Legion of Net. Heroes
Encyclopedia
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
-based shared universe
Shared universe
A shared universe is a fictional universe to which more than one writer contributes. Work set in a shared universe share characters and other elements with varying degrees of consistency. Shared universes are contrasted with collaborative writing, in which multiple authors work on a single story....
still in existence, and the name of the premiere "net.hero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
" team in that universe. Birthed from a rec.arts.comics cascade thread in April 1992 http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics/browse_thread/thread/99f96d23932a9546/2f233def357d57fd?q=Legion+of+Net+Heroes&, it began as parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the Legion of Super-Heroes
Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
(LSH), and other comic book superheroes. It featured characters like Cheesecake-Eater Lad (based on Matter-Eater Lad
Matter-Eater Lad
Matter-Eater Lad is a superhero in the DC Universe. He is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes and possesses the power to eat matter in all forms, as do all natives of his home planet, Bismoll...
) and Super Apathy Lad defending the “Looniverse” from the likes of Lagneto ("Lag
Lag
Lag is a common word meaning to fail to keep up or to fall behind. In real-time applications, the term is used when the application fails to respond in a timely fashion to inputs...
" spliced with "Magneto
Magneto (comics)
Magneto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the central villain of the X-Men comic, as well as the TV show and the films. The character first appears in X-Men #1 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby...
") and Doctor Killfile. Over time, it has evolved to include comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
, serious drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
pieces and melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
. With 181 stories posted in 2007, it is still active.
In the beginning
On April 27, 1992, rec.arts.comics member Bill Sherman, commenting on the correct spelling of the name Winsor McCayWinsor McCay
Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator.A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades...
, declared himself "Spelling Boy" of the LSH.
Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
Two days later, Dan'l Danehy Oakes
Dan'l Danehy Oakes
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy.Born in New York City in 1958, his talent for writing showed up at an early age. In high school in Los Altos, California, Danehy-Oakes was a major contributor to a student-published science fiction magazine...
suggested that long-time posters form a Legion of Net. Heroes. He declared himself California Kid
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, "whose power is to read comix weeks after everyone else has discussed 'em..."
The thread took off, spawning 115 (mostly) on-topic replies and a large and diverse pool of "net.heroes". On May 5, Steve Librande, no doubt growing tired of the thread, declared himself "the ingenious Doctor Killfile", threatening to "release the awesome force of my patented Kill-O-Ray, destroying all posts about you blithering Net.Heroes!!"
Benjamin Pierce, in the net.persona of Marvel Zombie Lad
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, rallied his fellow "net.heroes" to fight back. It was at this point that forty-four different authors began working on the first actual LNH story, later called The Cosmic Plot Device Caper
Plot device
A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....
. At that time, USENET users were primarily college students, and when summer vacation came, interest in the LNH waned.
Come the fall, interest was stirred up again, primarily because of Todd "Scavenger" Kogutt. http://www.eyrie.org/lnh/faq.html New LNH stories and new authors debuted on rec.arts.comics.misc (rec.arts.comics had become defunct in late 1992). Some authors created continuing "series", with issue numbers and serial
Webserial
Web fiction is written work of literature available primarily or solely on the Internet. A common type of web fiction is the webserial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines...
ised stories; the first of these was Kyle Lucke's Quest for Cheeze , soon followed by Ray "wReam" Bingham's Ultimate Ninja.
The newsgroup shuffle
Many posters on rec.arts.comics.misc were annoyed by the LNH stories in what was primarily a discussion newsgroup. http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.misc/msg/8db8747bb0163ec6The LNH moved to their very own newsgroup, alt.comics.lnh, before finding their permanent home on rec.arts.comics.creative. RACC also hosts a number of other original fiction shared universes, such as ASH, OMEGA and 8FOLD. Occasionally RACC receives cross-posts from Superguy
Superguy
Superguy was originally a creative fiction writing group on the now-defunct UMNEWS mailing list service. After UMNEWS collapsed, the mailing list became internet-based....
. It is moderated by Russ "Eagle" Allbery, who also maintains the eyrie ftp archives.
The Looniverse
The world of the LNH, known as the Looniverse, is an alternate universeParallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
much like our own, but with the presence of net.heroes, net.ahumans
Metahuman
Metahuman is a term to describe superhumans in DC Comics' shared universe, the DC Universe. It is roughly synonymous with both mutant and mutate and posthuman in the Wildstorm and Ultimate Marvel Universes. Use of the term in reference to superheroes was coined in 1986 by author George R. R...
, and net.villains.
One notable difference, besides the presence of superpowers, is that the vast majority of LNH characters are aware of the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
: they know that they are fictional characters in fictional stories, and often will comment on bad characterizations and ludicrous plot-twists, sometimes talking directly to the audience or their author. Sometimes, the plot-twists themselves come out of fourth-wall breaking. For example, in Gary St. Lawrence's story, The Case of the Clueless Mystery, the characters discover how to defeat the villain by consulting the script. Metafiction
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
al concepts such as Comedy and Drama are treated like real cosmic forces.http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/msg/e281e0e65a9a0630?dmode=source
The Looniverse is also notable for its ability to simultaneously contain mutually-exclusive ideas
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
. In the work of Hubert Bartels, for example, mainstream comic books are treated something akin to movies: heroes audition for the likes of Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium....
and Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman
Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...
and model for the penciller. Other authors treat the work of Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
as comic books that are products of their writer's imagination. Still others use parody titles to represent mainstream comics, i.e., Justice Mind-Wipers of America instead of Justice League of America
JLA (comic book)
JLA was a monthly comic book published by DC Comics from January 1997 to April 2006 featuring the Justice League.-Publication history:The low sales of the various Justice League spinoff books by the mid-1990s prompted DC to revamp the League as a single team on a single title...
, New Adventists
Adventist
Adventism is a Christian movement which began in the 19th century, in the context of the Second Great Awakening revival in the United States. The name refers to belief in the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was started by William Miller, whose followers became known as Millerites...
instead of New Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
.
Some characters operate in a world of realistic physics; others operate by the laws of Cartoon physics
Cartoon physics
Cartoon physics is a jocular system of laws of physics that supersedes the normal laws, used in animation for humorous effect. Normal physical laws are referential , but cartoon physics are preferential ....
. For some characters, time unfolds akin to real-world time; for others, all their lives have taken place in "the last ten years
Floating timeline
A Floating timeline is a device used in fiction, particularly in comics and animation, to explain why characters age little or not at all over a period of time - despite real-world markers like notable events, people and technology appearing in the works and correlating with the real world.A...
". Yet these characters can often meet and team-up in the same time-frame.
Humour
The humour of the LNH has broadened considerably from its joke-name beginnings, and now includes broad parody, subtle satire, and character humour. However, there are some major trends that have remained a constant thread through-out its lifetime.The two prime targets of LNH parody are superheroes, and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. In fact, net terminology and conventions extends even to the naming of characters and places: for example, Lurking Girl and Lurker Lad derive their invisibility powers from "lurkers", newsgroup readers who do not actively take part in the discussion, but rather, "lurk". Many of the cities in the Looniverse have net-based names: Net.ropolis
Metropolis (comics)
Metropolis is a fictional city that appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and is the home of Superman. Metropolis first appeared by name in Action Comics #16 ....
and Sig.ago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, for example.http://www.eyrie.org/lnh/gazette.html
Fictional History
Since the day Dr. Killfile attacked the LNH, a number of LNH Writers have filled in the gaps within the Looniverse's back history. Retcons, however, often make the task of history scribing very difficult in an ever changing Looniverse. The more popular ideas tend to remain and the other ones tend to disappear.Backstory
Back during the 19th century, Net.ropolis was known as Babbagetown. Little is known of how far the origins of this city go back. The history of the LNHQ is also rather murky. What is known though is that the current LNHQ used to be the Net.ropolis Hotel Grand. http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/browse_thread/thread/249a1ddf0d51f012/be169faee7316033?q=LNH+Volume+8&rnum=1#be169faee7316033http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/msg/b655f0e2e4f5e34c?dmode=source&hl=enSometime in the 1920s or 1930s, a hero by the name of Boy Lad formed the Legion of Net. Heroes. During this time, he was the only member (Boy Lad Jr., his sidekick, wasn't allowed to join, due to the "no sidekicks are allowed to join" rule). No one knows what ultimately happened to him although someone who claimed to be him made an appearance in the Omaha Project series.
After Boy Lad disappeared, the Agents of P.U.L.P, Classic Squad, and Society of Wireless Heroes (A British based super group) took over the hero game in the 1940s and 1950s. Some members of the Classic Squad would eventually become part of the current LNH incarnation like Old Comics Man, Golden Man
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
, and Kid Yesterdaze.
During 1960s, the Net.astic Nine
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/msg/5d93683082edab56?dmode=source&hl=en and the Challengers of the Abominable helped protect Net.ropolis and the Looniverse from destructive forces. The LNHer Sig.Lad
Signature block
A signature block is a block of text automatically appended at the bottom of an e-mail message, Usenet article, or forum post. This has the effect of "signing off" the message and in a reply message of indicating that no more response follows...
was formerly a member of the Net.astic Nine. At the end of the 60's, a demon going by the name of Anti-Christ Lad controlled all of Net.ropolis including the LNH that was operating during this time period: The Legion of Net. Hippies. Self-Righteous Preacher, after joining with the Legion of Net.Hippies helped free the LNH from Anti-Christ Lad's control and sent him back to hell. A few Legion of Net. Hippies like Nudist Man
Naturism
Naturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism....
, Super Apathy Lad, and Procrastination Boy
Procrastination
In psychology, procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of low-priority, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time...
remained with the current Legion.http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/browse_thread/thread/708b75891a00eb46/6e12eab6a7d66d82?q=LNH+Volume+9&rnum=1#6e12eab6a7d66d82
In the 1980s, The Legion of New-Wave Heroes arrived on the scene and quickly disappeared.
As to when the current incarnation of the LNH got its start is a subject of some debate. It could have begun a few days or a few years before the Cosmic Plot Device Caper depending on which stories one reads.http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/browse_frm/thread/4b0387cc34cddd34/f779960c6568b30a?q=Bandwagon+Chick&rnum=1#f779960c6568b30a
The LNH begins
After the Cosmic Plot Device Caper, came the 2½ Month Gap, a mysterious period of which little is known. During this time period, Rebel YellRebel yell
The rebel yell was a battle cry used by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. Confederate soldiers would use the yell during charges to intimidate the enemy and boost their own morale, although the yell had other uses. The exact sound of the yell is unknown and the subject of much...
became leader of the LNH and Y-Plex Burp replaced Lurking Girl with an evil clone called Lurking Lass. After that a number of crises took shape. During a time called Beige Noon, two god like beings called Dekay and Diskolor attempted to drain the color from the Looniverse and turn it into a wasteland. This was followed by the RMGrouping of rec.arts.comics, which caused the entire LNH to be scattered across the Net. In 501 Blues: The Long Road to Nowhere, Rebel Yell tried to find all of the lost legionaries and succeeded in finding Lurking Girl.
This was followed by Cry.Sig, a parody of Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
, where the Crossover Queen caused tons of havoc (including destroying Canada with a reality ray). Cry.Sig gave LNH Writers an excuse for rampant retconning of continuity. Dial-D-for-Dvandom
Dial H for Hero
Dial H for Hero is a comic book feature published by DC Comics about a mysterious dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero for a short time, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the dial causes its possessor to become a superhero with a different name,...
became the Dvandom Stranger
Phantom Stranger
The Phantom Stranger is a fictional character of unspecified paranormal origins who battles mysterious and occult forces in various titles published by DC Comics, sometimes under their Vertigo imprint.-Publication history:...
and Pre-Cry.Sig Occultism Kid
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
became the August One, mentor to the Post-Cry.Sig Occultism Kid.
Post-Cry. Sig
The Ultimate NinjaNinja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
joined with the LNH after Cry. Sig. Somewhere along the line the leadership of the LNH became a triumvirate
Triumvirate
A triumvirate is a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals, each a triumvir . The arrangement can be formal or informal, and though the three are usually equal on paper, in reality this is rarely the case...
with Rebel Yell, Continuity Champ, and the Ultimate Ninja each taking a share of LNH power.
In the Integrity Quest, written by Doug P. Wojtowicz, Stephane Savoie, and Hubert Bartels, the characters Lost Cause Boy, Kid Anarky, and Panta the cat-girl were introduced; in the tenth installment, Wojtowicz referred to a penile erection as a "woody": this caused a minor controversy dubbed "The Woody Scandal", and resulted in the ostracization of Wojtowicz. Other stories of this era also skirted the line of good taste: Gary St. Lawrence's stories Pigs in Space and Passionfishing, however, produced a much less volatile reaction. These three stories challenged the notions of what was acceptable content in LNH stories and led to the development of a "mature audiences" label, Acraphobe.
In 1993, Rebel Yell, due to events depicted in the Lurk of Faith, took a leave of absence from the LNH (never returning), leaving the Ultimate Ninja in complete control. Myk-El was revealed to be a traitor and killed by the Ultimate Ninja. The Secret Dvanders dug up Myk-El's grave, not convinced that he was indeed a traitor in Constellation #27, which set up the beginning for Retcon Hour.
Retcon Hour, a parody of Zero Hour
Zero Hour (comics)
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time is a five-issue comic book limited series and crossover storyline published by DC Comics in 1994. In it, the former hero Hal Jordan, who had until then been a member of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps, mad with grief after the destruction of...
, was the biggest planned crossover the LNH has ever had. At least fourteen writers took part in it, it touched both the PULP and NTB imprints, and also was linked with the Omaha Project series. During the chaos involved with transferring the Looniverse from alt.comics.lnh to rec.arts.comics.creative, two Time Crappers (post and pre-Cry. Sig), and wReamicus Maximus (wielding the all-powerful Ring of Retcon) washed the Looniverse over with a number of retcons in order to take control of it. Contraption Man was revealed to be the traitor he had been sent to stop. The resurrected and vindicated Myk-El became the consort of the RACCelestial Madonna
Mantis (Marvel Comics)
Mantis is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Universe, and former member of the Avengers.-Publication history:Mantis first appeared in Avengers #112 , drawn by Don Heck...
. After the dust settled a few heroes, like Sig. Lad, left for a new life. And some new heroes, like the Legion of Occult Heroes, joined the LNH.
A brain dead Dr. Killfile was totally obliterated in Looniverse Adrift and the supervillain Tsar Chasm appeared to die too. Pocket Man married Organic Lass in the first LNH wedding.
Post-Retcon Hour
In 1995 in Dvandom Force #48, Sig. Lad was killed by Squidman (formerly the LNHer called Squid Boy) to prevent a dystopian future where he would have killed the entire LNH.In 1997 Tsar Chasm returned from the dead and it was revealed that he was posing as the LNHer Kid G. In 1998, Dr. Killfile also returned with no explanation of how he had cheated death in the pages of Teenfactor.
In 1999 in Tales of the LNH #370, Panta was retconned out of existence, sacrificing herself to save the Looniverse from the Collector.
In 2000, Hexadecimal
Hexadecimal
In mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal is a positional numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F to represent values ten to fifteen...
Luthor
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
became President of the Loonited States. http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comics.lnh/msg/1702a738613dd862 In 2004, he was re-elected. http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comics.lnh/msg/ee035e13f2a334a2
In March 2001, the city of Sig.ago was completely destroyed (it would eventually be restored). http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/msg/6a5a38b21242e357?dmode=source&hl=en
In July 2001, a number of LNHers were married including Deja Dude, Master Blaster and Sister State the Obvious, Innovative Offense Boy and Ordinary Lady, and Cheesecake Eater Lad and aLLiterative Lass http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/msg/f8e400cca85fa446?dmode=source&hl=en. Since then a few of them have become parents.
In the 2006 Mid-Term Election
United States general elections, 2006
The 2006 United States midterm elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. All United States House of Representatives seats and one third of the United States Senate seats were contested in this election, as well as 36 state governorships, many state legislatures, four territorial...
, Haiku Gorilla
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
won a seat as Senator for the "floating" city of Net.ropolis. http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/msg/e30331ffc28dafae
In 2007, the Ultimate Ninja decided to take a vacation which kicked off Infinite Leadership Crisis, a storyline in LNH Comics Presents written by nine writers. Every day in April, a different member of the LNH became leader and disappeared. There were 465 days in this Infinite April. The conclusion led to the Beige Countdown series, which counted down to the 2008 event Beige Midnight parodying the concept of never ending comic book events.
The Legion
The headquarters of the LNH (called LNHHQ or LNHQ) is based in Net.ropolis and houses literally hundreds of members. The ever-expanding and out-of-control roster is one of the key conceits of the Legion. The team does lend itself nicely to several less unwieldy sub-groups.The LNH are, for the most part, a privately-funded but government-sanctioned team, responding to crises both cosmic and mundane; one sub-group, the TSK Force, is chosen to deal with minor annoyances.
Legionnaires (also known as LNHers or LNH'rs) are given free room and board at LNHQ, plus a small allowance for purchases. How one gains membership into the LNH depends on the author writing the story: many stories feature characters rejected by the Legion who go off to form their own teams; other stories, featuring much less powerful characters, find those characters accepted instantly.
LNHQ
Like physics and aging in the Looniverse as a whole, the features of LNHQ are mutable depending on who is writing the story. A general-use floor-plan is available, and there are a number of features that are generally consistent from interpretation to interpretation:LNHQ as a building has many unusual properties. For example, its rooms expand to fit the number of people within the room, making for a building that is much larger inside than it appears outside (something akin to a TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
.) It possesses a nearly-infinite number of sub-basements (each level identified by an additional "sub", as in, sub-sub-sub-sub-basement) which are host to a number of ghosts, supernatural creatures, kiwi
Kiwi
Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...
s, and a species of incredibly stupid bird known as the Oozelfinch.
Not only does LNHQ provide living space for its hundreds of members, but it also contains a multitude of ways for them to pass their downtime. The Peril Room
Danger Room
The Danger Room is a fictional training facility built for the X-Men of Marvel Comics as part of the various incarnations of the X-Mansion.-Early designs:...
is a training room akin to those used by many hero teams, fraught with boobytraps and holographic opponents. One of the unique features of the Peril Room is that, Bugtown
Bugtown
Bugtown is a fictional city that is the setting of several comic books and novels written by Matt Howarth.Bugtown is a blighted cityscape with no government or laws. Violence is constant from individual fights to interdimensional invasions....
-like, one cannot sustain lasting injury within; many stories pit a would-be legionnaire against the Ultimate Ninja in mortal combat: if they last more than a minute before he slices them in twain, then they are granted membership.
The LNH also has a more general-use HoloDeck
Holodeck
A holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...
and swimming pool. The Hall of Lost Heroes contains memorials to those who have fallen in battle. The Ultimate Ninja apparently has his own personal garden for meditation and tea, where he also grows his own supply of Ninja bush.
It has been hinted in some stories that LNHQ is itself sentient
Sentience
Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...
.http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.creative/msg/fdfc131d60aa8579
WCs and NWCs
The original LNH characters have been designated as writer characters, or WCs. This is because these characters were intended largely as extensions of their authors' personalities; for example, Brian Perler says that he can easily remember useless information, but cannot retain useful facts: thus, he is Obscure Trivia LadTrivia
The trivia are the three lower Artes Liberales, i.e. grammar, rhetoric and logic. These were the topics of basic education, foundational to the quadrivia of higher education, and hence the material of basic education, of interest only to undergraduates...
.
As the stories became more sophisticated, a number of non-writer characters, or NWCs, were created. Many LNH authors still have a character that serves as an author surrogate
Author surrogate
As a literary technique, an author surrogate is a fictional character who expresses the ideas, questions, personality and morality of the author...
, but by-and-large the distinction between WCs and NWCs has blurred.
Some characters are owned by their creators or other writers; others are free for use by any writer.
The Cast
Because the LNH is so large, to list all of its members in this article would be nearly impossible. What follows are a half-dozen characters whose names and concepts are the most essentially LNH-like.- Ultimate Ninja: the leader of the LNH, he possesses any ability that is construed as being oriental in nature. He is a master martial artist, a stern but effective leader, and uses maple seeds (or "Ninja Bush") to propel himself into a deadly rage. Part of the tension in the character is that, at any moment, at the drop of a hat, he could kill the entire Legion.
- Cannon Fodder: possessing the ability to be killedComic book deathIn the comic book fan community, the apparent death and subsequent return of a long-running character is often called a comic book death. While death is a serious subject, a comic book death is generally not taken seriously and is rarely permanent or meaningful...
, only to appear again in the next issue; no matter where he is killed, he always regenerates within the Peril Room. - Catalyst Lass: one of the Ninja's most trusted deputies, Cat possesses the ability to convince others to share her interests (thus being the catalyst for new hobbies and opinions). How she does this, and her general personality, is a point of contention: some authors write her as being very domineering, others as very sexy (or, for that matter, ditzy and frivolous), while some try to integrate all these various ideas.
- Kid Recap: possessing the uncanny ability to recap what happened in previous stories.
- Master Blaster: a chauvinist pigPigA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
who uses "Mack Daddy Vibes" to seduce unsuspecting women. He is often seen using a large gun and spouting ridiculous opinions. His sexism has mellowed somewhat since his marriage to Sister State-the-Obvious, who—obviously—has the ability to state that which is obvious. - CAPTAIN CAPITALIZE: he speaks only in capital letters; this is a reference to bad netiquetteNetiquetteNetiquette is a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks, ranging from Usenet and mailing lists to blogs and forums. These rules were described in IETF RFC 1855. However, like many Internet phenomena, the concept and its application remain in a state of flux, and vary...
. - Kid Kirby: a cosmic being with many untold cosmic powers and infallible wisdom, including the ability to be the tallest person in the room. These are derived from the Power KirbyJack KirbyJack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
. He also has an army of Kirbybots who often take his place in stories.
With the exception of Kid Kirby, all these characters occupy the large pool of characters who can be used freely by any writer, a possible reason for their popularity and the universe's general longevity.
Evolution
The LNH is not only a parody universe: over the last fourteen years, it has been expanded upon to include a number of stories, characters, tones, and spin-offs.Series
Among the most acclaimed of the LNH canon are:- Aeneas and Ferris: K. M. Wilcox's elegiac and mysterious series chronicles the strange friendship of housemates AeneasAeneasAeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
Boddy (an immortal net.villain) and Ferris "Deductive Logic ManSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
" Jones (a member of the LNH).
- Alt. Riders: Jamas Enright's straight superhero adventure series follows a team under the leadership of the mysterious and ruthless Agent. The Alt. Riders seek to assess and, if necessary, intercept, possible dangers to the Looniverse before they become a problem.
- Dvandom Force: Dave Van Domelen's series is a mixture of high drama, political intrigue, and animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
-based parody. Probably one of the most admired series on RACC, it ended its run with issue # 100.
- Easily-Discovered Man: Rob Rogers's series follows the green glowing radioactive net.hero, Professor Theodore Wong, who has the ability to be easily-discovered. The series, narrated by his sidekick, Easily-Discovered Man Lite, is goofy but more character and situation-based than parody.
- Limp-Asparagus Lad: Saxon Brenton's series starring the man with the powers and personality of limp asparagusAsparagusAsparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
. Like Martin Phipps in LNH, Brenton often addresses meta-fictional themes in this chronically-late series.
- LNH: One of the flagship titles of the LNH, it is one of the sillier series. Writer Martin Phipps often uses this series (and his other stories) to explore metafictional conceits, such as the relationship between an author and his fiction. The series was relaunched in 2005 as Legion of Net.Heroes Vol. 2, written by multiple authors.
- LNH Triple Play: Joltin' Jeff McCoskey wrote this series, featuring "three-way team-ups" between superheroes. The comedy in the series was often gentle and character-based; it is also notable for giving deeper characterizations to one-note characters, such as Self-Righteous Preacher.
- Misfits: Jennifer Whiston's dark, turbulent and emotional melodrama charts the supernatural adventures of Brittany, Payton, and Savannah: the Misfits.
- Saviors of the Net: One of the most successful examples of a cascade story—a sort of round-robinRound-robinThe term round-robin was originally used to describe a document signed by multiple parties in a circle to make it more difficult to determine the order in which it was signed, thus preventing a ringleader from being identified...
style of fiction writing, only without any pre-planning or set order for authors to write in—this parody of Morrison'sGrant MorrisonGrant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
JLAJLA (comic book)JLA was a monthly comic book published by DC Comics from January 1997 to April 2006 featuring the Justice League.-Publication history:The low sales of the various Justice League spinoff books by the mid-1990s prompted DC to revamp the League as a single team on a single title...
and Busiek'sKurt BusiekKurt Busiek is an American comic book writer notable for his work on the Marvels limited series, his own title Astro City, and his four-year run on Avengers.-Early life:...
ThunderboltsThunderbolts (comics)The Thunderbolts are a Marvel Comics superhero team, which consists mostly of former supervillains. The group first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #449 , and was created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley.-Publication history:...
introduces a rival group of heroes who create a god-like being called The Mechanical Author in order to bring about a painless, utopian society. The Author took control of the Looniverse for a couple of years, although the LNH was completely unaware of this until the end of another cascade, Mutton Mania.
- Tales of the LNH: Hubert Bartel's Panta walked a delicate line between extremes of sexiness, innocence, and violence, making her an extremely popular character, even after Bartels erased her from existence.
- Writer's Block Woman (and Mouse): Jessica Ihimaera-Smiler's comedy series follows overly-enthusiastic net.heroine Writer's Block Woman and her wise-cracking daughter-cum-sidekick, Mouse.
Spin-Off Imprints
- The Net. Trenchcoat Brigrade: The NTB was the first and probably the most significant of all the LNH spin-offs. Like the LNH it sprang to life from a cascade http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.misc/browse_frm/thread/c54bceec368d1ac9/d6b3154900b94a83?lnk=st&q=group%3Arec.arts.comics.misc+insubject%3ANet.Trenchcoat.Brigade&rnum=2&hl=en#d6b3154900b94a83. The NTB consists of a bunch of trenchcoat wearing, chain-smoking bastards that are constantly manipulating people.
- The PULP Imprint: Jeff McCoskey created the PULPPulp magazinePulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
Imprint to tell Pulp Fiction type tales set in the LNH's past. Agents of the Pulp is the flagship title of the imprint. It eventually expanded into telling stories beyond the scope of the LNH Imprint.
- The LNH-Men Universe: Jeff McCoskey wrote an acclaimed series called The Golden LNH-Men which put a revamped version of the LNH into a dark grim and gritty WatchmenWatchmenWatchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...
like Universe. Peter "Tick" Milan and Matthew "Badger" Rossi wrote a sequel to it called LNH-Men: The Silver Age.
- League of Heroes: This was an imprint created by Ben Rawluk to tell stories set in an alternate universe called Earth B. This universe has been destroyed.
- The Order of St. Doomas: This is a group of vigilantes that roams the Net hunting down sphammersSpam (electronic)Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
. After rec.arts.comics.creative became moderated this imprint pretty much died down.
- The RACCCafe: Not really a spin-off, but an out-of-continuity café where LNHers hang out along with other characters from the variety of RACC Imprints. It tends to be dominated by LNH characters though.
- The LNH2 Imprint: An imprint created by Martin Phipps set in a possible LNH future.
- The LNHY Imprint: An imprint created by Arthur Spitzer involving stories set in the Looniverse Y universe. Unlike the Classic Looniverse, each writer in this universe is allowed to have only one character in the LNH.
Significance and legacy
With well over a thousand stories posted by over a hundred authors, the LNH is the predominant USENET-based shared writing universe, and the most active of all the rec.arts.comics.creative universes. In May 1994, the estimated readership of alt.comics.lnh was 45,000. http://groups.google.com/group/news.lists/msg/cd0de35a4261ae7e?dmode=source&hl=en The LNH has had writers from places as diverse as the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
write for it. It is an "open universe"—— meaning that anyone can join, providing they abide by basic netiquette and respect the intellectual property of others http://www.eyrie.org/lnh/faq.html—— and this openness is probably a key part of its continued life.