Picasso once said that the only thing he regrets is to never have done a graphic novel (vulgar term: comic; high-culture french term: les bandes dessinées). Today, I guess, he'd strive to do a computergame. I thought about this yesterday, and -- quite matching -- today I stumbled (via searching updates to the Star-Wars-Kid story and dropping by at the force net while doing so) into the 8-bit theatre aka Bob & George. Something about it: "Bob and George, arguably the very first sprite-based webcomic was started in April 2000.The original idea was for the comic to be hand-drawn and featuring a set of college kids. However, after discovering that sprites made for a much better comic, the change was made permanent and the rest is history. The comic is not only the basis for two sites, a chat room, and a message board, but it has also been the catalyst for hundreds, if not thousands, of sprite-based comics. Over 11,000 readers visit the site every day and the active fanbase is well over 1000. [...] Essentially the comic takes place sometime after the 7th Megaman game but sometime before the 8th. The characters know they are in a comic, and while the situations into which they find themselves are certainly not normal for the games, the strange events that surround their lives are probably due to the presence of the Author figure, who occasionally comes into be abused and belittled." A hilarious online-comic preying on and referring to a 2D-computergame, thereby reflecting quite a bit of cyberculture". And while you are on it, don't miss another web-classic: XiaoXiao -- the definite proof that Flash can be art! See the original Flash versions by Zhu Zhq and lots of fan-films at the Stick Figure Death Theatre. --zeph

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