Bad Webcomic Authors are getting out of hand

Bad Webcomic Authors are getting out of hand !- By Gman

Before any of you read this, this is by no means offending any webcomic author who is reading this, but a thoughtful concern of the webcomic community as of late. I hereby will take NO responsibility for anyone’s actions.

Good, let’s begin. I have been a webcomic author for 3 years. Before I started my place in the CCA, I done free hand comics (Person Man, Krazy Kat, Gman, Burrito Man,) Anyway, that’s not the point. This rant is about the webcomic community. It seems that there are plenty of folks who doesn’t have what it takes, and yet they pop up out of nowhere like weeds.

Part I. “Photoediting fused with a Lamer is a dangerous combination.” Nowadays anybody with half a brain can make a webcomic. It’s really easy actually; you need an editing program and a lot of creativity. However, there have been comics that just plain suck. Beyond suck even. There are a lot of MS Paint comics all over that are just not creative let alone funny, does the authors know that ? I doubt it. I can probably pick out the handful of good ones, (mainly in the Bob and George community and the CCA of course ^_^.) but the latter of them will make your head explode from the sheer sloppiness. There are authors who lack in every aspect of webcomic making: Humor, Spelling, Grammar, Content, Editing, Creativity, and Originality.

Humor: Most webcomics usually contain humor unless it’s a serious comic. However, there is a significant difference in what is and is not funny, and I have seen authors fail to notice that. What is funny to the author does not mean it’ll be funny to everyone else. Inside jokes are not funny to a wide audience because of it’s just that… and inside joke. Bad puns, forgotten punchlines, out of place gags, it’s just sloppy. It’s fine to borrow jokes to pay homage to them, I’ve done that on several occasions, but there is a limit. NEVER RIP OFF ANYONE’S JOKES. Or worse, base a comic on it. Say, you want to do a comic about I dunno….. Mega Man characters eating ice cream. If that’s the whole aspect of your idea then you probably shouldn’t quit your day job. Humor comes from day to day experiences, or what you see. Try coming up with something on your own, and you’ll really win the fans over.
Spelling: Ugh,…. We all make mistakes. But when you read constant spelling errors throughout a comic you think the webmaster is a foreigner or under the age of five. It’s rather sad of you have to keep a thesaurus by your computer to spell words longer than six letters. A tip: Stay in school.
Grammar: Remember the whole “l337” language that took the net by storm ? If not I envy you. This is something that should stick in chatrooms not fucking comics. Or at least, not EVERY character has to always talk in “l337”. Online Life for example, he has made a war saga against the “lamers” and they all spoke “l337”… to be realistic, Spoony had to keep that up until even he could take no more and translated it for his readers. Megatokyo kept the “l337” thing to a minimum. I’m sorry, but “l337” doesn’t make you cool to everyone. Also another thing is people who go: “HAHAAHA !!1!! LOL, ROTF, u ppl sux, I m so kul ! !!111! (Insert a wave of misplaced emoticons.) This has no place in a comic, PERIOD ! You are only making a fool of yourself, you think you’re smart, then act like it.
Content: Original or borrowed content is fine. Be sure to ask permission to borrow something, be aware of pirates and thieves who steal other people’s work and claim it as their own, yours truly has fell victim to it, and many other I can assume. There are authors who feel they can steal something and don’t think the original creator will even raise an eyebrow…..until they find out. Also people look down on webcomics with 100% stolen content. Imagine Mai & Vegeta, Online Life, AGSF, Mr T, Chun-li vs Mynd, Peer, hated webcomic author, and badly edited photos of Britney Spears and President Bush, put them in a blender and what do you have ?......................................A butchered creation that would make the dubbed “kiddie” anime more tolerable than it is today. I can imagine an author who came up with this concoction is wetting his pants in sheer laughter right about now. However, he’s the only one laughing, why….. Because the idea is only for fools who can’t grasp the generalized of concepts ! In other words, it blows. Authors need to learn to come up with their own crap. It’s fine to something for a gag like when I did “MM vs FF4” where I made the Cid underpants gnomes, and Edward act like Tweek. Did I borrow from South Park ? It’s obvious, but it connects…..Cid looks like a gnome, and Edward is a whiny coward.
Editing: Ah, if I had a dollar for every MS Paint massacre on the internet. Scribbles, bad edited sprites, text with a line instead of speech bubbles, bland backgrounds, it’s because the author is a hack at editing. It’s one thing to make your comic funny, but don’t think that making a pile of pigslop in excuse to what you consider “good” humor a good thing. You are fooling yourself. It takes a creative mind to make good use of a primitive program. Other webcomic authors use Paintshop Pro or the highly acclaimed Photoshop. Of course you actually have to LEARN how to use them. Bad authors can make crap out of any photo editing software they get their hands on. It takes practice, I’ve been through it and so have a lot of successful authors such as Gilgamesh, Ash Rigo, Dave Anez, Rick O’ Shay, Spoony, the list goes on. You need to have the will to edit, a good editor makes your comic stand out from the surrounding piles of pidgedy poo that is plaguing the internet.
Creativity: This is humor, editing, content rolled into one. The best authors have a blast with their creative minds, it’s no fun leeching off of others. I feel sorry for the Bob and George community, I recall reading a comic in that community about how new authors act in their habitat (heh heh). You got to act with it. The whole idea is to attract readers. Fanfic authors have a hard time because most of them can’t come up with anything creative. Fanfiction.net is a prime example of wasted talent. Here’s your next lesson, FANFICS AND COMICS ARE BOTH ENTIRELY DIFFERENT UNIVERSES ! Why do fanfic authors think they can make a comic because they write pages and pages of eye straining text ? Because they are idiots, that’s why. A comic is a book with pictures telling the story with ACTION, ADVENTURE, AND EXCITEMENT AND …A PLOT !, fanfics just tell the story, with the reader imagining something. Some fanfics have plots, but I’ve hear they are barely noticeable, even I tried reading some. You can cross something over to a comic, that’s fine, but remember, “A bad fanfic can make a bad comic.” No Mega Man/Evangelion/DBZ crossovers for me please.
Originality: This is what makes your comic truly stand out. Once you submit your comic to the world, you better be knowing what you are doing. Prepare for feedback, positive and negative. If you want to earn the respect of fans, then you be sure to respect yourself and others, and your comic. This isn’t a time to act like a lame AOL user.

Part II: The Battle for Survival !! On the web.

This deals with the idiots who actually have their crappy comic on the net. One thing webmasters hate most is when newbies cannot hold their own. Sorry, but webspace is expensive. Some have the space, but a lot of others do not. It’s a harsh world with the lack of decent free webspace is slim. But you have to face facts, YOU NEED YOUR OWN WEBSITE ! Because some people don’t want to host piles of shit, I don’t blame them. Webcomic masters like Gilgamesh or Dave know what comics they can host and not host. They both host comics that have that quality and humor, the only difference is that Dave would rather link out to the “lesser” comics. Gilgamesh has had his share of awful comic submissions, he rules the CCA (Well, used to) with an iron fist. He’s known what happens when too many bad comics take over, like how it destroyed the barely functioning Mr. T comic community. Also, like fads, webcomics sometimes come and go. Most of them vanish in thin air after a handful of strips because the author has no commitment. Usually, bad authors only want that slice of heaven by doing as little as possible, yeah, way to make an impact guys -_-. Others want that 15 minutes of fame, their moment in the spotlight, and just disappear. Then you got those who jump on the bandwagon because they fear being original (different).

Another thing I should mention, that good authors have to hunt for the material for their works. What separates a good author from a bad one is the effort they put in their work. It’s also good to “share the wealth”. Selfish authors who use someone else’s work for themselves, but won’t share it should be dragged out into the street and ran over with a semi. Also, I’ve had people who would ask me to send them EVERY FUCKING PICTURE ON MY HARD DRIVE so they can rehash…I mean make their comic. Not that I don’t mind sharing, but I would rather give them a link to where I get my material. I personally think it’s better that way. Lazy authors have no place in making comics. Follow the rule of “SFYOS” (Search for your own shit.) Don’t hate me because I’m cruel ^_^. One mooore thing. Never, never…. Never, NEVER ask an author to make a comic for you because you are too lazy to do it yourself. You have an idea, good, but at least suggest it, not expect someone to do your dirty work.

Part III: Are ya scared yet ? Don’t be, I’m just explaining to you what it takes to be a good webcomic author. People are willing to teach you just as long as you cooperate, and not act like a brat. I can only teach in ranting, not by contact because my patience can wear rather thin if I am annoyed. So if you want to plunge right in to the wonderful world of comic making, then use this rant as your guide.

I wish you luck.