2026-03-28 13:16 UTC
Still, political ANSI art was more of an exception in the early 1990s. PD artists were more likely to be inspired by pop culture or the theme of a particular BBS.
When the 1992 presidential election came around, not many PD ANSI artists depicted candidates or key moments.
St. Louis-based Dave Hartmann was one of the few. Here are a couple fun screens he drew.
(2/x)
https://breakintochat.com/blog/2026/03/25/don-lokke-and-mack-the-mouse/
#ansiart #bbs #textmode #art #pixelart #politics #history #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing
Replies (1)
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@kirkman@digipres.club 2026-03-28 14:21
In 1992, Don Lokke Jr., a 36-year-old Texan who ran a small printing/ad business, decided to try selling syndicated content to BBS sysops. He hit on the idea of taking a newspaper tradition — the political cartoon — and bringing it online. He gave away his main series, "Mack the Mouse" for free, but sold subscriptions for more content. Most BBSes were text-only, so Lokke used ANSI art. He dubbed them "telecomics." He would draw nearly 300 of them. (3/x) https://breakintochat.com/blog/2026/03/25/don-lokke-and-mack-the-mouse/