Elfin Admiration and the 'net...
Monday, March 30th, 1998
Five years ago, television commentators and newspaper journalists began to
focus on the so-called "World Wide Web" as the new
"best-thing-since-sliced-bread" that would revolutionize our petty
consumerist existences. And they did it with raised eyebrows and tongues
placed firmly in cheek....
As the years passed, the online world grew. And
Elfquest fans, scattered as they are over the entire surface of the globe,
finally found a place to hold the never-ending Elfquest convention of their
dreams. Now there is a veritable Elf-net online, with newsgroups, mailing
lists, web sites, and heaven knows what else!
It's true to say that web sites rise and fall -
such is the transitory nature of the new media, where the average "life" of
a site is a mere 44 days! - but apart from the few, much-missed casualties
of time's passage (anyone out there remember Longshadow's Den?) the dozens,
if not hundreds, of Warp Graphics-dedicated home pages suggest that the
joining of Elfquest and the Internet stands as a marriage made in heaven.
In recent times, however, a strange new aspect to
the Elf-net has sprung into existence...
Take an Elfquest character - any character. Grab
at least one other like-minded Elfquest fan. Take your entire webspace
(paid for with your hard-earned cash), numerous hours of your spare time
(better employed in the pursuit of sleep), and a modicum of carefully
nurtured and focussed insanity (my old man's a mushroom). Now, mix all this
together and dedicate it all to the creation and development of an online
shrine to the elf of your dreams, replete with garlands of fanfic
(fan-generated fiction), lashings of art, and perhaps a few extra oddities
to spice up the meal... and voila! What do you have?
What you have, dear friend and Elf-lover, is an Appreciation Society!
The phenomenon all began, way back in the mists of time, with the
SAS. Not the highly-trained and exceedingly lethal
paramilitary elite of the British Army, but rather the Strongbow
Admiration Society, a gang of fans to whom the staunch, silent
archer was the cradle of their simmering passions.
Then came the GAZERS (the Grand Assembly of Zany
Elf-wannabes Relishing Skywise). To paraphrase (in the most broad terms)
Karl Marx: "Skywise fans of the world unite! You have nothing to lose
but your... ahem..."
From this point onward the snowball was rolling, and rapidly grew into an
seemingly unstoppable boulder, the likes of which Indiana Jones has never
dreamt of having to avoid. There are the Sad-Eyes Aroree Lovers
(SEAL), the Rayek Appreciation Society for Humans
(RASH), the Friends and Lovers Of Pike
(FLOP), The Winnowill Inspirational Society to
Engender Deviant Behavior In Today's Common Human
(TWISTED B*TCH)...
Aside from the sheer perverse and creative ingenuity poured into the naming
of each of these wonderful web sites, each and every one of them serves as
a comfortable home to its respective avatars. Whether you're looking for
stories, poetry or art concerning your particular elfin soul-sibling, or
merely seeking something slightly different to view on the otherwise
tedious expanse of the Internet, make sure you take a gander at some of the
following home pages, further evidence of the Elfquest online community's
continuing vitality and imagination.
Turn on, tune in, freak out!
Editor's note: the web links to these and many other Appreciation Societies can be found here at the Fan Links page in the Elfquest Fan-Faire.
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