On the National Geographic TV Blog “Inside Wild” a couple years back, readers raised a collective eyebrow at a new comic strip, billed as the first of what they hoped would be a long run. Entitled–at least initially–“Amazing Ocean Facts!”, and written by a fellow named Dr. Byron Beekle, the strip initially resembled one of the obligatory “educational” panels you’d find on the back page of the Sunday comics, back when those were a big deal.
And yet there was something just a little off about these.
Okay, so the good Doctor had a bit of an Edward Gorey-esque sense of humor. Fine. Except, not unlike Don Hertzfeldt’s cartoons in “Rejected,” things start to break down, including the title…
Eventually, the strips descend into all-out self-loathing.
By this point, it was becoming clear what was really going on, and on April Fool’s Day the blog announced that the new strip had been canceled “due to artistic disagreements.” Although with National Geographic having branched out with their programming in recent years, to include reality shows, magic shows, and fake documentaries, who was to say this wasn’t a legit attempt to hip up their brand? An Adult Swim-style cartoon with actual ocean facts mixed in might just have been the next big hit. Sadly, we may never know…but one hopes that some way, some day, Dr. Byron Beekle may resurface.
Be sure to check out the full run of the mad Doctor’s comics on Inside Wild. Then give us your take–should NatGeo have pulled a ThinkGeek move and made their April Fool’s prank real? Dive into comments and let us know.
Images: National Geographic
