Jason Kenney: A few easy questions to start the interview. First off, when did you get into fanfic?

Alex Cook: *scratches head* Gawd....

JK: That long, eh?

AC: Well, technically, DCF was my first group... Or do you want me to cover the entire SFA history as well? Because if that’s the case, it'll be five years. Speaking of group fic only, it's two to three.

JK: SFA? That's the slayerfanfic site, isn't it?

AC: Yeah.

JK: I was just going to ask about that.

AC: Ask away.

JK: So, SFA. You started that about 5 years ago?

AC: The SFA was officially started by Anya McLerie three months into season one of Buffy. I only came into the picture round about the beginning of the second season, -97 or so. She needed a place to house it, and I had a server (well, the ad agency I worked for at the time had... I kind of hacked some space for the site out of there.) I've been the tech guy for the site ever since that.

JK: Ah, so the webmastering part of your fanfic began with Buffy.

AC: Yeah. Anya was always in charge of that though. The SFA was one of the few sites I that participated in at the time which I didn't design myself.

JK: You just hosted it?

AC: I made sure the site was up, paid the bills, managed the space, etc. Yeah. And then I was working on some back-end stuff to make her and my lives easier, but Reallife™ has turned a six month project into close to three years running now.

JK: Heh, yeah, that's the always wonderful real life I know so well. How did you get from there to DCF?

AC: Interesting enough, I got back from the SanDiego Con one year, sat down in front of my computer and said to myself 'Gee, I wonder if there's comic fic out there?' Lo and behold there was. So once I had weeded through the various archives, and their bountiful amounts of shit with a few gems here and there, I found DCF.

JK: Ha! So I take it you never really got into the archive side of comic fanfiction?

AC: Not really. Luba’s archive is the only I really frequent.

JK: Ah, yes, that's one of the best

AC: Then there's some of the Marvel stuff out there, and a Vertigo spot I hit, or used to hit, religiously.

JK: Yeah, there's not enough vertigo fic out there, though, that may be a good thing...

AC: True.

JK: So how long did it take you to prop to DCF after you first had found them?

AC: Well, truth be told, I found 2099 UG first, because it was the link above DCF. I didn't like the design, so I hit the DCF instead. I did read some of the UG fic, however.

JK: Was UG active when you found it? The reason that I'm asking is because it's been around for a while...

AC: Yeah, it was. Rare thing, I know. I got an idea started in my head and came to the same realization we all do. "Hey, I could do this." So I plotted out this thing I called Strange 2099. Then I read their strange 2099. I could never work with a group that would let that kind of crap on-site. DCF however, impressed me thoroughly..

JK: So you went for what you liked....

AC: Tommy Hancock's Occult and David Lee's Hellblazer.... Those two stories made me a fan.

JK: Lee's Hellblazer was excellent stuff, i must agree.

AC: Then Erik posted a note claiming that the DCF was going to shut down if the fans didn't respond that the writers were doing good...

JK: Really?

AC: Yea.. it was a sad day in DCF’s history. A year or so after their intial reboot. I sent a fan letter, and started talking with Erik. Then I took over webmastering duties.

JK: Thus continued the slavelabored life of Alex Cook

AC: heh heh. Yeah, and I wasn't even writing at this point in time.

JK: After webmastering DCF, where did you go to next? Had you started writing yet?

AC: Well, Erik says in passing, "hey, we got to get you working for us," as in writing. That old Strange 2099 idea I had became Blue Devil: DCF that day. I pulled out my notes, wracked my brain for a DCU char I liked, and put it together into a prop. Then I sat down and wrote the one-shot I was propping as my writing example because I didn't have anything else to use. DCF seemed impressed and, boom, it was up. Round about this time, the dust was settling from Mark Peyton’s departure from DCF, a story I was never privy enough to explain, so I won't. Mark was already trying to start the MFS together with Michael Shirley and Jericho Villar. He approached me about possibly doing something. We started talking, etc etc. I propped New Warriors there. THEN... DCF booted Starman. DCFS spun off from there. Mark had 25+ issues done, so he jigged them to the settting of the new world and the MFS crew started doing DC fic as well...

JK: And DCFS killed off DCF Batman week one.

AC: Yea.. Ali sure did. I'm sorry to say that while I love Erik's work, Ali's Bats is hands down the best Bats I've read in any incarnation.

JK: I need to read that. Actually, I like Erik's a lot

AC: Me too. They both have special places for me.

JK: So DCF lost starman...

AC: They did. I started Metropolitian over at DCFS, a series Warren Ellis himself later lambasted in his message board rant, but, whatever...

JK: And just exactly when did Metro start?

AC: Metro out started roughly two years ago.

JK: And Ellis lambasted it? Please, do tell, if you are willing.

AC: Well, Ellis stated on his board that someone writing Transmet fic was like someone raping his daughter or something.. I'm probably misquoting the detailed speech he wrote about it, but it's there... He ended it with, "And yesterday I found someone doing just that..."

JK: Like raping his daughter? Wow.

AC: So anyhow, I'm rampantly writing shit at this time, ideas are flowing.... And then MFS starts it's crossover. Biggest mistake of my fic career to date

JK: Ah, crossover hell.

AC: MFS stagnated due to it. I lost interest, as did everyone else.

JK: Paradise Lost?

AC: Yea...

JK: When did that start?

AC: 2000. No, seriously... a full year and threemonths ago

JK: And it just finished?

AC: It's not finished yet, sadly. Three more issues, THEN it'll be finished. One more issue from Bryan Hall, one from me, the finale from Mark. THEN, IT WILL BE DONE.

JK: Ah, so it's chugging along. All of you are trying to get it moving along again, right, new blood?

AC: Yeah. We've recently told the author list that we're going to toss dead books and write endings to the dead ones that need to stay, to make sure the site backstory still works.

JK: Ouch, cleaning house.

AC: Yeah. I hate dead tangents. I can name a hundred groups that died because of lost interest.

JK: And I could name a hundred more.

AC: Yes, exactly. That’s what made all the groups I've been part of so far different, new blood constantly pumps in to revitalize them. One group that I always thought could have been awesome, simply because it was a fresh concept, was Les's Medieval DC.

JK: The Futures sites seems to have a better time of that, why do you think that is so?

AC: Honestly, I think they have more creativity. It’s not like you are stuck with the original comics sitting around you as material. You get to create your own tapestry and tell the readers how it got to that point.

JK: True. But in cases like that, why not just go original?

AC: Because there's not as much of a fanbase to enjoy it. The internet is a confusing mess of navigation. With original fic, your writing powers are the only thing getting readers. 90% of us SUCK too much to be able to do that.

JK: Heh, agreed.

AC: That just leads into my other view of fanfic, being that it's a training ground. It’s not a popularity contest -fan letters do not matter, fans do not matter. What matters is that you enjoy what you just wrote. Stop looking for people hitting the site to validate your life.

JK: Training ground for what, though? Just writing?

AC: Yeah, writing, period. The good ones, however, they KNOW this is what they want to do with their future. Jac Milnestein -two novels under his belt. Mark Peyton -one comic already, three working on. Erik Burnham -movie script rewrite. Thomas Deja is a published horror writer as well.

JK: And then there's the bad ones who think that this is their future.

AC: And that’s where Sophism comes in.. ;-)

JK: Tommy Hancock's doing well, it seems.

AC: Tommy's doing great. His DCU has really brought something back in his talent that we thought died a year back. And YY is returning so I finally get to do my Slayer story! ;-)

JK: Excellent! You've been waiting on that for how long now?

AC: Well gosh. This is a personal thing now. An old girlfriend helped me plot the thing and I fucked her over, so the whole LS is dedicated to her, and it kind of parallels me, examining how I fucked up. Kinda fun to use writing as a tool for something else than expressing my anger at the world.

JK: Is it different than most of your other stuff with the personal aspect in it?

AC: Yeah. It’s still a slayer story, and a fanboy one at that. It crossovers with a bunch of horror-esque things and then some that could have worked in the YY timeframe. The personal stuff adds a level to it that I haven't tried before.

JK: Alittle introspective of yourself?

AC: Yeah. Every writer has a piece that they can claim was real writing because they were dealing with it at the time. Now I can too. ;-)

JK: True. Now, going back a bit, why is it that you think there's more talent on the Futures/YY end of things from a professional aspect? I mean, all these names you toss out, yeah, you know them best, so you can say, but there seems to be more people taking this seriously in these groups than on the other end with all of the present based groups. You don't hear of folks at MX getting published, not generally, but there's a lot of that coming from the other end here. Not to bash the present based groups (especially considering they are the ones I work with most).

AC: No, not at all. Mark Bousquet's work on All Gods Children (while it's technically a future based fic, it's hosted at a present based site) is amazing. The Vault from the same site rocks as well.

JK: I agree, MV1 seems to be the strongest of the present stuff, and even overall, in some cases.

AC: Yeah, it is. There is a divide within shared universe fic. It’s all about the attitude towards it.

JK: Attitude?

AC: The attitude towards what you actually spend your time doing.

JK: Taking it more seriously?

AC: Yeah, in a sense.

JK: Or that you are writing fanfiction to improve as a writer, while not forgetting your original projects, realizing it's not the end all, be all of writing...

AC: Exactly. A lot of the writers from that side that I know, see this as a fun hobby, whereas for my side of it, it’s not a hobby. As dumb as it sounds, it’s a way of life. True, I'm tainted by Sophism, but their ideals and mine are the same. FanFic SHOULD be better then the published crap. Those who fail to see that create the same dribble MU publishes weekly. The sites that take risks are the ones who has the attitude I'm speaking of. Marvel Dark Design is an example of a present based site that matches that.

JK: Doing something different with what everyone knows and loves.

AC: Yeah. Because it's different, it's not the 12th Claremont remake of such and such event in MU's history that I've received in 24 hours. I feel that the comic industry is in a recession simply because their stories suck.

JK: It tends to be more original as well

AC: Yeah....

JK: There's less of a chance to repeat plots when you can change a lot of the surroundings

AC: Exactly. So do you think the MU would ever have a sexually abused Peter Parker whose psychosis-induced alter ego is the Goblin, a skin mask worn over Pete’s face that was Osborn’s original skin before Parker ripped it off by himself? Nope. But guess which one I would pay money for. The Amazing Spiderman where he fights Bullseye while trying to hide his identity from Jameson or this?

JK: That brings up the next question: On the fan side of things, what do you read, comic and fanfiction wise? What have you read that really sticks out as great to you?

AC: Comic first. -Ellis, Ennis, Bendis, Azzullo... Those are the writers I read religiously.

JK: Great names, I must agree. Bendis and Ennis are my personal faves, and Rucka too

AC: Transmet, Preacher, Powers, 100 Bullets, Rising Stars, most of CrossGen actually, Whiteout (Rucka rocks). I don't read proper superhero titles from MU or DC or Image. I like the edge shit like Vertigo or Joe's Comics. Fanfic -DCF, MFS, IFSe, All God's Children, MY2, DCY2... DCU, or anything Tommy does...

JK: Anything really stand out there?

AC: Where?

JK: Anywhere. What fics seem to stand out to you as the cream of the crop? Writers too. Who and what do you look forward to?

AC: DCF: Rob Nott - Black Canary, Alan Morgan - Deadman, Jason Tippitt - Suicide Squad, David Lee - Hellblazer & Green Lantern, Erlend Larsen - Freetown. MFS: Rob - Nomad, Mark Peyton - Excalibur, (and Jac Milnestein's Fantastic Four should be here, but it's no longer on the site), Chad Roberts - Catalyst, Matt Pierce - Avengers America. DCFS: Ali - Batman, Rob - Sandman, Mark - Starman. MY2: Bill K'tepi - X Men (HOLY FUCK I LOVE THIS BOOK), Cap America (HOLY FUCK I LOVE THIS ONE ALMOST AS MUCH) Thomas Deja - Daredevil & his Fantastic Four arc. Matt Pierce - Thor hint in Strange Tales #1

JK: I take it you love K'tepi's stuff?

AC: I love K'Tepi. His DCFS Swamp thing should be mentioned, as well as his IFSe:Witchblade. DCY2: Thomas Deja - Green Lantern, Birds of Prey, K'Tepi - Atom, Trev - Wonder Woman, Superman

JK: That's a lot of reading material

AC: ;-) I read constantly. Artifice Comics is getting my interest right now, as is MDD: Ian - X Men, Chris - Chamber (better than Ghost Rider), and Spidey, whose writer escapes me now.. Artifice: Anything Jac does. Period IFSe: Jac - Angels of Albion, one of the most breathtaking series I've read. Huge, expansive and SOLID.

JK: Angels? Yeah, excellent read

AC: Bill Cat - Spawn.. Erlend - StormWatch..

AC: Jac has left fanfic, and is only writing original fic now. Hence Artifice, a fanfic type of site for original fic.

JK: So what are you working on at the moment, series-wise and what's upcoming? And how many damn groups do you host and webmaster?

AC: Let's take the latter question first. DCF, MFS, DCFS, IFSe, YY, MY2, DCY2, DCU, Sophism, Rob Nott’s personal space, as well as Alan Morgan’s, I believe, AC, WoH, DC 2nd Mill (upcoming). I don’t webmaster any of them any more actually, they all have web staff of their own. I just give them access. There might be one or two that I missed mentioning, truth be told.. ;-)

JK: So you're not working on them, just giving them a home now? Nice change of pace I'm sure.

AC: It makes my life much easier. My workload has increased in the three years since I started writing fic...

JK: So all the good groups have to be there, eh?

AC: Yea, all the good groups have to be there. If it's on the SFA, it's worth reading.. ;-) Now, what do I have upcoming... hrm... Well.. MFS has FINALLY finished the Germany one-shot, so I've got a reboot of New Warriors coming out and Damage Control Inc, which is a horror title, NOT a story about losers who clean up after heroes.

JK: DCI?

AC: DCInc uses the Nightstalker mythos. That book of... SHIT that the midget delivered pages of which turned people into a demon lord’s servants and Monterrosi had to deal with it.

JK: Oh, cool, so a decent horror book?.

AC: Yeah, not sure if I've nailed the horror though. The prelude that’s out now at the MFS now reads much more gunslinger-ish than scary. For IFSe, Erlend and I just put the finishing touches on a collaboration called Shooting Stars, which deals with the concept that the spirit of the 23rd century was miscarried, which caused the driving force of humanity to stain the ground on the eve of Dec 31 2199 and the ramifications due to it.

JK: Woah! I like that, from the sound of it, at least

AC: MDD has got two things, the first is Sleepwalker, set during WW2 in a concentration camp, which is about a Nazi creation going wrong, and secondly, an untitled piece with Jason Kenney about a police detective’s impossible search for a serial killer. DCF - More Blue Devil in Legion which Bryan Hall and I write.. DCFS - Metro: 100 Bullets nuff said Dr. Strange Marvel Transformed... I get to make Transformers use magick... ;-)

JK: Now, going back to the status of fanfiction and the groups as a whole and all that fun stuff, many folks seems to think that fanfiction is growing stagnant, repeating same old stuff in the same style, and all that good stuff. What do you think?

AC: I don't think it's growing stagnant at all.... Let me toot my own horn here, - has anyone else written a story about the Sleepwalker, set in a Jewish internment camp during WW2?

JK: True.

AC: Or how about Deja and his Birds of Prey? That concept is more dynamic then anything DC would attempt.

JK: But the "big" things seem to be isolated, or does this come back to the "alternate" books, excepting current-continuity ones?

AC: Ok, redefine your 'big' question, I'm rather fuzzy on what you meant.

JK: Well, not necessarily big, just, different I guess, original stuff. Though, I guess when reworded like that we already discussed it as the difference between the current-continuity groups and the others.

AC: To be anything other then stagnant, fanfic needs those 'big' concepts... As for Present-based examples.. Well, to answer with present examples, I'm going to have to mention MV1... and SCN, an awesome group-wide concept the comics haven't done. It's a small example, but still a reason why fanfic is far from stagnant.. Those ideas are the reason we write in the first place, and any writer who says otherwise is not someone I care to work with. Jean DeWolffe, while written kinda bad (I don't like Maggi's style personally, and he knows the reasons why) as Ghost Rider, would never be done in MU. Or Frank Castle as GR for that matter, over at MDD.

JK: Design-wise, where do you see fanfiction, though? I'm thinking of websites, story formats, the HTML side of things?

AC: Well, fanfic has yet to take that step into New Media Generation.

JK: What do you attribute that to? The time constraints, the lack of money or attention? I mean, you get some sites like Marvel Revolution Underground, but not very often.

AC: MUR is such an exception that it's not even funny. The main reason is a lack of knowledge on that side of things. Many writers I talk to say HTML is beyond them. Pfft. HTML is simple as hell, it really is. It's the DESIGN part that's tough -Flash, DHTML, CCS, JavaScript.. It really can be picked up and learned in an application sense, but the knowledge of how to take that basis and move it to something, is where most are lacking.. The only, and I do mean ONLY, reason that I say this is because I do this for a living. I myself am guilty of not doing bitching flash sites. I don't have time to provide someone with a flash design and also teach them flash, so they can update it.

JK: True, but that's a matter of taste as well.

AC: Design is all about taste. But, then again, so is fic.

JK: So you think more folks need to use design in their stories, or that it would even add to them?

AC: The stories themselves, or the sites around the stories? The stories, I think should only be txt or HTML. The sites around them are what needs to be improved. MDD HTML-format their stories. I still select all, copy & paste into notepad to read.

JK: Do you think fancy design can add to a story, or do you feel less is more in that respect?

AC: Yes. A fancy design only attracts people to the site, then the content have to stand for itself This really is a rule of the web -the balance of the visual with the text.

JK: Can the use of design and graphics bridge the gap between fanfiction and comics? Make the story more visually appealing than simply text? Not necessarily fanfiction, but fiction in general.

AC: Well, for fanfic, no. It can't, due to the legal issues fanfic suffers under. The major companies have a copyright on words AND pictures starring their properties.. Original fiction, like Artifice, World of Heroes, etc... Those could totally use the power the new media applications of the web would bring to the table. In fact, that should be the foothold they should use to get people to their fic, because like I said, fanfic has a larger fanbase than original fic.

JK: Well, yes, as for fanfiction, I don't mean the use of the characters per se. Have you read Freetown?

AC: I edited the last issue of Freetown

JK: Ah, okay, oops.

AC: And yea, good example..

JK: Erlend's use of webtricks in there help to give the story more visual meanings than straight content. Now, there's no way that would work for ALL fanfiction, but do you think a little more creativity in presentation may be needed, or are we better off with straight text?

AC: Yes, I do.. it will just improve the users viewings of the work..

JK: Let me look back at the log here, but have we discussed SOPHISM yet?

AC: No, not at all really. I made some comments about it, but no questions.

JK: Okay. SOPHISM -the little pandora's box of fanfiction these days.

AC: Hehehehe... Yes, it is...

JK: What do you see SOPHISM as?

AC: SOPHISM is our attempt to make fanfiction better FICTION. That really is the base of it -it's how we go about executing such a lofty goal that makes us the bane of fanfic.

JK: Indeed, and how exactly do you all go about it?

AC: We scream.. We insult.. We rile up the pissant groups out there who thinks that the status quo consists of throwing some sperm onto a screen and sending it to the authors list.

JK: So you're telling it like it is?

AC: Honest is it. We don't pull punches. Sometimes, we go a little farther, but then again, that's why we've been referred to as the KKK of fanfic. SOPHISM shows you, the writer, that you do not have to continue doing the same shit. The more I talk about it, the more it sounds like I'm Brad Pitt in Fight Club, but the fact still remains that it is true.

JK: heh

AC: SOPHISM's backbone is the Site Reviews. We go out, pick a group, and each Sophist reviews an entire series. That seems to be our most hated facet in the end. People get pissed when we tell them it sucks. Well, sorry, it did. Egos are the reason nine times out of ten why we argue so much on the SOPHISM board.

JK: Egos are the reason nine times out of ten why most fanfiction arguments start. But you all seem to have toned down as of late.

AC: Toned down in the sense of deleting the explitives perhaps, but the message is the same. We are just refining how we scream at you.

JK: True, early reviews were "shit shit shit shit shit", current reviews are "crap crap crap crap crap."

AC: Yeah. ;-) However, slowly but surely, groups are starting to be glad that we are reviewing them. Mutant Underground actually came out and said thanks. Authors are asking us to look at their series. We're starting to do something good, ten months after our start, and that makes it kinda worthwhile I guess

JK: But you aren't all out to destroy the groups for the most part, are you?

AC: Dear gawd no. We don't want to destroy a group.. We just want to show them how to be better, in our opinions.

JK: Like the DCX review way back when? :-)

AC: DCX... that made me feel kinda bad. Some of DCX was great, a lot wasn't.

JK: Eh, it happens, you told it like you saw it.

AC: The ones who were have popped up elsewhere.. namely DCY2.. Lobo is the same DCX series, while one of the DCX writers, Thomas Deja has been penning a few series there. Did I mention Birds of Prey yet? ;-)

JK: I believe you did.

AC: hehhee.

JK: So SOPHISM's more out to help than hurt. Why do you think a lot of folks take things the way they do? The brutal honesty?

AC: The reason people take things the wrong way with our reviews are Egos. They can't see that we are trying to help, they immediating think that their labor of love is under attack. Not one of these people has ever stood through a portfolio review obviously.

JK: It all comes down to if you're gonna hang your balls out you gotta expect them to get kicked.

AC: Exactly. By placing it on the internet, you're going to get people to read it and you're also going to get the opinions of those people. Too bad that most people think our opinions are a personal vendetta.

JK: Why is it that the people who beg for feedback complain the most?

AC: Because they only expect glowing praise, not ways how to improve the piss-poor crap they posted.

JK: Why on earth would one want to improve?

AC: Beats me... Let's go on writing about Hulk beating up on.. Spider Man.. while..... the X-Men... fight.... MAGNETO! Yeah, that's a great idea!

JK: If you could make one statement to all fanfic folks, a blanket statement of sorts, what would it be?

AC: Get your head out of your ass and think about what you are actually doing for once.. consider what you are saying, how you are saying it, and how it could be recieved. For once, write outside the pigeonhole you're known for and become a better writer for it.

JK: That sounds good, do you think we covered everything?

AC: I think we did. Let me think. Design, thoughts on fic, SOPHISM, picks to read. Dude, yeah, we're set.

JK: Smooth.