Persiste

Nothing in the world

ke the place of persistence.

Nothing is more comm

Unsuccessful men with tal
ent.

Genius will not;
Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not;
The world is full of educated der
elicts.

Persistence and determination
Alone are omnipotent.

DARK Illustrated is a fine model for the words
above.  Over the past
three years of often times erratic releases, we'v
e had the honour of
working with talented artists and experienced mem
bers of the scene.  Yet
it was only over the past year that DARK's receiv
ed the recognition and
acclaim it truly deserved.

[Note: Canadian efforts are traditionally regar
ded with skepticism,
due largely to the death of Gothic so many years
ago.  We were getting
snowed, and not just by our notorious weather.]

At the height of our success, we made the tacti
cal error of coasting.
Production dropped as artists went ice fishing (o
r so the Senior Staff was
told), quality went for a spin on a low-rider ski
-doo, and two mergers (one
generally successful, the other a demonstration o
f the chaos theorem),
threw organnization into a blizzard.

Many believed the decrease in ANSI production s
ignalled the end of the
DARK Age, despite the tremendous accomplishments
of our renowned VGA
department.  One came a second blizzard; of toe-t
ags.  (See the special
offer below.)  Our eskimo shamans informed us, ho
wever, that premature
death was not in the winds.

After crashing yet another funeral gathering, a
nd allowing our VGA crew's
rage to dissipate (apologies to those harmed in t
heir guerilla strikes),
DARK dug in it's snow-shoes and took to the trail
s, determined as ever to
excel (again).

We aren't in this for the quick rewards.  DARK
is here to provide a warm
hearth in a solid igloo for top-notch artists, ei
ther as a waypoint to
other places, or a stronghold to achieve their gr
eatest potentials.

Thank you for reading.  Give our polar bear a f
riendly pat before you
move on.

-- xmtrx

Release Info

We're pleased to celebrate our 25th regular rel
ease, a noteworthy point
in DARK history.  Despite the skeptics, the cold
shoulders, and even the
hamstringing by an errant publication, we continu
e to showcase our talent.
(The enforced diet of pine cones, penguin rump, a
nd Molson Canadian
combined with daily dog-sledding exercises is hel
ping us regain our
strength.)

We'd like to thank all of you for your support,
your indifference, and
even your attempts to undermine us.  It's driven
the group to work harder,
it's given us an excuse to smack you in the face
with a frozen beaver, and
it's allowed our polar bear free range to maul yo

Stick around, the best is yet to come!  [Note:
We're strategically
located in such a way that all members receive an
unlimited supply of
sno-cones.  Rad, eh?]

er Activity

The 4th Disciple has come home!  After a brief
spin around the block,
he's returned to DARK Illustrated from his previo
us stay with iCE
Advertisements.  It took some time to thaw him ou
t, but a couple of shots
and a truckload of waffles covered generously wit
h maple syrup managed to
take the chill from his bones.

Joining the ANSI department this month are Garr
oter of Plain, Kitiara of
RCA, Phantax of Anemia, Spear of ACiD, and Boba F
ett, a promising new
artist.

The VGA department welcomes (3 VGA members) to
it's prestigious ranks.

It saddens us to inform you that DARK's favorit
e mascot, Arc Angel, has
been stripped of his glorious title.  He hasn't b
een around to harass us in
last six months or more, so...  *sob*

However!  Local personality Mimes (said "meemz"
) has been inducted as
DARK's first-ever Cheerleader!  She'll be the key
to morale for the group.
Warning: Don't touch her pom-pons.

Recently, the idea for a soft-core porn divisio
n was proposed by Redrum,
a local enthusiast.  Upon discovery that all mate
rial was to be displayed
in ASCII, the proposal was quickly dismissed.  Th
is is a family group,
after all. ;)

stone Sale!

DARK Illustrated is having a factory clearanc
e sale on tombstones!

Has your group died, and not received a proper
funeral?  We'd like to
help you!  Over the course of three years, we've
collected a large quantity
of funeral pyres, and we've no longer got the sto
rage space to hold them.
So we're clearing them out!

Act now, and the first 20 callers will receive
a special bonus offer:
Free toe-tags!  As many as you can carry!  Differ
ent colors, different
styles, post-dated, pre-dated, dateless!  They ma
ke great decorations for
your crypt!

Buy two tombstones and get a eulogy for only a
dollar more!

Better act fast though. The trend for short-liv
ed groups is increasing!

Eclipse-Net, DARK's official message network, i
s being shut down, and
replaced with Depth-Net, a merger of Eclipse-Net
and Syndicate-Net, two
networks that overlapped in too many places.

Full details to follow.

"[DARK] We're not very bright. [DARK]" - topic
set by Sinned Soul, #dark

"Do you know where you're children are?  I do."
- VMB Message

"Get your Phlegm'n'M's here!" - Captain Frag'a'
Knuckle

"Hi, my name is ╙â■╡°ë▐..." - Carnifex at a mee
t.

"You just can't trust a post-it-note." - Xypher
Matryx, packing.

"Veni!  Vedi!  Velcro!  I came, I saw, I stuck
around!" - Essential
Ob
scenity on IRC one night.

"Talking to you is like whack-a-mole." - The X-
Man

"So for example, if I were platform diving, it
would be too easy to use
the platform.  I should use something harder, lik
e oatmeal, or a pyramid of
cats trained to stand on each other's backs (or f
or an extra degree of
difficulty, cats that aren't trained to stand on
each other's backs.)

rnet Affairs.

Each month, DARK's memberlist contains the most
recent list of e-mail
addresses for it's artists and staff.  If you're
web browsing though, you
can link to these addresses through the upcoming
DARK web page, or The
Lethal Aspect Online, which will be up November 2
nd (technical delays).

Packs can be obtained through The Regency, DARK
's Internet HQ, run by
Halaster of Fire.  Telnet or FTP to: tregency.res
.cmu.edu

You can also find them on: ftp.cdrom.com : The
Hornet Archives
\pub\artpacks\inc
oming\artpacks
wuarchive.wustl.edu
: Washington University
\pub\MSDOS_UPLOAD
S\ansi\cis
tregency.res.cmu.edu
: Halaster's "Regency"
\ANSI\DARK\

As always, members can be found idling, chattin
g, or behaving in bizarre
manners on channel #dark, through the IRC.

Cheers to Night Stalker for the DARK VMB, it's
been a blast!

Cheers to Dark Bob Software, a group similar in
design and releases to
our own local Twisted Fishies, run by Epitaph.

Cheers to Eclipse (the art group); this one's f
or you.

Cheers to Cthulu for the mention in Product 2.

Cheers to ACiD for Spoon 2, one of the
few utilities they've released
that works well while being useful at the same ti
me.

Board Name             /  Sta
tus                       /  SysOp

The Lethal Aspect      /  DAR
K World Headquarters     /  Xypher Matr
yx
Murderous Mango        /  DAR
K Member Board           /  Master of D
arkness     Sight & Sound
/  DARK Member Board           /
Drone-Fly
The Way Station        /  DAR
K Member Board           /  The Anarchi
st
Pulse                  /  DAR
K Member Board           /  Inertia
The Throne             /  DAR
K Member Board           /  Phantom Lor
d
Geronimo (coming)      /  DARK Member Board
/  Garroter

ing of the Mindless

(Excerpt from "Minutes of the Oct. 27th Meet.")

∙ It was an epic moment in DARK history.  For the
first time face to face,
Xypher Matryx and Carnifex met.  Upon introducing
one another, Xypher
immediately decapitated and dismembered the other
veteran Senior Staffer,
shouting "*That's* for four years of 'nod's, 'ind
eed's, and unfulfilling
phone sex!  Take it with a grain of salt, you bas
tard!"

The meeting seemed doomed before it began, unti
l the victim's omnipresent
"guardians" appeared to mend their fallen prodigy
.  Restored to health,
Carnifex caught himself from muttering "indeed" f
or the last time.  Xypher
was quickly subdued from further attacks with num
erous bottles of beer.

This confrontation forced Burnout to admit: "Xy
pher's massacres are the
inspiration to my zinderfine works of art!"

∙ Armageddon Donut usurped The Green Hornet's tit
le as "Mister GQ",
appearing in a full suit-and-tie combo, looking v
ery dapper indeed!  The
crinkling of Depends diapers further cramped the
Green One's style.

"Retirement sucks." the veteran artist confided
.  "My fashion sense has
gone straight to hell."

[ Greets to all those who showed up: The Green
Hornet, Carnifex, Burnout,
Prison Breaker, Mimes, Velocity, The Red Death, A
rmageddon Donut, Equinox,
and The 4th Disciple. -xm ]

Not bad for a group that's suffered more pitfal
ls than Harry Jr, eh?

All material within these DARK Collecti
ons are (c)opywritten, and use
without permission is a punishable offence.  We h
ave the mounties, as well
as insatiably greedy lawyers standing by to take
your case.  ;>

* [ Though I couldn't confirm it, a co-worker w
ho originally obtained
"Persistence" told me it was written by Winston C
hurchill.  I'd like to
know for sure, so if you can back this up, or nam
e the original author,
please e-mail me at "xmtrx@interlog.com".  Thank
you.  -xm ]