Hess and Melcher prided themselves on never using inside jokes - sure, you may need to know an obscure movie or literary reference to get a joke. But the humor was very traditional. Both Hess and Melcher were heavily influenced by the dry British humor like Monty Python and The Black Adder, as well as the fluidity of known humor columns by Dave Barry and Michael Moore.

"My sophomoric contributions give me great pride," said Hess. "Read with our immaturity in mind. Learn to love [our] slightly original quirkiness!"

"We were very lucky to have the opportunity to create that we did," said Melcher. "We'll never have that kind of chance again."

22 columns appeared in all. Some longer, some shorter. Some good, some not so good. But all a product of a very unique, creative moment.

In the past three years, some "Finals Issue" stories have been written by Nate Melcher under his pen name, Justin Jürpantz. Additionally, you can find cartoons by Justin Jürpantz that have appeared in the "Finals Issues" in the Artwork section of the website.

The latest "Finals Issue" takes a look at the ridiculous fluff journalists considered to be newsworthy before the Events of September 11. Nate wrote two stories, one of which was published. Coming soon are both stories, unabridged, exclusively at this website.