Touching Base #7

I really need to sit down and do some comic reading/reviewing for this blog, I'm running out of topics.  In the meantime, let's touch some bases.

Looks like the Wotch is finally ready to start updating normally again.  Maybe, possibly.  They're starting with cleaning up the archives a bit, moving the filler and guest comics out of the main stream.  I personally have no problem with those being in the archives, but I can understand the desire to move it out.  At least this is showing some activity, so hopefully the comic will be coming back soon.

Shadowgirls has switched to a short, side story while they prep the next few chapters of the main storyline.  It looks like my fear of a pay site may not materialize, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

City of Reality updated as well, I guess he's going back to the chapter by chapter updates rather than the 3 times a week thing.  I think I prefer this model, at least for this comic.  Not sure it would work out too well for other strips, but for City of Reality, it just works.

Emergency Exit is undergoing another art/style facelift.  I mentioned in my review how jarring it was when this comic changed styles, but I don't think the change will be as extreme this time.  I think it'll be very noticeable though as he's pushing for a layout that more easily allows a print version of the comic.  I think I'm reading the news right that the older archives will still be available, but then he talks about offering them for a pay download, which confuses me.  We'll see how it goes.

Totally Crossover's domain name (totallycrossover.com) expired, and it took a bit of searching to find it again.  The comic is essentially dead as the focus has shifted to Special Level, but not even a redirect page?  That's annoying.  At least the comic is still findable (even if smackjeeves is giving me fits loading it).  Remember kids, keep your comic easy to find, don't just abandon domain names without a redirect or something.

I often complain about comics that just stop updating, and Road Waffles has, in the past, done that on more than one occasion.  So I'm glad to say at least Eight's keeping us in the loop that yes, he does plan on returning, it's just that things are happening to prevent it.

Sea of Insanity, on the other hand, hasn't had an update since February.   This is also the same comic that didn't update for over 2 years, so a few months is nothing, but I'd like some notes on what's going on, please?

Contemplating Reiko restarted after a short stint of being down. There were some issues with Google ads, I believe, and in the meantime, they redesigned the website.  It looks much better than it did, and the archives are easy to browse now.  Better yet, the comic is updating again, which I really am glad about.

Roza feels like it's repeating itself, but only because it is.  Chapter 4 was done, originally, in rough draft form, and wrapped up a couple months ago.  Now the finished draft of the chapter is being posted, this one in full color. It's an odd way to do it, even odder than City of Reality's method, and I don't think I like it.  It was always an experiment, and while it didn't drive me away from the comic, I didn't feel as invested in it as I once did because of this odd trend.  I'm hoping the completed Chapter 4 will bring me back.

Well, that's enough for today.  Might hit this up again next week.  Oh, and I know there are two Touching Base #5's.  Not sure how I managed that, but this should put us back on track.  Until next time kiddies.

Twists and Revelations

Keeping a plotline fresh and exciting is hard to do.  There is no "right" way to do it so authors and artists go looking for new ways to tell old stories.  This often results in creating a "twist," a surprise change in the plot that shifts how everything ends.  These are fun to do sometimes, and creates a new story out of an old plot.

That said, they've kind of been over done.  In a sense, twists are now kind of cliche in their own right.  The reason isn't because twists are bad, they aren't, but because they can be done poorly.  It's so easy to poorly do them, I think I'll take some time to go over HOW to do it right, and how to play out the revelation angle.

The first thing to keep in mind when doing a twist is to plan for it.  Simply tacking on a twist for the sake of having a twist is a big, BIG mistake.  Twists need some amount of planning, how much will depend on goals of the twist.  Just throwing a twist in without any forethought as to how it will effect the story will be obvious and apparent very quickly.

Once the plan is in place, a nice trick is to start leaving clues.  The best twists usually have hints laying throughout the piece that indicated the twist is coming. This is a lot harder than it might sound at first.  Planning to add a twist is one thing, planning out the hints and clues that lead to that twist is something else.  They must be subtle, just under the point that most people would notice something off, but not quite grasp the significance.  Too obvious and the twist is utterly spoiled.  Too subtle, and it'll be missed entirely and the pay off won't work.

The nice thing about webcomics is that they are a visual medium where the artist can focus the reader's attention on a particular visual.  This can come very handy when highlighting clues.  That said, clues aren't strictly necessary, but it depends on the situation and the twist itself.  Think carefully before trying to build them into the story.

Once the time for the twist arrives, the revelation of it takes center stage, and this is also how things can get broken.  Revelations of this nature often fall back on words, lots and lots of words.  Explaining how the twist came to be and what led to it can take a lot of time and words, which can break the action of a story, especially at that climactic moment.  Breaking the action can hurt even a well crafted story, and wordy revelations can do it.

A good way to help alleviate that is to again, take advantage of the visual aspect of comics.  Let the pictures tell the revelation, and with enough planning and set up can help a lot.  Especially if clues are set into the story, flashing back to those moments can also do the trick.

Another option is the flashback.  Again, break in the action, but there are ways around it.  Spreading out the flashback throughout the story can act as both a set of twist clues and a set up for the revelation at the end very easily.

The big thing here is don't over explain things.  Keep it short and sweet, odds are most people will get it quickly enough not to need panels of dialog to explain things.  If there are extra things that must be explained, save them for after the climax and it should do alright.

Twists are fairly common, so don't be surprised if someone calls out the twist well before it shows up.  This brings me to another important element:  Leave room to change the twist.  If it becomes TOO obvious what the twist is, change it, or even use it as bait to set up the real twist to the story.  Leave just enough wiggle room that there is more than one answer to the puzzle and changing things to fit the new situation or simply to bluff the readers can keep even the most cliche of twists from becoming boring.

Well, that's enough for today.  Next time kiddies. 

Wild Webcomic Reviews 141 - 144

God damn it, the wrong date got put in the scheduler, this should have been up Friday.  Blah.

Ah, spring, time for doing things outside, and not writing something new for the blog.  Heh.  Anyway, today is a shorter batch than normal because I'm tired of putting the extra dates in.  It'll switch back later as I get back to 200 and the start of this blog, but for this week, I've just got 4 comics.

May 21, 2007

141. REVVelations - Dystopias are always so dramatic and cliche. At least this one has lots of cars and a humpback. Starts with a car chase, a pirate television news program and something about meatloaf. Something HORRIBLE about meatloaf (apparently it's worse than being made from people). I can't really say I like it, the style just rubs me wrong for some reason. I don't hate it, now, it's not an abomination, it's just not my thing.

TODAY - Apparently it still updates.  I don't follow it, so I can't tell you if it's any good or not, but it's still alive, so that's positive.

142. Hockey Zombie - What's more funny than a comic about zombies? How about one about a hockey playing zombie, who is sentient (sort of). This comic is sort of, kind of dead (but not really) but the archieves are certianly worth a laugh. The riffs on the Zombie Survival Guide are great fun.

TODAY - Dead and gone.  The link leads no where.  Kind of a shame as it was a fun little comic.

143. Hazard Pay - It reminds me of something I would write. Seriously, it reads like I wrote the damn thing, which just tickles me pink. I could like it for that reason alone, but it's also well drawn, has an interesting storyline that's really only just started going and is just well written. Like something I would write. It's good, trust me on this.

TODAY - The last news post promises they're coming back.  It was written in February of 2010.  I wish it had kept going, but it was not to be.

144. Bunny - The Bunny doesn't understand why you aren't already reading this comic. This makes the Orange Bunny very angry. You don't want to make the Orange Bunny angry. Just don't do it.

TODAY - It managed to keep up being odd for sometime, then it slowed to a crawl and at the end of February it froze solid.  Is it dead forever?  I have no idea. I keep checking and hoping it comes back, but I'm not crossing my fingers on it.

The most active comic in this batch is one I don't read.  Weird.  Maybe I'll have something for you next week, until then kiddies.

I still can't get this one to gel

Seriously, I've been trying to write a thing about heroes and villains as part of the character series of articles and it just isn't coming together the way I want.

And I've been distracted by Civ 4, again.

I wanted to cover the idea of conflict between the two, as well as their opposites (the honorable villain and anti-hero) and how they function.  It shouldn't be this hard, these are classic interactions, but finding my voice for it is proving hard.  And distractions haven't helped either.

Perhaps the reason is that the idea of a hero and villain doesn't actually fit with everything I've talked about up to now.  In a way, being labeled a hero or villain is one of the biggest sterotypes there is, restricting them to a kind of script that everyone expects them to follow.  They aren't their own characters any more once they are given that title.  Not to say it can't work if they simply take the title and run with it, even if it doesn't completely fit who they are.

Fact is, the hero/villain dynamic shouldn't be the main thing that defines a group of characters.  Letting the characters define themselves is more important, and if some take to thinking of them as heroes or villains, well, at least the reader made that judgment, not the author/artist.

I could probably go on, but I don't think I can make it any more plain than that.  Next time, probably an old review.  Later kids.

DeviantArt Comics

I was going to continue the discussion about characters, but I'm hitting a bit of a wall here, so let's talk about something else instead.

I read a lot of comics from a lot of different places.  Comicsgenesis, Keenspot, webcomicsnation and more often independent websites, but one source I don't cover much is DeviantArt.  In fact, I've only ever reviewed one comic on DeviantArt, The God Machine, and I don't read it anymore (due to various states of hiatus it's been on over the years).  There are comics I do occasionally follow that are on DeviantArt, but I don't review.  Why is that?

I suppose the hardest part is actually linking to the site.  The God Machine is a bit easier, but many comics are buried in subdirectories of the art page.  Not impossible to link, but difficult.  In other cases, the comic is interspersed with the regular artwork, and reading JUST the comic becomes even more difficult.  There are some tricks I've noticed that help this, mostly by including self added "Next" and "Last" buttons to the artist comment section of the individual post.  Sometimes, though, these are broken, or pointing to the wrong place.

Another thing that keeps me from doing more is DeviantArt's "mature" settings, which will only people with accounts on DeviantArt can actually see.  This means I can't generally recommend a comic because they may not have an account and thus can't view it.  That can really hamper the enjoyment of a comic if you have to sign into an account to view it.  I don't think any of the comics I've reviewed (God Machine excepted) has any kind of system that requires that, and in fact I outright avoid paid site because, well, I'm poor.  At least DeviantArt is free and you can go search for all the naked lady pictures you want, because that's art!

Which brings up the final, and biggest problem with having a comic on DeviantArt:  The mods.  I can respect that the site is trying to cover it's legal ass.  And while I don't like it, at least if a comic on another site goes down I can chalk it up to either the artist not paying the bills or getting a rod up their ass over something.  DeviantArt, however, seems to have a rather arbitrary system for pulling art.  They can, have and will, randomly pull artwork on the slightest of whims or the mildest of complaints.  This means a comic, with hundreds of strips, could lose quite a few, deleting them outright, for relatively minor infractions (or none at all, depending).  This third party could potentially ruin a comic with a casual thought, and that drives me bonkers.

They'll claim that it violates the TOS for the site, that they're doing it to protect everyone and all that and I get it, I do.  The problem is that what that violation actually is can vary from person to person.  I'm fine with seeing naked boobies in a comic, others aren't.  I do agree that explicate sex might be a bit much, but others may disagree.  Keep in mind there are dozens of mods on DeviantArt, and you can see where the problems can start.

So I don't review comics from DeviantArt, though I have read more than a few.  I can't trust them to be there tomorrow, let alone long enough for a review of them, or even to finish reading them.  I have one DeviantArt comic I'm following right now, and it's basically a fan comic based on the Legend of Zelda.  It's an interesting take on the Ocarina of Time, and I do enjoy it, but I can't give a review because it may just get taken down with little warning or reason.

If you want to do a comic, put it on Comicsgenesis or something, stay well away from DeviantArt, unless you're posting character sketches and such.  That's just fine, and probably where they should go anyway.

Next time, I hope to get back to the character thing.  I just need to figure out how to word what I'm thinking.  Later Kiddies.

The Don'ts of Character Creation

So last time, I dealt with should be done when creating characters.  Today, things that should be avoided.  I'm also going to issues the Zeroth Rule of Character Creation.

0.)  If you can get away with it, ignore all of this.  It may sound odd in a list of things that shouldn't be done to say "ignore this," but there are times when creativity demands it.  Sometimes it just fits and feels right, and other times it simply makes the statement the story demands.  If it works, do it, but be warned that it doesn't always.  Which brings us to the first don't.

1.)  Don't ignore these rules simply because they can be ignored.  Every choice in a character's design MUST be justified by more than "it's my character, I'll do what I want."  Otherwise the character will come out as shallow as their creator.  If the design simply violates these rules simply because, then the character is a joke by design and will be ridiculed as such.

2.)  Avoid basing the character design on a single physical trait.  Specifically things like race, gender and sexual orientation.  Characters should always built as characters first, then given that major trait.  It should never define the character, how they react or whatever.  Starting with these traits often means building on a set of stereotypes, or even a distorted version of those stereotypes.  Homosexuals will be flaming gay, women will act like little girls and black characters will be gangstas, few of which are true in real life and will make the characters seem shallow and uninteresting.  Also, don't just put these traits on them to make a group of character politically correct.  It won't help and will be very obvious.

3.)  Don't settle for single ideas for a character.  The funny one, the smart one, the stupid one, the pretty one, etc, etc.  These are good STARTING points, but should never be the final definition of them.  They are handy during initial creation, giving a general tone to each character, but go beyond them.  Settling for these simple ideas is a sign of laziness.

4.)  Don't reuse body/head types and just change the hair.  Okay, there are exceptions here, like if the art style limits it, but given that webcomics are a visual medium, USE IT!  Simply swapping out hair between characters that would all be the same otherwise is lazy.  Make every effort to make the character designs unique.

5.)  No unrealistic relationships.  I'm not talking about romantic relationships, I'm talking generational relationships.  Sometimes having the villain be the father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roomate just doesn't work.  Relationships between family members is even more difficult to regulate than friendships, and need to be considered very, VERY carefully before implementing major changes.  Don't just do it for the shock value, the results will be confusion and disappointment.

6.)  Don't make the character perfect. Welcome to the Mary Sue section of this list.  A Mary Sue is a character that is "perfect."  They're never wrong, even when it seems they're wrong, they are loved by everyone, even their enemies.  They are exceptionally humble, to the point of ridiculousness, and the universe bends over backward to make sure it goes they way they want.  And the real scary part?  EVERYONE has made one, often more than one.  I know I have.  It's hard to avoid.  The old adage of everyone being the hero of their own story transfers easily into fiction, and everyone who creates fiction, creates themselves first.  Removing perfection is very, VERY hard, and requires a great deal of sacrifice and thought.  There are no right answers for doing it either.  Hard choices must be made, but the story will often be better in the end.

7.)  Don't make the character completely imperfect.  This is the opposite problem from the Mary Sue, and often the over reaction to being called out for creating one.  The result is a character who can't do anything right, is hated by everyone etc, etc.  A character with SOME flaws is good, one with ALL flaws is bad.  Redeeming qualities need to be natural though, so don't just tack them on.

8.)  Don't make a cast of jerks.  We all know what a jerk is, and a cast of them is a big no-no.  The reader needs someone to cheer for, and a cast of jerks fails there.  Yes, there can a couple of jerks, but a full cast of them is a bad move and will lead to a failed comic.  It should be noted that often the best character can be a jerk, but it takes a lot of skill and practice to do it right, and the rest of the cast must be decidedly not jerks to pull it off.

There are more, of course, not that I can think of them all at once.  It's better to stick with the do list more than the don't list, because there's more flexibility there.  Next time, I'm going to try to cover a more interesting dynamic that characters have.  Maybe.  We'll see, next time kiddies.

The Do's of Character Creation

There are a lot of elements that go into making a good comic, art, story, dialog and, if you can't tell by the title of this post, characters.  Creating a good character is actually a pretty tricky proposition, and it's even harder to try to tell someone HOW to make a character without rattling off a long list of "don't do this" and "don't do that."  I think the reason is that it's easier to make and pick out bad or boring characters than it is to make a good one.

So I tried to come up with a list of what to "do" when creating a character and it is VERY hard to do without saying "don't do this" in the same sentence.  I probably failed at that anyway, but let's take a crack at it.  And no, I didn't start everyone with "do."  That would be silly.

1.)  Characters should be distinctive.  They need to be easy to identify in some way, and be able to separate them out from the rest of the cast.  With comics, the artwork can do much of the work here, and if you want some more details, go read Indistinguishable from Magic, the blog from the artist of Dresden Codak for more.  He's got pages of it.  That's not the only way of doing it, the character's dialog and speech patterns can help as well.  The important thing is to make it easy for the reader to pick out a character without knowing anything else about them, even their name in some cases (though knowing the name helps, a lot).  There are some pitfalls here, but I'll cover them next time.

2.)  Characters should have a motivation.  Everyone has a goal or desire they wish to fulfill, and these should direct their choices and actions throughout their lives and the length of the comic.  Sometimes these decisions and actions will seem out of place and that's fine, as long as the character has a reason to seek it out.  The more rash the decision or action, the better the explanation for why the character did it should be.  The best part:  one character's motivation can power entire storylines, or even a whole comic.

3.)  Characters should grow.  Static characters aren't a bad thing, but they are boring.  Just flip open your daily newspaper and read the comics and you'll see a massive cast of static characters, many who haven't changed in any significant way in decades.  As the world in which they live changes, the characters should change with them.  Some are going to react poorly, but that should be natural and to be expected.  Growth also means letting characters go, whether by sending them away or by killing them, as long as it's done with purpose, it adds to growth.

4.)  Characters should have flaws.  Now that might sound like another way of saying "don't make the character perfect," but that's not the case.  When one is told that phrase, they decide to simply pile on random flaws to the character, often without thinking how it works with their personality.  Flaws, real flaws, have meaning for the character in some way.  Let's go back to the motivation thing, what prevents the character from achieving their goals?  It could be a personal flaw, and a goal to overcome with growth in some way.  Good flaws can make a character memorable and possibly make a comic great.

Short list, and I'm sure I could think of more, but not without crossing the "don't" divide.  So I guess I'll cross the line for next time, hopefully.  See you then kiddies.