Gomen Nasai! I'm Sorry! I accidentally E-mailed an imcomplete letter!
Here is the complete "HAYES 2":
Zelpheriarderizan Xaviera wrote:
>
> *stands up and applauds.*
>
> -T.J.Thanks, dude, now more of the story:
Naturally, only owning Ranma 1/2 manga part 2 No. 9 (now damaged) and 11
left many questions unaswered;
Why did Akane have shorter hair?
What does Ranma's pop look like when he is not a Panda?
Why does Ryoga and that pig were the same bandanna?
What happened in Issue No. 10?
<By the way, back them, I pronounced "Ah-ka-ne" as "ah-cain"...>
I needed answers!
I was on an epic quest for Ranma! I turned to the only person who I
could think of: Steve Conte.
At the time he was married to Amanda Conner, who now pencils "Tomoe" and
is no longer with Steve. I don't know anything about their relations
ship. Steve is an ordinary Joe with the stress of one of the hardest
jobs in the country: Retail comic store proprieter! You do not want to
get on his bad side when he's stressed out. Still, he's a really nice
guy and were good friends, although, at the beginning, we had a Carl
Winslow/Steven Q. Erkel relationship.
I started hanging out at "Funny Books" almost all the time. I would
litterally hang out there for four hours straight, trying to talk to
Steve about manga, and irritating the hell out of him.
While Steve started ordering more than one copy of Ranma, (I had gotten
Chris hooked by now) I saved my pennies and bought the Ranma 1/2 : Hard
battle video game. I read the instruction booklet over as many times as
the two comics and trying to make out the pages from (what I later
realized was) the 1st Graphic novel printed as the backgrounds of the
booklet's pages. I started carrying it around with the two comics in my
bookbag.
Soon after mastering the game, I got my hands on Ranma 1/2 part 3 No. 2
(somehow I missed No. 1) and I fell in love all over again! Cats! I
love cats! The mussical! Thundercats! (and later) Swatcats! There are
even some cat-oriented characters in the comic I'm writing. And Ranma
was Ailuraphobic!(yes that's the word for the phobia of cats, I looked it
up) And Ranma turned into a Cat! Cool!
I walked straight to Ladd's house from Funny Books and read it and showed
it to him. This is actually where Ladd got hooked, Chris got hooked more
on his own at the same time as me. Ladd got a speck of chili on my comic
during lunch. I had to get medevil on his ass.
Next month we all went to Funny Books together, me, Ladd and Chris. When
we realized that Ranma 1/2 pard 3 No. 3 was realised we began a battle
rave for it! Right in the middle of a crowded comic book store! I won
(heh heh). I began reading it with Chris and Ladd eagerly reading over
my shoulder. Or then again, Ladd might have been holding it at the time,
we teamed up against Chris. I bought it and Ladd got first loan
priviliges. Accually, Steve had ordered two copies of Ranma that month,
but some other 6'5" guy in a leather jacket came in just before us and
bought it. He didn't seem to be the type to argue with.
I decided this can't happen again. Fightin amung friends leads to bad
blood. So, for 5 bucks, I joined the Funny Books Club. I now have a
file where any comic I request will be stored and saved until I can buy
it. Today Steve orders 12 Ranma 1/2 copies and it its labeled with a
flag saying "Funny Books Favorite".
Soon after, Chris made a startling discovery. If you ask Steve VERY
nicely, he will order a Ranma 1/2 graphic novel Volume 1! Chris ordered
his and soon after, I ordered mine. At last my queations were answered!
Chris (whose is a bit spoiled) obtained graphic novels vol. 2&3. He also
got videos volumes 3,4, and 5. He also got both movies. He would
frequently loan them to me and I would make copies for myself. This
was before I realized that it was still illegal to copy tapes for
personal use. I don't do that anymore.
The next summer, I went back to camp with a new attitude. I had my Ranma
graphic novel and audio tapes. I wanted to get as many people incolved in
Ranma as I could, but I was apprehensive about someone mistaking "breif
nudity" for "pornography", so I pretty much kept my Ranma Graphic novel
hidden in the bottom of my foot locker. The tapes were audio recordings
of the dialog of the Ranma videos. I even dubbed in some of my own crass
comments into the story to give the illusion that I was there. I spent
many free hours with my walkman, thouroughly engrossed into the universe
of Ranma. But soon I tired of even that, so I had to strive for
something even more...
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The next poignant event occured the following winter. The Trio,
including me, Chris and Ladd, started spending more and more time at a
local arcade called "Sports and Games". It was VERY large. It had a
playground, bumper cars, a cafeteria, batting cages and a pool room.
Well, it did't have the pool room for long after we go there.
Soon the pool room was closed and a "laser-storm" arena opened. It was
basically one of those laser-tag things in a dark room with smoke and
black lighting. Teckno/dance music at high volumes was pumped in. Being
the schemers that we are, we decided to join the "laser-storm league".
Some of Chris' other friends rounded out the team to a full five members
and one alternate. We were "The Black Dragons"!
I found myself being the leader. It was harder than you think! I had to
call up everbody in the team remind them of matches. I had to arrange
carpools. I had to print newsletters to keep people interested. If we
didn't have 5 players, we would forfeit the game.
I mention this because it was at one of these matches in the arcade where
I came across...IT! My next step in my evilution as an otaku!!
What is "it"?
What is it's signifigance?
Did the Black Dragons win the trophy in the finals?
When did Chris turn into a vampire?
How did I get to be a comic book artist?
What does this have to do with DnR?!
All questions will be answered in
Re: life of HAYES3 !!!
