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I’ve been an avid reader of the online comic, Melonpool. The comic follows the adventures of “two aliens, a telepathic dog and a 220-lb. hamster” and the interactions of the characters are as hilarious as they are intriguing.

When I stumbled upon Melonpool 5 years ago it was the result of a random Yahoo! search. Typing feveriously (65 WPM and chicken peckin’) at my keyboard I came up with something along the lines of “aliens and hampsters.” Why I linked these two together I’ll never know, but lo and behold the first link on the list was Melonpool. I sat there for a couple minutes wondering what a Melonpool was and decided it would be best to investigate the matter by clicking the link.

Upon entering the site I noticed a blue background with a white swirl and a handful of cartoon characters starring back at me. Immediatedly I read through the archives and was hooked from there on. I entered my email into the form and every Sunday received the comic strip in my Inbox. Believe me, I couldn’t wait to see what was in store for Mayberry Melonpool and the gang. Which brings me to what the comic is about; pop culture. You would think Steve Troop (the creator of Melonpool) would have gone with the cliche plot where aliens land on Earth and destroy everything in their path, including that lone flower. Rather, Troop decides to write the storylines around the subject of the aliens’ interest with Earth’s culture.

Mayberry (the Captain) is a Star Trek fan because in space they receive our television/satellite signals many light years after the series has gone off the air. To the alien, he’s impressed by the characters and ultimately gets to meet his heroes in a Time Travel plot that is immensely hard to explain without reading the archives. Which brings me to the key to this successful comic, the interactions of its characters and their curiousity of pop culture. Troop even elaborates on the fact that his comic was viewed by an executive at NBC and coincidentally the popular television show, Third Rock from the Sun, sprung into the lineup.

I had the opportunity to interview Steve Troop in 1999 for a college course I was taking. The course, Introduction to Mass Media, called for a paper that described a “media figure” and their “successful ventures”. The twist to this paper was that you had to interview the media mogul (in person) and write a 5-page paper about the interview. I chose Steve Troop for the same reasons his strip is successful among its fans; for the money.

I recieved an A+ on the paper and was indeed richer, but not with the great greenback. The wealth came from what I found out about a young boy’s dream in San Diego, California. To simply draw cartoons. Indeed, I was richer with the notion that he is in fact living his dreams come true.

Sure, there might not be the success of newspaper syndication (a goal Troop has envisioned for years) but the real success lies in the fans that support the comic strip through its compilation books and the community within the Melonpool message boards. At the moment, there are 5 books and contained within each book are several personal notations and reflections from Troop while creating each strip, something he created while in college, and other extras that you won’t see on the web site.

Do yourself a favor today and go read Melonpool. Enjoy the 1,000+ strips contained within the archive and grow with the characters.

If you’d rather read the strips offline, buy a book.

Pat yourself on the back because you’ll be supporting the continuation of a wonderful comic strip.