From Kithe #1 (october 1994), "In the beginning, there were PAiN and POiSON, two small local (604) art groups. One day, around the winter of '93, they decided to merge. So they did. And the unholy spawn created from this demonic merger, this vast bloated progeny of evilness was called NWA, for New Wave Artists. The overwhelming success of NWA in its home area gave code gave life to pitiful imitators, none of whom lasted longer than several weeks. In any event, this promising fledgling group carried promise, yet was restricted to the 604. Then, one day, the president of NWA, one "The Narcissist, now happy in NATiON and couriering for us (hi chico!), and the foul treacherous president of a group around Montreal, one "The Night Prowler", president of GRiP/AD (Graphic Revolution in Progress/Art Division), decided to merge. The product of this merger was iMPERiAL, which stood for nothing. However, it did quite well, attracting many applicants throughout its tumultous 5-month lifespan. Under the careful governing of The Narcissist and the slightly-less-careful vice-governing of The Night Crawler, it grew in power, only suffering a slight setback after the third month when its 3 best artists, Asian Knight, Vanquish, and Darkforce left to NATiON, NATiON and UNiON, respectively. In fact, we were relaxing in the glow of our best pack ever, our fifth and final one, when, mysteriously, 3 days after the release, the entire montreal side packed up and left to Drift, a group founded by a former imp member, Twisted Terrorist, formerly of ICE and convicted ANSI ripper. The Narcissist, despondent over the loss of half of his group, decided to throw in the towel and fled to NATiON along with what remained of iMPERiAL's big talent, The Masked Pirate, Young, and Suicidal Maniac. The rest of iMP's 604 members (me, Summoner, Beatle, Magik Elvis, an others) blinked our eyes in surprise. And we were doing so well! Just this month Imp had been rated the #5 art group in the world by Blur magazine. Number 5! But, enough whining, the time for that would come. We needed to re-band the remaining members, and gather some new talent to replace the old lost to Nation and Drift. So we did. The End. Now, wasn't that boring?
Anyhoo, we decided to make the group an experimental democratic prototype where lots of voting goes on and every department is treated fairly and smartly, so we elected department chairmen. A prez is voted each month to throw in his deciding vote each month in case the chairs tie votes in group policy. Now, all that remained was to choose a name. Well, we went through many choices, from NAPiFORM (meaning turnip-shaped), to FiSH (blub blub), but the three names that stuck were KiTHE (meaning eager to prove oneself), KiTSCH (meaning to parody mainstream art), and MiSTiGRiS. We voted for the last one, which requires a tad of interpretation. The word mistigris is pronounced "Misty-Gree", and is a variation of poker where the joker can have any value. Now, viewed under the miraculous veil of interpretation, it resolves to define the whole art scene as a simple card game, with us as the jokers. However, we have potentially limitless value if we apply ourselves. I like to interpret things, and write it down. That's why I am a lit guy. Anyway, we managed to salvage the name "KiTSCH" for our net, and "KiTHE" for the name of this newsletter. Rejoice! In any event, all three names ended up being used, so we don't wanna see any "KiTSCH"s or "KiTHE"s popping up next month. Tsk tsk."
Kithe #1 (october 1994) reported Tzeentch was a member for three days, before moving on to attempt to get into NATiON, that Illusionary Enigma and Eternal Silence left for PATRiOT, that Pestilence and Inquisitor left for RAiD, and that Admiral Skuttlebutt left the art scene. It listed Cthulhu, Grateful Dead, White Insanity, D'Artagnan, Magik Elvis, Beatle, Toxic Cockroach, James Joyce (Lionbird of Thor Mountain and Battered Crow), Darkseid, Soul of Allusion, fUp, Livewire, Tzeentch, Eoanya, Etana, Binty, Merkury, Mavrik, Nitnatsnoc, The Mage, Visionary, Minus, Questor, Eerie, Zoltar, The Naughty Tycoon, Diamond Traveller, Etana, Adidas, The Extremist, Archangel, Raidair X, Dr. CPU, Helter, Master of Darkness, The Narcissist, and Cool Hand as members.
- HQ
Last edited on 2 Jan 2025 by Kirkman. See all edits