Who is Rocket Llama? "The world's oldest webcomic - since 1916." Tongue-in-cheek tales of a high-flying llama, a sword-swinging cat, and a rocket as loyal as a cowboy hero's horse. For fans of many things: webcomics, comics, comic strips, cartoons, fantasy, science fiction, adventure, action, parody. '''''The Ongoing Adventures of Rocket Llama'''''<ref>[http://www.rocketllama.com Rocket Llama World Headquarters]</ref> is a [[webcomic]] starring "a high-flying [[llama]], a sword-swinging cat, and a rocket as loyal as a cowboy hero's horse."<ref>[http://www.workdaycomic.com/resources/navigation.htm You are here.]</ref> Created by Alex Langley while he was a student at [[Henderson State University]], the comic first appeared in a comic book titled ''[[The Workday Comic]]''. For the ''Workday'' comics anthology, a [[spin-off]] of [[Scott McCloud]]'s ''[[24-hour comic|24-Hour Comics]]'', comics creators each wrote and drew their own eight-page stories in eight hours in April, 2007, on [[Friday the 13th]].<ref>[http://media.www.hsuoracle.com/media/storage/paper927/news/2007/04/02/News/Comic.Book.Club.Puts.In.A.Full.Days.Work-2820341.shtml Comic book club puts in a full day's work.]</ref> Co-presenting with comics author and scholar [[Danny Fingeroth]] (''[[Dazzler]]'', ''[[Spider-Man]]'', ''[[Superman on the Couch]]''), the creators described the webcomic's evolution as members of a [[Comics Arts Conference]] panel at [[2008]]'s [[Comic-Con International]] in [[San Diego]], [[California]].<ref>T. Langley & R. Duncan with Danny Fingeroth, panel moderators. (2008, July). "Capes and Tights, Caps and Gown." Panel presented at the Comics Arts Conference, Comic-Con International. San Diego, California.</ref><ref>[http://www.workdaycomic.com/ERIICA/ERIICA_presentations.htm Recent and Upcoming Research Presentations]</ref> ==Debut== The full title of Rocket Llama's debut story in ''The Workday Comic'' #1 was "''The Ongoing Adventures of Rocket Llama'' #112: 'Trouble in Paradise'".<ref>[http://workdaycomic.com/wc/2007/Trouble_in_Paradise/P01.html Page 1.]</ref> The story introduced the taciturn hero Rocket Llama and his talkative sidekick, an [[anthropomorphic]] cat named Bartholomew Meowsenhausen, who find themselves stranded on an [[island]] after a battle with an enemy called [[Jetpack]] Dog. Spherical islanders capture them and then challenge them to combat. A [[villain]] named Böwser vön Überdog arrives with Jetpack Dog and, in a sudden ''[[Star Wars]]'' parody, summons a giant [[robot]] known as the Super Robot Dog Walker which blasts a volcano to bits. Before it can fire a second blast, Rocket Llama destroys it by getting it to swallow a pot of water and backfire. The story ends with Böwser tied up and the heroes using the giant robot dog head as a boat to get themselves home, with the promise of the next story to be titled, "Yuck! Yukon!"<ref>''The Workday Comic'' #1. Spring, 2007.[http://store.comixpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1124]</ref><ref>[http://workdaycomic.com/wc/2007/Workday_Comic_stories.htm''The Workday Comic'' - online edition.]</ref> Whether despite the original story's childlike art or because of it, the Rocket Llama story proved to be the most popular in the 2007 anthology collection of the eight-hour comics.<ref>[http://media.www.hsuoracle.com/media/storage/paper927/news/2008/04/14/News/Club-Produces.Second.Annual.Workday.Comic-3328547.shtml Club produces second annual workday comic.]</ref> After comic artist [[Stephen R. Bissette]], an instructor at the [[Center for Cartoon Studies]] best known for his work on ''[[Swamp Thing]]'' with [[Alan Moore]], read all of the stories in the first volume of ''The Workday Comic'', he remarked, "That llama's gonna stick with me."<ref>Quoted in "The Workday Comic: Not Just One Third of a 24-Hour Comic." Comics Arts Conference, Comic-Con International. San Diego, California. July 27, 2008.</ref> ==Webcomic== Nick Langley redrew the story with a less childlike drawing style in webcomic form for online publication<ref>[http://www.rocketllama.com/112/P01.html ''The Ongoing Adventures of Rocket Llama'' #112: "Trouble in Paradise."] Script: Alex Langley. Art: Nick Langley.</ref> as the flagship title for the website rocketllama.com which grew into an affiliation of websites featuring webcomics, art, entertainment reviews, and scholarly studies of comics.<ref>[http://www.workdaycomic.com/resources/navigation.htm You are here.]</ref> The online story featured a new cover<ref>[http://www.rocketllama.com/136/P00.html #137-Cover.]</ref> and omitted a one-page gag, a preview for an unrelated ''Stealth Potato'' comic, which had appeared as an intermission in the middle of the original story.<ref>[http://www.workdaycomic.com/wc/2007/Trouble_in_Paradise/P04.html Sneak Peak at ''Stealth Potato'' #75.]</ref> The original story also appeared online as the comic's "ashcan copy."<ref>[http://www.rocketllama.com/112/ashcan/P01.html Rocket Llama Ashcan Copy.]</ref> The authors present the Rocket Llama stories [[metafiction]]ally as the world's oldest comic book, established in [[1916]], which they allegedly rediscovered and are adapting into webcomics. "Deep underground, in an archaic vault we searched until we found the fabled tales. As both the current production team behind ''The Ongoing Adventures of Rocket Llama'' and appreciators of such groundbreaking literature, we have taken it upon ourselves to restore these classic issues to a glory more befitting a modern, digital age."<ref>[http://www.rocketllama.com/articles/A01-intro.html Who Is Rocket Llama?]</ref> Although every "issue" is presented with panels and screens in the correct order for each story, the issues are presented out of order as if readers were discovering old issues of a classic comic book in a seemingly haphazard order, however they come to find them. After the redrawn number 112's online publication came the serialized #136-137, "Time Flies When You're on the Run," appearing one page at a time on weekdays.<ref>[http://www.rocketllama.com/136/P00.html "Time Flies When You're on the Run, Part 1."] Script: Alex Langley. Art: Nick Langley.</ref><ref>[http://www.rocketllama.com/137/00.html "Time Flies When You're on the Run, Part 2."] Script: Alex Langley. Art: Nick Langley.</ref>