Tag: bbs
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The mystery of the Solar Realms Elite title screen
In my recent series ANSI art and webcomics, I debunked a false assertion that began in a history book and propagated across the web. Now it’s time to solve the mystery of an old ANSI art screen that I helped propagate across the web 20 years ago. Allow me to explain — but first, let’s…
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The many ANSI title screens of Barren Realms Elite (BRE)
If you’ve played Barren Realms Elite at any time in the past quarter-century, you probably have seen this spiffy ANSI title screen: That’s because — like most classic BBS door games — BRE became more or less “frozen in amber” in the late 1990s after BRE’s creator, Mehul Patel, sold the rights to the game…
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Don Lokke and “Mack the Mouse”: ANSI art and webcomics, Part 5
This is the final part of a multi-part series. In an alternate universe somewhere, nobody has heard of “webcomics.” Instead, there are thousands of “telecomics.” Thirty years ago, Don Lokke Jr. hoped to make that universe a reality. In 1992, he coined the term “telecomics” to describe his new digital comic strips, drawn primarily in…
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The business of BBSing: ANSI art and webcomics, Part 4
This is the fourth part of a multi-part series. Once upon a time, drawing comics in daily newspapers could be lucrative. In the 1950s, Al Capp, the creator of “Li’l Abner,” was pulling in $500,000 a year — about $6 million today. He was a genuine celebrity, making guest appearances on talk shows and even…
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Eerie and “Inspector Dangerfuck”: ANSI art and webcomics, Part 3
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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BBSes and the artscene: ANSI art and webcomics, Part 2
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…
