The Wachowskis "The Matrix", a science fiction action film, in 1999. The movie stars Keanu Reeves as Neo, a hacker recruited by a rebellion to aid them in the fight against machines who have taken over the world and placed humanity inside a simulated reality called "the Matrix". Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano also star. The movie was a critical and commercial hit for Warner Bros. It won four Academy Awards, including for "Best Visual Effects" for popularizing the bullet time visual effect. "The Matrix" came to be a major influence for action movies and has appeared in
Alter Ego (magazine) and published the first four issues before turning it over to fan-artist Ronn Foss (and, initially, Foss' wife Myra and his friend Grass Green) who edited issues #5-6. Thomas edited a further four issues, and issue #11 almost a decade later in collaboration with Mike Friedrich. Some material from the original "Alter-Ego" was collected into trade paperback by Bill Schelly as "Alter Ego Best Of Legendary Comics Fanzine" (Hamster Press, 1997) . In 1997, at a reunion of comics fans, Roy Thomas and comics historian Bill Schelly met with TwoMorrows Publishing and agreed to bring back "Alter Ego" as a