#everyone should be reading these specific webcomics and also the others that are good that i don't know about

[indieyuugure]

Hi Indie !

First of all, I truly love your version of TMNT. Your dialogues are so good and the designs are great. In terms of writing it kind of reminds me of the Webtoon comic: Batman, Wayne Family Adventures in the way that it’s a brilliant take on a famous franchise.

Also, I kind of had a question and a request.

I noticed a change of style with the color scheme you have now compare to your previous sketches. Like before, Mickey’s stickers were colored and blood was red when those elements are now in black and white. My question is why the change ? Not that it’s a bad choice or it doesn’t fit in you aesthetic, I was just genuinely wondering😁.

As for my request, well I’m French and I really enjoy doing translation either from French to English or from English to French. Therefore I was wondering if you were okay with me doing a French version of your comics ? If you’re not, I totally understand so no worry😁

I can’t wait for the next chapter !!! I wish all the best !

Aw thank you so much! I’m so glad you love the art and the writing! I’ve never read that webcomic, but I’ve heard about it before! I’ll take it as a compliment! ^v^

That is an excellent question! Basically I wanted to reduce the colors on the pages to just the colors of one of the characters items.

I’ve actually been cutting down on color usage since TMS (April’s hair and Casey’s under shirt were colored red and mauve respectively in ROTP but not in TMS) since I felt that it made for some very odd color things, like it felt like too much color be stylistic, but too little to be fully colored? Idk I just didn’t like it, so in TMS every character was allotted two colors: one eye color and one outfit color. That made it a lot simpler and drastically decreased the feeling I had about the colors.

That reason is also why I cut Mikey’s sticker colors. I did think about it, but I decided against it because it felt odd to give Mikey three colors and everyone else one. He’s not the MC, so like, it just seemed like an odd design choice to continue with.

The removal of using red for blood is a bit more complicated. I actually considered making it red in Indie TMNT, but I ended up not because of a few reasons.

1: Red is Raph’s color, it should be used as such (every character only got one color anyway, reusing the color makes it feel less special that it’s there)

2: flushing, whether because of love or illness or embarrassment or whatever, was also being shaded with red because it’s caused by blood, and I just didn’t really like the way it looked? I dunno probably a personal thing? I won’t say why cause I don’t wanna put the thought in your heads, but specifically with Donnie’s face being red from his fever in TMS, I just didn’t like it.

3: I found that the color red makes wounds more graphic. Not sure why? I found with TMS I was having to censor Leo’s wounds more than I anticipated. They were originally so much more disgusting when the red was added that I had to add a lot more black to be comfortable with the drawing. I’m satisfied with my results, I think I struck a good balance, but it did kind get me thinking since I plan to make Indie TMNT just as gory.

Its original purpose for being added was because wounds were key plot points in both ROTP and TMS and I wanted you to pay attention to them and remember them. Now, that’s not to say they’re not important in Indie Tmnt, but I found with the increased violence I was adding (because murder is okay in this comic) it felt unnecessary. Almost every fight scene has splatters of blood that aren’t really that plot related, so it’s not the same as TMS which follows 2012’s no blood or injuries in fights rule until it’s shattered. So in addition to all the other reasons listed, I felt it was fine to get rid of the usage of red for blood and other injuries in this comic.

TLDR: I want each character’s color to be special and they only get one cause I’m lazy and I think it looks cooler. Red blood makes people squeamish but black blood doesn’t 🤷‍♀️ also less important in this comic

As for your request: YES!! I’m totally okay with it, you absolutely may! I would love that! However you decide to do it, just be sure you credit me as the original author of the comic and send me a link when your done so I can post it on the comic masterpost for anyone who wants the translation to read!

Good questions! :]

[thekitsunesiren]

1k Followers Post + Insider

1,000 followers! 1,000!? I can't thank all of my followers enough and all those who continue to follow me! I promise to do my best to continue to write more prompts. I might even start branching out to other fandoms as well. I'm still thinking of what to do for this milestone. Possibly a poll for you guys to decide?

And since I have 1,000 followers, I think I should do an about me for those who are knew around here lol.

Anyway! About me!

Hello, everyone! I am the Kitsune Siren! You're free to call me Kitsune, Kit, Siren or Jay. I am a 23 year old African American female (she/her) who is also aroace! My favorite hobbies include listening to music, writing (of course), and cooking! My favorite color is the many shades of blue! I listen to all types of music, but the song currently in my head is Spicy Margarita by Jason Derulo and Michael Bublé. But when it comes to artists, I'll say that my favorites are JVKE, Jake Daniels, CG5, The Stupendium, OR3O, and Melanie Martinez!

Currently I'm obsessing over several webcomics and manhwa's. I'll read those forever XD

I've been on tumblr forever! And I've seen it change a lot.

I've taken up to doing writing commissions that you could learn about here. They're for fandoms that I am in. And there might be a few that I'll learn about to write about.

I write all of these prompts on tumblr, but the majority of them (dc x dp specifically) have their own little booklet on ao3 which you could see here. I'll work more on trying to post there as well.

I'm also a descriptive roleplayer. I rp on Discord and on a site called RpNation under the name: The Kitsune Siren.

As for fandoms I'm in, I'll give you a gist of a wide majority.

I am in these fandoms:

Anime:

Sailor Moon

Saiki K.

Overlord

That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime

Naruto

One Piece

Demon Slayer

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

Books:

Harry Potter

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Cartoons:

Steven Universe

Danny Phantom

Xiaolin Showdown

Lego Monkie Kid

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Tv & Movies:

Marvel Cinematic Universe

DC Extended Universe

Kingsman

The Walking Dead

Rise of the Guardians

Into/Across the Spider-verse

Sherlock

Helluva Boss

Hazbin Hotel

Riddick

Video Games:

Genshin Impact

Honkai: Star Rail

Detroit: Become Human

Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil

Undertale

Pokémon

Dragon Raja

I have many more, but I hope this would be a good example to show of what my knowledge is about.

Anyway! I'm always open to asks and prompt ideas for any fandoms, so don't hesitate to ask me anything you'd like. Within reason of course lol.

I hope you all have a good day, and thank you once again for 1,000 followers! I'll work not to disappoint you.

[milky-rozen]

heya! Really looking forward to another House of the Sun chapter! Also thank you for introducing me to Dislyte. The designs are out of this world (also never thought I'd see Set in video games other than Smite)

Just curious...do you know other media that portray Horus and Set together? I know Set appears in Tutenstein (his design is so terrifying I love it) and for more mainstream stuff there's Gods of Egypt (REAL wasted potential) and the Kane Chronicles (which I haven't read)

I remember seeing Horus a lot in media when I was a kid but not so much Set? He's so much more than a villain and even if he's an antagonist I'd love to see a more complex portrayal.

Thank you in advance!

Heya!

You're very welcome! I'm glad more people are discovering Dislyte! It’s like the perfect game for mythology lovers!

Anyway, aside from the famous Korean manhwa Ennead (not sure if you’ve heard of this one before,,, it's a BL manhwa, but viewer discretion is highly advised as it contains strong depictions of violence and abuse, so I wouldn’t really recommend it to everyone!) I can’t really think of anything where Set appears as more than just a little mention.

Unfortunately, Egyptian mythology isn’t as popular as Greek mythology in the media, so it’s really hard to find something that specifically covers this pantheon. Gods of Egypt was an extremely clumsy attempt at it, but it’s so disastrous you can’t really count it as proper representation. It does have some fun and interesting ideas, but we all know why it didn’t really work lol

The only "direct" and good representation I can think of can be found in Wilbur Smith's famous book "River God" as the main characters mirror their roles and have such a strong devotion they often end up mentioning them so much it feels like they are there in the flesh, interacting with the characters.

Aside from that, the only examples I can think of, ironically, they all come from Tumblr! I'm talking about the webcomic "Godslave" and Tenicola's project "Deities of Duat" which can be easily found here as they have their own dedicated blogs! Their Set are just so awesome you should totally check them out!

Hope this helps somehow, unfortunately I haven't found much too, so I guess we're all in the same boat lol

[mechazushi]

Long story short on the video, it's just a breakdown about mummies in history as it correlates to the history of its media as well. It's still a good and informative break down (Definitely check it out and support the channel), but as it got to the point of breaking down the tropes seen in movies about mummies and how many of them were seen in previous novelizations, I got to thinking about a story idea of my own.

It kinda revolves around the whole distinction between mummies that are powerful sorcerers that get the benefit of looking like a human and less powerful mummies that are forced to shamble around and be stuck in their bandages. It also dips into the "The mummy is looking to brink back their dead lover who just so happens to be reincarnated." trope as well as "bandage mummies only exist as servants/violent body guards".

So it takes place in the height of England's Egypt Craze where tomb "Unboxing" was still a thing and some British f*cks as well as their ✨gorgeous female assistant✨start poking around in a tomb. It's a lesser known tomb and everyone makes it clear that this was dedicated to some high ranking guard that made a noble sacrifice or something so they decided to make the guy's funeral a little more special. The British guys write it off and go see if there's a bigger tomb to plunder investigate (I feel like I should also mention one of these guys is supposed to be the female's betrothed love interest that immediately gets ntr'ed once the actual green flag walks, or should I say shambles, into the picture.)

Female Assistant sticks around to explore the first chamber more deeply and shenanigans happen. She reads some passages on the wall that has foreshadowing bits into it, maybe translates a scroll or two by candle light because she can't sleep due to the ✨visions✨ or some shit, and ends up accidentally resurrecting the noble guard from earlier. It's initially the lower tier type of mummy, the type that's somewhat mindless and still wrapped in bandages. Shit goes down, maybe it tries to kill the other tomb raiders explorers but it doesn't pan out (personally, I see it as a loony-toons type moment with the Mummy trying to kill them, the Assistant foiling every attempt, and the British guys none-the-wiser) Eventually it's discovered that the mummy seems to recognize the Assistant as someone he once knew and now only obeys her commands.

The Assistant uses that to her advantage and manages to drag it/him back to their lodgings. I have nothing specific for this part, other than that the next third and over of the movie (I see this as a movie. Or a webcomic if you wanna torture yourself.) is just Tarzan and Jane antics where they fall in love with each other. It's also happening alongside a side plot where the mummy is slowly gaining memories/intelligence/the ability to speak as it/he slowly sheds his bandages in the process. (I don't picture him losing all of the bandages. I still like a little bit of monster left to f*ck with. And yes, it's handsome.) Basically he slowly starts reverting back to the noble guard he once was as he remembers why he sacrificed himself in the first place and why the Female Assistant looks so familiar to him.

The last third cuts back to the British guys and them getting to meet the monkey's paw consequence of their hubris. They do the same thing that the Assistant did, only they end up resurrecting an ancient and powerful sorcerer that was sealed away for humanity's greater good. Maybe they strike a deal with the guy, maybe they run like the little b*tches that they are, who knows. Anyway, the mummy guard's spider sense pings and he realizes who ended up getting reawakened. Come to find out, the sorcerer also thinks the Female Assistant looks pretty familiar and does some wibbly-wobbly magic to confirm that, yes, she is some reincarnation of a long dead princess(/competing sorcerer maybe? It would be a nice double twist if you're into that sh*t)

Big fight ensues, the good guys win, and the Female assistant rides off into the sunset on an Excelsior Model 19 with the Mummy boyfriend.

The End.

[yd12k]

i just finished reading all of EGS yesterday, and i saw ur pfp on my dash! do you have any other webcomics youre a fan of?

A ton! too many to mention them all, really. I'll be restricting this to 'currently updating stuff', and comparing it specifically to EGS given your ask. That also means that I'll be ignoring some comics that are just completely different (such as any gag-a-day type stuff. XKCD may be a classic of the internet that you should read, but it's a weird recommendation after someone asks about EGS)

The other thing I don't really have recommendations for is if you liked the 'everyone transforms all the time' parts the most. There's a reason I stuck with reading EGS over The Wotch, and it's not just because the latter went on hiatus. I'm sure there's something to that taste somewhere, I'm just not reading it at the moment.

TL;DR: Questionable Content, Dumbing of Age, Paranatural, Gunnerkrigg Court, Girl Genius

For my first recommendation, I'm going with Questionable Content, which is less questionable than you'd assume from the title, and more questionable than you'd assume from this disclaimer. It started as a basic soap opera/endless pit of references to early 2000's indie rock (but there's a funny robot that makes punchlines), and is now a soap opera where the funny robots have feelings (but there's also still punchlines).

for comparison to EGS, I'm going with hammerchlorians as a stand in for the general trend both of them went through, folding early wacky concepts into a whole that can be surprisingly emotional. It's also still wacky fun.

Dumbing of Age is a reboot of the author's earlier webcomics. Instead of taking the above approach and slowly fold the weird aspects into a sense of normalcy for the setting, Willis decided to just do a reboot of the universe, with the same characters, back in college, but no aliens this time (except fictional).

The closest EGS equivalent is end of an era, the arc where Sarah and Elliot break up, but really it's just every bit where magic takes a backseat to relationships, introspection, and growth.

I'd be remiss not to mention the comic being both funny and having action pieces, though. Those are just a lot more realistic. Also, Walky is a trans girl (she just hasn't figured that out yet (and I'm not sure the author has either (I can tell though))).

Next up, Paranatural. I'm actually a bit behind on this one, but it's really really good. It switches from a more traditional comic style to a more illustrated novel type thing partway through, but it's really really good.

It had a lot less 'folding in concepts' to do than my other examples so far, but that's because the author went in with a plan. And that plan was to write the funniest trauma a middle schooler could get. The entirety of the hitball sequence is a sight to behold. If you click on nothing else, read Paranatural.

The closest thing EGS did was Sister 3, my favourite arc. Both do 'set up a magic thing/pay off the magic thing' combined with character growth at the highest quality.

Gunnerkrigg Court is an english boarding school mystery featuring magic and robots and psychopomps and psychic powers. It seems to be nearing completion, with most of the basic mysteries solved and the questions shifting to 'now what'.

There haven't been many real Mystery elements in EGS, at least none where our protaganists are actively trying to solve it. The current Uryoms arc will probably be the closest thing we can currently see by the end, but even that's giving us more answers than it's giving the characters. If you want something Magical, but with a different vibe, read Gunnerkrigg.

Finally, Girl Genius. Girl Genius is about a young mad scientist reckoning with the mad science performed by mad scientists of the past, together with her two boyfriends (who are also mad scientists)

The closest EGS arc is any where Tedd does Mad Science, but especially the last parts of Title Pending, aka party 2. 'some device had unintended consequences and now it's up to our mad scientists to throw science at it until the device does what they want' is a description of half the arcs in girl genius (the other arcs in girl genius have other characters cause the problems on purpose (it's still solved with either mad science or swords (sometimes the swords are mad science)))

This concludes my list. the other thing these comics have in common is being pretty long-running. There's absolutely newer comics out there worthy of reading, and I'm always looking for more recommendations myself.

[sangfielle]

if its okay to ask, ive been listeing through all of f@tt for the last like, have a year or so, and im finally getting close to the end (close as in im about to start sangfielle, but grand scheme i still think thats close, lol). do you have any podcasts / webcomics / books / etc that you feel have a similar tone, or that you really like as well?

thank you!

okay! hi. sorry this took forever to get around to because i honestly don't know a lot of things that i would consider to be in the same vein as f@tt? the two immediate ones that sprung to my mind were heaven will be mine and gundam, but i get the strangest feeling you already know about both of those. i do have some suggestions that, while not really like friends at the table, i feel you're liable to get something out of if you like it.

podcastwise, something rotten and the ranged touch podcasts (i've only listened to homestuck made this world, but am going to get around to the others, any my friends like them, lol) are nonfiction analysis podcasts. i'm pretty sure austin was actually on the most recent ranged touch patreon episode? but i don't have the money for many subscription things right now, so i can't confirm if that was actually the latest one or anything. + batman unburied is honestly a pretty good podcast that i would recommend if you can buy into the bullshit that is required to get into any major superhero setting. i've also enjoyed what i listened to of campaign: star wars, though that has been very limited. my interest in star wars varies pretty heavily, so i can only listen to it when i'm in a specific mood, and when i am in that mood i'm usually working on catching up on a more civilized age instead.

webcomics: brainchild, fairmeadow, the last halloween, prague race, soil that binds us, and white noise i've all enjoyed what's been put out so far & think other fatt fans may like. i'm a particularly devoted longtime fan of prague race, and i've been really liking white noise.

books: discworld is a very mixed bag for me, but i can't pretend i don't get anything out of it, and i feel if you haven't already read it that there's going to be a lot of appeal overlap for parts of fatt. this is how you lose the time war, obviously. i've moved recently, and have basically a full storage unit's worth of books, but not easy access to them, so i can't really go through and give you recommendations at the moment, because most of the books/series i'm taken with are bad but interesting, and most things that i file under that category i don't know if everyone else will similarly appreciate. i can give you a reading list when i actually get settled in at some point, lol.

shows & movies: nope 2022, the boys (if you can get past the grossout shock humor part of it), the expanse (i am intending to read the books but can't speak to the quality of those yet), the get down, event horizon, palm springs, his house, star trek (especially tng/ds9), princess tutu. this is just off the top of my head, i'm sure i could actually find more shit that i feel like i could put here if i combed through everything i've ever watched.

video games: if you like janine's characters in specific, dragon age will probably be up your alley. other than that, weird west, fallen london and the games surrounding it, disco elysium (obviously), the dishonored series, elder scrolls, zero escape, slay the spire, a mortician's tale, king of the castle (obviously, again), fallen hero, manor hill, vespertines, & dr langeskov (^^) i've all found charming and to hold some level of interest.

i have a lot more things i could recommend if you don't specifically want something good, but i figure i should leave it at things i can actually recommend without too many disclaimers (besides discworld) for this.

[wee-miss-noone]

For the Choose Violence ask game - Discworld 12, 17, 18, 22

Hello! And thanks fro the ask <3

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Igor from the Monstrous Regiment. It's not that she's unpopular but she's not as talked about as other Discworld character, which makes sense since she's just a minor character in one novel, but I just wish I could see more of her. Igors are such interesting family/species (are they an idependent species? not sure) but most of the ones which appear in Dicsworl novels are men and it would be very cool to see how female Igors operate. also Igor was such a badass - just sew her own scalp on, can switch her face however she wants - would make for a great undercover agent and I really want to see that kinda story

Also Letitia Keepsake. The girl starts as the stereotypical shallow fiancee of a man Tifanny may or may not fancy but then proves to be such empathetic caring girl with incredible potential to be a witch. She gives a Teddy bear to a wailing ghost! And a pumpkin to a headless rider spectre so he could carry it around instead a head! Her mother is this awful bosy judgy woman and it would be easy for Letitia to be just her mother's brainless lackey and I mean she is under her mother's thumb in a way, but she also does her own things and is curious and kind and brave and frankly a bit too good for Roland but I digress. Anyways I want more of her.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

There should be more art of the entire Monstrous Regiment regiment. Most art is of Poly and Maledicta but all regiment members are so cool. Also more Angua fanart.

As for fics I think every fandom should have *insert character that dies in canon* meets Death (or Susan bcs Death is on the vacation) fic, just for fun and to help deal with the trauma

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

I feel like I don't see people talk about the discworld trolls that much. Which I feel is usch a shame because they are such an interesting species… I mean they get stereatyped as being big and dumb but they're actually quite clever only they are constantly in an enviroment which does not allow their intellect to be shown.

Also idk if this counts but I find it said no one is discussing paralels between Lavender Jack the webcomic and Captain Vimes (specifically in Nightwatch). I know it's random and most people do not talk abt it bcs they just have not read the Lavender Jack. still I think it's be cool

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I'm basic bitch so I don't think I have a bit which only I appreciatte. But as soemone who studies psychology I have great fondness to that one bit where Vimes explains that you cannot deduce someone's entire life from one time you pass him on the street because many things can have different meanings like a tattoo can mean the man spent time with navy or that he made a drunk decision to get tatttoed when he was a teenager. And that's rings so true becuase in psychology there are a lot of symptoms and behavioral patterns hwich can mean certain mental condition... or another condition which is completely different or it can be normal behavior given the right circumstances - and that's why diagnozing is so hard, even though I met a lot of people in my life who think that just because someone acts certain way they have to be *insert diagnosis here*. which is according to these people *bad*. My point is basically that I like the aknowledgement that things are not always striaght cut becuase HUMANS ARE COMPLICATED

Also, but this is more of a language barrier thing and technically not and issue relating canon - something I really love but a lot of people have no chance of experiencing are the joys of czech tranlsation of the books. The translator Jan Kanturek did absolutely masterful job and he often adds his own translator notes to make some interesting comments (not like adding to the Discworld lore, but like to explain certain real world references or highlight soem hilarious parts) and I mean if oyu like disworld footnotes from Sir Terry I can guarantee these ones are also great. (There was this one where he explained the czech/slovak word "kurva" (meaning wh*re) used to be an archaic term to refer to girls in general so about a century ago a proud parent somewhere in Moravia may proclaim something like "we have two little boys and a little wh*re" and idk but I still remember that one to this day and like to quote it on people to show how the language changes)

Also also - unrelated but ever since I read I Shall Wear Midnight my dream wedding ceremony invovles jumping through fire and while the officiant calls me and my significant other profanities XD.

[embervoices]

As a writer, I sometimes avoid posting a fic until I have the whole thing written, because my longer fics that aren't complete to be posted are a source of anxiety. But they're are also where most of my attention goes, and I DO fully intend to complete them.

My silly webcomic I used to occasionally post to my clergy blog was intended to be taken as it went, not as a series with an arc. It just depends on how things are composed, I suppose.

Nevertheless, as a reader, I prefer to binge complete stories.

Still, I'll only comment to that effect if the author has declared that the full thing is written and will be fully posted by a specific time, to let the author know that I am paying attention and excited to see that they are updating the fic. Because I AM. Every time I see that marker go up one more tic, I get excited, because I know good things are happening, and I'll get to dive into the fullness of them soon.

I will also sometimes label my bookmarks as "Intriguing premise. For later when done." but that note is for myself, not the author.

There are frankly TV shows I handle the same way, not necessarily binging in one sitting, but not starting until I know they're going to be properly finished. If I'm hearing from everyone that the first season ends on a terrible cliffhanger, I'm reluctant to pick it up until I'm assured the second season exists and handles the resolution well.

Everyone involved in creating everything, be it fanfic, web comics, tv shows, etc. are human beings who deserve credit and admiration for their efforts. But my personal time is limited, and I don't have the bandwidth to watch and read every single thing that interests me. It's not that it's a competition, it's just that I need to manage my own resources.

I agree that kindness matters tremendously. We should always be considerate of each other.

I do not think it's fair to expect kindness to require telepathy.

I've got a question about the general feelings? etiquette? of commenting on in-progress fics with "so excited to read this when its completed" or something along those lines. Because I personally like them, and thought they were generally well recieved and encouraging, aka I've seen authors replied positively. But then the one time I tried to leave a similar comment, the author basically went "I don't know why you comment if you hadn't read it." So, whats the general feeling?

Oof. This is one of those things that's kind of a crap shoot anon. Some authors will take it as a compliment, others will absolutely hate it. It all comes down to how that author feels about readers who don't read works in progress.

Some authors don't post their works until after they've finished writing them - or at least not until they have enough chapters finished that they have a buffer built up and then they can post on a schedule. Other authors post each chapter as they write it.

In either case (but maybe more so for the latter group), authors rely on getting feedback as they post a work in order to know that the work is being received well by its intended readers. If there's silence (a lack of kudos or comments), the author might decide to stop posting the work. They'll assume no one wants to read it and therefore they shouldn't bother to post it.

For a writer in that mindset, someone saying they won't read it until the work is complete feels... bad. Like that person doesn't want to support you during the hard part (writing and posting) and is only going to show up when the work is done.

An even bigger factor, and one that could be in play no matter how the author goes about writing their story, is that comments are kind of a big deal to most writers. They're few and far between and each one is precious because it's a signal that someone is reading and they care and they're telling you that they're reading and they care. But your message explicitly says that you're not reading (yet) - which some authors may take to mean that you don't care, but which either way means that they saw that wonderful comment notification only for it to be "check back later".

Obviously not every author is going to feel this way about things, but I hope that by explaining why some might you can understand it a bit better? Some suggestions for other comments that might be more universally appreciated:

this is just the kind of fic I love!

this one's going in the bookmarks!

this is such a great premise!

All of which you might mean, but they leave out the part where you won't be reading the fic itself for weeks and/or months.

I will caution, however, that if you leave a comment like this when they post chapter one and you don't come back again within a couple of chapters, a certain percentage of authors (and it's not a small percentage) will assume that you loved chapter one and hated chapter two and that's why you didn't come back to comment again.

[subsequentibis]

10 Fandoms, 10 Characters, 10 Tags

tagged by @chiropteracupola ! thanks em :D

i'm gonna do all webcomics cos i have been reading So Many Webcomics lately

1. Tiger, Tiger - HONEYFOOT MY BELOVED

2. Kill Six Billion Demons - 82 White Chain Born in Emptiness Returns to Subdue Evil, my daughter whomst i love and support

3. Cucumber Quest - Noisemaster! i love his design and personality, and the way his aesthetic impacts the look of the comic is so cool

4. Star Impact - Aster, bc of her enthusiasm for boxing! i love a character who is excited about actively getting wrecked bc they get to see a real professional at work

5. Witchy - Prill, whose character archetype i usually dislike, but how can you not like prill

6. Paranatural - Eightfold... i miss her every day...

7. Sink Your Hookteeth - Vaythue, such a cool design and such a wonderful little gremlin

8. Soil That Binds Us - Petunia, such a fantastic character with such a heartwrenching backstory

9. The Last Halloween - Splitter... bby i want you to tell slugger how you feeeeeel

10. Gather Ye Power - Enrico!! i love a paladin-type character who is an Actual Ray of Sunshine and also can Kick Your Ass

i have tagged a lot of people recently and also am currently drunk so if you want to do this, you are tagged! do iiiit and tag me so i can see yr faves too

[screentones-webcomicresources]

Marketing your Webcomic on Social Media

So! You’re starting a webcomic and want to share it on social media! Good idea! But how?

The ins and outs of every platform shift and change, nobody has surefire answers, and not all of them are going to be right for you. But some specifics to keep in mind as you approach social media as a webcomic creator can go a long way.

Before you start: Can they read your comic?

Before you get started on any platform - have at least one chapter ready to read. A cold launch on your very first page with 0 followers will probably not go anywhere fast, unless it's an AMAZING first page that explodes everyone's brains instantly, which is rare. It's really good to give people a mini-story to chew on.

On the other hand, it can also be cool to show the PROCESS of starting the webcomic, even before it launches. Heck, some people make accounts solely for their webcomic OCs, and then make the story later. It mostly depends on how much of the behind-the-scenes process you're comfortable with sharing right from the get go.

Where to Post

The biggest platforms that webcomic creators are using right now are Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, TikTok, and deviantART (Facebook might still work for some folks as well, but we don’t have that experience.)

Talk about your comic on any or all of these places to begin with! But as time goes by, try and foster the ones that are most fun for you, and easiest for you to handle. You don't need to post everywhere all the time every day. If you're just on Twitter, great! If you're everywhere, great! It'll all depend on what you like and what you can personally handle.

Next, decide if you want to have your webcomic accounts be separate from your personal accounts. Some people open a whole other account on a site solely for comic news and updates - but not everyone does. Either way is valid!

How to get visibility:

There are many ways to start getting seen by others, so experiment with a lot of things!

Post in different formats depending on what each platform does best.

Show your process! People love sketches. People love seeing works in progress. People love seeing you film your screen and put it up on TikTok, like a window into your 'studio.' Embrace the messy stuff - not everything needs to be super polished!

Talk to people if you'd like to make connections. Genuine interest in their work and their process really does go a long way. That said, stick to appropriate spaces and don’t hound people who aren’t interested in talking to you!

Once you make some friends on these platforms - support them with fan art and comments and general good vibes! As always, your desire to make art or leave comments should come from a genuine place, but hey, if a fellow creator likes your art and shares it, that's already some visibility for your art style and your passion.

Reshare old content that you like after a while! People miss things all the time. If you like looking at a thing again, someone else might too. Share it again!

Also, don't let low engagement at the beginning get you down. It's not common for someone to come into a new platform and have everyone go OH MY GOSH, INSTANT FOLLOW on a massive scale. You have to be ok with very slow growth at first. Remember, you're connecting with only a few people at first, then those people will read your comic, tell a few friends, their friends will tell a few other friends, etc etc. The growth isn't always consistent, but it does get a little more exponential as time goes on, if you keep at it!

Events and discussions can also be an easy way to get visibility and make connections when you’re first starting out. Most of these apply to the art community in general, but you can totally include yourself if you're making a webcomic. Because your webcomic IS art! These sorts of activities include:

Art Share Threads - this applies both for regular art and for webcomics. Seek them out, especially on accounts with viewerships that mirror your own. Be smart about where you share (maybe don’t drop your fantasy comic in the middle of a cape comic thread) - but share as often as you're comfortable!

Weekly Comic Chats: These are events where creators can talk about the webcomic creation process. They basically cover everything, so if you're wearing a lot of hats for your webcomic, it's a good place to talk and to learn! The one that we all know best is @WebcomicChat on Twitter -  follow it and check out their weekly discussions!

Participate in MEMES! Either redrawing existing ones, or hopping on the bandwagons of those that pop up - seemingly overnight! It's an easy way for a potential reader to be like "ok, the vibe of this meme is giving me the vibe of the comic," which is a great 'in' for getting someone started or invested. Have fun with them!

Collaborate with a group! Zines, group pictures, and other group events can be great as well. If you're making a "webring" of friends and creators, it's cool to see those comics consolidated somehow. See what you can organize!  It's good to see people supporting each other - we like that, and we need more of it.

When to Post

Every social media site or app is going to have some sort of pattern for 'what time is best to post.' It's different for each one, and on some, it matters a ton, on others, it matters far less. Do some research into the peak hours of the service you're using. On Twitter, it's usually best to post around noon eastern time - when a lot of people are either just about to start work on the west coast, or just about to go to lunch on the east coast. It doesn't always apply, but there are absolutely DEAD ZONES during the day, where even the most beautiful posts go to die.

Hashtags

On Twitter, try to limit your hashtag usage - but using #webcomic or #webcomics can be helpful! On Instagram... go hog wild. On TikTok... you don't have unlimited hashtags, but you can still include a lot of them. In general - just look at what other similar creators are doing, and literally copy them on their hashtag use. Just do it. There's no shame. Steal the hashtags.

How to Behave on Social Media

How you put yourself out there not just as a comic, but as a person MAKING a comic should also be a big consideration in your approach. Ultimately, it'll come down to your comfort level, your personality, and how personal you want to be. A lot of it comes down to common sense - don't be a jerk to other people - but your mileage may vary on what kind of vibe you want to set.

While you can absolutely get an audience for being extremely opinionated and sassy (especially if your comic has strong messages), it definitely doesn't work for everyone and can often affect how people perceive your story. The best use of social media is always a genuine portrayal of your personality, but with a little dash of neutrality here and there, especially if you're using it for marketing.

Know how to control yourself and think before you post something controversial. We've absolutely seen people just completely lose it on main, and while that can be entertaining sometimes, in other cases, it can really blow things up in a way that can’t be undone and drain your energy and morale to deal with the aftermath. Having the control to be chill and professional in public and vent your spicy hot takes in private can be the difference between a great social media experience and a draining one.

Parasocial connections are also a common trap just starting out.  It’s great to get the word out in appropriate spaces, but stick to talking to people who want to be talked to, and DON'T DM strangers just because they have large follower counts, or put other on your mailing list without their consent.

Self-Care

Social media presence takes time, patience, and energy. It’s a great tool to grow your audience and make important connections with your peers, but you’re also likely going to be making posts that never get seen in the process of navigating algorithms and finding the places both you and your audience like to hang out. Use it as a tool and not a judgment on your work.  If you find it too consuming or unhealthy, use queueing/scheduling tools to give yourself space from each post or take breaks. No matter what, stay healthy.

[lesbianmarrow]

How did you learn to write comics? Do you have resources that helped?

gonna preface this by saying 1) i am very much a novice at writing comics, my work has only been accepted into 1 small kickstarter-funded project so far and i am very much learning by doing, and 2) i am exclusively a writer and not an artist, so if you are an artist as well as a writer then your learning process will look a bit different. but here are some resources and advice:

anybody who wants to understand how comics function, either because they enjoy reading them or because they want to try making them, should read understanding comics by scott mccloud. it's absolutely foundational. you should be able to find it at the library or at used bookstores for cheap. mccloud also wrote & drew a book called making comics which i have not read but i really probably should at some point.

read comic book scripts. there are online archives that host scripts written by professional comic book writers, so you can use those as a learning resource. also, there are lots of comic book pros who use patreon and give advice and insight on the creation of comics if you subscribe to them. one thing you'll notice is that although comic book scripts are generally patterned after film or tv scripts, there is no one uniform format that everyone uses. font sizes and margins and things aren't that important - what's important is that the artist you're working with understands what you're communicating in your script.

i'm gonna shoutout erica henderson's patreon specifically bc it has taught me so much about the creation of comics, especially aspects such as lettering and coloring which i as a writer have much less familiarity with. even if you are just a writer and not an artist or letterer, it's crucial as a writer to understand these processes and keep them in mind as you write.

honestly....just start writing. write a 2 page comic. then write a 6 page comic. make friends with other people who love comics and are trying to create their own, and ask them for feedback on your work. offer to give them feedback on their work as well. even if these scripts never become published comics, they're important practice and working on them teaches you how to write comics.

i find that i've learned a lot just by collaborating with artists who draw comics based on the comic scripts i give them. writing scripts is all well and good, but i can't over-emphasize how educational it is to see how an artist translates your scripts into comics. if you aren't an artist yourself, then the problem is getting an artist to draw your comics and making it worth their time & effort. some novice artists might agree to draw your short comic idea for free so they can use it for their portfolio. but some might refuse to draw your comic unless they get paid somehow, which is totally fair of them. one option is paying them out-of-pocket if you have the means and if they're willing, but that can get pretty expensive. the other option is getting someone to pay for the both of you to create a comic together. what i've been doing is looking for comics anthology projects that have open submissions, and collaborating with an artist i know from tumblr/twitter to create a pitch to submit to that project. i've been getting a lot of rejections, but i did get accepted for color of always and that's how i was able to make that 8-page comic with jenny happen :) i learned a lot thru collaborating on that comic, and getting published shows other potential publishers that we know what we're doing. plus getting paid rules. there are also options such as running a kickstarter project, collaborating with an artist on a long-form webcomic, and pitching your comic or graphic novel idea to publishers, but those are a lot of work and require that you know what you're doing, and my instinct would be to hold off on that until you have more basic experience making comics.

so yeah ummm i hope this isn't too long or overwhelming lol but the tl;dr is:

study comics, read comic scripts, write comic scripts, befriend people who make comics, make your own comics if you can, and look for opportunities for you guys to get published :)

[wishingstarinajar]

Here's a bunch for Faux- Why does he like foxes so much? Does he use the tail to mess with people? What's his favorite milkshake? Would he ever voluntarily lend someone his jacket?

Alright, here comes a big ass post with questions and answers.

These questions are aimed at my boys Faux, Scam(p) and Indi.

Why does Faux like foxes so much? He likes them because of the bedtime stories he'd read to Scam. Instead of a bunny, a fox was the lead. He thinks they are clever and witty (and a bit sassy), which he wouldn't mind to be like. Also, he thinks they look beautiful with their orange fur and bushy tails.

The OOC reason for his like towards foxes is because I myself love them so much but also because there used to be an old webcomic back in the early 2000s called Faux Pas that centered around foxes. It's also where his name comes from!

Does Faux use the tail to mess with people? He does not.

What's Faux's favorite milkshake? He likes strawberry shortcake milkshakes but also and cookie dough!

Would Faux ever voluntarily lend someone his jacket? No, you should have brought your own. It's always autumn at his place, why wouldn't you bring one?? xD

What's Scam(p)'s favorite scam? The one that gives him a lot of G without getting into trouble afterwards. (He isn't going to give out his secrets, come on!)

Is Scam really good at it? Nah and yah. Fake it till you make it!

Is Scam a good liar or bad one? He's actually pretty good at lying and that's concerning.

Scam(p)'s favorite food? Give him a plate of fries with french fry seasoning, ketchup and mayo and he's happy.

Which brother (if either) likes puns? Neither have an affinity for puns. Scam on the other hand is into riddles (instead of puzzles)!

Does the AU have a royal guard? Are they in it? It has a royal guard and neither are in it. Scam never managed to get accepted so he just does his own thing in capturing humans (which he isn't very good at) and Faux is living a double life with his Judge duties (which he has been slacking at. Don't tell the Queen.).

What lead to it being held up by falsehoods? Who rules? Faux's name xD but the reason for it being so in the AU is something I haven't thought of yet. Queen Toriel rules the Underground and I will assume she's also just faking it to do her best in freeing her subjects.

My first and foremost question does Indi like hugs/cuddles cuz I wanna hug him so bad! He looks very cuddly. I wouldn't say he loves them because he doesn't fully grasp the concept of 'loving something' but he doesn't mind them.

Do the binary coding act like pointillism the 0s and 1s blend together to make the cracks? Do they make any type of pattern with the 'cracks'? They don't. The Multiverse's coding that got engraved into Indi's bones is just so so so so soooo small that they look like very fine and thin lines. They don't form a specific or symmetrical pattern.

Does Indi store larger pots of ink in the Scribble Dome and just refill the little ones he wears? He collects the ink in bigger containers and valves and refills the smaller pots once or twice a day.

Does the ink Indi collects come from his original creator or all creators? From all creators except his original creator. Their original creator abandoned him; they don't give a shit anymore.

Does Indi have a favorite ink emotion? He does! It's confidence.

How frequently does Indi need to dip into them (ba dun tis)? Every day but it also depends on which emotion he needs or wants to experience.

Why does Indi treat OCs, Out!code or creators so differently from other characters? Creators give him life through the creation of a timeline and the original cast of said timeline. Indi is very set on everyone playing their planned and expected parts because hey, he's selfish and just wants to live. The intactness of timelines is crucial to his survival. It's like playing a strategy game; you don't quickly treat the pawns as beings with feelings, you have them act on what they should do instead to gain the advantage and win the game. In this case, 'winning' is important to his survival and he wins by making sure everyone does as they are coded to do.

Out!codes are also a Creator's creation so he treats them fairly the same, but they are unpredictable renegades because they don't belong to a particular AU/timeline and can mess things up (like Error-coded characters, the Bad Sanses or whoever else set on destroying things).

Has Indi ever thought to try to refind/recreate the world he was meant for? He doesn't remember it so nope.

If Indi were to go back the void he was left in originally would the fractured remains of his soul still be there? His soul is gone, there's nothing left of it. Theoretically, if there were something left of it, it would be in his original AU instead of the void.

That was a lot of questions xD Thanks though! Hope it answered a few things.

[mk-wizard]

How “Zombie Garfield” Happened

Hello, friends.

Today, I want to talk about a comic series that is extremely special to me because it is one of the many comics that made me realize what I wanted to do as a calling and it helped shame my childhood as well as my sense of humour: Garfield. Sadly... this essay will be a negative one, but it needs to be written. It is how the “Zombie Garfield” came to be. No, it’s not a Halloween special, it is a case of how the downfall of Garfield happened and how it became nothing more than a shadow of what it once was. Note that this essay is also subjective and I am well aware that some fans like the new Garfield. I have nothing, but respect for those fans, but as someone who read Garfield from the beginning and owned a large majority of its books for the last 25 years, I can tell you that the iconic orange fat can is not what he once was and while he has yet to lose weight, he has lost a lot of his original charm. And it goes well beyond seasonal rot. To understand how Zombie Garfield came to be, I will list all the things that made classic Garfield great and how those qualities are now gone. And for the record, this is coming from someone who supports reboots and getting with the times.

1- Garfield is still and always will be a cat. - No matter out outlandish, wacky, ambidextrous his forepaws are or quirky Garfield will act, he will always fall back on being a cat. He cannot talk meaning no one can understand or hear his thoughts, he walks on four legs most of the time and he is a creature of his species habit. With the exception of eating mice that is.

In short, Garfield was smarter and more self-aware than the average cat, but he is a cat and would act like one. That was part of what made him funny, but over time, Garfield would walk only on his hind legs which now had human like feet, everyone could hear his thoughts or he could talk, and he was able to do everything a human being could do. In other words, Garfield became more like an anthropomorphic cat playing the part of a cat.

It just isn’t the same and while I love the Looney Toons for being this way, Garfield isn’t a Looney Toon. He was his own unique thing and now, that uniqueness is gone and I’m not the only who misses it. After all, Garfield paved the way for other pet themed comics thanks to being a cat. It also feels all the more wrong to stop being what he is supposed to be for that reason.

2- Garfield has a heart. - While Garfield has the personality of a problem child and slightly bullying big brother, deep down, he loves John, Odie and at one time, the comic was on the path with Garfield even growing to love Nermal. And no, this isn’t a joke. At one time, Nermal growing on Garfield was a thing.

That was also a huge part of the joke. Garfield was cynical, sarcastic and savage, but deep down, had a lot of love to give. And that is why we loved the comic strip. After all, how can you have a family slice of life comic if there’s no love? Now, Garfield’s antics have become outright sadistic to the point of being grimly homicidal which I get is funny to some, but to a long time fan like me, that is shocking and not the Garfield I know. At all. And not just Garfield. Everyone in the comic has become so mean spirited. While the Garfield family was never a perfect one, it was never dysfunctional like it is now. While even Nermal used to say clever quips, he was never actually mean because he actually admired Garfield. Now, the heart has been replaced with stone and it shows.

3- Garfield was relatable. - And not just for people with cats or for socially awkward people like Jon. Garfield was relatable to people in general because it dealt with issues that the average person could relate to. It wasn’t all about Garfield being a glutton or just putting down Jon. While exaggerated at times, at the core, we could all put ourselves in the characters’ shoes at one time or another. Kind of like, this situation right here;

Nowadays, we have Garfield taking these mission impossible type trips all the way in the Amazon jungle, he finds a dinosaur bone in his backyard and there was even a special about him becoming a superhero.

Now, I don’t mind specials that switch it up, but even the specials should be grounded in reality because that was Garfield’s major audience: real people. And I also understand that the new Garfield Show cartoon is aimed for children, but the type of episodes it features feel like they belong in another setting. Not for Garfield.

4- Everyone would win and lose some sometimes. Including Garfield. - In other words, Garfield was not a Mary Sue who would get away with everything no matter how awful he acted. Sooner or later, he would get his karma moments just like everyone else would. And on the flipside, the others would win every now and then for their efforts including Jon and Odie. This kept the characters interesting and funny.

Now, there seems to be an unwritten rule that no matter how bad Garfield acts, the worst he gets is a slap on the paw. And also, Jon just isn’t allowed to win anymore (with the exception of the point I will bring up next and I’m surprised he still has that with how he is written now). This has changed Garfield into a mischievous yet loveable cat to a borderline abuser. This is absolute not the Garfield I know at all. Sure, he was savage at times, but never cruel. And Jon was socially awkward and had a rocky love life, but he was never THIS inept.

5- Jon’s struggle with winning Liz’s heart. - If there was one true plot to Garfield, it was Jon finding true love though specifically, him trying to woo Garfield’s vet Liz. It was always kind of hinted that sooner or later, Jon would finally capture her heart and it was something we were all rooting for yet at the same time, it would be bittersweet because it would mark the end of the series just as Steve Urkell finally winning Laura Winslow from Family Matters marked the end of that series. As long as Liz only at best tolerated Jon, it meant that the story was still going on and in its defense, the comic was still funny throughout that period even if by the end, its age was starting to show.

And on a side note, I mean even years after this phase of the comic, but this is the best of the Jon wooing Liz strip’s in my opinion. Anyway, when the fateful day happened where the pair finally went steady, we all expected to end. Of course, not abruptly as there would be a few new jokes to tell, but the story ran its natural course and the only big left to do was end it on a high note with Jon and Liz most likely either getting married or at least living together... but that didn’t happen. The comic is still ongoing which is a disservice to it because all of the important jokes have run out. Now, it looks like the story will continue until Liz leaves Jon which is not a good way to end the show because instead of ending on a happy high note, it will end on a sad low note. If it even ends when that happens.

Now, as I stated before, this is all my opinion, but I have to say that in my mind, once Liz finally became Jon’s woman and the family accepted her, Garfield ended. I also want to clear the air that new Garfield in no way, shape or form changes the way I feel about my Garfield. Nothing can change that for me. I am just saying that I have lost interest in the comic and I just take it as another example of what happens when you don’t let a story end once it has run its natural course. It loses itself.

But what do all of you think? What has Garfield lost? And what is your opinion on new Garfield? I would love to hear it. If you love my essays and my work, do give me a follow and even drop me a Ko-Fi or become a patron of mine. I also make art, webcomics and I do commissions. All links are in my profile page.

Thanks for reading and as always, have a great day and stay safe.

[bogkeep]

hmmmmmmmmmm maybe i’ll write an Introspective Musing Post about my relationship to religion and their depiction in stories because i’ve pondering about this topic lately

so for those who are reading this and DON’T know what’s been going on...  there’s this webcomic i fell in love with some years ago, about six years actually, that depicts a post-apocalyptic fantasy/horror adventure set in the nordic countries. it had, and has still, some very uncomfortable flaws regarding racial representation, and the creator has historically not dealt very well with criticism towards it. it’s a whole Thing. my relationship with this comic has fluctuated a lot, since there are a lot of elements in it i DO love and i still feel very nostalgic about, and like idk i felt like i trust my skills in critical thinking enough to keep reading. aaand then the creator went a teensy bit off the deep end created a whole minicomic which is like... a lukewarm social media dystopia where christians are oppressed (and also everyone is a cute bunny, including our lord and saviour jesus christ). which is already tonedeaf enough considering there are religious people who DO get prosecuted for their faith, like, that’s an actual reality for a lot of people - but as far as i can tell, usually not christians. and then there’s an afterword that’s like, “anyway i got recently converted and realized i’m a disgusting human being full of sin who doesn’t deserve redemption but jesus loves me so i’ll be fine!! remember to repent for your sins xoxo” and a bunch of other stuff and IT’S KIND OF REALLY CONCERNING i have, uh, been habitually looking at the reactions to and discussions around this, maybe it’s not very self care of me but there’s a lot of overwhelming things rn and it’s fantastically distracting, yknow? like, overall this situation is fairly reminiscent of the whole jkr thing. creator of a series that is Fairly Beloved, does something hurtful, handles backlash in a weird way, a lot of people start taking distance from Beloved Series or find ways to enjoy it on their own terms, creator later reveals to have been fully radicalized and releases a whole manifesto, and any and all criticism gets framed as harassment and proving them right. of course, one of them is a super rich person with a LOT of media power and a topic that is a lot more destructive in our current zeitgeist, and the other is an independent webcomic creator, so it’s  not the same situation. just similar vibez ya feel as a result of this, i have been Thinking. and just this feels like some sort of defeat like god dammit she got me i AM thinking about the topic she wrote about!!! i should dismiss the whole thing!!! but thinking about topics is probably a good thing so hey lets go. me, i’m agnostic. i understand that this is a ‘lazy’ position to take, but it’s what works for me. i simply do not vibe with organized religion, personally. (i had the wikipedia page for ‘chaos magic’ open in a tab for several weeks, if that helps.) i was raised by atheists in a majorly atheist culture. christian atheist, i should specify. norway has been mostly and historically lutheran, and religion has usually been a private and personal thing. it turns out the teacher i had in 7th grade was mormon, but i ONLY found out because he showed up in a tv series discussing religious groups in norway later, and he was honestly one of the best teachers i have ever had - he reignited the whole class’ interest in science, math, and dungeons and dragons. it was a real “wait WHAT” moment for my teenage self. i think i was briefly converted to christianity by my friend when i was like 7, who grew up in a christian family (i visited them a couple times and always forgot they do prayers before dinner. oops!), but like, she ALSO made me believe she was the guardian of a secret magic orb that controls the entire world and if i told anybody the world would burn down in 3 seconds. i only suspected something was off when one day the Orb ran on batteries, and another day the Orb had to be plugged in to charge. in my defense i really wanted to be part of a cool fantasy plot. i had no idea how to be a christian beyond “uuuuh believe in god i guess” so it just faded away on its own. when i met this friend several years later, she was no longer christian. i think every childhood friend of mine who grew up in a christian family, was no longer christian when they grew up. most notably my closest internet friend whose family was catholic - she had several siblings, and each of them took a wildly different path, from hippie treehugger to laveyan satanist or something in that area. (i joined them for a sermon in a church when they visited my town. my phone went off during it because i had forgotten to silence it. oops!) ((i also really liked their mother’s interpretation of purgatory. she explained it as a bath, not fire. i like that.)) i have never had any personal negative experiences with christianity, despite being openly queer/gay/trans. the only time someone has directly told me i’m going to hell was some guy who saw me wearing a hoodie on norway’s constitution day. yeah i still remember that you bastard i’ve sworn to be spiteful about it till the day i die!! i’ve actually had much more insufferable interactions with the obnoxious kind of atheists - like yes yes i agree with you on a lot but that doesn’t diminish your ability to be an absolute hypocrite, it turns out? i remember going to see the movie ‘noah’ with a friend who had recently discovered reddit atheism and it was just really exhausting to discuss it with her. one of these Obnoxious Atheists is my Own Mother. which is a little strange, honestly, because she LOVES visiting churches for the Aesthetic and Architecture. we cannot go anywhere without having to stop by a pretty church to Admire and Explore. I’VE BEEN IN SO MANY CHURCHES FOR AN ATHEIST RAISED NON-CHRISTIAN. i’ve been to the vatican TWICE (i genuinely don’t even know how much of my extended family is christian. up north in the tiny village i come from, i believe my uncle is the churchkeeper, and it’s the only building in the area that did not get burnt down by the the nazis during ww2 - mostly because soldiers needed a place to sleep. still don’t know whether or not said uncle believes or not, because hey, it’s Personal) i think my biggest personal relationship to religion, and christianity specifically, has been academic. yeah, we learned a brief synopsis of world religions at school (and i remember the class used to be called ‘christianity, religion, and ethics’ and got changed to ‘religion, beliefs, and ethics’ which is cool. it was probably a big discourse but i was a teen who didnt care), but also my bachelor degree is in art history, specifically western art history because it’s a vast sprawling topic and they had to distill it as best they could SIGHS. western art history is deeply entangled with the history of the church, and i think the most i’ve ever learnt about christianity is through these classes (one of my professors wrote an article about how jesus can be interpreted as queer which i Deeply Appreciate). i also specifically tried to diversify my academic input by picking classes such as ‘depiction of muslims and jewish people in western medieval art’ and ‘art and religion’ when i was an exchange student in canada, along with 101 classes in anthropology and archaeology. because i think human diversity and culture is very cool and i want to absorb that knowledge as best as i can. i think my exchange semester in canada was the most religiously diverse space have ever been in, to be honest. now as an adult i have more christian friends again, but friends who chose it for themselves, and who practice in ways that sound good and healthy, like a place of solace and community for them. the vast majority of my friends are queer too, yknow?? i’ve known too many people who have seen these identities as fated opposites, but they aren’t, they’re just parts of who people are. it’s like... i genuinely love people having their faiths and beliefs so much. i love people finding that space where they belong and feel safe in. i love people having communities and heritages and connections. i deeply respect and admire opening up that space for faith within any other communities, like... if i’m going to listen to a podcast about scepticism and cults, i am not going to listen to it if it’s just an excuse to bash religion. i think the search for truth needs to be compassionate, always. you can acknowledge that crystals are cool and make people happy AND that multi level marketing schemes are deeply harmful and prey on people in vulnerable situaitons. YOU KNOW???? so now’s when i bring up Apocalypse Comic again. one of the things i really did like about it was, ironically, how it handled religion. in its setting, people have returned to old gods, and their magic drew power from their religion. characters from different regions had different beliefs and sources. in the first arc, they meet the spirit of a lutheran pastor, who ends up helping them with her powers. it was treated as, in the creators own words, ‘just another mythology’. and honestly? i love that. it was one of the nicest depictions i’ve seen of christianity in fiction, and as something that could coexist with other faiths. I Vibe With That. and then, uh, then... bunny dystopia comic. it just... it just straight up tells you christianity is literally the only way to..?? be a good person??? i guess?? i’m still kind of struggling to parse what exactly it wanted to say. the evil social media overlord bird tells you the bible makes you a DANGEROUS FREETHINKER, but the comic also treats rewriting the bible or finding your own way to faith as something,, Bad. The Bible Must Remain Unsullied. Never Criticize The Bible. also, doing good things just for social media clout is bad and selfish. you should do good things so you don’t burn in hell instead. is that the message? it reads a lot like the comic creator already had the idea for the comic, but only got the urge to make it after she was converted and needed to spread the good word. you do you i guess!! i understand that she’s new to this and probably Going Through Something, and this is just a step on her journey. but the absolute self-loathing she described in her afterword... it does not sound good. i’m just some agnostic kid so what do i know, but i do not think that kind of self-flagellating is a kind faith to have for yourself. i might not ever have been properly religious, but you know what i AM familiar with? a brain wired for ocd and intrusive thoughts. for a lot of my life i’ve struggled with my own kind of purity complex. i’ve had this really strange sensitivity for things that felt ‘tainted’. i’ve experienced having to remove more and more words from my vocabulary because they were Bad and i did not want to sully my sentences. it stacked, too - if a word turned out to be an euphemism for something, i could never feel comfortable saying it again. i still struggle a bit with these things, but i have confronted these things within myself. i’ve had to make myself comfortable with imperfection and ‘tainted’ things and accept that these are just, arbitrary categories my mind made up. maybe that’s the reason i can’t do organized religion even if i found one that fit for me - just like diets can trigger disordered eating, i think it would carve some bad brainpaths for me. so yeah i’m worried i guess! i’m worried when people think it’s so good that she finally found the correct faith even if it’s causing all this self-hate. is there really not a better way? or are they just trusting she’ll find it? and yeah it’s none of my concern, it’s like, i worry for jkr too but i do not want her within miles of my trans self thANKS. so like, i DO enjoy media that explores faith and what it means for you. my favourite band is the oh hellos, which DOES draw on faith and the songwriter’s experience with it. because of my religious iliteracy most of it has flown over my head for years and i’m like “oh hey this is gay” and then only later realize it was about god all along Probably. i like what they’ve done with the place. also, stormlight archive - i had NO idea sanderson was mormon, the way he writes his characters, many of whom actively discuss religion and their relationship to it. i love that about the books, honestly. Media That Explores Religion In A Complex And Compassionate Way... we like that i’ve been thinking about my own stories too, and how i might want to explore faith in them. most of my settings are based on magic and it’s like, what role does religion have in a world where gods are real and makes u magic. in sparrow spellcaster’s story, xe creates? summons? an old god - brings them to life out of the idea of them. it’s a story about hubris, mostly. then there’s iphimery, the story where i am actively fleshing out a pantheon. there’s no doubt the gods are real in the fantasy version of iphimery, they are the source of magic and sustain themselves on slivers of humanity in exchange. but in the modern version, where they are mostly forgotten? that’s some room for me to explore, i think. especially the character of timian, who comes from a smaller town and moves to a large and diverse city. in the fantasy story, the guardian deity chooses his sister as a vessel. in the modern setting, that does not happen, and i don’t yet know what does, but i really want timian to be someone who struggles with his identity - his faith, his sexuality, the expectations cast upon him by his hometown... i’m sure it’s a cliché story retold through a million gay characters but i want to do it too okay. i want to see him carve out his own way of existing within the world because i care him and want to see him thrive!!! alrighty i THINK that’s all i wanted to write. thanks if you read all of this, and if you didn’t that’s super cool have a nice day !

[kintatsujo]

any advise for someone putting together a webcomic?

Oh boy oh boy anon I don’t happy flap often but you better believe I have advice XD

For people new here: I’ve been doing my main webcomic, The Law of Purple, since 2004, also was doing a different webcomic, Alien Revenant, for several years before having to hiatus indefinitely, have done a number of fancomics, including one that ran weekly for a number of years, and I’m in the midst of rebooting another original called Eclipse Knight.  That’s why I’m someone you might consider asking about doing webcomics.  That and I take an actual philosophy to this stuff.

Onward to my Advice, born of blood and toil!!

Make a palette and stick to it

This does keep the art of your comic looking consistent but the REAL reason is because you’re not going to be spending a bunch of time deciding on colors because bam, I have ten specific colors for different shades of wood and I’m gonna pick from those.  Note how I phrased that!  I’m not telling you to make a 500 page comic using Gameboy Classic colors or something-- I’m telling you to make a palette based on the colors you’re going to want for your project.  I personally tend to prefer to work from “master” palettes where ALL the colors are coming from but you can also make pools of palettes so that, for example, individual characters have their own personal colors.

Also: Don’t bother with too many different shades of red.  A lot of people can’t see the difference between more than a handful, so why make more work for yourself?

The more backups the better

I know that probably sounds obvious but you’d be surprised how many webcomics go on hiatus because of things like “I lost half my files.”  Alien Revenant’s rocky years started because it uses conlang heavily and my glossaries weren’t as up to date on all my backups when a certain pen drive got borked.  Even after that you’d think I’d have learned my lesson and I STILL ended up having to recover some colors from LOP’s master palette that I’d added between computers when our one desktop crashed.

Don’t feel guilty for using shortcuts that work for you, and use whatever kind of references you need

I’ve made perspective references by setting up toys and a bunch of rulers and furniture and taking pictures with my phone.  I’ve made perspective references using computer programs.  I own a model Harley motorcycle because it’s the one I wanted Blue to ride.  Use free floorplan programs.  Use the Sims.  I have straight up traced pictures of buildings I’d drawn in the past and in the LOP page I’m working on there’s about fourteen characters that are just the same guy copy pasted over and over.  (They’re going to be obscured by effects so why kill myself over it?)  I’ve also copy-pasted the lineart for backgrounds from one panel to the next when I wanted the same angle, and sometimes I just copy paste the sketch layer when a character’s going to be mostly in the same pose and adjust from there.  

(Copy-paste isn’t a sin and if you’re clever it’s barely even noticeable.)

Also a full-turnaround sheet for every character is HELPFUL but like, don’t actually feel like you HAVE to do it, either, especially if you realize it’s actually stalling you out.  Reference sheets are usually most important for things like somebody having complicated tattoos, or the furniture and architecture of the main character’s house, or uniforms, things like that.

Set aside Specific Comic Work Time if possible

I’m currently doing better at keeping up with my own schedule entirely because there’s time each week that I have nothing to do but work on my comic, which is Sunday mornings while I’m sitting in my office waiting for people to go away so I can wipe down the light switches and lock the doors.  When I was at my most productive as a webcomicker, I had a full set of college courses crammed into two or three days and nothing else to do once my homework was done but sit around the school lounge areas and draw.

Time yourself doing pages and try to base your schedule on that

Even if you start off with a decent buffer, no schedule buffer lasts forever.

Don’t pick a coloring style that takes you more than four hours per page

oh my god, no amount of painterly coolness or smooth airbrushing is worth that.  I should know because I did an airbrushing style for a chapter of LOP when I first started coloring on the computer and chapters of LOP are generally between 100 and 200 pages long, and I wanted to fuck off and live in the woods or something by the time I was done.  

Not even because of how much time it took-- Once I was good at it, it looked beautiful, but airbrushing the same two dudes having a Serious Conversation for fifteen pages makes you contemplate killing them both off randomly by the end and one of them was the main character.  On that note--

Style testing will save you a lot of time and tears

There’s a number of ways to style test; do a bunch of memes with your characters, do a short five page thing, just do a series of standalone pieces.  It’ll give you a much better idea of what will work for you and what won’t.

That said if you wanted to do a different art style for every page of your comic because that’s what scratches your id, go right ahead and do it because doing webcomics should be fun if you ask me.

Pick a legible font

I had a rant about this not too very long ago.  Go to Blambot and get yourself some legible fonts.  I’m dyslexic.

Try out batching your pages

When I talk about “batching” LoP pages, I mean that I sketched four or five of them, then I went through and inked all of those, then I went through and colored all of them.  This isn’t necessarily something that works for everyone but when I have consistent Work On Comics time and a buffer it’s something that usually works pretty well for me.  

Don’t pick a website for hosting that you think is ugly

Because the website your comic is on will inform a lot of your experience.  I’m currently on ComicFury and I’m very happy there, and he’s got a set of templates you can choose from and modify the colors of.  Also personally I don’t actually trust Tapastic as a hosting site, not to go into detail but someone I read had some very bad experiences with them basically trying to legalese the rights to her webcomic out from under her.  I can direct to a post of the Twitter thread if anyone wants it but you can also find it by searching “Tapastic” on my blog.

And finally, if you stop having fun it’s time for a break.

One of the things about doing consistent webcomic schedules is they don’t always allow for that “breathing in” part of the creative cycle.  It’s okay to do things like taking a break for a month to just... binge watch three different anime or something.  I thoroughly encourage a schedule that lets you enjoy other media while you’re actively working (sometimes literally; I sometimes listen to podcasts when I color) but sometimes you just straight up need a Real Vacation from your webcomic.  Definitely consider taking at least two weeks off between discrete chapters if that’s something your comic has.  Some artists do filler, some invite in guest artists, but it’s fine to just say “see you in October.”  

Good luck, Anon, and let me know when I can read it!

[theglguidetowebcomics]

Full review: Girly

What’s Pink, insane, NSFW, hilarious, and somehow heartwarming at points? This comic is a ride and a half, and I’m genuinely surprised more people haven’t heard of this one… I’ve been wanting to talk about this one for a WHILE. 

So let’s talk about the elephant in this room… Because I think it just ate someone’s couch. 

Slightly NSFW review with spoilers below.

Girly, by Jackie Lesnick was a webcomic that ran between 2003 and 2010, (and really has some of those early webcomic hallmarks). Its monochromatic pink, vertical, with a poppy early cartoon feel. It’s also listed as a romantic comedy, which is… correct, but cuts a whole lot of what makes this comic good, short. 

This review was always going to be one of the 4 I really struggled with. And not just because I lost it the first time without a back up in a code glitch, got distracted by a pandemic, then procrastinated my way to finally making a second version in my new backup folder… No, well also yes but no. This was a comic I read when I was younger (and should NOT have read  when I was younger), and have always had a soft spot for. I’ll admit as much as this comic has its flaws or weird moments or just weirdness in general, its one of the few comics I’ve found myself rereading in its entirety more than once. And no matter how much I know it's coming, find myself sobbing, uncontrollably, at the final panel. There’s surprisingly a lot of heart in this comic, and a whole lot of honesty in just the direction the author took this weird little thing. But, first let me take of those rose tinted glasses as much as I can… (actually that might not work too well with a pink comic seriously whats with all these early 2000s lesbian comics being PINK?). And give this old comic a look and a bit of a dust. but , first...

Sex.

Getting to the point - page 3 of “Girly”

Girly is a NSFW comic. It’s not shy about it either. It hits the audience (and the main character) over the head with it literally in the first pages. It has sex positive characters, a sex positive world, some characters with… sex powers almost, and Dildos, a whole lot of dildos. Some even with smiley faces on them. It’s a pretty unavoidable part of the comic that makes up a large core of it’s humour and is baked into its wacky world. So if that’s not your thing, and it’s not really skippable in this case, you won’t like this comic.

But, if you’re alright with that part of it this might just be a hidden gem. Moving on.

Art

Artwork is always interesting in webcomics. They’re usually one man shows, have a weird niche / strong influences, and or usually go on massive journeys as the art improves. Girly is no different here. 

Girly starts out rough. Some poses are wonky and its a bit scratchy. Technically speaking it has a few issues, which is fine. Its a free webcomic, from the 2000s that didn't copy and paste faces. (Won’t name names, you know who you are). You can’t be too harsh on a free comic, though.

However, what the art style does, even early on is set the style and feel of the comic. Anime inspired faces, bold outlines, and blocky silhouettes that were really popular with 90’s and 2000s cartoons. It has a newspaper, manga comedy strip vertical style, too. It fits the style of story well as a poppy wacky story. It's the perfect art style it could take.

Its rough in the beginning, but moves on from its scratchy days, to loose pen brush, to finally a polished free hand poppy style. It gets more technically advanced as it goes along, but it keeps its core style throughout. It’s fun, a little unhinged, and just pares perfectly.

The one issue I have with the art is it comes off as a bit cramped. It certainly matches the energy of the story, but it also feels like it doesn't let the characters have any breathing room in the frame. It comes off as squashed, and can make some character poses hard to read. That’s the only complaint I can find though. The issue even fixes itself later in the story, but just very very close to the end. It looks great there, but the majority of the comic is a little cramped. Still that’s just a small complaint.

Nitpicking here but some panels need a lil more room

This a humour comic foremost. It's the biggest part of what makes Girly specifically Girly.

Humour

The humour is mostly wacky nonsense, playing off its insane characters, physics defying world, everything being dialed up to 11. It also works a lot like satire, poking at what influences it, and playing with cinematic expectations. The first page has Otra shooting someone into space on a rocket because they annoyed them, the first “adventure” the character’s go on is stealing everyone’s pants because they couldn’t find anything else to do. Then there’s the kidnapping adventures, knight trials, and slice of life shenanigans that happen. All of it as wacky as the last. I haven’t really found any other lesbian comics like it. Its not everyone’s tastes, but it is certainly unique.

If you’re into a willy wonka tunnel of over the top characters and plots, you’ll like Girly.

Characters

Girl is a LONG comic, it ran for 7 years. The art evolved, the story writing, jokes, and themes along with it. It was originally meant to run for only 50 strips... and it ended up with 764. 

so, there’s a lot to unpack.

Firstly, the premise of the story is somewhat simple. It focuses on Otra. The kinda straight man to the entire universe. She starts out almost depressed, out of place, and bored of the wacky inhabitants of her world. Until one of those wacky residents smacks her over the head with a giant dildo and won’t leave her alone for the next 7 years of run time. 

What follows is the sullen Otra being pulled around by the always cheery and zany nonsensical Winter as the sidekick for bizarre adventures. Otra’s depressive grounded view keeps the bizarreness funny, while Winter cuts through her negative attitude and causes a lot of the over the top plot. Leaving Otra to warm up to the world, and Winter to get less reckless as they balance eachother out. It’s a fun dynamic, and works as an emotional core of the story. No matter how weird the plot and rules of the world are, their relationship keeps the story somewhat focused and rewarding to see develop.

An example of bold wacky character designs from even early on

The comic isn’t just about them, though. As an ensemble comic there's plenty of side characters that go through arcs and beats as well. From el chubacabre, the man that woman find so irresistible that they sleep with him as soon as they see him; detective Clapjaw the street wise detective who is very bad at his job; Officer Hipbone and police guy from the cute P D; captain fist the ever popular bad at his job superhero who gets all the credit; the news reporter obsessed with captain fist; the woman with babies; Steak;  the elephants that just… appear and eat buildings; among many many others. A lot of whom also have nicely written character arcs and depth in later chapters. Many of the character however are simple and remain simple, which isn’t a bad thing. For such a large cast, having a diverse range of strange characters with strong identities and looks even if a bit simple stops it from getting bogged down. It strikes a good balance. Plus there’s plenty enough of characters with more depth later on. 

 All the character’s are insane, and over the top in a way that really sets up the world they live in and how it works... as dysfunctional as it is. There’s something very Cartoon Network about all the characters, but with some wider influences. something about  dumb characters, with very specific goals and quirks that work on their own physics to feed into the high energy insanity of the world. Its entertaining to read, and leads to a weirdly charming feel of the comic. 

Story and plot

For the bit people actually want to know about. What is it about?

Just a little bit of influences...

For the style itself the comic comes off as a mix between early 2000s slice of life-y anime, 2000s cartoon Network, and a dose of 2000s webcomic sarcastic action/adventure flare. It definitely has one of the most pronounced styles that I’ve seen, and even if it's very much a webcomic of it’s time it also goes a bit beyond that into something that feels personal to the author and honest. Its a batshit comic. But, it wears its influences on it’s sleeve and really plays with tropes and ideas the author found engaging at the time. It somehow comes off as refreshing in just how willing it is to go weird or niche for no other reason but because it wants to. It's what I appreciate most about the comic. It’s honest.

The overarching story of the comic is without a doubt about Otra and winter growing together as people. But with a comic that’s run for 7 years a little bit more happens in the journey, at least you hope it would. Girly runs on chapters, 15 in total (with 15 having sub chapters due to being the story’s climax), and each one of those chapters follows a different plot or adventure with Otra’s and Winter’s developing relationship gluing them together. 

The plots themselves are wild and vary a bit in quality. But for a long comic that’s understandable and expected. They go from solving elephant problems, super villains, body swapping, fantasy parodies, and all sorts of strange things. Sometimes a few plots drag and a few character arcs feel a bit bland. It still manages to be entertaining all the way through though. The plots themselves work to get the character’s to play off each other and explore the strange world it takes place in. Exploring evil teddy bears, or an entire town devoted to cheap gags. No matter what, all the plots work in fleshing out the world and pushing character’s out of their comfort zone or forcing them to change. There are some that are less fun than others, but none of them manage to be boring or useless. Which for a long comic such as this, is quite an achievement.

Conclusion

Girly is a hidden gem, Its an insane sex positive comic. A loose style and even looser physics. It’s bold and unabashedly itself. But, at its core it's about the love story of Winter, the wacky insane woman needing to slow down and open up, and Otra, a sullen woman who’s deemed herself only worthy of being on the outskirts of society. It’s two people growing together in a world that’s up to its ears in care bears, sentient dildos, earth shattering cloning, and jabs at 2000’s paste it comics. And somehow it all sticks together.

The characters resonated, at least with me, which may be the nostalgia talking. But by the end of the comic I can’t help but  think back on how long it took them to get there. The bits that made me laugh (a lot of them), the stupid parts, and the character’s arcs, as over the top they could be at times.  It may not everyone’s cup of tea. But it has a lot of heart at its core. (If you get past all the dildos). 

For all it’s flaws and weird bits. I still find myself going back to Girly. 

Maybe now, some more people will too.