Wow! I'm as surprised as you are to see another edition of Imperial Vogue. And so fast too!

"But why has this magazine even released one issue?" you may be asking. God knows, really…it's all rather irrelevant when I think about it. But to help you understand a bit better, I'm going to teach a bit of a history lesson, as I have a feeling that this magazine will be becoming a big part in EH life…especially if Mairin will be releasing this magazine much more regularly than her last newsletter, Cosmo. It seemed to come out between 6 months to a year after the last one.

Please don't take any offence by that, Mai! When Cosmo did come out it was great. It was well written, had good articles in it and was very funny. Mairin has much creative talent…at least, much more of a talent than I have.

Why did I join Imperial Vogue?

Compared to Mairin, I was just a hack writer when I was doing Battlecry. I could only just about write enough garbage to fill up the spaces that the member submissions didn't take up. True, it was very regularly released, attracted loads of great submissions, had enough features and interviews to keep returning to it each month and was probably the best newsletter around at the time (/ego). At the end of the day though, Battlecry was just another newsletter and didn't have any of the style Cosmo had.

However, I didn't close Battlecry for that reason. I originally closed it down to make room for the EH Newsletter, Dark Sentinel, which is now being made by SA Kawolski. It looked pretty good, and I needed a break, so I though it best to let The Dark Sentinel pick up from where I left off.

Let's just say I don't like the Dark Sentinel now. I just don't like the fact that I have to download 10 Mbs of reports, archives of missions scores and too many INPRs, just so I can look at the handful of member submissions. I still think people should read it, as the submissions and articles are great, but it's too much like "tiecorps.org database lite" for my liking.

I knew I was going to start another newsletter even before Vogue came along. In fact, I still have a template for Battlecry #13 on my hard drive. But I was lucky enough to be asked by Mairin if I wanted to join forces with her and create Imperial Vogue. I jumped at the chance to help make a magazine that was more than just a bunch of reports and submissions.

How is Vogue any different to any other newsletter?

If anyone remembers Cosmo, Mairin's last magazine, you'll remember that it was an entertaining read rather than an informative one. While there were still interviews and features, Cosmo captured the feel of the EH, rather than an archive of what had happened like Dark Sentinel is. That's exactly what I wanted to make…an EH magazine with a bit of spirit in too.

Mairin takes care of the spirit part of the magazine almost completely. She's the funny one, while I'm the straight guy (although anyone who talks to me on IRC will completely disagree with me being "straight").

But I can live with her being the cool one, as long as we continue making decent magazines. For every witty column or feature she writes, I'll have a report of a big competition or a preview of an upcoming game. As Mai said in her interview last month, "I've been very, very lucky - and indeed wise, I might say - in asking Werdna to work with me, and having him accept the offer. He has a much more stable approach than me, and I think that helps a lot." As well as making me look good, that quote shows how we compliment each other in making this magazine.

What about the future?

This compliment allows Mairin and I to go off and do our own thing, and then we eventually cobble them together a few days after the deadline to make a newsletter. Pretty much everything you're reading now is down to Mairin though. As Editor of Vogue, it's her job to write half the thing, pick out the submissions that go in the newsletter, as well as the complicated HTML to put the magazine together (I tell her to get a program like FrontPage, but no…she's a Notepad nut).

What I do is a little bit different. Sure, I do a fair bit of writing for the newsletter, but I'm more of an "ideas person". Basically, my job is to find new areas for the magazine to go into. Right now, I'm working on promoting and showing the results of some of the major competitions the EH take part in. In this issue you will find the results of May's Week of Wars for XvT and XWA, and in the near future I also plan on reporting some other competitions too (Imp Storm II is coming, JK WoW and singleplayer competitions need to be added).

This is actually going to be a bit ambitious, as it's not only a bunch of statistics to stick in a newsletter, but also an attempt to get people more interested in these competitions so they take part. I'm creating a website for each competition we report on, with news, archives of results and details on how to take part. The WoW website is almost complete, so please take a look at it now at http://vogue.ehonline.org/wow/

Obviously I can't explain all my plans, as some may not get done or it'll spoil the surprises. Let's just say for now that I'm looking into some EH projects that may be worth backing and giving publicity too, finding ways to make Vogue more interactive, and coming up with some ideas to make the Vogue website more interesting.

Why am I being told this?

As I mentioned before, I have a feeling that Vogue will be very important to the EH in the future. It will be a window to EH life for many people, with articles on all things Star Wars and EH, reports of various big competitions that the EH is involved in, quality fiction and art to fill out the clubs storyline, amusing articles that capture the spirit of the time, as well as general interest stuff giving some idea of the tastes and interests of the current EH members.

It all sounds very grand, doesn't it? Okay, so this is just a magazine …but you mark my words, when the release of the latest issue Vogue becomes a major deal you'll by glad to know why it all began.