Bob and George - Significance

Significance

While not the first webcomic to ever use video game sprites in place of hand-drawn art, Bob and George is noted as being the first sprite comic to gain widespread popularity and the originator of the sprite comic "craze". At the height of its readership in 2004, Bob and George held an Alexa traffic rank of around 20,000. Anez's comic "paved the way" for the creation of numerous other sprite comics, including Oldskooled, Life of Wily, and Brian Clevinger's 8-Bit Theater. Clevinger has called Anez "the Father of Sprite Comics" for his role in popularizing the phenomenon, and directly credits a friend showing him Anez's Bob and George for his inspiration to make his comic. Regarding the use of sprites in a comic, Clevinger has said,

As we all know, it’s only a comic if it uses art, and it can only be art if it’s hand drawn. David didn’t know it then, but he’d be the pioneer in shattering this stereotype"

The "pixelated look" in webcomics that Bob and George popularized is also considered an influence on later original pixel art comics like Diesel Sweeties and Dinosaur Comics.