Webslinging by Don MacPherson Thanks for visiting The Fourth Rail. Randy Lander and I realize that this is just one of hundreds, if not thousands, of websites dedicated to comic books, and we appreciate it when readers stop by, whether it's every day or only once in a while. I'd like to share some other possible digital destinations with you, though... sites with unique content, or sites you may or may not have heard about. Randy and I have been writing comics reviews online for six years now, but if it wasn't for the incisive comments of those who came before us, we wouldn't have started in the first place. Dave Van Domelen has been reviewing comics on the rec.arts.comics.* Usenet newsgroups for much longer, and you can find his reviews on the Web as well, at Dave's Rants Homepage, located at www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants. Dave has become busier with Real World concerns these days, but he still finds the time to write reviews every week. Of the many Usenet comics reviewers who have come along, his consistently stood out as the most perceptive. His ratings probably had more than a little to do with the system Randy came up with for his (which I ended up adopting in 1999 for consistency's sake). He was also giving out Best of the Week books nods long before Randy and I ever did. I mentioned Priest earlier. Fans of comics from the 1980s will know him as Jim Owsley, but it's as Priest that he's really come into his own as a player in the comic-book industry. Right now, he's best known as the writer on Panther, though his resume is varied and even surprising. One of the items on that resume could be "online host." His website, Digital-Priest.com, boasts a rich supply of content. He takes readers behind the curtain, shares his triumphs and trials in an odd industry. His frustration with the publication of Xer0 is poured for all to see, and he shares lessons that no one seems to dare. Aardy R. DeVarque may sound like the name of a Warner Bros. cartoon character, but he's actually a mainstay of the online comics fandom community. Aardy's another longtime Usenet poster, but he's also got a little home on the Web. One of the rooms in that home is the Comic Book Awards Almanac. Aardy's compiled a list of the various awards programs dedicated to comic-book storytelling and even listed the winners from years past. With the end of 2001 nearing ever so quickly, the Best of the Year is on people's minds. Maybe you'd like to look at the best from yesteryear as well. Happy surfing. Email Don MacPherson comments about this column, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.