Last time I'd written about gender toxicity and what a trap it can be for creators seeking to write powerful characters. It is not something that only plagues the “strong female character” attempt, but also the “strong male character” and definitely the “strong LGBTQ+ character”.

Too many of these ...

Photo: “Mercury Virus Chapter 2: Beasts Uncaged page 3”. Story and art created by mercuryviruscomic; Colors by Jerry Lucas. (June 2023)

Mercury Virus was first drawn on pencil and paper twenty five years ago according to the comic’s history recollected by its creator, mercuryviruscomic. Today we are excited that ...

In this month’s installment of Character Deep Dive, we’re looking at Grenadine Luncher from the comic Ripping Off King Arthur by Arthur Spitzer!

Before I do any dive, I have to say that due to the unique concept and approach of this comic, I had to really think ...

Hello everyone, and welcome to Panel by Panel, a periodic exploration of comic panels around The Duck. This week I am tackling yet another reader request! This time I received a request for some feedback by InkyMoondrop regarding a particular page of their comic, Blessed Days. That proved interesting, leading ...

Photo: “Blessed Days: Ch. 6 Trailer ‘0:44/1:08’”. Story and art created by InkyMoondrop. (July 2023)

The Super Creator behind the Blessed Days comic project, Inky Moondrop, has Milestones to celebrate and lots of exciting news this week.

InkyMoondrop writes:

“Hi!

The 5th Chapter of Blessed Days ends ...

Many of us have been talking about AI increasingly over the last little while, and it's a discussion point in the WGA writer's strike that's been going on right now. Actually, as of this Newspost, the actors have just gone on strike as well, joining the writers ...

One of my favorite tropes (at least I think it's a trope. Not sure how common it is) is the “unknown hero”.

It's when a character who's known to us, the audience, maybe very well, and is at least somewhat important to us.

The character dies and ...

This year is the 30th anniversary of The Fugitive - that is, the Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones movie. It's a phenomenal movie, and maybe the high bar for the…I guess, the “mature thriller”, we could call it.

Funny enough, it's a remake. In the conversation about ...

As You Like It
Character likability part 2

The great actor Jack Lemmon said about his character in Glengarry Glen Ross that he didn't want the guy to be likable. He thought Shelley Levine “isn't a nice man” and was not someone people should feel sorry for. Lemmon ...

The 90's movie “The Firm” is a good thriller. I just rewatched it and it holds up very well. Recently I picked up the book to check it out.

Even though I've watched the movie several times over the years, I got less than a third into the ...