Tag: bbs
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ANSI art and webcomics, Part 3: Eerie and “Inspector Dangerfuck”
This is the third part of a multi-part series. “I’ve always been kind of restless,” says Eerie, the ANSI artist who created the character “Inspector Dangerfuck” in 1994. Today, Eerie is a musician and author, with a deep knowledge of cartoons and comics. But back then, he was a teenager in Quebec trying to make…
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ANSI art and webcomics, Part 2: BBSes and the artscene
This is the second part of a multi-part series. Both Eerie and Don Lokke emerged from opposite ends of the ANSI art spectrum. But … what is “ANSI art”? Before we can profile the two main subjects of this series or explore their work, it’ll be important to understand the BBSing subculture of the early…
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ANSI art and webcomics, Part 1: Filling in the blanks
This is the first part of a multi-part series. Does ANSI art have a place in the history of webcomics? One of the first chroniclers of webcomics history thought so. In the first chapter of his 2006 book, “A History of Webcomics,” T Campbell tackled the “prehistory” of webcomics by discussing ARPAnet, ASCII art, and…
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April Fools’ Day prank on Dark Force BBS
Dark Lord, sysop of Dark Force BBS, tries hard to keep his users engaged. Yesterday for April Fools’ Day, he surprised them with a fun prank. He changed the board’s logon sequence to make it look like a powerful AI calling itself “The Wraith” had taken over the board. But that wasn’t all. The BBS…
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A time capsule for 314 Day: St. Louis-area BBS message networks
For many years, St. Louisans have been celebrating March 14 as “314 Day,” since our telephone area code was “314.” And that has even more resonance for old-school BBSers like me. When I began BBSing in the early to mid-1990s, I was part of a wave of teens who hit the 314 scene. The price…
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Instant Graphics and Sound, Part 6: Legacy
This is the sixth part of a multi-part series. The Instant Graphics and Sound format reached its zenith in September 1991 when artist Steve Turnbull published two psychedelic animations on a messageboard on the CrossNet network for Atari ST bulletin boards. Both were built around large triangles: a pyramid in one, a volcano in the…
