Dex Farkin

Fan
Name:	Dex
Alias(es):	Dex Farkin
Type:	Fanwriter, Convention Organizer
Fandoms:	X-Men, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Vertigo, Hellblazer, Invisibles, Firefly
Communities:	CFAN, Outside the Lines, Subreality, X-Project, IMHO, ACFF, RACMX
Other:	Mailing List (Wayback, captured Nov 17/19)
URL:	Dreamwidth, comicfic.net, AO3
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Dex was a fanwriter in the X-Men fandom, originally on the Rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks and Alt.comics.fanfiction newsgroups and then as a member of Outside The Lines. In his own words:

Dex is a former comic book fanfiction writer. Spanning eight active years, Dex wrote in numerous comic fandoms and won 8 Creative License awards in the Comic Book Fan Fiction Awards (CBFFAs) during that period. Dex was also the writer of IMHO - a fanfiction review column hosted on CFAN and Themestream for five years, and Bloody Ink - a column on methods and techniques specific for fanfiction. Dex is the creator of DexCon, the largest comic fandom convention, which ran from 1998 to 2010. In 2005, Dex largely retired from fanfiction to concentrate on original fiction, but creates new work on an occasional and intermittent basis.

Dex is a full-time business writer and journalist in Toronto, who seems to be overly fond of using third person on the internet.

AO3 Profile for Dex F

Dex's X-Men fanfiction focused on a number of characters seen as less popular; he was hailed as the writer who "repatriated" Scott Summers/Cyclops from his reputation as a boring, stick-in-the-mud authority figure and one of the first to pair him with Emma Frost, a relationship that since became canon. He also had a knack for injecting the real world into comics canon with his knowledge of politics and history, plus his wide-ranging library of ideas. Besides personally winning CBFFAs for the 1999 Writer Hall of Fame and in 2000 for Writer of the Year, Dex ran the awards for several years and was responsible for organising the "floor show", short pieces written by various fanwriters in the form of an awards show set in the Subreality Café and starring various Fictives. Dex was also instrumental in the development of Subreality as a larger concept beyond the Cafe itself, exploring the limits of a shared universe and pushing the envelope for himself and for others. He and Lady Seraph were common figures in the Subreality Round Robins, with fictionalised avatars of themselves and he was responsible for starting many of the most popular threads.

As well as creating fiction, Dex was also respected as a reviewer and journalist. IMHO, his fanfic review segment, provided in-depth reviews of a variety of stories, not always the well-known or BNF pieces but also bringing attention to new writers. "Bloody Ink" began as a webpage and then became a mailing list in 2003. He was also known for longer thought pieces on fanfiction and the fan community in his Livejournal, dexfarkin (later transferred to Dreamwidth around 2009), combining astute commentary with bizarre imagery and sometimes uncomfortable language.

Dex can now be found at X-Project, an X-Men Movieverse RPG on Dreamwidth. He joined in 2003, first playing Nathaniel Essex, and then Remy LeBeau, as well as encouraging many of the "old guard" of comics fanfic. to join as well. He is currently playing Kevin Sydney and Garrison Kane and is known as "The Plotmaster" for his ability to take elements of comics canon and turn them into RPG plots.

Notable Works

Fanfiction

• "The Ice and Frost Quadrilogy" - a series of stories exploring a relationship between Emma Frost and Bobby Drake. (X-Men Comics)
• "Orphans" - Jubilee discovers the man behind the visor as Scott comes to her aid.. (X-Men Comics)
• "Eulogy" - Sequel to "Orphans" - After the death of Cyclops, his gravesite receives a special visitor. (X-Men Comics)
• "Chopsticks and Moonlight" - Jean and Scott finally act on their feelings. (X-Men Comics)
• "The Sum of Zero" - Emma Frost and Scott Summers join forces with an NYPD detective to hunt down a serial killer targeting mutants. (X-Men Comics)
• ''Fall On Your Knees" - a Hellblazer/Invisibles/Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover which unfortunately was not finished.
• ''Walkabout" - a story/essay of sorts on the various aspects and undersides of Subreality from the POV of his missing avatar. He sent pieces of it to other writers and asked them to write stories introducing each piece. (Subreality Cafe)

Meta

• Big Bad Betas... (that's why the pet store keeps them in the little cups) - Dex's thoughts on beta-writers, Oct 8, 2002.
• Posts from the Desert - CBFFAS - Dex's thoughts on the 2002 CBFFAs, Oct 27, 2002
• Posts From The Desert - MOVIEVERSE - Dex's thoughts on the balkanisation of X-Men fanfic, Oct 27, 2002
• Fanfiction: The Why and the Way - Dex's thoughts on fanfiction as a whole, Sep 3, 2003
• Stepping Out, Looking Away - Dex's farewell to Kielle, Sep 26, 2005

Reviews

• In My Humble Opinion - a regular review series focusing on comics fandom, both "BNFs" and new writers.
• Bloody Ink - a series of articles, then a mailing list, with emphasis on writing and how to improve. Unfortunately no examples of this series remain online.

Awards

CBFFAs

• 1999
  • Best Mature - "Chopsticks and Moonlight" (X-Men Comics)
  • Best Non-Team: "Orphans" (X-Men Comics)
  • Writer Hall of Fame
• 2001
  • Fanfic Hall of Fame - "Orphans" (X-Men Comics)
• 2002
  • Best X-Men: "The Sum Of Zero" (X-Men Comics)
  • Best Serious (tie): "The Sum Of Zero" (X-Men Comics)
  • Writer of the Year
• 2003
  • Best Adventure Story - nomination - "SCPD: The Case of the Comatose Writer" (co-written with Rossi) (Subreality Cafe)
  • Best Crossover - nomination - "Heels Britannia" (Hellblazer/Invisibles/Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
  • Best X-Men Media - nomination - "Razor" (X-Men Movieverse)
  • Best Vertigo - nomination - "God Slave, The Queen" (Invisibles) and "Heels Britannia" (Hellblazer/Invisibles/Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
  • Fanfic Hall of Fame - nomination - "The Sum of Zero" (X-Men Comics)

X-Day

• 2002 - Fanfiction - Song Parodies - 2nd place: "88 Lines about 44 Muties" (X-Men Comics) [written in response to Kielle's version about the X-Women]

Reviews and Recommendations

TV Tropes - Fanfic Rec/X-Men (search under "Dex")

Crack Van - Paying For It by Dex, Nov 30, 2009 - Paying For It (Hellblazer/The Sandman)

Crack Van - The Sum of Zero by Dex (R), Apr 21, 2004 - "The Sum of Zero" (X-Men Comics)

Crack Van - I Can Be Anyone by Dex (PG-13), Nov 17, 2003 - "I Can Be Anyone" (X-Men Comics)