"Welcome to the Party, Pal!"

Welcome to the third issue of my little Forte-centric zine. Been a busy summer! Had a trip to the Con, which made for a lot of extra Nice Guy work, and had a great time (which you can read all about in the Con report on the CTO main page this issue), got some gaming in (got to dust off Dr. Jackal), and got some great gaming art while I was there, too. Been up to other fun stuff. Tim and I were on TV this summer, doing a Nice Guy interview on a local channel (check out the Nice Guy site for cool screen caps of that), I had some fun heart trouble (not as much fun as Martin!) and got started on a new med, and in the middle of it all, my van had major problems, my X-Box fried, and my ceiling caved in my apartment, first in the bathroom, and then right in the living room. Awesome! Hasn’t been boring, at least.

This Time Around

Had all kinds of new Forte stuff I wanted to get done, but, darn it, didn’t get to a lot of it. I especially wanted to get Forge #2 done, but it didn’t happen in time. I underestimated how long the last Nice Guy update was going to take me. Hope to make up for that next time. But I got a few goodies for ya.

First, I created a couple of pages of Forte timeline stuff. I mainly put them together the help K.C. and Jeff, if they needed them, when planning their Con games, but I’d been planning to do them up anyway, both as aids for Forte writers and a fun thing for Forte readers.

First, I created the “Where Are They Now?” page for the original Forte team, over at the Forte ’05 page, spelling out what happened to them post-campaign and where they are in the summer of 2005. Had fun making logos for everyone on the team, too…all except for Dash, Electro Man and Hologram, which were designed by Aaron.

Second, I started the Forte Post-Campaign Timeline, which can be seen at the Forte Expanded Universe page. I say started because there’s still a bunch of stuff to be added. This is definitely going to be a living document…much like the one of at the WOM (which got me inspired to do this). It bridges the gap between the end of the Forte campaign right up through present, and includes Con games (not all yet), all the Pharaoh stuff I did back in the print ‘Times, fiction, Forte 2000 stuff (campaign, fiction and character origin stuff), The Armor Security and Paragons stuff, and other goodies. Not complete, but a good blueprint, and stuff will be added periodically as we continue to do new stuff and at retcon stuff, but for now, it gives a pretty good picture of some of the major events since K.C. closed up shop in 1995.

And then there’s new Forte 2000 stuff. I wanted there to be a lot more of it, but there’s some stuff to tide you over until I go nuts again.

Firstly, I finally started adding some art to the new Gallery page to go with the wallpapers. I got some character art done at the Con itself, and then I came home and, on K.C.’s advice, started checking out some E-Bay auctions by freelance artists (which saves you that trip to a convention), and got some VERY cool stuff! First, the Con stuff. I got a color Seahawk by Tommy Castillo done, a color Nightsable by John Watkins-Chow, and an AMAZING pencil Nightsable by Jeff Moy. Then, from the internet, I got a pencil Seahawk by a guy who goes by “Studio-Hades” (I know his first name’s Evan, from an e-mail he sent me, but I searched all over his sight and he doesn’t have his name anywhere on it). And then I discovered Eryck Webb. LOVE this guy’s stuff! And he was cheap (he raised his prices after my auctions). He states in his auctions that you can have more than one character. So first, I decided a Nightsable and Dyna Girl shot would be cool. I liked it so much, I got this idea…I’d get two-shots from him for all eight characters, and then Photoshop them together into a full-team group shot (sneaky of me, eh?). Before this deadline, I also got the Moonspider and Seahawk shot. I’ve just put the orders in for the other two, so next time, we’ll have the whole gang for you to check out.

I also managed to get Forte 2000 #146 done, the latest installment of “continuity”, and the first real chapter of the “Dawn of Anubis” story that’s leading up to the big #150 anniversary issue event. Not only went international for the team this time around, but went into the past of Forte, for the unexpected return of a Forte ally from back in the team’s first year. Anubis is coming! Get on board now!

Next Time...On "The 'F' Word"...

That’s it for now, but come on back next time for more Forte and Forte 2000 stuff, as I continue to keep the dream alive…with a little help from my friends. See you in the fall!

Michael O’Connell
Diagnosed Forte Junkie