Aces of Ansi Art (aaa)

Before ACiD, before iCE, before anyone had bothered to invent the rules of the underground art scene, there were the Aces. Founded in late 1989 by Zyphril and Chips Ahoy out of San Jose, A.A.A. is the first underground/elite ANSi group on record and possibly the first organized assembly of ANSi artists anywhere. Their motive was small and pure: put out cool art, help out sysops, get name-brand recognition. They invented the playbook by accident. The roster reads like a Genesis text. RaD Man, The Beholder, Grimm, Shadow Demon, Icepirate, Chips Ahoy which would, in September 1990, walk out the door to form ACiD and remake the scene in a cleaner image. By the end of 1991, Aces was done. But the lineage was set: every BBS-era ANSi crew that mattered for the next decade traced back to this group, even when they didn't know it. The 2003 Remembrance Pack, assembled by RaD Man from Mondoman's private archive plus salvaged scraps from Cavalier and Jason Scott, is the closest thing the scene has to its own Dead Sea Scrolls.

first/last release: 1991/89 - 2004/03
years active: 1991 (1), 1992 (1), 1998 (1)
(sub)packs released: 3
smallest/largest pack: aaa-vol2/aaa-8991
lifetime artworks: 109
lifetime lines: 5 024

average # of lines per artwork: 59
average # of artworks per pack: 36
longest serving member(s): aaa (1991/89-2004/03), acid (1991/89-1991/89), chips ahoy (1991/89-1991/89), icon artist (1991/89-1991/89), willie (1991/89-1991/89), con artist (1991/89-1991/89), mondoman (1991/89-1991/89), opus outland (1991/89-1991/89), shadow demon (1991/89-1992/01), alla xul (1991/89-2004/03)
most productive member: shadow demon (36)
extensions: TXT (3), ANS (88), EXE (2), DIZ (1), COM (1), MUS (1)

links: wikipedia - demozoo