Dusting Off Old Favorites
Written by Lisa Anderson
"When people like something, they have a tendency to stick with it. Favorite shirts are worn until they fall apart, favorite meals ordered enough that you can ask for your usual without touching a menu. Yet for entertainment, many people seem to avoid visiting the past, even as others happily seek it out. For those that avoid, old games are left to gather dust after the final boss is beaten and the credits role for the first time. Movies are watched once then shelved and f..."
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After the Chaos Comes More: White Noise
Written by Lisa Anderson
"I usually hesitate before reading web comics leaning toward the sci-fi end of the spectrum. There are two main reasons for this; tech and humor.A lot of comics believe that they aren’t science fiction unless the story uses a variety of random gadgets, layers of real (or fictional) science, and endless speeches filled with long words and otherwise useless jargon. I understand some settings need the feel such things bring, but a comic shouldn’t read like a manua..."
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Revive and Recover
Written by Lisa Anderson
"After a nasty string of life and health troubles, things are finally getting back on track. Writing resumes next week, and I apologize for the long and horrible delay...."
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Roll a Fun Check: Order of the Stick
Written by Lisa Anderson
"(Tried this a couple weeks ago, but it seems I failed my time-glitch evasion roll. Into the fray once more then!)It’s no secret that I love games. Board, video, word…even the often misunderstood genre of paper gaming. To be fair, most hobbies have their share of stereotypes and bad press. All it takes are a few dark rumors, a bit of time, and even the most innocent hobby can go from beloved to reviled.For many paper and pencil..."
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The Wheels Roll On...
Written by Lisa Anderson
"…just try not to get run over.One problem with liking anything is trying to keep up with it. What might start as a small interest can quickly grow into a monstrous fandom, branching out in every direction like a weed gone wild. You can follow all you like, but one person - no matter the funding, talent, or luck - can only do so much. What in the world am I talking about? Let’s take a look at manga, for example. When I first starting re..."
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To Hell and Back: Slightly Damned
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Angels and demons are nothing new to web comics; spiritual and supernatural elements seem to be a staple in many fantasy settings. (Even more so in modern/fantasy crossovers) With the rise of anime and manga, many stories seem to thrive on pretty boys or girls connected to heaven, hell, or a magic realm of some type. Maybe it’s just me, but it gets old after a while. (Any overused stereotype does.)So what happens when you throw the standards out? I..."
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Animal Antics: Two Lumps
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Animals and entertainment have long been friends; there just seems to be something special about critters, from exotic predators to ordinary house pets. In the comic world, dogs and cats certainly hold the spotlight. Today is for the felines though. (sorry all you dog fanatics)There’s just something classic about cats and comedy. From Felix and Heathcliff to Garfield and Bucky (Get Fuzzy), cats have been getting into crazy situations and out again, often aided..."
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More Give and Take - Web Comic Relations
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Last time I focused on the web comic and what it can do to help out reader relations. Before anyone starts thinking comic creator bad, comic reader good, let’s look at the other side of the coin.Time to talk about the readers a bit, and what they can do to help.Do you keep a perfectly scheduled life? - (Before we start; if you answered yes, that is both very impressive…and rather creepy.) As the saying goes, nobody&..."
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Give and Take: Reader Relations
Written by Lisa Anderson
"There are a lot of things needed to make a web comic, which should come as no surprise. That said, all those things mean jack if no one reads the result of all that work. (Yes, we could get into the whole ‘the worth of work for work’s sake’ or ‘it’s a learning experience’, but that really doesn’t equal a successful web comic.)I won’t lie, readers are quite the double-edged sword. Full of praise and dedication one day, ..."
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Eyes of Glass: Vendable
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Most things (especially those linked to entertainment) are subject to various trends. Art style, setting, genre…like planets, they revolve around central trends, drifting in and out of fashion depending on the time of year, area of the world, or simple whims of reader popularity.It sounds like simply catering to your audience, but it doesn’t always work that way. Rather than being a reflection of what readers want to see (or popular lists are looking for), th..."
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A Different Approach 2 - HERO
Written by Lisa Anderson
"It might seem obvious to say that web comics are a wonderful blend of images and words. Both halves tell a slightly different tale, each melding together to tell the whole story. Almost like listening to someone sing, really. On the one hand you have the lyrics, on the other the music. They can exist separately, but they have the best effect when combined.No matter how perfect the basic formula, people shouldn’t shy away from fresh approach. There&..."
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A Different Approach 1 - Alien Dice
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Most web comics follow a general formula, which makes them recognizable as web comics to begin with. At the most basic level, a web comic can be broken down into two things; artwork and words. Ah, artwork. Black and white, colored, or a bit of both; CG, watercolor, or sprite…the styles can vary, but one way or another, you can’t have a web comic without images. Even panels are optional; entire pages of overlaying art, all without a single divid..."
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Supporting Factors 2 - Originality
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Some time ago I worked up a list of things I’d like web comics to remember. In that list was a section about being yourself…an issue that certainly deserves a deeper look.Originality is vital to anything creative; it showcases the ideas, personality, and talent of the creator to the viewer. In web comics, that can cover anything from artwork to story, characters to settings. (Preferably all of the above!) One of the biggest mistakes ne..."
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Why Makeover and Move Out?
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Though primitive compared to the flash of modern computer graphics in animation these days, flip books are still considered part of the foundation for animation as a whole. Nothing more than page after page of slightly different art or photos, that, when flipped, created a moving scene. If forced to choose between the latest animated movie and a flip book, I doubt many - if any at all - would choose the latter. Web comic artwork walks down a similar road, where the ..."
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Cultural Upheaval
Written by Lisa Anderson
"(Ah, finally back from the land of sickness and power outages! Hurricanes will get you one way or the other it seems. But enough of that, on to better things…)Unless you live in a media-free bubble, which is getting harder and harder to pull off these days, it’s hard to avoid hearing or seeing something about the Olympics. Though the games themselves are only a few days in, mini-events have been popping up all over for a good month or ..."
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With Friends Like These... : Looking For Group
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Finding a good fantasy web comic isn’t as easy as it sounds. Many lean more toward a manga-esk style than straight fantasy, with a story that revolves around nothing more than scantily-clad elves and overly-feminine evil wizards. Others read like a RPG videogame; the only thing holding them back from such a label (aside from being print rather than a game) is the hours of mob-slaying - just to gain a single level - that they lack. I know that farmer boy-..."
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To Encore or Let the Credits Roll
Written by Lisa Anderson
"All good things must come to an end, right? In the realm of web comics, the decision to end a story is a fairly rare one. (And by end I mean a planned out ending…not the cases of ‘I’m tired of doing this so this is it’, or ‘The story is on indefinite hiatus until I’m interested again’.)For many web comics, endings just aren’t a issue. Written in the classic comic strip style, some web comics share the same immortality that ..."
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Supporting Factors 1 - The Website
Written by Lisa Anderson
"A few weeks ago I rambled a bit on various things web comic creators should think about when getting started. Though I’m happy with the list, many of the entries are worth a second (and longer) look. With that in mind, let’s get started with the backbone to any web comic; the website itself.While it’s true that the comic itself is the most important part of a successful web comic (hence the ‘comic’ part), even the best story and art is nothin..."
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Down the Random Hole: Bunny
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Humor has always been a pretty subjective thing, but it’s fair to say that certain sub-genres stand out from the rest of the crowd. If a line had to be drawn, (Feel free to substitute your style of choice, of course) you might have your slapstick and situational comedies on one side, while insults and innuendo roam the other. Depending on your personality, it might be easy to scoff at one style while placing another on a pedestal.Somewhere down that magic line, it suddenl..."
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Dream Diving: The Dreamland Chronicles
Written by Lisa Anderson
"People are capable of quite a few amazing things. Setting aside a few of the popular choices such as love, compassion, understanding and so on, we eventually come to one of my favorites - dreaming. Where else can someone experience endless worlds of immersive content, colorful locations, and exotic co-stars? A Hollywood inside your mind, dreams are as wild and varied as your subconscious and imagination allow them to be.Safely confined to the realm of sleep, it&rsqu..."
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Lost in the Woods
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Or, as I like to think of it: Things I wish people would consider before starting a web comic. There seem to be some misconceptions about web comics, specifically when it comes to starting, running, and continuing them. Overnight, new web comics spring into being, only to vanish after a few pages. The reasons seem to vary, but they end just the same.For some people, it probably sounds easy to make a web comic; just draw some characters, make up some setting, t..."
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Friendly Antics: Sequential Art
Written by Lisa Anderson
"When I was younger I had a board game called Life. Aside from the ambitious title, it had a lot of things most people look for in a good board game; spinner, little cards, colorful board, cute player pieces, and so on. The object of the game was fairly similar to life as well; survive the ups and downs of living, all with the end goal of a wealthy retirement. (Now if only real life could be as easy as that game!)Along the way you encountered certain major events. Sc..."
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Surprise Realities: Kukuburi
Written by Lisa Anderson
"In recent years I’ve started coming across web comic suggestions in a variety of places, from forums to gaming sites. Yesterday another such suggestion crossed my path and immediately I took to it without looking back, without a single regret. I love pleasant surprises.I have to admit, Kukuburi isn’t the first web comic I’ve found through Steve Jackson Games. (Home to Munchkin, GURPS, and many other fun games.) The first was Girl Genius, an a..."
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Drawing a Line in the Sand
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Women and comics…it’s an old issue, one that has been raked over a
variety of coals, dissected in about every way possible, and tossed
about whenever people need a quick debate topic. For a while I had the
illusion that somehow, somewhere people had settled the issue and it
would be allowed to die a quiet death. (Who knew I could have a
delusional optimistic side?)
With the rise of web comics - and the growing trend where many of them
see hard-copy publica..."
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Twisting the Timeless: No Rest for the Wicked
Written by Lisa Anderson
"It’s amazing what oddities will spark a person’s memory about something completely unrelated. Case in point, last Saturday/Sunday. I was suddenly stuck driving a friend to the airport, which normally wouldn’t be a problem, except that the nearest airport is something like 150 miles away. (For a wondrous total of 600 miles for the two round-trip drives up and back over a two-day period.) Even the distance wasn’t really that b..."
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A New Kind of Support: WOWIO
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Reader support is a big part of web comics. Okay, that was an understatement; reader support is a huge part of web comics. Forums, voting, wallpapers and icons on one side; fan art, fan fiction, shipper wars and constant speculation on the other…and that isn’t even counting donation drives, wars, cross-comic drives, and merchandise! While most readers are happy to make their web comic rounds; finding the story of choice, reading the latest page..."
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Worlds Alive: Kevin & Kell
Written by Lisa Anderson
"As general rules go, there are certain key things that most web comics seem to avoid with a passion - if not outright fear. One of the biggest on that list would have to be the world. Now, I’m not talking about the world as a mesh of cultures, places, peoples, and so on…the issue isn’t that big. No, I mean the world as in something full of awkward-to-draw outdoor scenery, or possessing a cast of characters that branches beyond a core group of three t..."
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Life 809: Planet Saturday
Written by Lisa Anderson
"Back in my first year of college, I ran across my first group of academic advisors. (Okay, technically I met them sooner than that, but college was the first time I was old enough to tell them to shove off). Dressed like some knock-off power executives they’d probably seen on TV, the advisors (or more accurately, trained idiots) began happily explaining all the classes and pointless bits of knowledge I would need to succeed in life. Aside from the holy trinity of Ma..."
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Are You a Good Link or a Bad Link?
Written by Lisa Anderson
"It’s not unusual to introduce your friends to each other…but what
happens if the only thing they have in common is having you for a
friend? The linking and recommendation circles for web comics are
pretty similar, and can have equally bad results. To start,
I happen to favor the idea of giant sites collecting and/or housing a
large number of web comics. Not only does it give people - both reader
and creator alike - a place to start, bu..."
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Fresh Epics: Rice Boy
Written by Lisa Anderson
"If you spend any time at all reading a web comic, you will eventually
find recommendations for other web comics. Like those hidden lists on
the back page of a book, (the sort that list four or five titles by
some author or another, complete with short descriptive blurbs for each
story) they pop up in the world of web comics; usually in the form of
catchy side-banners, or direct mention by the author of the comic you
currently fancy.So it goes that one comic leads to anoth..."
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Old Styles Revived: Minus
Written by Lisa Anderson
"It’s odd to look back over the years I’ve wandered through life, to see just how much the things I enjoy have changed. While the transition from record to CD is certainly one of the first to come to mind (and here I go, dating myself a bit), in reality, comics changed just as much even if the alterations were a bit more gradual.It all started with newspapers. Much like vultures over a corpse, my family circled the freshly-delivered Sunday paper every weekend, each m..."
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I. The More Things Change
Written by Lisa Anderson
"…the more I wish someone would keep the map up to date. What map, you say? Don’t worry, we’ll get to that in a moment. After all, there are introductions to be handled first.Hello to everyone and anyone reading this very sentence! (No, you don’t get a hello if you skipped it. This will teach some to pay more attention next time.) Here you’ll find my little corner of the Village, where I will be rambling on about web comics ..."
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