The Good Old Days...[]

I remember AOL 3.0. I'll just put that out there. I remember 28.8Kbps modems, AOK keywords, and that voice saying, "Welcome!" "You've got mail!" and "Good bye; see you soon!"

We got the internet in 1996; started with CompuServe, but then got pushed onto AOL. Being that I was the resident techie in the house (comparatively speaking, you must understand), I was given an adult admin account, so that I could fix things. Therefore, I wasn't limited to the few keywords and limited browsing of a kid or teen account. Even so, one of my favorite places on AOL was undoubtedly the Blackberry Creek Comics by Kids keyword. Never before had I been given the opportunity to publish my creative works for the world to see.

It must also be understood that at this point we were still on our first personal computer, the Macintosh Quadra (800 I think...and yes, that means I did, at one point, own a Mac), and the most advanced image editing software to which I had access was Kid Pix 2. Didn't get me very far, in other words, but it did what I wanted it to do (until I got a scanner in '00).

Anyway, beyond creating my own comics was the joy of reading the efforts of others. A few truly stuck out from the crowd of amateurish scribbles, and these still live in my memory today.

Which is a good thing, since the site was dismantled, reborn, and killed again...no more. Fortunately, I did manage to snag a few of my favorites before they all died:

Aaron

Aaron was probably my first favorite. It was a sci-fi epic about an alien...thing that crashes to earth, which the titular character uses to power his experimental power suit. It works a bit better than expected, and soon Aaron, along with his best friend Stump (real name forgotten) are fighting evil (a corporation? been too long). Well-done (if simple) artwork, and an engaging storyline. It shall be missed.

Lester & Barkley

When I saw Nickelodeon's CatDog, this was what first came to mind (and it came out years earlier, so I still say Nickelodeon "stole" the idea). Rational, sophisticated cat and his fun-loving, excitable dog housemate. Best story arc: Lestermorphs, the Animorphs crossover/homage. At the time, Animorphs was the best book series ever (according to me), and this predated even the TV show.

The Trio

One of the better-drawn comics (although certainly largely a copy/paste comic), this comic revolved around a trio of characters (I really can't even remember their names, although apparently one was named Reggie). The cast eventually grew, as all sitcom casts do.



There are others for which I didn't save images, but were awesome nonetheless:

Sqidsy and Slink

Managed to find the artist's website, with new(er) comics of this series, but it started out MS Paint-style. Sqidsy the Squirrel and Slink the Snake had crazy adventures...I think. So long ago, but it's one of the names I remember most clearly.

Some Assembly Required

Wow...this one was awesome, and one of the few that I actually remember ending. It went out with a bang – Karim, the villain of the series, blew the cast (and a large chunk of the world) to smithereens, and the last comic ended up with them in the afterlife (some in one place, two in...the other). Also, spiky balls. That is all.


So yeah...there's now a Facebook group for BCreek CBK Alumni...so there's still hope. Still hope. May we never forget.


Peace,
JT