In 1990-91, America was involved in a very different conflict along the Persian Gulf. Polls showed Americans strongly supported the war effort.
On BBSes, this led to a profusion of patriotic, sometimes humorous, war-themed ANSI art. Aaron Kuhn collected some in 2014:
https://philly2600.net/posts/sixteen-colors-of-liberation/
Here are a few more examples of PD ANSI pieces that time Aaron didn't collect in that post.
(1/x)
https://breakintochat.com/blog/2026/03/25/don-lokke-and-mack-the-mouse/
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.
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https://breakintochat.com/blog/2026/03/25/don-lokke-and-mack-the-mouse/
#ansiart #bbs #textmode #art #pixelart #politics #history #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing
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/
Josh Renaud
Aaron K