THE ON-LINE FANZINE ARCHIVE AND MUSEUM

WHO'S WHO
IN GAMING
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3/5ths Man: One of several Quartermann parodies that popped up in fanzines from the hobby's second generation (circa 1992-1994). The 3/5ths in his name was derived from the assertion that he was, in fact, "more than a quarter", and better than the author of EGM's Gaming Gossip. After 3/5ths Man attacked, and was attacked by, countless fan-eds, Project: Ignition editor Jess Ragan wisely chose to retire the character.

A

Jon Althouse: Jon was one of the founders of the NAEGE (National Association of Electronic Gaming Enthusiasts) and edited his own fanzine SAGA. SAGA was a member of the short-lived organization FANN (FANzine Network). 

Mark Allen: Nobody, but nobody was more devoted to the Atari Jaguar than this columnist for Pat Reynolds' popular gaming newsletter Fantazine.
 

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Mike Balshi: Mike penned some raw articles for Matt Lotti's Hyper'zine which seemed to indicate that he wanted to be as profane as possible but never really understood what he was talking about. Mike was given the boot after a few issues because Matt considered him to be "a pain in the neck".

Ralph Barbagallo: Ralph contributed to Aaron Buckner's MindStorm and now edits his own video game web site, appropriately titled RalphSpace.

Jeff Beedham: The editor of Game Force, Jeff also contributed editorials to Matt Lotti's Hyper'zine and Brian Pacula's The Good, The Bad, and The Eight-Bit. He was also the first to publish a collector's guide for fans of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Greg Bemis: Greg was the driving force behind the mature game fanzine High Density, which was co-edited by Jonah Jackson.

JAK Bennett: JAK never edited a video game fanzine, but he did support this fandom and even wrote a game review for his personal newsletter Nagaraja.

Chris Bieniek: Chris reviews fanzines in the professional game magazine Tips & Tricks, and even contributed an article to one, GEA News, about violence in video games. Chris is considered one of the most respected men in the professional video game magazine circuit thanks to his humble nature and strong support of fandom.

Dave Blank: An artist for George Wilson's Video Universe, Dave contributed covers to that fanzine as well as a Final Fight comic which ran several issues. His style of artwork typically consisted of burly, flat-faced men struggling for superiority against gritty backdrops. Eventually, Dave left Video Universe to pursue a career as a comic book artist.

Bob: This plainly named little guy with the thumbprint-shaped head was designed as a cartoon representation of Brian Pacula, the editor of The Good, The Bad, and The Eight-Bit. Bob was the star of Roadside Comics, a series of witty cartoons which became one of the fanzine's most popular features.

Bill Boehmer: Better known as "The Dangerous Billy Masters", Bill contributed the comic Shotpots to his brother Scott's fanzine Random Access. In it, Bill, Scott, and a friend were pitted against the stars of the World Wrestling Federation (that is, when the WWF still HAD stars...). Bill could also be found in the letter columns of other fanzines, including a doozy in MindStorm where he berated its editor, Aaron Buckner, at length.

Scott Boehmer: Formerly of Porta-Play, Scott abandoned the concept of a fanzine with a focus on handheld game systems and forged onward with Random Access, the free-spirited newsletter with a style similar to that of Ben Leatherman's Fanarchy. Scott rebelled against the fandom status quo with such features as a bowling column and covers with intentionally bad artwork.

Jeff "Talon" Bogumil: Jeff edited Concordant Opposition and also contributed comics to such fanzines as Noah Dziobecki's Phanzine Star.

Dan Bowden: Dan was the editor of the fanzine Digital Flair.

Lee Bridges: Lee, more commonly known by his pseudonym Shadowfire, edited Infiltration, a video game newsletter with artwork supplied by Dave Dunlap (who also created SuperCoot for Alex Frias' Video Gaming Monthly).

Andy Britton: Video Apocalypse editor Josh Lesnick's close friend, Andy penned music and movie reviews for VA alongside an amusing definition of Texas rednecks.

Aaron Buckner: This controversial Mindstorm editor was so dispised by fandom that an organization was created to prevent his return, THWART (Totally Humiliate and Wreck Aaron's Reestablishment Tactics). Because of THWART (or perhaps in spite of it) Buckner's other miscellaneous fanzine was never released.

Mike Burns: Mike edited Game Star, a fanzine with an unusually high amount of Macintosh shareware coverage.

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Will Capallero: A contributor to Matrix3, Will is best remembered for the comic Sumo Sphere. In it, a homicidal orb works odd jobs and takes his aggressions out on anyone who crosses his path.

James Catalano: The editor of Metropolis, a short-lived miscellaneous fanzine, was more famous for his tirades against Arnie Katz, whom he repeatedly called a "pussy" in several fanzines. James also created concept art of a 2600 version of Doom, which quickly found its way into the pages of Russ Perry's Slap-Dash.

Joon-Yee Chuah: A regular contributor of columns and artwork to Josh Lesnick's popular Video Apocalypse.

Mike Ciletti: Mike co-edited Cyberbeat, one of the foundations of video game fandom. He was also partially responsible for the National Association of Electronic Gaming Enthusiasts.

Kevin Cline: Nobody knows for certain why Kevin Cline retired his excellent RPG-oriented fanzine Digital Savior after just two issues. Judging from that fanzine's content and sharp layout, it can only be assumed that Kevin went to work for a professional game magazine.

Francis J. Cone: Francis was the author of As I See It..., a regular column in Sean Pettibone's In Between The Lines.

Dennis Crowley: This Dystopia editor was best (or perhaps worst) remembered for his infantile, near-slanderous remarks about Josh Lesnick of Video Apocalypse. In response to a negative review he'd received in VA, Dennis lashed out with disturbing comments and an uncalled for picture of Josh (assumably, as it was so inaccurately drawn) enjoying the men of American Gladiators a little too much. Other fan-eds jumped at the chance to attack Dennis for this, calling him "a craphead of the highest caliber" and much, much worse.

Mark Cullison: A contributor to Nate Hineline's Dominion, Mark's disturbing rants about sodomy and vehicular homicide certainly made his reviews of Mario Kart 64 and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, uh, unique.

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Heather Daniels: Heather is the editor of GirlGames, a newsletter about (surprise!) girls and video games. Precious little is known about Heather, as she is not a part of mainstream EG fandom. However, a brief interview with her can be found in an issue of the mature video game magazine NEXT Generation.

Jeff Daniels: Jeff created Denial, a newsletter devoted to the Commodore VIC-20 computer which was hugely popular in the early 80's.

Nick DesBarres: Nick contributed a review of Phantasy Star 3 to Dennis Crowley's fanzine Dystopia. He later joined the staff of Die Hard Game Fan, adopting the pen name Nick Rox and aggravating much of fandom with his sycophantic game reviews and ignorant observations.

Tom Donoho: This avid fan of In Between the Lines had more or less revived it with his own video game fanzine, Above & Beyond. However, it could be argued that Above & Beyond was even better, as it had a higher page count and a much stronger focus on video games.

Tim Duarte: Tim was the former editor of The 2600 Connection, a long-running fanzine devoted entirely to the ancient Atari 2600 video game system.

Dave Dunlap: Dave created the comic SuperCoot, starring a geriatric superhero with almost as many wrinkles on his face as there were in his ill-fitting tights.  SuperCoot appeared in several issues of Alex Frias' Viewpoint... in his most memorable comic, he clashed with Santa Claus, who made the unfortunate mistake of bringing him a crappy handheld system instead of the incredible 63-bit Neet-o Geet-o console he really wanted.

Chris Dyer: Chris offered fandom the incredibly chaotic video game newsletter Sub-Zero. This fanzine was chock full of crazy editorials, usually with funky cartoon characters bouncing off them, and reviews which proved without a doubt that Chris wanted to do things his way and wouldn't settle for anything less. At one point, he did succumb to the criticism he'd received from other fan-eds and published the starchy Neo-Geo fanzine Neo-Lord, but it was quickly swept under the rug when Chris realized that his heart wasn't in it.

Noah Dziobecki: The editor of Phanzine Star, a tightly edited, intelligently written newsletter with unbelievably detailed pencil sketches. After four issues, Noah set sail for Japan with his classmates and returned to edit Xenophilia, a somewhat pretentious miscellaneous fanzine chock full of music reviews and poetry.

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Greg Elwell: Greg co-edited one issue of Monitor with David Weinstein.

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Joaquin Falcon:  Joaquin wrote under the pen name Bladerunner in Codename: Megazine, a newsletter created by six of fandom's most visible and talented writers.

Bill Fasick: Also known as the Game Geezer, Bill's The Unrest Home was one of Project: Ignition's best, most thought-provoking columns.

Tony Fazzone: The editor of Shoryuken!, Tony went on to reveal anything and everything about Mortal Kombat 2 in the remarkably in-depth strategy guide The Joy of Mortal Kombat 2.

Rick Florey: Editor of the competant and unfailingly timely newsletter Overkill, Rick is best known for his humble, unassuming nature and his strong coverage of the failed Sega Saturn. Rick also attempted to bring fandom together with a compilation fanzine known as The Consortium.

Pete Foote: A friend of Pat Reynolds' and a member of Fantazine's editorial staff. A drawing of Pete appeared in issue nine of that fanzine, which bore a striking resemblence to D. Dark, one of the characters in the Playstation game Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha.

Alex Frias: Editor of two fanzines, Video Gaming Monthly (not to be confused with Ben Leatherman's Video Game Monthly) and Viewpoint. Both fanzines were good derivitives of Aaron Buckner's Mindstorm, but Viewpoint in particular excelled with regular installments of Dave Dunlap's hilarious SuperCoot comic.

Tom Fulp: The assistant editor of Alex Frias' two fanzines, Viewpoint and Video Gaming Monthly. Tom was often ribbed by contributors to the newsletter, as their reviews of fighting games mentioned having to "beat opponents to a fulp...er, pulp".  Tom's work can now be seen on the extremely popular (and controversial!) Flash game site Newgrounds.

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GameMan: The official mascot of Pat Reynolds' newsletters, GameLord and Fantazine. GameMan is a small, bulbous-eyed robot, adorned with dozens of controller buttons, joypads, and a large joystick jutting forth from his helmet. Pat designed GameMan as a tribute to his favorite game, MegaMan.

Girl in the Polka-Dot Dress: A somber woman in a spotted gown who floated through the pages of Mike Palisano's The Laser like a phantom.

Brian Goss: Editor of The GURU, a spiral-bound, professional quality newsletter with fine artwork and reviews of Japanese imports. Brian was also the editor of a more humble fanzine in 1987, discrediting the theory that Arnie Katz created EG fandom with his articles in Video Games & Computer Entertainment.

Jon Griffin:  Not to be confused with Peter Griffin of TV's Family Guy, Jon wrote a column about the media's refusal to accept video games as mainstream entertainment in Codename: Megazine.

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Nathan Hauke: Formerly the editor of Video Game Revolution, Nathan branched out with Sensory Overload, a fanzine focusing on both video games and other facets of pop culture. SO was well received by most readers, but a column by Eric "The Butcher" Vigoda which took (unprovoked) shots at other fan-eds didn't sit well with either Matt Lotti or Todd Lintner, who took Eric to task in his own fanzine MASTERminds. Nathan was also partially responsible for the Gaming Enthusiasts of America along with Chris Johnston and Andy Saito.

Brent Hepner: Brent penned fanzine reviews for Video Universe under the name L. Brent Hepner, then sent editor George Wilson a controversial opinion column called Deep Space. Its attacks on Project:Ignition editor Jess Ragan and others were not well received, and it wasn't long before the column was cancelled.

Nate Hineline: This Dominion editor is best remembered for his fanzine's surprisingly raw game reviews. These reviews spring forth from the mouth of contributor Mark Cullison, and are then copied to audio cassette and typed up by Nate as filler for the newsletter.

Janice Hrusecky: Like Counterpoint!'s Tabitha Indigo Paige, Janice claimed to be a female fan-ed, but many suspected that she was a fraud. It is uncertain as to whether or not this is indeed true.

Mike Hrusecky: Mike published The Game Guru (not to be confused with Brian Goss' The GURU), the only video game fanzine distributed on a computer diskette instead of paper. This allowed Mike to utilize a menu-driven interface, making the fanzine more organized than others of its time.

David Hunt: This Entry Level editor defected to the game magazine Tips & Tricks when it was still in its infancy. David no longer writes for that magazine, and his current occupation is unknown.

Jon Hustoffitz: A regular contributor to both Nathan Hauke's Sensory Overload and Ben Leatherman's Fanarchy, Jon fit the style of both fanzines like a glove with articles like The ULTIMATE Fighting Game Character: Mr. Vibrator, which detailed the adventures of a brawling adult novelty.

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J

Jonah Jackson: Jonah co-edited High Density, a mature video game fanzine with computer software coverage, with Greg Bemis.

Jocko: A muscular green man with curly black hair, Jocko is best described as a cross between Beavis and the Incredible Hulk. This character was the star of Alan Lanoie's two fanzines, Cheaply Produced, Crappy Video Game Newsletter About What Sucks! and Infestation.

Tim Johnson: A member of the quartet of editors who claimed responsibility for Paradox (although it's generally agreed that Chris Johnston was the backbone of that fanzine). Tim also edited Blip!, a less inhibited gaming newsletter, with support from Sub-Zero's Chris Dyer and others.

Chris Johnston: Chris started out editing The Bombadier and eventually graduated to Paradox, a professionally done (if somewhat conservative) video game newsletter far better than his last. Chris also co-founded the Gaming Enthusiasts of America with Andy Saito and Nathan Hauke and is currently the news editor at Ziff-Davis' magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly.

Edwin L. Jones III:  Edwin, better known as "Japanaman", contributed to fandom's only "multi-magazine", Codename: Megazine.

Jared Jones: The editor of Video Vision.

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Arnie Katz: Arnie is considered the father of EG fandom. While this is not entirely true (embryonic fanzines were created or conceptualized by Jess Ragan, Brian Goss, and Ken Uston as early as the 1980's), Katz' editorials in the defunct video game magazine Video Games & Computer Entertainment were largely responsible for the hobby we know today. Arnie Katz also published MegaGaming as well as dozens of science fiction fanzines.

Ulrich Kempf: Ulrich published the respected gaming journal Video Views. Kempf's persistance was amazing in that he'd continued to edit Video Views long after other fanzines went out of circulation... over thirty issues of Views were published.

Brooks King: Brooks was the editor of Monty's Kitten, a publication with similarities to MASTERminds, Video Apocalypse, and The Good, The Bad, and The Eight-Bit. Brooks emulated the styles of all three fanzines with nonsense phrases, bitter sarcasm, and cutting satire lampooning the trends of the video game industry.

Chris Kohler: Widely considered one of the most talented of the third generation of fan-eds, it's ironic that Chris has been publishing Video Zone since 1994. Chris' dry, biting humor and strong layout sense made Video Zone one of the best fanzines still in publication.  Chris now writes professionally for Wired magazine... and publishes his own web site, Kobun Heat, on the side.

Travis Krause: Travis wrote several downright weird reviews for Jeremy Statz' Matrix3 and sent letters of comment to other fan-eds, including Josh Lesnick and Brian Pacula.

Darren Krowlewski: Darren's claim to fame was The Shape of Gaming To Come, one of several professional quality fanzines of the early 90's. His strong layout sense and five-star writing made that newsletter a hot item, but sadly, Darren removed much of Shape's editorial content as the fanzine became more popular, reducing it to a pretty but vapid GamePro wannabee.

Genesis Krycscki: The co-editor of Access Time, a wacky fanzine in the tradition of Infestation and Sub-Zero. Ironically, Krycscki hated the Sega Genesis and wasn't afraid to make that abundantly clear in his editorials.

Bill Kunkel: A member of The Communique Group alongside Arnie Katz and Joyce Worley.

L

Alan Lanoie: Alan first tried his hand at fanzine publishing with Crappy, Cheaply Produced Video Game Newsletter About What Sucks, which was basically just that- a demented, low budget fanzine complaining about lousy games. Alan later graduated to Infestation, a slightly less insane version of his previous newsletter with stronger editorial content and better artwork.

Chris Larson: After contributing to Aaron Buckner's first effort Video Scope under the pen name Vapor, Chris wrote his own newsletter, The Panic Zone, and left it to work on the compilation fanzine Codename: Megazine with Noah Dziobecki and others.

Ben Leatherman: Formerly of Video Game Monthly (not to be confused with Video Gaming Monthly by Alex Frias), Ben broke out of the generic EG fanzine mold with Fanarchy, a more intense publication which isn't afraid to tell greedy game companies and the hobby's other unsavory elements to shove it. In its premiere, Fanarchy was paired with Duh!?, an even more outrageous publication with a tentative focus on video games and an even less firm grip on reality.

Jeffrey Lee: Jeffrey edited The Obsessed Game Fan, an obscure video game fanzine. There was a review of The Obsessed Game Fan in Brian Pacula's The Good, The Bad, and The Eight-Bit, but little else is known about this publication.

Lee-Mon: The trusty (if not especially bright) sidekick of Josh Means in the Video Apocalypse comic series Asylum.

MJ Lesnick: See Josh Lesnick.

Josh Lesnick: Josh's Video Apocalypse was one of the funniest and most popular video game fanzines in the second generation (from '92 to '94) of the hobby. In VA, chaos reigned supreme with hyperactive cartoon characters, downright nasty game reviews, and plenty of humor that was just plain weird. Josh now edits his own web site (devoted to anime', not video games) and draws comics, hoping one day to become a professional artist.

Josh Leverich: Josh co-edited the frenetic game fanzine Access Time with his friend Genesis Kryscski.

Ralph Linne: Like Tim Duarte of The 2600 Connection, Ralph created a fanzine devoted entirely to his favorite classic game system. Intellivision Lines covered all aspects of Mattel's Intellivision game system, from reviews of its software to opinions about its acquisition in the late 80's by the INTV group.

Todd Lintner: Todd was the editor of MASTERminds, a publication devoted not only to the Sega Master System but other Sega consoles as well. Todd, dubbed the William F. Buckley Jr. of fandom, took society's ills, lousy games, and the questionable practices of other fan-eds to task with brutal parodies and reviews filled to overflowing with bitter sarcasm that went straight for the throat. Todd did become a bit too full of himself in later issues, but MASTERminds is nevertheless held in fond regard as the most intelligently written fanzine of its time.

Byron J. Lisamen: The cuddly but sarcastic bear who was the unofficial mascot of Project: Ignition. He later shared the honor with two other characters in Jess Ragan's most recent fanzine The Gameroom Blitz.

Casey Loe: The editor of Next Generation, a professional-quality newsletter with up-to-date game news, and, surprisingly, a cutting wit which made its more negative game reviews wickedly entertaining. It should be noted that Next Generation has no relationship whatsoever with NEXT Generation, the professional video game magazine tailored to adult readers. In fact, Casey went on to write for an entirely different game magazine, the infamous Die Hard Game Fan.

Eric Longdin: Eric published Super NES Gamer, a video game fanzine devoted to Nintendo's wildly popular 16-bit game system. After acquiring a TurboDuo, the fanzine was redubbed Super Gamer and given a slightly wider focus. Eric's next publication was Splat!, a miscellaneous fanzine with little actual video game coverage.  Regrettably, this would also be his last... years after the premiere of Splat!, Eric died of a terminal illness.

Matt Lotti: Matt created Hyper'zine, a video game newsletter with a format similar to that of Ulrich Kempf's Video Views. The main difference between the two publications is that Matt took his work a little less seriously, printing articles by Jess Ragan and Pat O'Donnell that Ulrich wouldn't have touched with a ten foot pole.

Russell Loudin: Russell published Forgotten Words, a fanzine which really lived up to its name as its circulation was severely limited. Little is known about Russell or his publication except for a review that appeared in Digital Press.

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Dan Thomas MacInnes:  Dan was the editor of V: The Video Game Experience, a well written but underappreciated video game fanzine from the early to mid 1990's.  After several issues, Dan changed the format of the publication, devoting some of its content to outside interests like poetry.

Chris MacDonald:  Chris MacDonald, aka Kao Megura, was best known for his work on the GameFAQs web site, where he wrote over a hundred excellent strategy guides for games such as Final Fantasy VII and Marvel vs. Capcom.  He also supplied the last issue of The Gameroom Blitz with a detailed review of Street Fighter III: Double Impact.  Sadly, Chris MacDonald died of undetermined causes in 2004.

Mark Martin: Mark ran a video game store in southern Michigan, where Jess Ragan lived for several years. Without this store and Mark's generousity, much of the content in Project:Ignition would not have been possible. Mark also contributed a CES article to that fanzine.

Kanawful Massengille: A Sub-Zero contributor and one of Chris Dyer's friends. Despite Chris' off-the-wall nature, it should be noted that he never once made fun of Massengille's name in the pages of Sub-Zero.

Andrew McNaughton: Andrew penned Super Power Bi-Monthly, one of several fanzines devoted to the Super NES in fandom's second era (from '92-'94).

Josh Means: One of several characters in the hilarious comic series Asylum, a long-running feature in Video Apocalypse. Josh, of course, was loosely based on the editor of Video Apocalypse, Josh Lesnick.

Kao Megura: See also "Chris MacDonald."

Zach Meston: A freelance journalist for a wide variety of game magazines, Zach also contributed to Dirty Secrets, a scathing report on the video game industry's use of cartridge copiers. Dirty Secrets was featured in an issue of Tom Donoho's Above & Beyond.

Greg Meyers: Greg was a younger fan-ed who published Game Masters for a brief period of time. He left fandom after countless bad reviews in other fanzines, most notably Chris Kohler's Video Zone. So disliked was Greg Meyers' fanzine that the term GMS, Greg Meyers Syndrome, was created as an explanation for why some fan-eds have poor layout and writing skills.

Ter Micharoni: Ter edited one of the two fanzines entitled Zap!. The other, by Scott Weller, had two exclamation points in the title. Zap! was unique in that it focused as much on Ter's conservative political beliefs as it had video games.

Mike Mignola: A contributor to Rick Florey's Overkill.

Ramiz Monsef: A friend of Brian Pacula's, Ramiz added this unforgettable comment to a review of Bart's Nightmare in The Good, The Bad, and The Eight-Bit: "Basically, it bit walrus penis." Ramiz also contributed a Yuppie-Man comic and reviews of old slasher films to older issues of the popular fanzine.

Fernando Mosquera: Also known as Lagi (the dragon in Panzer Dragoon Zwei), Fernando supplied the readers of Rick Florey's Overkill with his own blend of no-nonsense opinion and Saturn reviews in the popular monthly column Lagi's Lair. Fernando last edited SegaNet, a web site largely devoted to Sega's last game system, the Dreamcast.

Mr. Nutz: Editor of G-Force, a seldom seen newsletter with reviews of video games and other pop culture paraphenalia. Mr. Nutz isn't fondly remembered in fandom because he refused to send issues of his fanzine to members of the Gaming Enthusiasts of America.  Making matters worse, he even lit many of the fanzines he received on fire and sent the remains back to their publishers with threats and insults. 
 
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Nickelmann: A more recent Quartermann parody than those by Joe Santulli and Jess Ragan, the cleverly named Harris Stevens once wrote a Gamin' Gossip column in Chris Kohler's Video Zone.  
 
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Pat O'Donnell: Pat offered his thoughts about arcade games and, in one instance, a very scary rant about controversial fandom figure Aaron Buckner in Matt Lotti's Hyper'zine.

Chad Okada: A public relations representative for SNK, Chad (who regularly used the psuedonym Game Lord) pressured Pat Reynolds to change the name of his fanzine, also titled GameLord. Frustrated, Pat took the fanzine out of circulation and returned to fandom shortly thereafter with Fantazine. Oddly, nobody from the Coca-Cola Company has attempted to strongarm Pat into changing the name of his more recent fanzine due to its apparent association with the refreshing low calorie beverage Fanta.

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Brian Pacula: This The Good, The Bad, and The Eight-Bit editor started out humbly enough as the editor of The 16-Bit Pit. He eventually graduated to GB8B and made a name for himself with his trademark sarcastic reviews and the side-splitting comic series Roadside Comics. Later issues of GB8B had a noticable undercurrent of bitterness and low-key hostility, but even they were terrific.

Tabitha Indigo Paige: Paige shook up fandom with Counterpoint!, called the first fanzine by a female gamer. Counterpoint! was put under a great deal of scrutiny by fan-eds as it was believed that its editor was not real at all but a hoax created by another member of fandom (who wishes to remain anonymous). It should be noted that nobody who made these accusations had anything but circustancial evidence to back up their claims.

Nate Palmer: Nate's fanzine Mediapoint was a reliable source of information about the video game industry, if not much else.

Mike Palisano: Nicknamed Mouse in his early days as a fan-ed, Mike is best known for The Laser, a popular fanzine with an intriguing blend of video game commentary and disturbing prose. Mike experimented with other fanzines, including LaserCade and The Escapist, and last published MMCC, a sort of sequel to The Laser with a more cynical look at video games.

Jeremy Parish: Jeremy started publishing a print companion to his popular video game web site Toastyfrog in 2002.  He may have came a little late to the party, but his newsletter was every bit as good as those published in the 1990's.

Eric Patterson: Also known as Shidoshi, Eric published the immensely popular Digital Anime', a professional quality newsletter with reviews of RPGs and other games with a heavy Japanese influence. Eric is probably best known for his contributions to the Die Hard Game Fan, a professional video game magazine which has since gone out of publication.

Mandi Paugh: The editor of the Official Mega Man Home Page also wrote a brief review of Tails' Adventure for the last issue of The Gameroom Blitz, and drew a cover illustration for Fantazine.

Russ Perry, Jr.: Perhaps the most beloved of fan-eds, Russ ironically enough started out not as an editor of a fanzine, but a frequent letter writer whose razor sharp wit and insightful commentary were seen in dozens of video game newsletters. Later, Russ wisely decided to put his talents to good use in his own fanzine, Slap-Dash, a video-games-plus-a-whole-lot-more publication which was published for several years. Russ also took control of The 2600 Connection immediately after Tim Duarte left the fanzine due to a lack of spare time.

Sean Pettibone: Sean was attacked in such fanzines as Paradox and Hyper'zine for allegedly conning game companies out of prototypes. It wasn't long before Sean fired back with The Johnston Files, a scathing reply to these accusations which also marked the birth of the first issue of In Between The Lines. After vindicating himself, Sean went on to release four more issues of the fanzine, and all were applauded as intelligent and sharply written. Sean's punk sensibilities did tarnish the fanzine's content, and contributed to outings with other fan-eds.

Jim Pittaro: Jim edited Total Supremacy and frequently contributed to his brother's various fanzines.

Mike Pittaro: The editor of several fanzines, including Megamania (not to be confused with the 2600 game of the same name) and Uproar.

Rich Plummer: A good friend of Pat Reynolds, Rich contributed both artwork and reviews to his newsletter Fantazine... when he wasn't busy performing his duties as a naval officer overseas.

Frank Polosky: This classic game trader sells Video Magic, a combination newsletter/catalog.

Keith Previc: A contributor to MASTERminds, Keith was largely responsible for many of the fanzine's best reviews. Keith and Todd made a fine team as their writing styles complemented one another.

Tim Priest: The most memorable of Fantazine's contributors, Tim Priest doubled as The Intimidator, a superhero wannabee with an advice column for blossoming crime fighters.

Tom Priest: To be honest, Tom was overshadowed by his outrageous brother Tim, but never let it be said that he didn't supply Fantazine with great content of his own.  Tom Priest wrote a top ten list about that mightiest of heroes, Superman, that was just as funny as anything his brother could dish out.

Adrian Jourgenson Proctor: Another of Pat Reynolds' friends, Adrian is best known for his mad rants in the Fantazine column The Gripes of Wrath. His iconoclastic nature added spice to Fantazine, whether he was discussing his favorite video games or complaining about the prejudice he's had to face as an African-American death metal fan.

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Jess Ragan: The editor of Project:Ignition, Jess had an uncanny knack for stirring up controversy, often angering other fanzine editors such as Pat Reynolds and Sean Pettibone. Jess's almost unending war with Arnie Katz was perhaps the most memorable of these encounters. Jess also published the electronic game design fanzine Concept, then went on to do a last issue of that fanzine and The Gameroom Blitz, considered a huge improvement over the somewhat incoherent P:I.

Sahil Rahimi: Sahil contributed a lengthy CES report to Alex Frias' newsletter Viewpoint.

Carlton Rahmani: The editor of Duh!?, a raw game fanzine with more profanity than your average Andrew Dice Clay performance. He also contributed to Ben Leatherman's Fanarchy, a more coherent work with a similarly rebellious attitude.

A.J. Ramos: A.J. edited MegaForce briefly before quitting it to do a music fanzine.

David Ramsden: Contributed to the debut of Dokuritsu, a short-lived successor to Josh Lesnick's Video Apocalypse.

Jon Ratcliffe: The editor of Game Mag, a tightly edited video game magazine with a strong emphasis on layout and up-to-the-minute game reviews. Jon has been harshly criticized for his fanzine's resemblence to professional publications like EGM and NEXT Generation, but Ratcliffe has dismissed his detractors as "jealous" of his impressive editing and layout skills.

Pat Reynolds: Pat made news right from the start with a controversy surrounding his first fanzine GameLord. A PR agent from SNK who used the pseudonym Game Lord pressured Pat to change the name of the newsletter, forcing it out of publication. Soon after the incident, Pat released Fantazine, a more serious and tightly edited work, with the help of his friends Pete Foote, Adrian Proctor, and fellow fan-ed Jess Ragan. Pat Reynolds is now a monthly contributor to Tips & Tricks magazine.

Al Riccitelli, Jr.: The editor of The Dark Side, an entertaining fanzine with coverage of both video games and professional wrestling.

Tyrone Rodriguez: Tyrone created Entry Level with David Hunt, then went solo with the greatly improved Hardcore.  Since then, he's worked for everyone from Tips & Tricks magazine to Black Ops Software to the web site IGN.  Busy guy, huh?

Glenn Rubenstein: Glenn's ludicrously priced At The Controls retailed for $125 (yes, that was not a typo) per six issue subscription. It was intended as a newsletter for the video game industry and was even quoted by Sega in an ad for one of its games. Glenn now writes game reviews professionally.

Pan Ryuken: The assertive female star of Asylum, a long-running comic series in the fanzine Video Apocalypse. Ryuken was one of many characters editor Josh Lesnick created as an homage to (or parody of) his favorite Japanese animated features.

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Andy Saito: This Totally Super NES editor was also partially responsible for the Gaming Enthusiasts of America and published its bi-monthly newsletter. Andy was regularly lambasted by other fan-eds for reviewing games optimistically, apparently in an attempt to grease the wheels of video game companies and get free prototypes in the process.

Erik Schimek: Erik had much to say about society, religion, and on rare occasion, video games in the fanzines Mindstorm, MASTERminds, and Video Gaming Monthly. This self-proclaimed Deicide even tried to thwart THWART, the organization dedicated to preventing Aaron Buckner from returning to EG fandom.

Robert Schmitz: Robert's Shining Force is considered by many to be the best RPG devoted game fanzine ever published. Artist John Watkins-Chow's spectacular Japanesque drawings and Schmitz' own in-depth game reviews made that fanzine extremely popular in the third era ('95-present) of video game fandom.

Justin Schuh: One of the four editors of Paradox, a popular gaming fanzine of the early to mid '90s.

Travis Scott: Travis was the editor of Video Game Review, an early video game newsletter inspired by such fandom mainstays as Digital Press and Phanzine Star. Travis had strong ties with game companies and aspirations of "going pro"... it is not known if this ever happened.

Senzuri: Senzuri is a contributor to the fanzine Thy Holy Handgrenade and also publishes his own newsletter, unrelated to video games.

Ara Shirinian: Ara was the driving force behind Spectrum, a no-nonsense video game fanzine which prided itself on having terrific back covers (as opposed to most fanzines, which preferred spicing up their front covers with excellent artwork). Ara now works for Chris Bieniek at the professional game magazine Tips & Tricks.

Scott Slauson: A contributor to In Between The Lines, whose work was ported over to Jeremy Statz' Matrix3 for one issue.

Matthew Smith: Matthew edited WarpZone, but many best recall his wacky antics and thick Southern accent from phone conversations. You couldn't find the name Matthew Smith without seeing the word "Yeeeeeeehaw!" next to it in most fanzines.

Matt Sonefeld: Matt was a frequent contributor to the Pat Reynolds fanzines GameLord and Fantazine.

Joe Souza: A frequent contributor to Fanarchy, Joe even took over the editorial reins for one issue.

Jeremy Statz: The editor of Matrix3, one of several "wacky" fanzines which were popular in 1993 and 1994. In addition to morbid horoscopes and pie charts demonstrating the stupidity of NRA members, Statz also offered his readers thoughtful reviews and some of the best anti-Nintendo articles ever written.  Jeremy was last seen at Raven Software, where he contributed to the design of several popular computer games.

Bill Suszynski: Bill offered his opinion of the Nintendo 64 and a handful of first generation releases in the fanzine The Gameroom Blitz.
 

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James Thomas: James' New World News achieved great notoriety as the spit-polished Neo-Geo fanzine with the remarkably self-absorbed editor. Some fan-eds applauded James' dogged coverage of SNK's arcade-quality game system, while others griped about his inflated self-image.

Dennis Thompson: Dennis published the fanzine Slipstream for a brief period of time. His fanzine is said to have resembled early issues of Video Zone and The Dark Side.

Brian Tramel: Brian Tramel wasn't so much a fanzine editor as he was a fanzine critic.  He published a brief newsletter reviewing a wide variety of 'zines, ranging in topics from video games to human sexuality.

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Ken Uston: A famous blackjack dealer and video game player, Ken Uston wrote such excellent guides to video games as Score! Beating the Top 16 Arcade Games and Mastering Pac-Man. Ken also published a video game newsletter in the early 80's- not a fanzine, per se, as it was advertised in his books and had a focus on tips and strategies, not editorial content as is the case with true video game fanzines. Mr. Uston died in 1987; it is rumored that a drug overdose was responsible for his demise.

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Michael Vafaes: Michael's reviews are the backbone of Jon Ratcliffe's fanzine Game Mag.

Steve Van Neste: Steve was a big fan of Armored Core, and contributed a review of that game to Pat Reynolds' Fantazine.

Eric "The Butcher" Vigoda: A contributor to Nathan Hauke's Sensory Overload, Eric became infamous after he'd attacked Hyper'zine editor Matt Lotti without provocation in the short-lived opinion column Welcome To The Slaughterhouse. Eric was dropped from the fanzine shortly after the hate mail came pouring into Sensory Overload headquarters.

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Ken Walls: Ken edited KC Connection, a video game newsletter with ties to FANN (the FANzine Network which allowed members to borrow articles from other members' fanzines).

David Weinstein: David edited Monitor, a fanzine originally designed to cover older computers.  Monitor eventually widened its focus to include console games.

Scott Weller: Scott edited one of two fanzines entitled Zap!!. The other, by Ter Micharoni, had only one exclamation point in the title. Scott was also one of the chairmen of the fandom organization NAEGE (the National Association of Electronic Gaming Enthusiasts).

Lester Welsh: Lester first wrote editorials for Jon Ratcliffe's Game Mag, then eventually started his own fanzine, Thy Holy Handgrenade. Handgrenade is an energetic mix of video game and cartoon coverage, with tons of clip art from Japanese comics strewn throughout.

Matt Wensing: Matt was the co-editor of The Enigma Journal, and contributed two Playstation reviews to Chris Kohler's Video Zone.

Jason Whitman: A member of the quartet of editors who published Paradox. Jason's most memorable moment in that fanzine was when he'd smashed his face on the copy plate of a Xerox machine and offered the end result to Paradox founder Chris Johnston as a cover for the usually reserved newsletter. I wonder if he knows what people do with copiers after hours...?

Colin Williamson: A latecomer to Sub-Zero's editorial staff, Colin contributed some great 32X and PC reviews to the fanzine.  Colin eventually migrated to the professional gaming web site IGN.

Greg Wilcox: Greg started out as an artist and writer for Sacrificed Trees, an underground comic book publisher.  Years later, he began work on Continue?, a video game fanzine with diverse content and plenty of his great artwork.  Continue? is no longer being published, but Greg is still involved with the video game industry, having most recently written for the magazine Foul.

Dave Wilson: Dave was the author of Willard's Words, an opinion column that ran infrequently in Pat Reynolds' Fantazine.  He was a strong supporter of modems, years before the creation of the Internet as we know it.

George Wilson: George was at the head of Video Universe, a fandom staple of the early 90's. This newsletter was best known for its loyalty to Street Fighter 2 and other fighting games... in fact, the only fanzine with a stronger focus on the genre was Tony Fazzone's Shoryuken!, which was devoted ENTIRELY to them.

Joyce Worley: The wife of Arnie Katz, Joyce created The Communique Group with husband Arnie and Bill Kunkel and wrote news articles and editorials for the defunct video game magazine Video Games & Computer Entertainment. She also wrote an installment of Fandom Central for Arnie Katz in one issue of Electronic Games. 
 
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Danny Yan: A contributor to the NAEGE Journal and, for a brief period of time, the co-editor of Circuit City Report, a newsletter which covered the latest in computer software.  Danny was the co-owner of a business named Circuit City... however, we're not sure if it's the national chain of electronics stores we all remember from the advertisements on television.

David Yan: David's Phantasy Flight is considered one of the best RPG devoted game fanzines ever published.

Terence Yee: Terence co-edited the computer software journal Circuit City Report with Danny Yan.

Corey You: Formerly of Ultra Bit Magazine, an underground tip sheet for popular games such as the Mortal Kombat series, Corey later wrote the cyberpunk fanzines Digital Storm and DSX.

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