Blog-It Llama!

By Papa Llama - June 4, 2009

Terranauts: saving the world since 1889

Remember when we discussed our Gallery of the online “classic” comics which we love? Terranauts, Laugh-Out-Loud Cats, The Rainbow Orchid, Captain Spectre and the Lightning Legion…

Captain Spectre (1940 patch)

Here we are producing The Ongoing Adventures of Rocket Llama, allegedly “the world’s oldest webcomic – since 1916.” We wish more people out there could show how much they appreciate the old comics that paved the way for all the rest. We get tired of seeing webcomic after webcomic follow the same basic Comicpress format. Yes, it serves a purpose and is exactly what many comics need, but it gets old. We’d rather err in a big way while we figure out what Rocket Llama needs. For months we’ve been experimenting with the right way to present our stuff, trying to figure the balance of giving modern readers something they can appreciate without compromising what we hope to achieve. We seriously envy Captain Spectre‘s Wireless Electrovisoscope. We’re not playing the homage as straight as those in the Gallery tend to do. We’re more influenced by early Disney comic books which eventually inspired DuckTales while we bring you the odd hybrid of webcomic, comic strip, comic book.

Boy, do these “classic” comics’ creators do some amazing work. Captain Spectre really fits the style of the best of old adventure comics.

The Rainbow Orchid: 1920s mystery & adventure

The Rainbow Orchid entertains us in so many ways. With its tight plotting, gorgeous art, intriguing characters, and well timed surprises, it takes us back to some great old stories in a bygone era that hardly seems bygone while we’re reading. Fans of many things, from the works of Jules Verne or Arthur Conan Doyle to the earliest adventure comics, can appreciate this graphic novel delivered in webcomic form.

Laugh-Out-Loud Cats: A. Koford's 1912 masterpiece

As Nick said in his review of Laugh-Out-Loud Cats Sell Out, “The book is so up our alley of stuff we like, I’m pretty sure you could find Rocket Llama living on the same street where Kitteh and Pip reside. For one, it is a retro parody of old-school comics. Two, it has jokes full of modern references. Three, it’s full of anthropomorphic creatures. It’s very funny and stylish and clever.”

Beertown B'hoys: 1894's most wanted

Last month we interviewed Steve Bialik about his 1890s-set  Beertown B’hoys, an entry in DC Comics’ Zuda competition, but while that’s a period piece, it’s not quite what I’m talking about here. In telling his old time story, Steve wasn’t actually emulating old style comics.

If we discover enough faux-old comics, maybe we can reign in a Fool’s Gold-en Age. Tom Strong of Captain Spectre told us that he likes the idea of an “old” comics group and would gladly join up.

There’s a reason we’re bringing this up now, and it’s related to the restructuring our regular readers have seen going on throughout our site. We’ll tell you more about it later, though. Right now I’m just mentioning this to pique your interest, and even that comes to you a little earlier than intended for one somewhat silly reason:

Today is Rainbow Orchid creator Garen Ewing’s 40th birthday. That’s right, Garen’s hitting the big four-oh. So go check out The Rainbow Orchid and wish him a happy birthday.

Categories: Blog-It, Zuda
Tags: A. Koford, Adam Koford, Beertown B'hoys, Captain Spectre and the Lightning Legion, Garen Ewing, Laugh-Out-Loud Cats, Laugh-Out-Loud Cats Sell Out, Platinum Age comics, Steve Bialik, Terranauts, The Rainbow Orchid, Tom Floyd, webcomics, Zuda