The web's Winter Season
01/11/2000 . Source: Stephen Hunt 
SF on the web. Have you noticed something of late? Just like the medium of television, now every second site we fall across seems to be broadcasting streaming media out of its dark UNIX server passages, and we appear to be experiencing an exciting season of new SF/F programmes to brighten up the cold Winter. Seeing as TV Guide doesn't yet published a schedule of these episodes we felt it was beholden on the SFcrowsnest to point out where you need to click on, to top up your science fiction and fantasy addiction. 1. Distant Corners
http://www.distantcorners.com
The main Flash-based toon these guys are running at the moment is Bad Vlad, a Dracula rip-off. But to paraphrase Apocalypse Now, 'oh the interface, the interface'. These guys make your navigation experience a Flash-loaded game just to find the simplest stuff. When will they ever learn? 2. Marvel Comics
http://www.marvel.com Not to be outdone by their old staffer, Stan Lee (see below), Marvel have moved into the realms of streaming Flash cartoons too. A lot of the old favourites have got some original Flash treatments, including Spiderman, Fantastic Four and everyone's favourite X-mutants. 3. Scifi Channel
http://www.scifi.com Chock full of stuff. There's Indie Planet … set in a Rollerball-like corporate controlled 21st century, with one Milton Q. Hendrix unhappy with his consumer paradise; or Eclipse, set in the fourth millennium, where a near-extinct humanity is trying to re-establish itself in the face of various alien threats. Well worth a visit. All this animated stuff is hidden away over at http://www.scifi.com/scifistream/ 4. Stanlee Net
http://www.stanlee.net Uncle Stan, Stan The Man, once the primal force behind Marvel Comics, has his own site now, and this visionary comic-book creator has packed it with Flash cartoons - some original material that you won't find in printed form, and some of your old favourites too. Protector of the Hood is our tip for the top, kind of an ethnic Dazzler, for those that remember that old Marvel comic. 5. Wildbrain
http://www.wildbrain.com Wildbrain has a number of SF/F-based Flash cartoon series running at the moment. A lot of their work falls into the Ren and Stimpy camp, but for more mature surfers there is the excellent Anita Bomba. This is based upon the work of the same name that features in Heavy Metal as well as standalone French graphic novels. She's basically a criminal of the future - think a female Stainless Steel Rat, but with more violence and cleavage (heck, she is French you know). 
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