Josh Renaud

In an alternate universe somewhere, nobody has heard of “webcomics.” Instead, there are thousands of “telecomics.”

In 1992, Don Lokke Jr. coined the term “telecomics” to describe his new digital comic strips, drawn primarily in the ANSI art format and distributed online through BBSes.

This is the final in-depth profile in my "ANSI art and webcomics" series!

https://breakintochat.com/blog/2026/03/25/don-lokke-and-mack-the-mouse/

#webcomics #comics #retrocomputing #bbs #ansiart #textmode #longreads #history #computerhistory

2:39amWeb
Show threadJosh Renaud1h ago

Rowan Lipkovits' (@mistfunk) description of my Lokke profile as "an interesting look at an ultimately doomed venture" got me thinking.

*Many* of the BBS-related histories I've written over the years on https://breakintochat.com/blog are tragic in that way!

Projects that started with big ambitions, but were doomed to fail.

Break Into Chat

Computer history research, recovered software, and interviews about BBSing, the Atari ST, ANSI art, and more.

Break Into Chat
Show threadCraig P11h ago
@kirkman what a fun old find, even if I'm sure I would have hated the guy.
Show threadJosh Renaud2h ago

@Craigp You never know. I was a big Limbaugh fan as a teen around that time. But people change.

I admire Lokke for sticking to his "telecomics" and producing a substantial body of work. I wish the second half of his output existed somewhere.

Show threadCraig P1h ago
@kirkman i agree and i agree. Hah!
Show threadOwlor 6h ago
@kirkman Alternative universe where digital comics took off with ANSI art comics but digital games didn't take off until people realized you could easily distribute them online using undocumented features in this universe version of Flash, so everyone is talking about "video comics" and "webgames".