Superguy

Superguy was originally a creative fiction writing group on the now-defunct UMNEWS mailing list service, which began in February 11, 1989 with the story "Wonder Grunion #1" by Chris Wilcox (aka) 'the Creeper'. After UMNEWS collapsed because of a sudden deluge of pornography, the group moved to other platforms - originally a BITNET mailing list, then a Usenet group, and so on. Originally a spinoff of another writing universe (SFStory), Superguy was a forum for the posting of original, comedic fiction based loosely on superheroes and related concepts. Superguy's impact on the course of the Internet was minimal but present, receiving significant coverage in books like the Internet Explorer's Guide by Adam Engst and Bill Dickson. The Internet Explorer's Kit was a popular sequel to Engst's hit Internet Starter's Kit, and served as a gateway to the internet for new users in the days before the World Wide Web had become established. Superguy's prominent presence helped shape the interests of those readers, and helped illustrate the potential of the medium to mainstream users right when the Internet began to actually "see" mainstream use [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1568300891/ The Internet Explorer's Kit] , Engst, Adam C. and Dickson, William. 1994 Hayden Books] . It existed during the birth of the modern Internet culture, and survived much longer than many similar groups, diminishing in activity only when the webcomic trend became widespread.

Superguy is still technically active, though updates are sporadic. It is one of the longest running collaborative shared universe projects on the internet.

Alumni

* Eric Burns of Websnark was one of the first and most prolific writers for Superguy, having contributed to the very first digest, and writing from 1989 through 1996 regularly, with sporadic entries following [ [http://archives.eyrie.org/cgi-bin/superguy-srv?pattern=Burns&searchtype=casestring&search_author=Eric+Alfred+Burns&search_universe=Search+by+Universe&search_title=Search+by+Title&start=1&end=1304&index=on&Search=Search&.cgifields=index&.cgifields=searchtype Eric Burns's Superguy Autocollector listing.] ] . Burns has more than once drawn comparisons between modern webcomics and Superguy [ [http://www.comixpedia.com/feeding_snarky_by_eric_burns_9 Feeding Snarky #9 by Eric Burns] , Comixpedia] , believing that Superguy and other fiction lists like it filled the same niche as webcomics before the web made sharing graphics simple [ [http://www.comixpedia.com/feeding_snarky_by_eric_burns_5 Feeding Snarky #5 by Eric Burns] , Comixpedia] .
* Randy Milholland of Something Positive wrote for Superguy from 1995 through 1998 [ [http://archives.eyrie.org/cgi-bin/superguy-srv?pattern=milholland&searchtype=casestring&search_author=Randy+Milholland&search_universe=Search+by+Universe&search_title=Search+by+Title&start=1&end=1304&index=on&Search=Search&.cgifields=index&.cgifields=searchtype Randy Milholland's Superguy Autocollector listing.] ] . He has been known to put references to his Superguy writing into Something Positive, including [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp01182005.shtml A cameo by his lead character Betty Yeh.]
* Children's book author Greg R. Fishbone wrote for Superguy from 1994 through 1999 and again starting in 2007 [ [http://archives.eyrie.org/cgi-bin/superguy-srv?pattern=fishbone&searchtype=casestring&search_author=Greg+Fishbone&search_universe=Search+by+Universe&search_title=Search+by+Title&start=1&end=1304&index=on&Search=Search&.cgifields=index&.cgifields=searchtype Greg R. Fishbone's Superguy Autocollector listing.] ] . In March/April 1997, one of his Superguy stories was reprinted in the science parody magazine, Annals of Improbable Research. His first novel, The Penguins of Doom, is based on characters created for Superguy [ [http://tem2.livejournal.com/profile Greg R. Fishbone blog profile.] ] .
* Gary W. Olson wrote extensively for Superguy between 1989 and 1996 [ [http://archives.eyrie.org/cgi-bin/superguy-srv?pattern=&searchtype=casestring&search_author=Gary+W.+Olson&search_universe=Search+by+Universe&search_title=Search+by+Title&start=1&end=1304&index=on&Search=Search&.cgifields=index&.cgifields=searchtype Gary W. Olson's Superguy Autocollector listing.] ] , and recently returned to regular, though less-frequent, writing. He's had a few short stories published in small 'zines, but nothing big yet [ [http://www.locusmag.com/index/yr2001/d54.htm#A3025 Locus listing for Gary W. Olson's short story The Body in Motion.] ] . He maintains the Sfstory archives [http://sfstory.novitious.com/] and created the Superguy and Sfstory discussion list on LJ [http://community.livejournal.com/superguy_list] [ [http://gwox.livejournal.com/profile/ Gary W. Olson's blog profile.] ] .
* Lawrence H. Brown wrote for Superguy from 1993, and continues to contribute stories, under the nickname Amigoid.

External links

* [http://lists.eyrie.org/mailman/listinfo/superguy/ Superguy mailing list info]
* [http://archives.eyrie.org/cgi-bin/superguy Superguy Autocollector for Archives 1988-2007]
* [http://lists.eyrie.org/pipermail/superguy/ Superguy Archives 2008-present]
* [http://community.livejournal.com/superguy_list/ Superguy Discussion Community on LiveJournal]
* [http://www.eyrie.org/superguy/ Old Superguy web pages]
* [http://archives.eyrie.org/superguy/ Superguy FTP archive]

References

ee also

Legion of Net. Heroes