogous when they serve similar functions but are not evolutionarily related, such as the legs of vertebrates and the legs of insects. Analogous structures are the result of convergent evolution and should be contrasted with homologous structures.

Law

In law, analogy is used to resolve issues on which there is no previous authority. A distinction has to be made between analogous reasoning from written law and analogy to precedent case law.

Analogies from codes and statutes

In civil law systems, where the preeminent source of law are legal codes and statutes, a lacuna (a gap) arises when a specific issue is not explicitly dealt with in written law. Judges will try to identify a provision whose purpose applies to the case at hand. That process can reach a high degree of sophistication, as judges sometimes not only look at specific provision to fill lacunae (gaps), but at several provisions (from which an underlying purpose can be inferred) or at general principles of the law to identify the legislator's value judgement from which the analogy is drawn. Besides the not very frequent filling of lacunae, analogy is very commonly used between different provisions in order to achieve substantial coherence. Analogy from previous judicial decisions is also common, although these decisions are not binding authorities.

Analogies from precedent case law

By contrast, in common law systems, where precedent cases are the primary source of law, analogies to codes and statutes are rare (since those are not seen as a coherent system, but as incursions into the common law). Analogies are thus usually drawn from precedent cases: The judge finds that the facts of another case are similar to the one at hand to an extent that the analogous application of the rule established in the previous case is justified.

Engineering

Often a physical prototype is built to model and represent some other physical object. The prototype (the "analog") is designed such that, while it is much easier and/or less expensive for someone to experiment on it. The behavior of the analog tells us something about the behavior of "the real thing". For example, wind tunnels are used to test scale models of wings and aircraft, which act as an analog to full-size wings and aircraft. For example, the MONIAC Computer (an analog computer) used the flow of water in its pipes as an analog to the flow of money in an economy.

External links and references


- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-09 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] Analogy in Early Greek Thought.
- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-10 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] Analogy in Patristic and Medieval Thought.
- [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/analogy-medieval/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:] Medieval Theories of Analogy.
- [http://www.psych.northwestern.edu/psych/people/faculty/gentner/allpubs.htm Dedre Gentner's publications page], most of them on analogy and available for download.
- Chalmers, D.J. et. al. (1991). Chalmers, D.J., French, R.M., Hofstadter, D., [http://consc.net/papers/highlevel.pdf High-Level Perception, Representation, and Analogy].
- Forbus, Kenneth et. al. (1998). [http://www.psych.northwestern.edu/psych/people/faculty/gentner/newpdfpapers/ForbusGentner98.pdf Analogy just looks like high-level perception].
- Gentner, Dedre et. al. (2001). The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press.
- Itkonen, Esa (2005). Analogy as Structure and Process. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin's Publishing Company.
- Juthe, André (2005). [http://www.cs.hut.fi/Opinnot/T-93.850/2005/Papers/juthe2005-analogy.pdf "Argument by Analogy"], in Argumentation (2005) 19: 1–27.
- Holyoak and Thagard (1997). [http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/Articles/Pages/Analog.Mind.html The Analogical Mind].
- Holyoak, K.J. et. al. (1996). Mental Leaps: Analogy in Creative Thought. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press.
- Morrison, C., and Dietrich, E. (1995). [http://eksl.cs.umass.edu/~clayton/publications/CogSci95/SM-v-HLP.pdf Structure-Mapping vs. High-level Perception].
- Shelley, Cameron (2003). Multiple analogies in Science and Philosophy. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin's Publishing Company. Category:Philosophical arguments Category:Cognitive science Category:Computer science Category:Semantics ja:アナロジー

ReBoot

ReBoot is a Canadian animated series produced by Mainframe Entertainment, noted for being the first completely computer animated TV series. Originally made for children, the series attracted many older fans when it became thematically darker partway through its second season. Additionally, throughout its entire run ReBoot made countless references to computer terms and pop culture that would not be understood by most children. The success of this series helped establish Mainframe Entertainment as one of the predominant computer animation studios in the world. It is important to note that when the series debuted in 1994, the first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, had not yet been released. The setting, which may have been inspired by the Disney movie Tron, is in the inner world of a computer system known by its inhabitants as Mainframe (also from which is Mainframe Entertainment named for). Mainframe is divided into six sectors (moving clockwise): Baudway, Kits, Floating Point Park, Beverly Hills, Wall Street, and Ghetty Prime. Mainframe is populated almost entirely by binomes, little creatures that represent either 1's or 0's, as well as a handful of Sprites who are primarily humanoid creatures of more complex design and are the main characters of the series. ReBoot is considered by many as one of the greatest cartoons ever. One poll by Cartoon Network asked, "What is your favorite Toonami show of all time?" ReBoot garnered 49% of votes. ReBoot was first broadcast on Saturday mornings in the United States in 1994 by ABC and in Canada on YTV (although YTV had exclusive rights to air first-run episodes), proved to be an instant hit with children and their parents, only to be abruptly cancelled when the Walt Disney Company purchased the network. Episodes from the second season could still be seen in the States when Claster Television distributed them for a short period of time during the 1996-97 season. Although there were many demands for a third season, it would be a year before new episodes aired on YTV due to Mainframe's involvement in Beasties and Shadow Raiders, and the third season aired only on YTV at the time due to the lack of interest stateside. As such, the third season was largely free of the network censorship that plagued the first two seasons; this is evidenced by the series establishing that the adult Matrix and AndrAIa have become lovers (going so far as AndrAIa actually calling Matrix "lover"). It was March 1999 - years after Canadian audiences saw the third season - before American audiences saw the episodes on Cartoon Network. Again, production on other series delayed the fourth season of ReBoot, and there are no plans to produce a fifth despite a cliffhanger season finale, as the show's writers have since left Mainframe. Since 2001, many of the show's fans have carried out a movement with the hope of convincing Mainframe to produce more ReBoot episodes. These efforts have been unsuccessful up to this point, possibly due to the lack of support from American distributors. Today, reruns of ReBoot can be seen occasionally on YTV and CBC. The show also aired in the UK in the mid 1990s, on the ITV childrens strand CiTV.

Characters

Main characters

; Bob : Guardian 452 and defender of Mainframe from both internal and external threats. He is equipped with a Guardian Keytool, Glitch, which can transform into any device with a voice command. Bob is often criticised by other Guardians for his unorthodox views regarding to viruses: Unlike other Guardians, who believe that viruses should simply be deleted on sight, Bob theorizes that viruses can be rehabilitated to live as normal Sprites. Despite this criticism, Bob is still respected as one of the finest Guardians ever to come out of the academy. Compared to Dot, he usually does things 'on the fly'. ; Dot Matrix : Proprietor of Dot's Diner, Dot later became command.com of Mainframe in place of Phong. She is admired for her brilliant and invaluable tactical skills. Although she and Bob would never admit it, they are attracted to one another and this sometimes leads to awkward moments between them. :Her name is a reference to dot matrix printers ; Enzo Matrix : Dot's little brother. Enzo hero-worships Bob and intends to become a Guardian. He has a crackling, mid-pubescent voice and often uses phrases such as "alphanumeric" and "high-density" in place of real-world utterances like "cool" and "awesome" to express enthusiasm. Enzo is very energetic and loves to play games like Jet Ball and Circuit Racing. When Mainfraime was rebooted at the end of Season 3, Matrix had accidentally left his icon in "Game Sprite" mode, causing the system to recognize Enzo as missing, and so created a second Enzo using the last available data on him: sometime before Talent Night. Enzo looks up to his older self as much as he does Bob. ; "Matrix" : Enzo Matrix when he's grown up. Ashamed of the child he used to be, whom he views as weak, he prefers to be addressed by his surname, Matrix, instead of his given name, Enzo, which reminds him of his childhood. With a cold personality, violent behaviour and a "built-like-a-tank" physique, he's nothing like the child he used to be. He was tempered by what was from his perspective a lifetime of fighting. Although he is quick to anger he has still shown a desire to help those in need and his quest to return to Mainframe has let him bring many systems back from the brink of annihilation. He harbours an unparalleled hatred towards viruses and won't hesitate to delete them in a violent and sadistic manner. He is in love with AndrAIa, who has now matured as well, but is also quite jealous and protective of her. His right eye was severely damaged in a game, but was replaced with a cybernetic eye. This eye grants him extended visual powers, such as magnified long-range vision and X-ray vision. Matrix has also acquired a gun, the aptly named Gun, which has many functions that Matrix invokes with voice commands. Gun operates in a fashion similar to a Guardian Keytool, possibly because Matrix idolized Bob as a child. Matrix's mechanical eye also works in conjunction with Gun for lock-on targeting and tracking purposes. One of his guns functions is "Death Blossom" which allows the gun to hover in midair spinning rapidly in 720 degrees autolocking to all targets in sight. :Death Blossom Mode is a reference to the movie The Last Starfighter. ; AndrAIa : (pronounced "andrea") A backup copy of a Game Sprite who met Enzo in an undersea-themed game. She fell in love with him at "first sight." (Ref: ReBoot 4.03 What's Love Got To Do With It?) The original AndrAIa piggy-backed her icon on Enzo's. This allowed the backup to escape the game and stay in Mainframe with Enzo, but the original remained in the game. (Ref: ReBoot 2.06 AndrAIa) Because of the nature of the game from which she was born, AndrAIa has many mermaid-like qualities: she wears fish-skin garments, wears starfish in her hair, and utilises such armaments as paralysis-inducing fingernails and a trident in combat. During the period of her and Enzo's exile into the games, she matures into a statuesque beauty who continually tries to temper her lover's cynism. :Her name is a reference to Artificial Intelligence ; Phong : System administrator for Mainframe who lives and studies in the Principal Office. A wise old sprite somewhat evocative of Confucius, he often dispenses advice in the form of confusing and vague philosophical quotes gleaned from old README files. Very fond of Pong, one must defeat him in a game to be considered worthy of his knowledge. Phong is immune to forced viral infection (he is read-only memory), but may still be harmed by other means. (ref: ReBoot 1.02 The Medusa Bug) :His name is a reference to phong shading ; Megabyte : Evil virus operating out of the Silicon Tor in Sector 1000. Megabyte plots constantly to corrupt and control Mainframe in order to turn it into his own domain, "Megaframe." Megabyte is a malignant virus, with the ability and the desire to infect other programs. He commands an army of infected binomes. Megabyte possesses incredible physical strength and an unnaturally cunning intellect. In many ways, he is a megalomaniacal dictator; his only purpose is the amassing of power and control. Megabyte has no scruples and constantly takes advantage of other characters in order to achieve his own ends. He has a brutal, almost psychopathic nature and speaks with a deep British accent. In the fourth season he becomes a Trojan Horse virus, gaining the ability to look and sound like any sprite or binome he is able to steal code from. :His name is a reference to a unit of computer memory. ; Hexadecimal : An insane virus operating out of Lost Angles and who has a not-so-secret crush on Bob. She has a cat-like pet named SCSI (pronounced "Scuzzy"). Hexadecimal has the ability to control nulls (sprites downgraded to slug-like status for losing to the User in a game), which has earned her the title "Queen of the Nulls." 'Hex' has transfinite power -- likely meaning that it has no limit, though not that it is infinite; Hex can be weakened and takes time to restore herself to full power. However, during the Daemon Rising feature, she had power levels comparable to Daemon's. She is a benign virus, meaning she doesn't infect other entities. :Her name is a reference to hexadecimal notation, which programmers sometimes use rather than binary notation. ; Mouse : Bob's old flame. A hacker extraordinaire, equipped with a katana to cut her enemies into small pieces. Originally hired as a mercenary by Megabyte. Mouse became a main character over the course of Season 3. She speaks with a sugary Southern accent. In his rookie days, Bob arrested her for attempting to hack into the Supercomputer. :Her name is a reference to the computer mouse

Secondary characters

; Hack & Slash : The red (Hack) and blue (Slash) flunky sprites resemble bizarrely constructed robots. The pair originally served Megabyte, but adjusted their loyalties to the side of Mainframe later on. They are frequently torn apart, although they seem to take it in stride. Their names may be a reference to the hack and slash genere of roleplaying and videogames. ; Mike the TV : An annoying, ambulatory television set from Bob's apartment who is constantly pitching bizarre products (like the famous Bucket-O-Nothing for only 9,999.99) or simply rambling until somebody shuts him up. He appears at random moments to irritate the rest of the cast. His remote control ran away, so he can't be turned off. :His name is a possible reference to Mike Teavee. ; Old Man Pearson : Owns a waste disposal system (analogous to a computer Recycle Bin) and data dump in Sector 1001. Pearson is a cranky old Scotsman and the former Codemaster known as Talon. As a Codemaster, Pearson possesses a Gibson Coil Pike weapon. :(Gibson Coils are a reference to science fiction writer William Gibson.) ; Al : Almost never seen, only heard to shout, "What?!" He can be seen for short moments runnign when chaos erupts in Maine Frame. See picture of Al. Al owns Al's Diner (a.k.a. Al's Wait & Eat) on Level 31, and also serves as cook. According to his waiter, Al runs at 3 decahertz (30 Hz). Image:ReBoot_-_3x16_-_End_Prog_073_0001.jpg This Screenshot was taken form the episode End Prog. ; Al's Waiter (Front Counter) : Never named in the series, he stands behind the counter at Al's Diner. ; Al's Waiter (Roller Skater) : Also never addressed by name, he is flamboyant and (suspected to be) stereotypically homosexual. Has made Bob a bit uncomfortable on a few occasions. ; Ray Tracer : Web surfer introduced in Season 3, he became a main character upon the return to Mainframe. During Season 4 and beyond, he is romantically involved with Mouse. :His name is a refernce to a computer graphics technique, ray tracing ; Captain Gavin Capacitor (The Crimson Binome) : A software pirate and captain of the Saucy Mare. Capacitor is armed with a hook for a right hand and a peg leg in place of his left leg. Fits the pirate stereotype perfectly, complete with pirate catchphrase mutations such as "Shiver me templates!" and "By the code!" :His last name is a reference to capacitors. His first name may be a reference to actor Gavin MacLeod, who played another seagoing captain, Merrill Stubing, on the 1977-1986 television series The Love Boat; then again, Capacitor may have been named for ReBoot co-creator Gavin Blair, and the "connection" to another fictional ship's captain may be coincidental. ; Mr. Christopher : Captain Capacitor's bookkeeper is a nerdy and timid binome who's never seen without his laptop. His name is likely a tribute to Fletcher Christian, the Master's Mate from the HMAS Bounty. ; Frisket : Enzo's dog, vicious toward just about everyone other than Enzo, with a particular dislike of Bob. Frisket has uncanny physical strength, comparable to that of Megabyte, and is known to catch cannon balls in his teeth. Frisket is extremely loyal to Enzo and wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice his life to protect Enzo's. ; Turbo : Prime Guardian and leader of the Guardian Collective. He is equipped with a Guardian Keytool, Copeland, which can transform into any device with a voice command. He speaks with a Texan accent. :His name is a reference to turbo mode some early PCs had which increased the speed of the CPU :Copeland is a reference to Mac OS ; Herr Doktor and his assistant : Megabyte's evil scientists whose practices are disturbingly unethical. The Herr's assistant is, in relation to other binomes, anatomically dishevelled. ; Gigabyte : A Class-5, malignant, extremely powerful, energy-absorbing super-virus. The upgraded version of Kilobyte, a virus who is only seen briefly in one episode. When Gigabyte was separated, he became Megabyte and Hexadecimal; he was briefly reformed when Megabyte, possessed by a Web Creature, merged with Hexadecimal. ; Kilobyte : The predecessor of Megabyte and Hexadecimal. Kilobyte was a virus that Bob fought while in the Super Computer. While attempting to escape to another system, he temporarily transformed into Gigabyte, only to be torn apart and separated into Megabyte and Hexadecimal. ; Nibbles : Megabyte's pet null, whom he refers to as "Father" several times throughout the series. Nibbles' identity as a Sprite does not become clear until the fourth season. :His name is a reference to an old DOS game called 'Nibbles', as well as a nibble or 1/2 of a byte ; Welman Matrix : Scientific genius and father of Dot and Enzo Matrix. He designed a gateway device that would have allowed Mainframers to connect to outside systems. Unfortunately, his experiment backfired and he was nullified in the explosion that destroyed Mainframe's sister city, the ruins of which were later to be known as Lost Angles. ; Daemon : A super-virus with powers at or possibly beyond those of even Gigabyte. Bent on infecting the entire net, she succeeded in infecting the entire Guardian Collective -- with the exception of only Bob and Matrix -- and turned the Super Computer into her base of operations. She is religiously worshipped by those she infects, and known to them as "The Word." Though she claims to strive for peace and unity in the Net, her true malicious intent shines through her veil of benevolence. Daemon is different from other viruses in that she does not seem to believe that what she is doing is wrong. She sees herself as a messiah trying to "save" the Net. She speaks in a French accent, and calls Mike the TV "Michelle". :Revealed by Turbo in "The Episode With No Name" that she was the one who sent to Web creature to attack Mainframe in the first place. :Her name is a reference to services running on Unix systems in the background. "The Word" may be a reference to a unit of memory called a word, which is equal to 4 bytes in most modern computers. ; Daecon : Daemon's main advisor and assistant, and under the influence of The Word. Not much else is known about him. ; Fax Modem and Data Nully : are CGI special agents. They are modelled on Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from the X-Files, and their names are references to the fax modem and null data. Gillian Anderson, who plays Dana Scully, also provided the voice for the character Data Nully. ; Cecil : A video screen with a pair of arms, waiter at Dot's Diner before it was destroyed. Stereotypical French waiter complete with small moustache. With the exception of a few characters, such as Enzo, most ReBoot characters are named after technical computer terms or pieces of computer hardware.

History and summary

The first season of ReBoot was highly episodic, with a single two-part episode. Most of the episodes established characters, locations, and story elements, such as the gigantic "Game Cubes." When "The User" loads a game, a Game Cube drops on a random location in Mainframe, sealing it off from the rest of the system and turning it into a "gamescape." Bob frequently enters the games, "ReBoots" to become a game character, and fights the User's character to save the sector - if the User wins a game, the sector the Cube fell in is "nullified," and the Sprites and binomes who were caught within are turned into energy-draining, worm-like parasites called Nulls. The second season contained a deep story arc that began with the episode "Painted Windows." The arc revealed that Hexadecimal and Megabyte are brother and sister, and that Megabyte's pet Null, Nibbles, is their "father." It also introduced an external threat to Mainframe, "the Web." A creature from the Web infected Megabyte and forced him to merge with Hexadecimal, forming a super-virus called Gigabyte, Destroyer of Systems. When the Web creature was cornered, it escaped Mainframe and opened a portal to the Web. The protectors of Mainframe had to team up with Megabyte and Hexadecimal to close the portal, but when they defeated the Web creatures that had entered the system, Megabyte betrayed the alliance, crushing Bob's keytool and sending him into the Web portal before closing it. The third season started with Enzo, freshly upgraded into a Guardian candidate by Bob during the Web incursion, defending Mainframe from Megabyte and Hexadecimal with Dot and AndrAIa at his side. When Enzo entered a game he could not win, he, AndrAIa and Frisket changed their icons to game sprite mode and rode the game out of Mainframe. The rest of the season follows older versions of Enzo and AndrAIa as they travel from system to system in search of Mainframe. The older Enzo only acknowledges the name "Matrix," carries a gun called Gun, the damaged Glitch, an eternal hatred of Megabyte, and looks like Dolph Lundgren in The Punisher. Enzo and AndrAIa are also shown to have become romantically involved by this time. As the season progressed, Matrix and AndrAIa reunited with Bob and the crew of the Saucy Mare and returned to Mainframe. Upon return the heroes fought a final battle for control of Mainframe. Hexadecimal and Megabyte were defeated in confrontations with Bob and Enzo, respectively. All final problems in Mainframe were dealt with by The User restarting the system, setting everything right again for our heroes, with one major exception: Younger and older Enzo now exist simultaneously, though AndrAIa remains an adult. After the end of the third season, two TV movies were produced in 2001 as a sort of "fourth season," Daemon Rising, which addressed the problem the Guardians were facing in season three, and My Two Bobs, which brings back a fearsome foe in a cliff-hanger ending that has yet to be resolved. The two movies, broken up into eight episodes in its US run on Cartoon Network's Toonami, also reveal much of Mainframe's history, including the creation of Lost Angles, Bob's arrival in the system, and the creation of Megabyte and Hexadecimal.

ReBoot the Ride

There have been two IMAX Ridefilms based on ReBoot. The first, "ReBoot™ - The Ride," opened at Sega City@Playdium in Mississauga, Ontario on October 17, 1997. Viewers sit in an 18-passenger vehicle mounted on an orthagonal motion base. The film is projected at 48 frames per second onto a 14 foot 180° spherically curved screen. The ride played at the Circus Circus in the Adventure Dome in Las Vegas and then later was moved down the strip to The Luxor. The second, was named "ReBoot™ - The Ride V.2: Journey Into Chaos". This was subsequently opened at Playdium in Burnaby, British Columbia and ran for a brief time.

Humour

ReBoot is full of computer and popular culture in-jokes that few people get the first time around. Among the most notable references are found on the episode Talent Night, the finale to the first season. In that episode, Dot and a cubistic binome called Emma Fee are giving auditions for the birthday party show. Emma Fee is a prog sensor (presumably to be heard as "program censor") who keeps rejecting nearly every act for trivial reasons or to preserve morality or prevent depictions of violence. She heartily approves, however, of a group of male binome singers and dancers called the Small Town Binomes, who sing, in the style of YMCA, "It's fun to play in a non-violent way, with the B, S and P." The "Small Town Binomes" are also dressed in the same "macho" costumes the Village People wore on stage. In addition, "BS & P" happens to be the initials of the Broadcast Standards and Practices, ABC's censors. "BS & P" was used in a first-season episode to move Bob through a stained-glass window rather than shattering it, a technique the BS & P felt children would emulate. Further references to the American networks dropping ReBoot were inserted in the "Web World Wars" episode when Megabytes's Armored Binome Carriers ("ABCs") betrayed the Mainframe CPU fighters in mid-battle ("The ABCs have turned on us! Treacherous dogs!") and in the first episode of the third season, on a tombstone inside the "Evil Dead" game cube that read "Here lies the Mainframe joint venture, an unholy alliance." "Talent Night" also featured "Johnny O. Binome," whose binary joke translates as "Take my wife, please," and a cyclops-like robot that served as the YTV logo (although in airings outside of Canada, the YTV logo, but not the robot, is omitted). The show occasionally featured a penguin that resembled Feathers McGraw from the Wallace and Gromit feature The Wrong Trousers. Later episodes featured direct parodies of films (the 'James Bond' oeuvre; Toy Story; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and TV classics such as Thunderbirds, Star Trek and The Prisoner. Other binomes to have had quick cameos included KISS, Sailor Moon, Indiana Jones, an Elvis Impersonator, and most famously, Fax Modem and Data Nully (the latter of which was voiced by The X-Files actress Gillian Anderson). In fact, in one episode when Mainframe is under going a system crash, Modem is looking at two signs, one saying "B.C." and the other "L.A." This lampoons the fact that David Duchovny moved the X-Files from Vancouver (where ReBoot was produced) to Los Angeles. Although the "User" opponents featured in early episodes were usually invisible or designed with a minimalist appearance, increased computer generation power allowed the third and fourth season game cubes to feature users who were parodies of known game characters and actors. These included a Sonic the Hedgehog/Crash Bandicoot hybrid ("Rocky Raccoon," a Beatles reference, no less), Elmer Fudd (whose form Enzo reboots into), Bruce Campbell (in the "Evil Dead" game), Mike Myers (in an "Austin Powers"-style game), Brendan Fraser (in a game reminiscent of "The Mummy"), Scorpion (of Mortal Kombat fame) and a variety of action figures from G.I. Joe to Barbie. A running gag on the show is the crushing of Herr Doktor's hands in odd ways, causing him to yell out "Mein digits!" in a German accent and adopt bandaged fingers for the remainder of the episode. In the episode Crouching Binome, Hidden Virus, Mike the TV asks the rhetorical question "Is that really your pussy, Mrs. Slocombe?!". This is in reference to the British television series Are You Being Served?, in which the character Mrs. Slocombe owns a cat that she always refers to as her pussy.

See also


- List of ReBoot Episodes

External links

Official Sites
- [http://www.reboot.com/ Official ReBoot Home Page]
- [http://www.mainframe.ca/ Mainframe Entertainment, Inc.] Unofficial Sites and Fan Sites
- [http://www.rbcorner.com/ Julia Cat's ReBoot Corner]
- [http://www.rebootmayhem.com/ ReBoot Mayhem]
- [http://www.aminorglitch.com/ A Minor Glitch]
- [http://www.inwap.com/mf/reboot/index.shtml Unofficial ReBoot Home Page]
- [http://rebootilicious.rbcorner.com/ ReBootilicious]
- [http://www.c4vct.com/kym/slachash/ Slack & Hash's Domain] Category:Animated television series Category:Canadian television series Category:Programs broadcast by YTV Category:ABC network shows Category:1990s TV shows in the United States Category:Shows on Toonami

Comic book

A comic book is a magazine or book containing the sequential art in the form of a narrative. Comic books are often called comics for short. Although the term implies otherwise, the subject matter in comic books is not necessarily humorous, and in fact its dramatic seriousness varies widely. The term "comics" in this context does not refer to comic strips (such as Peanuts or Dilbert). In the last quarter of the 20th century, greater acceptance of the comics form among the general reading populace coincided with a greater usage of the term graphic novel, often meant to differentiate a book of comics with a spine from its stapled, pamphlet form, but the difference between the terms seems fuzzy at best as comics become more widespread in libraries, mainstream bookstores and other places. The earliest comic books were simply collections of comic strips that had originally been printed in newspapers. The commercial success of these collections led to work being created specifically for the comic-book form, which fostered specific conventions such as splash pages. Long-form comic books, generally with hardcover or trade-paper binding came to be known as graphic novels, but as noted above, the term's definition is especially fluid. Like jazz and a handful of other cultural artifacts, comic books are a rare indigenous American art form, [http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=36;t=004133] [http://www.disinfotainmenttoday.com/darenet/comicbook.htm] though prototypical examples of the form exist. American comic books have become closely associated with the superhero sub-genre. In the U.K., the term comic book is used to refer to American comic books by their readers and collectors, while the general populace would mainly consider a comic book a hardcover book collecting comics stories. The analogous term in the United Kingdom is a comic, short for comic paper or comic magazine.

The comic book in the United States

Since the invention of the comic book format in the 1930s, the United States has been the leading producer, with only the British comic (during the inter-war period through the 1970s) and Japanese manga as close competitors in terms of quantity of titles (although, Japan outweighs America currently in overall sales by a vast margin). The majority of all comic books in the U.S. are marketed at younger teenagers, though the market also produces work for general as well as more mature audiences. The history of the comic book in the United States is split into several ages or historical eras: The Platinum Age, The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, and The Modern Age. The exact boundaries of these eras, the terms for which originated in fandom press, is a debatable point among comic book historians. The Golden Age is generally thought as lasting from 1938's introduction of Superman until the early 1950s, during which comic books enjoyed a surge of popularity, the archetype of the superhero was invented and defined, and many of comic books' most popular superheroes debuted. The Platinum Age refers to any material produced prior to this. While comics as an artform could arguably extend as far back as sequential cave paintings from thousands of years ago, comic books are dependent on printing, and the starting point for them in book form is generally considered to be the tabloid-sized The Funnies begun in 1929, or the more traditional sized Funnies on Parade from 1933. Both of these were simply reprints of newspaper strips. The Silver Age of Comic Books is generally considered to date from the first successful revival of the dormant superhero form — the debut of the Barry Allen Flash in Showcase #4 (Sept.-Oct. 1956) — and last through the early 1970s, during which time Marvel Comics revolutionized the medium with such naturalistic superheroes as the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. The beginings of the Bronze and Modern ages are far more disputable. Indeed, some suggest that we are still in the Bronze Age. Starting points that have been suggested for the Bronze Age of comics are Conan #1 (Oct. 1970), Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76 (Apr. 1970) or Amazing Spider-Man #96 (May 1971) (the non-Comics Code issue). The start of the Modern Age has even more potential starting points, but is most likely the publication of Alan Moore's Watchmen in 1986. Notable events in the history of the American comic book include the psychiatrist Frederic Wertham's criticisms of the medium in his book Seduction of the Innocent, which saw the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency investigate comic books. In response to this attention from government and the media, the U.S. comic book industry created the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, a move which saw the particularly targeted EC change its satirical comic book Mad from comic book to magazine format in order to circumvent the Code.

Underground comics

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a surge of underground comics occurred. These comics were published and distributed independently of the established mainstream, and most reflected the youth counterculture and drug culture of the time. Many were notable for their uninhibited, irreverent style; their frankness in graphic sex, nudity, language and overt politics hadn't been seen in comics outside of their precursors, the pornographic and even more underground "Tijuana bibles". Underground comics were virtually never sold on newsstands but in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, and by mail order. The underground-comics movement is often considered to have started with Zap Comix #1 (1968) by Canadian cartoonist Robert Crumb, a former Cleveland greeting-card artist living in San Francisco. Crumb later created the popular characters Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural, and published Gilbert Shelton's The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

Independent and alternative comics

The rise of comic-book specialty stores in the late 1970s created a dedicated market for "independent" or "alternative comics"; two of the first were the anthology series Star Reach, published by comic-book writer Mike Friedrich from 1974-1979, and Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, published from the 1970s through the present day. Some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics, though were generally less overtly graphic, and others resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artists. A few (notably RAW) were experimental attempts to bring comics closer to the world of fine art. The "small press" scene continued to grow and diversify. By the 1980s, several such independent publishers as Eclipse Comics, First Comics, and Fantagraphics were releasing a wide range of styles and formats from color superhero, detective and science fiction comic books to black-and-white magazine-format stories of Latin American magical realism. A number of small publishers in the 1990s changed the format and distribution of their comics to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The "minicomics" form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing, arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small press.

Decline of serial comic-book format

In the early 2000s, sales of standard monthly comic books declined while graphic novels made increasing headway at retail bookstores. Along with the shift toward graphic novels among comics publishers, traditional book publishers such as Pantheon have released several dozen graphic novels, including works originally released by comics publishers with much less publicity.

The comic of Europe

Franco-Belgian comics

Franco-Belgian comics are comics written in Belgium and France. These two countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are called BDs (from Bande Dessinée) in French. Belgian comic books originally written in Dutch are influenced by the francophone "Franco-Belgian" comics, but have a different feel. La bande dessinée is derived from the original description of the artform as "drawn strips". It is not insignificant that the French term contains no indication of subject matter, unlike the American terms "comics" and "funnies," which imply an art form not to be taken seriously. Indeed, the distinction of comics as the "ninth art" is prevalent in Francophone scholarship on the form (le neuvième art), as is the concept of comics criticism and scholarship itself. Relative to the respective size of their countries, the innumerable authors in the region publish huge numbers of comic books. In North America, the more serious, Franco-Belgian comics are often seen as equivalent to graphic novels, for various reasons, but whether they are long or short, bound or in magazine format, in Europe there is no need for a more sophisticated term, as the art's name does not itself imply something frivolous. In France, most comics are published at the behest of the author, who will work within his self-appointed time frame, so a wait from six months to two years between installments is common. Most books are first published as a hard cover oversized book, usually 48 or 64 pages, with later re-releases in soft cover.

The British comic

Originally the same size as the comic book in the United States, although lacking the glossy cover, the British comic has adopted a magazine size, with The Beano and The Dandy the last to adopt this size in the 1980s. Although generally referred to as a comic, it can also be referred to as a comic magazine, and has also been known historically as a comic paper. Although Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884), the first comic published in Britain, was marketed at adults, publishers quickly targeted a younger market, which has led to most publications being for children and created an association in the public's mind of comics being somewhat juvenile. Popular titles within the United Kingdom have included The Beano, The Dandy, The Eagle, 2000 AD and Viz. Underground comics and "small press" titles have also been published within the United Kingdom, notably Oz and Escape Magazine. The content of Action, another title aimed at children and launched in the mid 1970s became the subject of discussion in the House of Commons, and although this was on a smaller scale to such similar investigations in the United States, it also led to a moderation of content published within comics, although such moderatiuon was never formalised to the extent of a creation of any code, and nor was it particularly lasting. The United Kingdom has also established a healthy market in the reprinting and repackaging of material, notably material originated within the United States. The lack of reliable supplies of American comic books led to a variety of black and white reprints, including Marvel's 1950s monster comics, Fawcett's Captain Marvel, and some other characters such as Sheena, Mandrake the Magician and the Phantom. Several reprint companies were involved in repackaging American material for the British market, notably the importer and distributor Thorpe & Porter. Marvel eventually established a UK office, with DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics also opening offices for periods in the the 1990s. The repackaging of European material has been less frequent, although the Tintin and Asterix serials have been succesfully translated and repackaged in soft cover books.

The comic annual

At Christmas time publishers will repackage and commision material for comic annuals, hardback A4 books. DC Thomson also repackage The Broons and Oor Wullie strips in softcover A4 books for the festive season.

Italian comics

In Italy, comics (known as fumetti) made their debut as humouristic strips at the end of the 19th century, and later evolved in adventure stories inspired to those coming from the U.S. After World War II, however, artists like Hugo Pratt and Guido Crepax imposed Italian comics to an international audience. "Author" comics contain often strong erotic contents. Best sellers remain popular comic books Diabolik or the Bonelli line, namely Tex Willer or Dylan Dog. Mainstream comics are usually published on the monthly basis, in a black and white digest size format, with about 100-132 pages of story. Collections of classic material for the most famous character, usually with over 200 pages, are also common. Author comics are published in the french BD format, with an example being Pratt's Corto Maltese. Italian cartoonists have and receive great influences from other countries including Belgium, France, Spain and Argentina. Italy is also famous for being one of the foremost producers of Walt Disney comic stories, particularly. Donald Duck's superhero alter ego, Paperinik, known in English as Superduck, was created in Italy.

Other European comics

Although Switzerland contributes less to the body of work, it is significant that many scholars point to a Francophone Swiss, Rodolphe Töpffer, as the true father of comics. This choice is still controversial, with critics feeling that Töppfer's work is perhaps somewhat unconnected to the genesis of the artform as it is now known in the region.

The graphic novel

The term graphic novel was first coined by Richard Kyle in 1964, mainly as an attempt to distinguish the newly translated works from Europe which were then being published from what Kyle saw as the more juvenile publications common in the United States. The term was popularised when Will Eisner used it on the cover of the paeprback edition of his work A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories (1978). This was a more mature work than many had come to expect from the comics medium, and the critical and commercial success of A Contract with God helped to establish the term "graphic novel" in common usage.

Regional categories


- American comic book
- Argentine comics
- British comics
- Indian comics
- Manga (Japanese comics)
- Manhua (Chinese comics)
- Manhwa (Korean comics)
- European comics
  - Franco-Belgian comics - Bande Dessinée, BD
  - Italian comics - Fumetti
- Brazilian comics - Histórias em Quadrinhos, HQ

Other Forms


- Tijuana bible (aka 8-pagers)
- Underground comics
- Alternative comics
- Adult comics
- Political and religious comics

Genres

Note: As with film and literature, genres are rarely pure and often blend. Frankenstein, for example, is a science fiction/horror novel; The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. is a Western/comedy TV series. Not all superhero comics are necessarily science fiction; Marvel Comics' Daredevil, for example, despite an initial science-fiction premise, may be more usefully classified as a crime drama.
- Action/adventure comics (of which superhero is a sub-genre)
- Adaptations of narratives in other media, often movies
- Anthromorphic/funny animal comics (see also furry)
- Autobiographical comics
- Crime comics
- Dramatic adventure comics
- Historical comics
- Horror comics
- Humor comics
- Journalistic comics
- Religious comics
- Romance comics
- Satiric comics
- Science-fiction comics
- War comics
- Western comics

Some particularly notable comic books


- 2000 AD (British)
- Acme Novelty Library (United States - Fantagraphics Books)
- Akira (Japanese)
- Asterix (French)
- Batman (United States - DC Comics)
- The Beano (British)
- The Dandy (British)
- Donald Duck (United States - Disney)
- Eightball (United States - Fantagraphics Books)
- The Fantastic Four (United States - Marvel Comics)
- The Incredible Hulk (United States - Marvel Comics)
- Lone Wolf and Cub (Japanese)
- Lucky Luke (Belgium - Dupuis and Dargaud)
- Monica's Gang (Turma da Mônica) (Brazilian)
- Mortadelo y Filemón (Spain)
- Mickey Mouse (United States-Disney)
- Raw (United States - Raw Books)
- The Smurfs (Belgium - Dupuis)
- The Amazing Spider-Man (United States - Marvel Comics)
- Sandman (United States - DC Vertigo Comics, 1988 World Fantasy Award (unique win for a comic-book series)
- Spike and Suzy (Belgian Flemish, originally called Suske en Wiske)
- Superman (United States - DC Comics)
- Tintin (Belgian - Casterman)
- Viz (British)
- Wonder Woman (United States - DC Comics)
- X-Men (United States - Marvel Comics)
- Zap Comix (United States-underground comix)

See also

Comics - the sequential art form in general


- Comic strip
- Graphic novel
- Webcomic
  - Sprite comic
- Storyboard
- Cartoon
  - Political cartoon

Comic book awards


- Eisner Awards
- Harvey Awards
- Ignatz Awards
- Kirby Awards
- Prix de la critique
- Angoulême International Comics Festival Prizes (aka Alph'arts) and the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême
- Tezuka Awards
- Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards

Miscellaneous


- Cartoonist
- Comic book creator
- Comic book collecting
- Comic-Con International

Lists


- List of comic creators
- List of comic books
- List of comic book publishing companies
- List of comic and cartoon character pairs
- List of comic strips
- List of cartoonists
- List of comic and cartoon characters named after people
- Comic books in dialects

References

Inge, Thomas M., "Comics as culture" Journal of Popular Culture 12:631, 1979 (not online)

External links


- [http://www.cbgxtra.com/Default.aspx?tabid=695 Database of Comic Book Sales Figures]
- [http://www.heritagecomics.com/common/worth.php How To Figure Out How Much Your Comics Are Worth]
- [http://www.comicbookdb.com/ ComicBookDB.com]
- [http://www.comiccovers.com/ ComicCovers.com]
- [http://www.cbgxtra.com Comics Buyer's Guide]
- [http://www.comics-db.com/ The Big Comic Book Database]
- [http://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/ Comic Book Galaxy]
- [http://www.cbr.cc/ Comic Book Resources]
- [http://www.comics.org/ The Grand Comics Database]
- [http://www.crimeboss.com/history03-1.html The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency]
- [http://www.gweeb.com/ Bronze Age 1970s Comic Book Cover Showcase]
- [http://www.toonopedia.com/index.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia]
- [http://www.knightmare6.com/faq/ Fan Site: Comic Book FAQ]
- [http://www.boldcomicsstudio.com/main/ Bold Comic Studios - A site for the independant comic creator]
- [http://www.nostalgiazone.com/doc/zine/ Comics Fan Zine: articles on comics in pop culture] Nostalgia Zine
- [http://ichibancomics.blogspot.com First Edition Comic Reviews at Ichiban Comics] ja:漫画
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The Flash

The Flash is a DC Comics superhero possessing "super-speed", nicknamed the Scarlet Speedster. Created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (1940). Thus far, three different people have assumed the identity of the Flash: Jay Garrick (1940-present), Barry Allen (1956-86), and Wally West (1986-present) Each of these individuals somehow gained the power of "super-speed", which includes the ability to run and move extremely fast, use superhuman reflexes, and violate certain laws of physics. The second incarnation of the Flash was among the first heroes of the Silver Age of comic books in 1956. The character was featured in a short-lived live action television series in 1990 that starred John Wesley Shipp in the title role. The Flash is also featured in the animated series Justice League.

Publication history

The Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (1940). This Flash was Jay Garrick, a college student who gained his speed through the inhalation of hard water vapors (later retconned into heavy water vapors), and who wore a winged metal helmet. He is notable for being the first speedster in comics, and one of the first to have a singular super-power as opposed to the multi-talented Superman. Garrick was a popular character in the 1940s, supporting two different titles and being a charter and long-time member of the Justice Society of America, the first superhero team. Garrick's adventures in the Golden Age of comic books came to an end when Flash Comics was cancelled with the publication of issue #104 (1949), and the subsequent end of the Justice Society's adventures with All-Star Comics #57 (1951). Superheroes (and the entire comic book industry) had fallen on hard times in the 1950s, and the Flash was only one casualty. 1950s, and Max Mercury (background), from Flash #97. Art by Mike Wieringo.]] A few years later, DC Comics decided the time was right to reintroduce some superheroes. Rather than bring back the Golden Age heroes unchanged, DC decided to recreate them as new, more modern characters. The Flash was the first such hero to be revived in a new incarnation. Showcase #4 (1956) introduced Barry Allen, a police scientist who gained super-speed when he was bathed by chemicals after a shelf full of them was struck by lightning. He adopted the name The Flash after reading a comic book featuring the Golden Age Flash. After several more appearances in Showcase, Allen's character was given his own title, The Flash the first issue of which was #105 (resuming where Flash Comics had left off). The Silver Age Flash proved popular enough that several other Golden Age heroes were revived in new incarnations. A new superhero team, the Justice League of America, was also created, with the Flash as a charter member. The Flash also introduced a much-imitated plot device into superhero comics, when it was revealed that Garrick and Allen existed on fictional parallel worlds. Their powers allowed them to cross the dimensional boundary between worlds, and the men became good friends. "The Flash of Two Worlds" was the first crossover in which a Golden Age character met a Silver Age character. Soon, there was crossovers between the entire Justice League and the Justice Society; their respective teams began an annual get-together which endured from the early 1960s until the mid-1980s. Allen's adventures continued in his own title until the advent of Crisis on Infinite Earths (The Flash ended as a series with #350). Allen's life had become considerably confused in the early 1980s, and DC elected to end his adventures and pass the mantle on to another character. Allen died heroically in the Crisis #8 (1986), though thanks to his ability to travel through time, he would continue to appear occasionally in the years to come. The third Flash is Wally West, who was introduced in Flash #110 (1959) as Kid Flash. West, Allen's nephew by marriage, gained the Flash's powers through an accident identical to Allen's (this acquisition of powers has been criticized heavily by some fans), and adopted the Kid Flash identity and maintained membership in the Teen Titans for years. Following Allen's death, West adopted the Flash identity in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 and was given his own series. As of 2005, he is the current holder of the title. Many issues of the Flash begin with "My name is Wally West, and I'm the fastest man alive." Wally West's run as the Flash began with The Flash vol 2 #1 in 1987. However, in November 2005, DC Comics announced that this title will be among several which will be cancelled at the conclusion of the Infinite Crisis storyline, specifically as part of the "One Year Later..." event focused around the upcoming weekly series 52. The final issue will be #230, to be released in January 2006. What this means for the character remains unknown.

Fictional biographies

While several other individuals have used the name Flash, these have lived either on other parallel worlds, or in the future. Garrick, Allen and West are the best-known exemplars of the identity.

Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick)

Jay Garrick was a college student in 1940 (suggesting he was born around 1922) who accidentally inhaled hard water vapors after falling asleep in his laboratory where he had been smoking (years later Garrick's origin story was retconned so that he inhaled vapor from heavy water, which was slightly more believable than the original version). As a result, he found that he could run at superhuman speed and had similarly fast reflexes. After a brief career as a college football star, he donned a red shirt with a lightning bolt and a stylized metal helmet with wings (based on images of the Roman god Mercury [http://www.wordsources.info/mercury.html]), and began to fight crime as the Flash. It was explained decades later that the helmet belonged to Jay's father, Joseph, who died in World War I when Jay was only ten. His first case involved battling the Faultless Four, a group of blackmailers. In the early stories, it seemed to be widely known that Garrick was the Flash. It was later explained that Jay kept his identity secret without a mask by continually vibrating his body while in public so that any photograph of his face would be blurred.

Silver Age Flash (Barry Allen)

Barry Allen was a police scientist in 1956 with a reputation for being very slow, deliberate, and frequently late, which frustrated his fiancee, Iris West. One night, as he was preparing to leave work, a lightning bolt shattered a case full of chemicals and spilled them all over Allen. As a result, Allen found that he could run extremely fast and had matching reflexes. He donned a set of red tights sporting a lightning bolt (reminiscent of the original Captain Marvel), dubbed himself the Flash (after his childhood hero in the comic books, Jay Garrick), and became a crimefighter. In his civilian identity, he stored the costume in his ring, which could eject the compressed clothing when Allen needed it and suck it back in with the aid of a special gas that shrinks the suit.

Modern Age Flash (Wally West)

Wally West was the nephew of Iris West and Barry Allen's nephew by marriage, and was introduced in The Flash (1st series) #110 (1959). When West was about ten years old, he was visiting his uncle's police laboratory, and the freak accident that gave Allen his powers repeated itself, bathing West in electrically-charged chemicals. Now possessing the same powers as his uncle, West donned a copy of his uncle's outfit and became the young crimefighter Kid Flash.

Powers and abilities

All incarnations of the Flash can run and move their limbs at superhuman speeds, and possess superhuman reflexes. All possess an aura that prevents air friction from affecting their bodies and clothes while moving. Barry Allen possessed several other abilities that Jay Garrick and Wally West have not always been able to duplicate. He could vibrate his molecules through solid matter, could run on thick snow clouds and could travel through time and to other dimensions with the help of a "cosmic treadmill". Most unusual was Allen's complete control of his molecules, allowing him to vibrate through solid matter and, on one occasion when transformed into a mirror, "melt" himself and reform as a human to defeat the Mirror Master. Wally West has been shown to have a connection to the Speed Force, an extradimensional energy source, which provides his powers and gives him several other abilities. While all speedsters are powered by the force, West mainlines the power from the force itself and cannot be cut off from the source, unlike the others. Wally is believed to be the fastest of all known Flashes, and has on several occasions sped faster than light and entered and exited the speed force by his own volition. He can create his costume out of pure speed energy, and can either impart his high velocities to other people and objects already in motion or steal the velocity they possess. Jay Garrick also possesses this ability to some degree; he stole speed from Black Adam in order to defeat Johnny Sorrow, and he has threatened to steal Bart's speed on at least one occasion when he was misbehaving. West can vibrate through objects; in the past, West would cause whatever he vibrated through to explode, but has recently shown this to be a controlled ability as he can pass through objects without any ensuing explosion. Although not nearly as precise as Allen when he used his cosmic treadmill, West has shown to be able to traverse time and dimensions with his own powers, much like Allen in Showcase #4 in 1956. Occasionally, the top speeds of the Flashes are lightspeed, although Wally has been shown to have sped faster than light (as shown above). In several instances, the Flash has been able to beat Superman himself in a race, although it is still undetermined who is actually faster. Flash's human anatomy cannot withstand the stress and pressure of moving at such high speeds as Superman's near invulnerable alien anatomy can (though the normal laws of physics don't always apply to the Flash, so this might not be an issue). Also, Superman has been known to vibrate through solid substances, and that can only be achieved by entering the speed force. Flash has more experience and knowledge in these areas, and may be able to teach Superman more about his speed abilities. Speedsters may at times utilize the ability to speed-read at incredible rates and in doing so process vast amounts of information. Whatever knowledge they acquire in this manner is usually temporary, although the new Kid Flash seems to be the exception.

Other media

A version of the Flash guest-starred in Adventures of Aquaman in 1968. Flash appeared off and on in the animated series Super Friends throughout its run from 1973 to 1985. In 1977 he appeared in Legends of the Superheroes, voiced by Rod Haase. The Flash was in a CBS live-action unaired pilot called Justice League of America, portrayed by Kenny Johnston. The Flash appeared in a television series of that title in 1990 on CBS that starred John Wesley Shipp (aided by visual effects and a molded costume) and Amanda Pays. His most famous villains in the series were the Trickster, played by Mark Hamill, and his sidekick prank, played by corinne bohrer. This foreshadowed Hamill's subsequent success at playing the